project life 2014

Ok, so let's talk Project Life.


What is Project Life, you ask? Basically, the amazing Becky Higgins has created a simple system for scrapbooking your photos. (You can read all about it here on her website.) For the past 4 years I have taken the photo-a-day approach. And I have loved it. As I mentioned in my previous post, I was able to capture and record soooooo many moments and memories through my daily photography that would otherwise have been missed. Our yearly scrapbooks are a treasure, and not something that I'm about to give up anytime soon!



For 2014, I will be simplifying things a bit. See, for me, after 4 years of trying to take a picture every single day (and pretty much succeeding!) there was an element of guilt and stress attached to it, too. That may sound weird, I mean it's just taking pictures. But obviously there were some days that I missed and sometimes trying to find something different to photograph everyday was hard. In my Type A head, I really tried my best to have all my pictures in the exact right order, etc, etc, etc...so the process became a bit too much WORK than I wanted it to be. (Hence how I gave up on posting my 2013 pictures after only a few months. *sniff*)



So for this year, here's the deal: I'm going to continue taking pictures of my kids and our life on a *somewhat* daily basis. Sometimes I'll use my real camera, and on most occasions I'll probably be using my camera phone (wink). No stress. No worries. No expectations. Just snapping photos when I feel like something is photo-worthy. My hope is that I'll continue to capture our everyday moments, but I'm not going to worry about attaching a specific day or number to each picture. THEN, at the end of every month I'll post a photo collage right here on the blog of a handful of our pictures. Sometimes I might share only 3 or 4 photos and sometimes maybe I'll share 20! Some months I may only share photos from one specific day or event, and sometimes I'll share tidbits of everything. I'm not going to set a specific standard that I have to meet every month, because then to me, that will eventually equal STRESS. Heehee. I just don't want any rules! I really want this year's approach to be simple and satisfying, while still capturing our daily life. :)



When it comes to putting all of our photos from the year into my project life album, I'm simply going to print all the pictures I want to include in the album, divide them into months, and pop them in the album. Done and done. I'm not going to worry about having a certain number of pictures/month...just whatever pictures I like from that month will be good enough for me! Whew...did all that make sense?? Heehee.



With all that being said, here is my January collage. All these perfectly imperfect photos were taken with my iPhone, which is just fine by me. Of course I way prefer pictures taken with my actual camera, but like I always say...any picture is better than no picture!



So here we go....1 month down, 11 more to go! (Thank you to Rebecca Cooper for this handy collage template!)

1. Miss KK having fun at playschool 2. Payton and Crewie playing on the computer 3. Gabby swimming for FHE 4. My chubby boy fast asleep in his Buzz Lightyear jammies 5. The 4 kids celebrating New Years 6. Cuddles 7. The Terry cousins celebrating Winter's birthday 8. The Littles just chillin' one afternoon 9. Skating with Payton 10. Green smoothie yumminess 11. Mommy and her babies

And just for fun...here are the links to my past photo-a-day blogs:


2010 Photo a Day Blog
2011 Photo a Day Blog
2012 Photo a Day Blog
2013 Photo a Day Blog

Where to Begin?

So, wow.

Where do I even begin? After not blogging for an entire YEAR, it's a tad overwhelming to attempt this again! But here I am...attempting to get back into this blogging thing.

To be honest, I've been wanting to blog again for a long time. But with the ease and convenience of Facebook and Instagram (right from my phone!), the ol' blog was quickly and easily replaced. Now don't get me wrong, I love me some social media! (wink) I love how I can post a cute picture instantly here and there, or share something funny that one of the kids has said immediatley after they said it...but in turn I've missed out on sharing and more importantly RECORDING the more in-depth stuff stuff about our little family and our little life.

Last Christmas, my mother-in-law gave me this book for Christmas. My blog. In a book. I LOVE it. My blogging had already slowed down quite a bit when she gave it to me and looking through it, I was AMAZED at all that I had captured and recorded over the years through my blog. What an amazing gift! I absolutely love flipping through the pages and seeing our life in print. The fact that this life of ours is captured like that forever really hit home for me...and so it's been nagging me to get going again. ;)

Now, in my defense, for 3 years straight I took a photo every single day for my project life albums. I posted those daily photos and shared a caption to go with each one (aside from last year...I kept taking pictures, but kinda fell off the bandwagon when it came to posting them online!)...doing that on a daily basis kind of took the place of my regular blogging as well. And I am SUPER proud of our daily photos...they are such a treasure and a gift for our family to have for the years to come. The kids love looking through our yearly scrapbooks, and it really is amazing to see how quickly and how much they change. (As a sidenote...stay tuned for what my approach to my everyday photos and project life album is going to be this year...I have a plan!)

