{Future}

The final Joy Of Love assignment: What do you see in your future? Truthfully, I don't know what the future holds for us as a family. Heck, I don't even know if our family is complete yet! But I do know one thing for sure: We will live in our dream home someday. That is our ultimate goal, the focus that keeps Cory and I driven to succeed. We aren't positive about where this dream house will be, but we do know of a couple of options right now. One is the old stone farmhouse he grew up in in St. Thomas. It is currently vacant and he has wild dreams of gutting it, remodeling the entire thing and adding on a big wing. The problem is that I am not sold on the idea for a number of reasons. But because I don't want to squash Cory's dream, it remains an option. The second possibility - the one that I am really hoping becomes reality - is to build on a section of land that used to be a part of my grandparent's orchard. There are approximately seventy acres of cornfields, fruit trees, and woods that are singing my name to come make them home. I can just picture raising our family there, and watching the kids run through the fields and exploring nature without worrying about street traffic and neighbors. It is the picture of peaceful utopia. Here is a picture I took in 2009 of the clearing at the base of the mountain where we would likely build our home if this dream came true. No matter if we end up in Cory's childhood farmhouse, on the piece of farmland or somewhere different altogether, I know that Cory and I will enjoy many more years together with our family. We will grow old together, hopefully enjoy grandchildren, and will spend evenings on a porch in rocking chairs. That is a future that I can look forward to.

{The Bromance}

What a cute assignment: Photograph your loved one with his "best bud", his "wingman". Truth be told, Cory's favorite guy to hang out with is Dixon. In fact, just this morning he commented that he was "so happy to have a boy." A boy who thinks trains, tractors, balls and trucks are the bees knees. A boy who asks to go out to the garage to play. A boy who loves to roooooaaaarrrr like a monster at his family all the time. After years of fairies, dress-up, and pink princesses, Cory is so happy to have some additional testosterone in the house. Just as I look forward to taking the girls to get manicures, teaching them how to apply makeup, and doing all things girly-girl, Cory looks forward to teaching Dixon how to shave, drive a stick-shift, and shoot hoops. I'm so happy Cory has his male counterpart - his best bud - and an adorable bromance.

{When You Love Them the Most}

On a beautiful spring day in May of 1999 my first children were born. Their mommy, Peanut, gave birth inside a cozy cardboard box on my in-law's front porch. Cory and I, his sister Megan, and their parents were all there to witness the miraculous event. Little Peanut lovingly birthed three boys and one girl (and one other kitty who sadly didn't live). She cleaned them, nursed them, and taught them the ins and outs of being a feline. Cory and I were about to be married in July, so we decided we would take the girl kitten and one of the boys. The timing was perfect since they were able to stay with their momma for a little over two months. When Cory and I came home from our honeymoon, Megan wrapped up our kitties (literally) and brought them to my mother's house where we all gathered to open our wedding gifts. They then traveled four hours south to our first home in Virginia where we lived for three years. We named them Simba and Ariel and they quickly became our babies.

Simba slept beside me every night. We spooned. We cuddled. He cozied right up to me and we've had a love affair ever since.

Simba and Ariel are now almost twelve years old. While Ariel has always been shy and only likes attention on her terms, Simba is a loverboy. He follows me around the house and likes to be next to me almost all the time. Nothing makes him happier than getting loves.

But our special time is still at night. Simba waits for me to head upstairs, do my nightly routine, and get in bed. He jumps in right away, often before I even touch the sheets. And every night he cuddles in the same spot on my shoulder. He purrs, he nudges me to pet him, and he lays his head on my chest and goes to sleep. When I wake up in the morning he is still there, waiting for his morning loves.

I can't describe how much I love this cat. He's my baby. He's my love muffin. I look forward to bedtime each night knowing that he will be there waiting to love me back.

{Going Out}

Here is the assignment from Willette: "Get a sitter and go out on the town!!! Take the point and shoot and take some fun portraits of you together. Tickle each other. Laugh. Have fun!"