Anyways...as always, it sounds like I'm trying to defend myself as to why I've neglected this poor blog of mine. Well, I guess I AM defending myself, heehee! With our 4 kids, my photography business and just LIFE in general, I kind of let it slip to the back-burner. So instead of dwelling on that, it's time to move on and move forward! It's a new year. Life is good. We are good. I love my crazy little family so much and this is why I want to blog again. I promise to be back sooner rather than later. And even if it is only myself that reads my little blog posts, I am totally ok with that. 'Cause it's all about the memories and I want to remember each and every one of them. :)

Kherington, Graham, Crew, me, Gabby and Payton | September 2013

here we go again!

Well, we're back at it again!

We're already a month into 2013 and my new photo-a-day blog is finally up and running.

I have to admit, I wasn't sure if I was going to do this again this year. While I'm in the habit of taking pictures (almost) everyday, I found that I got behind in posting my photos last year and that got me discouraged. As I decided to get all caught up on my photos from last year, I quickly realized how precious all these memories and photos are. I'm not able to scrapbook the way I used to, and I absolutely LOVE getting all of our everyday photos into a cute album at the end of the year...it is so amazing to see our whole year from start to finish like that! AND...posting the photos on my photo-a-day blog helps me stay committed to this project, as well as it gives my family and friends a little peek into our everyday life as well. So....it's a win-win situation. :)

I kind of have to admit though, while any photo of my children is precious to me personally, I feel like my photos are so boring! We've a had a very cold and dreary January so most of my photos are inside of my boring house (wink). So I need to commit to getting a bit more creative with my photo ideas. It's good for me as a photographer to challenge myself, and also just to make things a tad more interesting to look at. But...at the end of the day, my motto really is, any kind of photo is better than no photo at all!

So there ya go...2013, here we come!

these feet

Yesterday I had a moment.



It isn't too often that I find myself in a quiet house with almost nothing going on around me.



The big girls were at school, Kherington was invited over to her big cousin's house, so it was just Crew and I at home. My little Crewie is, well....a handful! At 20 months old, he is busy busy busy and always up to something. So any sort of down-time with him when he is awake is rare. Because he is always. on. the. go. (wink)



We had a little time to kill before his nap, so not really thinking he'd stay there, I pulled him up on my lap, and just sat on the couch with him and hoped he'd watch a little Curious George with me.



We stayed in this exact position for a half hour.



For anyone with an almost 2 year old, you would know that this a LONG time for a toddler of this age! To sit still without moving for 30 minutes? That is very rare for my Crew!


As we sat, I cuddled his warm little body close to me. I snuggled into his clean hair from just getting out of the bath. I watched him cross and uncross his chubby little feet as he watched George on TV.



And I also realized that it wasn't George that he was content with, but ME.



My full attention. My time. My love.



As I held him, I realized how I do not do this often enough. As the youngest of 4, by default, Crew spends much of his being carted around in the car, dropping off and picking up his sisters from school and lessons, running errands with mama. He doesn't get the same down-time at home that his sisters had, especially the older girls.



It made me so guilty and so sad for him. Being a mama is hard. And all I want is for my babies to know how much I love them. And how everything I do is for them. I cuddled him like crazy and felt so very lucky for this quiet, uninterrupted time with my son.



It is so hard to believe that there was a time that this little dude wasn't a part of our family. Because now...we simply couldn't live without him. While we often joke about how much of a handful he is, the truth of the matter is...he has every single person in this family wrapped around his little fingers. We all live for his giggles, his hugs, his slobbery kisses. We all laugh when he does something funny, and we all jump to help him when we think he's been hurt. We love our boy.



How grateful I am for those quiet moments with my son. To hold his warm body and kiss his chubby feet. To not worry about the messes that needed to be cleaned, or the phone calls that needed to be made. To just be in the moment with him and put everything else on hold.



This was a reminder for me as a mother. Not just for Crew, but for all my precious children. To take the time to spend a few quiet moments with each of them. Whenever I can. To just sit and enjoy the moment and put everything else in the world aside and to focus on THEM. It is hard for me to believe that I have already been doing this mothering thing for more than 8 years. And it is starting to hit me how my time with little ones at home will all too quickly come to an end. And it was these little feet that reminded me of all these things yesterday. These chubby feet reminded me to slow down...just a little. To enjoy these moments at home a little bit more. And most importantly, to LOVE more.



'Cause we all need love, right?

the simple things...

A "simple thing" from this past week.


This is Kherington. She is 3 years old.


She loves red lipstick. LOVES it.


I often find her rummaging through my make-up drawer in search of the pretty stuff that makes her lips "so beautiful".


I try to hide it but it never works.


She always finds it.


xoxoxox

and that's a wrap!

Well, I have no idea how, but I somehow managed to get TOTALLY caught up on my photo a day pictures for 2012. And I am so glad I did! Keeping up with this is a big commitment and not always easy...but in the end it is always SO worth it so see all of those everyday memories in one place.

My family loves this.

This is the third year that I've committed to taking a photo every day. (and yes...sometimes I cheat and skip a day...wink!) It is for sure a habit now and something that I think I just HAVE to continue on with for 2013. Graham and I have decided that the memories are just way too precious and like I said, as a family, we LOVE looking through all of our pictures from the year. I'll admit, near the end of the year, there are probably too many instagrams and camera-phone pictures, but I will happily take those pictures over no pictures at all.

I am so excited to get these all printed and into my 2012 Project Life album...that is the FUN part! I will share pictures of that when I am all done.

For now, go ahead and caught up on what we crazy Audenart's have been up to for the past 6 months (yikes! I really was behind!) and stayed tuned for our twenty-thirteen photo a day pictures!

happy halloween!

Well, it's that time of year again! As crazy as Halloween gets, I sure do love getting the kiddos all dressed up and lookin' cute. I dread the day when they don't let me have a MAJOR part in their choice of costume. Heehee.

So here we go!!

Our little monster....

A Mermaid Princess...

A Pirate Princess...

The Paper Bag Princess...

...and the attempt at all 4 together. I tried, right???

Holy cow, getting these pictures was so much work! I usually do the front doorstep pictures for Halloween, but this year it's cold and we've gotten snow, so studio pictures was the easier choice! Every year we go to Galaxyland (a bunch of rides at the mall!) on the Friday before Halloween so this was the perfect time to do pictures...and then when the craziness of all the Halloween school parties, dance parties and trick-or-treating hits, I don't even need to worry about pictures...maybe just an instagram here or there. (wink)



And last but not least in the Halloween preparations was carving our pumpkins last night for Family Home Evening! The girls had fun drawing their faces, and then of course, mommy and daddy had to help with the carving...but they were all pros and scooping the pumpkin guts out! Crew was right in there with everyone, we finally had to stick him in his high chair and just keep giving him food so he'd leave everyone alone, heehee. Poor boy!

Crew was much more interested in eating his pumpkin than smiling for a picture. :)

I hope this counts as a real blog post! My sister just moved to Australia and refuses to join Facebook (which drives me crazy...wink!!) so she doesn't see my daily updates and posts that I do there. I soooo miss blogging...I just need to get back in the habit! Oh, and I need more hours in the day! Have a safe, fun and Happy Halloween, everyone!!

motherhood on my mind

With Mother's Day just around the corner, I've had "motherhood" on my mind as I've been browsing online lately...I always tell myself I'm going to do a fabulous photoshoot with myself and my kiddos, and surprise surprise...life gets busy and it never happens! Yesterday I came across this wonderful photo checklist by Rebecca Cooper, and decided to give it a try. She suggested using the self-timer on your camera to get some snapshots with you and your kids ('cause let's face it...WHO exactly is going to take a picture with ME in it?) so Gabby and I sat down and this is what we got! These photos that took about 5 minutes in total to take have already become so precious to me. This is the last few months that I'll have Gabby home with me during the days before she starts grade 1 in the fall. While she is so ready to be at school all day like her big sister, I can't help but be emotional at the thought of her being gone all day and taking that next step towards becoming a big girl. Gabby is always full of kisses, snuggles and "I love you's"...I will sure miss our afternoons together. (When she's being a sweetie...let's not even talk about the meltdown she had on our driveway the other day for the whole neighborhood to see! Heehee.) So now I need to get that camera out and do this with all my kiddos! Thank you Rebecca for the inspiration!!!











(Also, come and see my "Motherhood" Board on Pinterest for all things mommy...quotes, tips, ideas, good online reads, and more!!!)

the simple things

A blessing and a curse.

Kherington is passed the glorious days of regular napping, so when she crashes in the late afternoon, I am always torn....do I wake her up and deal with the nasties that will follow, but know that she gets to go to bed early? Or do I let her sleep and enjoy an hour of quiet (she is two, after all!), but then deal with her refusing to go to bed at bedtime???

Either way, seeing her sleeping so peacefully was a simple moment in our home this week. (And for the record, on this day, I did let her sleep...who am I kidding, I probably went to sleep, too. Heehee!)

the simple things

Cuddles with Daddy and Crew. Gabby is our little cuddler. She's always looking for hugs, kisses, cuddles and tickles...and she's always willing to give them, too. xoxox

happy new year and playing catch-up

Oh, man...I really hate getting so behind on my blog!! The past few weeks have just been so full that I haven't had much time to do any catching up. So I'm here now, ready to do a little catchin' up.