Well, I'll keep this quite real. Cory and I rarely go out on dates. We usually have three to four dates a year: our anniversary, Valentine's Day, and maybe two random occassions. So I had to giggle a bit when I read this task knowing that "going out" just isn't a common experience for us. In fact, we have hired a sitter exactly three times since Sasha was born 7 1/2 years ago. But that's also because we have family who keep the kids for us whenever we do want to have a date (which again, isn't often).

And yet, lo and behold, Cory and I actually had TWO dates in February this year! We went to the Stube (a fantastic German restaurant) with his sister Megan and her hubby Jason for Valentine's Day. We had a great time and an amazingly delicious meal. But unfortunately, the best photo of the night was of Cory's pork shank. The photo of us just wasn't flattering at all. Attempt number one to snap a "going out" photo = fail.

The following weekend we went to a unique, tavern-style restaurant called Flannery's with some friends. We LOVE Flannery's and we had great company to enjoy the food with that night. At the end of our meal I pulled my camera out of my bag to take some photos and my heart sank. I left my SD card at home in my computer so I couldn't take any photos. We took some pictures with our cell phones, but mine turned out blurry and Cory's somehow didn't get saved properly. So attempt number two to complete this assignment resulted in another failure.

That's when I began to think "outside the box." I determined that I didn't need a photo of Cory and I on a date in order to capture a "going out" moment. A perfect opportunity to check this task off my list presented itself on Monday. My mother, Dixon and I went shopping together in Gettysburg. We used to go shopping all the time together, but we realised that it's been years since we've had a day for just us. There are always reasons why we can't do it, and we both missed the fun of a good shopping day. So off we went! And don't you know it? I never took a blasted photo. Sigh.

This assignment has become my nemesis.

Tonight, exactly one month after the topic was posted for Joy Of Love, I got my shot. The kids and I went to Nana and Pap's house to celebrate Pap's 60th birthday. Becky, Barry and Emme were there as well and we enjoyed a tasty dinner and star-shaped cupcakes. It was a nice end to a beautiful day! And the best part for me? I got a photo! Certainly the kids with their grandparents at a birthday dinner counts as "going out" right? I think so!

What relief. What success.

Now I'm staying home for the next month.

{Together}

I really, really loved this photography topic: Take a photo of yourself and your loved one together. Like most moms, I am behind the camera 99.9% of the time. I take photos of my family and all of our activities and love every second of it, but that means that I am very rarely in any of the photos. When my kids look through their scrapbooks and photo albums twenty years from now I want them to see their mom documented, too. I know that I enjoy seeing photos of my mom when she was younger, and I'm sure my kids will as well. So the task of taking a photo of myself with Cory was just the prompt I needed to get one more photo of myself "in the books". Plus, I love that the photo shows Cory and I together - I think this photo shows our connection to one another rather well.



This evening we celebrated my mother-in-law's birthday at my sister and brother-in-law's home. I asked my sister-in-law, Megan, to take some photos of Cory and me and this is my favorite. What I love most about the photo is how comfortable Cory and I are with one another. We've been a couple for 17 years - yep 17! And I feel like I know this man as well as I know myself. We go together "like peas and carrots" and this picture shows that comfort well. I'm so thankful that my mother introduced us all those years ago, because I know I have the perfect man for me with whom to enjoy life. We definitely belong together.

{When They're Gone}

"What is the overall feeling in the home when he / she is gone? What is different? Is the home cleaner, louder, messier, quieter, lonely?" This is one of the photo prompts that has really thrown me for a loop. Sure, Cory is gone a lot. He works long hours and is usually gone for the day before any of the kids or I am awake. But that is our normal life, our normal routine. Cory being "gone" isn't anything unusual. Occassionally he will go away on a trip for a few days, but that doesn't happen more than a handful of times each year. So when this Joy Of Love assignment was posted I was really at a loss as to what to photograph.

Then today happened. My sister Becky had a professional development day for school so I kept her little girl, Emme for several hours. We had lots of fun and I took some photos of Emme with the girls. And it occured to me: These photo assignments always come with the reminder that our loved one can be anyone. Well, I certainly count my sister and niece among my loved ones, so why couldn't I use this photo? Ta-Da!

When Becky is gone for training, home-visits or other work-related activities, Emme gets to visit other family members. Most often it is her great-grandmother, Mom-Mom, her grandmother, Nana, or me. And we LOVE playing with her and getting our baby fix! She is a very happy baby and her personality is developing quickly. Her eyes light up when she sees Clara, Sasha and Dixon as she loves to watch them and try to play like the big kids. Today I discovered that she even loves our dogs! I thought she would be afraid of them so I've always kept them outside when Emme is here, but today has been rainy and they were inside with us. Emme wanted to touch them and giggled every time they got close to her. In fact, the reason she is smiling in this photo is because the pups are right in front of her!

I love watching all of my nieces and nephews grow and become little people, and Emme is no exception. And I'm grateful that every now and then I have a chance to spend time with her while her mom is gone. She is a doll baby and we all love her!

{Face: A Portrait}

After several days of no Joy Of Love blog posts, I NEED to get on the ball and churn out my last few photo assignments! I really thought I'd be done by now, but I've had a tough time getting pictures for these last days.

This particular assignment - take a picture of your loved one's face from the shoulders up - should have been an easy one. How hard is it to snap a photo of someone's face? Not very. But I wanted to get a photo of all of my beloved kids' faces together since I don't have any like that yet for this class. Not only is getting a decent picture of three kids difficult as one child inevitably won't be looking at the camera, has a drippy nose, blinks his or her eyes, or simply won't cooperate, BUT finding a time to get all three kids together when there is good natural light is nearly impossible. The latter reason is the one that really held me up. But today we had a two hour delay because of some light snow and ice, so we had a great opportunity to take advantage of the morning light that streams through our windows so beautifully.

This photo, while certainly not perfect, really captures the personalities of my three kids. Sasha is more reserved and is back a bit further than her siblings (even after I asked her to move forward), resulting in some shadows on her face and less sharpness (focus) of her features. But that's Sasha. She is often shy and reserved but happy to comply at the same time. She loves to please people and her face lights up with pride when she is told she did something well. Let me tell you, she does a LOT of things well! And she's rockin' her new haircut which she LOVES!

Dixon is just a little pip. After I was able to get his finger out of his mouth and his foot down from his face, I said, "Say cheese!" and he gave me a great smile. He is spunky, on the move, and wanted to be front and center for the photo. In fact, when he saw the girls sit down on the floor to take this picture, he plopped himself down between them instead of sitting beside Clara as I had wanted him to do. He knows what he wants and is determined to have his way! Love that little blondie.

And then there's Clara. Clara is the peacemaker, the one who wants everyone to be happy. She is just . . . sweet. While I was taking these photos this morning, Clara kept putting her arm around her brother and sister to squeeze them tightly together. I had to move her little fingers down from Sasha's shoulder because I didn't want to see them in the picture. But that's who she is: aways smiling, always happy, and always loving on her family. She's my doll baby.

These are the faces I love the most in this world. The love a mother feels for her children is beyond any other love that exists. There is nothing I wouldn't do for these kids to make sure they are happy, safe, and growing into the people God meant for them to become. These are the faces of my love.

{What They Say}

As a mom of three kids who definitely entertain me with the things they say on a regular basis, I had lots of ideas for this Joy Of Love assignment: Simply capture something that a loved one says that melts your heart, shows the love between you, or makes you smile. Boy, do I have a list of doozies that my kids have said over the years! I love hearing the funny things that come out of their mouths that show their innocent creativity.

But I decided to focus on the little man today. He doesn't have a large vocabulary for an almost two-year-old, but he is picking up more and more words all the time. (Hopefully he'll start calling me "Mommy" instead of "Nana" soon!) One of his favorite things to say is "Choo Choo!" This boy loves, I mean seriously LOVES, trains. Cory and I - I mean Santa - got him a train table for Christmas and he has begun to collect motorized trains as well. Anything that has anything to do with a train is gold in his eyes. And lucky for him, there are very busy train tracks practically in our backyard. Trains choo choo past our house all. the. time. While the adults in the house find them a bit of a nuisance (especially Cory), Dixon is heaven. Every time he hears that first "choo choo" sound, he runs to the nearest door or window and choo choos back to the train. The joy in his face is priceless as he watches the train pass by. There isn't much that makes this kid happier than his choo choos!