Christmas was busy and wonderful. Crew was adorable on his very first Christmas, and his big sisters couldn't get enough of his cuteness...neither could mommy and daddy! We spent time with both of our family's, and did lots of eating, visiting and playing...it was perfect! The holidays were spent skating, skiing, playing with cousins, going to movies, sleeping in, being lazy, shopping, going out to eat, visiting with freinds and playing some more. Graham spent a day snowboarding in the mountains, and I spent a day shopping all by myself, so we all had our own fun! Most importantly we were so happy to celebrate our Savior's birth as a little family. I love Christmastime so much...it's always a little sad once all the fun and celebrating is over. But we had such a nice break from the daily routine as a family, and we absolutely felt renewed and ready to go for the new year.

Speaking of the new year...Happy 2012!! I always love this time of year to start fresh and reflect on the past year and plan for the upcoming one...I managed to finish my photo-a-day for 2011 and I've been having soooo much fun filling my Project Life album with photos and memories from the past year. I will absolutely share photos of my finished album when I'm all done, I'm still working on all my journaling. But I love it.

And yes, I will definitely be doing my photo-a-day project for 2012!! I've already been taking my daily photos, and I'll let you all know as soon as I have my new blog up and running. Stay tuned for that!! (and just a note...I thought it would be fun to have a list of other photo-a-day blogs in my sidebar for quick access and inspiration...so if you have a 365 blog that you'd like to share with everyone, send me your name and link to your blog!)

Crew is now 8 months old and I have lots of new pictures to share of him...but I'll save that for another post. I also have a fun, pinterest-inspired DIY project to share, so that will be coming soon, too!

Thanks for popping in to my little blog. I know that I've really fallen off the bloggin-train...I used to be dedicated and good and my life has just been turned upside-down by all my kids! Hee hee...in a good way, of course. I try to tell myself that my time will come again when I am more free and able to create and share...until then, I just do what I can do! That's what I love about taking my daily photos...I feel like by sharing our daily life I'm in a way, letting you all know what we're up to. With the new year, I was thinking of goals and resolutions...and to be honest, the one thought that kept coming to me (and is actually quite fitting for me at this point in my life) is letting go. Letting go of ridiculous expectations that I set for myself. Letting go of expectations that I think others have of me. Letting go of the idea that my house needs to be perfect and clean all the time. Letting go of the idea that I can do it all. And instead...just focusing on being here. Being here for my kids. My family. My friends. Myself. I just want to be better at enjoying the moment, and not worrying about all the other things that will inevitably always be there!! So how's that for a resolution?? (heehee)

Okay, so for reals, I will be back soon. Thanks for playing catch-up with me.

payton is 7!!!

Today was Payton's 7th birthday...seven!!! I can't even believe I've been a mom for that long and that this gorgeous little girl is growing up before my eyes. She is our "first" for everything that comes along with children...and she makes learning the ropes of parenthood pretty darn easy and fun! (for the most part...heehee.) We couldn't have been blessed with a more amazing daughter...Payton brightens up our lives in every possible way. From her sensitive heart to her spunky spirit, she just pretty much rocks. We love her oh, so much!!!

We had a little family party for her at home today and she made "Beliebers" out of all of us! Heehee!!!

If you read my blog at all you know I hate making cakes...it isn't the baking part it's the decorating part...I have no idea how to do it! But my husband informed me that Payton had to have a cake for her party and NOT cupcakes, so this was the best I could do! For a simple little cake I thought it turned out pretty cute and Payton thought it was hilairious...she did a lot of giggling today!

I perfectly remember when Payton came into our lives seven years ago...she was due on Christmas day and I was determined NOT to have a Christmas baby so we were very happy when she came a week early! I just remember being in total heaven that first Christmas with my new baby girl...we have come a long way since then, but in the same breath, she will always be my baby.

Love you love you love you, Paytie-Poo!! Happy 7th Birthday!!!!

xoxoxxo

the simple things

Another Simple Things Sunday.

I stayed home from church with Crew and Kherington today because they've both been running temperatures and have those yucky coughs that just won't go away. It was early evening when I plopped Crew on the floor next to me while I was folding laundry, and after folding exactly 2 shirts, I had to run and get my camera.

Because I couldn't resist my chubby little dude playing with his toys. His sudden fascination with this yellow spoon. His chubby belly, and perfect squishable cheeks. His hair, which was looking oh, so cool at that moment. The Star Wars onesie and striped socks. The sound of him blabbering that melted my heart.

*sigh*

A simple moment today that I'm so glad I didn't miss.

:)