So here is my boy looking for a train and saying "choo choo" this morning. Poor kid. I had to lie to him and tell him there was a train ouside to get this picture in the beautiful morning sunlight . . . but there was no train and even if there was one it would be on the other side of the house. He choo choo'd in anticipation anyway. What a good boy. Does that make me a bad mom? Perhaps I need to go by him another new train to make up for my fib.

Choo Choo, Dixon!

{Where}

OK, so February is over and so is the Joy Of Love photography class. But I clearly have more assignments to complete so I plan to continue posting my photos until I'm done with them all. I have seven more after this one and am looking forward to completing each one!

Anyway, this topic - Where - was a pretty neat one. Where did we know that he was "the one"? Where did we fall in love? Where did we get married? Any photo that shows where some momentous event in a relationship happened works for this assignment.

The photo I chose was taken back in 1998 shortly after Cory and I became engaged. We had our engagement photos taken at the James Buchanan Birthplace in Mercersburg, PA because this is where Cory finally ("finally" because it took him four tries to get it done!) proposed to me. We stood on a little wooden bridge over a stream in the woods, exactly where Cory dropped to one knee and asked me to be his bride. This moment solidified our future together and I knew from then on that I would be with this man for the rest of my life. A year later we were married! From time to time Cory and I go back to the JB Birthplace with our kids and it's amazing to reflect on how our family has grown and changed over the years. The last time we were there - last summer - the girls and I discovered countless wild raspberry bushes and collected a big bowl full of them to enjoy at home. It's a beautiful place full of beautiful memories.

I had to photograph this picture to post since my scanner isn't even in the same room as my computer so the quality isn't that great. However, check us out! Cory was still fighting to hold on to his hair while I was still using a curling iron to roll mine under. GAH! We look so very young and innocent - we hadn't a clue what married life would be like or what was in our future. All we knew was that we were happy and wanted to be together forever. What a treasure this photo is and what a treasure our ever-growing relationship has become!

{Kiss}

I'm going to be honest: This assignment terrified me. The goal was to photograph yourself kissing a loved one. Let me tell you, Cory and I are not fans of PDA. In fact, we sometimes feel weird just holding hands in public!

So when this Joy Of Love assignment was posted on February 15th - yes, it's taken me eleven days to get brave enough to do it - I majorly hesitated. But I do understand the purpose of the photo. People who love one another obviously do kiss, and it is kind of nice to have this picture. And I think it's important for our kids to see that we love each other. They sometimes ask us to kiss so they can "ooh" and "ahh" and talk about True Love's Kiss. They are definitely big romantics.
I bet that in thirty years they will look at this photo and treasure it for the love it shows between their parents.

So for those reasons, Cory and I bit the bullet and asked the girls to do a little photography session today. They each took some photos, and I must say they came out rather nicely! I don't know if Sasha or Clara took this one so I'll credit them both.

I've been kissing the same man for the past sixteen years and it never gets old. He is my True Love.

SMOOCH!!!

{Hands}

I really liked this Joy Of Love assignment: Take a photo of your loved one's hands. Capture what those hands do that you love!

Clara often makes "I Love You" signs with her hands. She also likes to point her fingers and draw a heart in the air to send to Cory and me. She is awesome at showing her love with her hands.
I realize that her little five-year-old hands are growing bigger every day and it won't be long before she no longer wants to show her love for us so much. So for now I'm going to treasure each little gesture of affection. And I'm going to pray that she'll always want to draw hearts in the air for her family.

{Facebook}

It was an unusual and unexpected assignment for Joy Of Love: Snag a photo from your loved one's Facebook page. Cory doesn't post lots of photos on FB, but I knew right away which one I would pick for this assignment.

This is his profile picture. It was taken towards the end of our Disney World vacation in May of 2008 and we both thought it was one of the best pictures (out of the thousand we took) from the week. We were relaxed, happy, and a whole lot goofy by this point. When the photo was taken we were sitting in the stands waiting for the Fantasmic show to begin. We obviously had some fun during the wait!

I often think about that trip to Disney World and to this day - almost three years later - I am convinced that it was the best week of my life. Cory and I had so much fun watching the girls (who were then just four and two years old) get caught up in the magic of princesses, fairies, pirates, and all things Disney. I think we got a bit caught up in the magic, too. We absolutely loved this trip!

{When They're Home}

I feel like today's Joy Of Love assignment is very similar to the "Staying In" assignment, but that's okay. There are plenty of things to document about what my loved ones do when they are home.

Sasha absolutely LOVES to draw. Both she and Clara love anything art related, but Sasha has a natural gift for drawing. In fact, when she is home she spends the majority of her time drawing pictures - and she is amazing.

Today she drew this cute picture of herself giving Clara a present. While the drawing itself is sweet, it's the writing that goes with it that really pulled at my heartstrings. Here is what it says:

"I love my sister. She is nise to me. Sometimes we fite but I still love her. When she was in my momys belly I kist it for a pitcher. We like to play together in the dallhouls."

Sigh. Melt my heart. How I love that these girls love each other.

{Staying In}

The assignment: What do you and your loved one do when you stay in?

It was actually tough to come up with an image for this one. As a family we don't have one activity that we do on a regular basis together. Sometimes we play games, sometimes Cory and I do little math or reading lessons with the girls, sometimes we play on the computers, and sometimes we watch tv. It really just depends on our mood. But there is one activity that we seem to do in cycles: we play Wii.

I believe we were one of the last American families to get a Wii. My mother actually asked us if we wanted one about four or five years ago for Christmas but we declined. Cory and I simply didn't want to be a video game family. But two Christmases ago Cory's parents decided to get Cory's sister's family and our family each a Wii as a family gift. I suppose we were ready to venture into the world of gaming because we agreed.

We don't play the Wii consistently. In fact, months can go by without any of us touching it at all. And then we'll go through spurts of playing it almost every day. Right now we are in one of those spurts. Clara is the best "Big Balls" player you'll ever meet. (That's what we call the obstacle course that has big swinging balls you have to run past.) Sasha loves to swordfight. And Cory and I have recently taken up Wii golf. Not to brag, but I went from a +20 on the 18 hole course to a +2 in about two weeks! It is quite addictive.

Since today is cold and windy - Old Man Winter is certainly back with a vengeance - the girls explored the Wii Fit game and did some yoga. Believe it or not, Sasha actually worked up a sweat doing those stretches and poses.

I suppose it's rather nice being a modern, video game owning family.

{Wedding Band}

As the wise Dr. Rev. Harter says, wedding rings are "outward signs of an inward reality". When Cory and I became engaged we didn't put a ton of thought into our wedding rings. We had an idea of what we wanted and after looking at one jewelry store, we found it. On July 10, 1999 Cory placed a diamond and sapphire wedding band on my hand and I put a yellow and white gold band on his finger. We said "I do" and the rest is history.

I'm often reminded of Dr. Harter's words when I look at my wedding band, though. I love it not for its beauty but for what it represents. Cory gave me this ring when I was just 22 years old with the promise that he would love me forever. And love me he has.

This Joy of Love assignment was to photograph our loved one's wedding band or some other significant piece of jewelry. The ring was supposed to be on that person's hand, but Cory doesn't wear his ring. His outward symbol of the reality of our love and marriage is almost always in a drawer. It makes appearances on his hand on rare occassions: weddings and, well, weddings. Every now and then he'll put it on if we're going somewhere special, but not very often. It's not that he doesn't want to wear it (although I do believe he is uncomfortable with it on), but his job makes it impossible. His hand is in some compromising places on a daily basis and a ring would easily become lost forever if he wore it. I'll leave it at that.

I do love his ring. I had it engraved on the inside with the words, "My Valentine" and our wedding date. My Valentine by Martina McBride was the first song we danced to at our reception and Cory truly is my Valentine every single day our of lives.

{Routines}

This photography challenge was to think about the daily routines in our loved ones' lives and capture one of them. Since I have school-aged kiddos, this was not a difficult challenge. We have all kinds of routines, from morning till night. So I just had to decide which one to photograph.

I'm not entirely sure why I chose the morning teeth brushing for this assignment. It may have been because this is something we obviously do every single day. It may have been because it is a totally mundane activity and one that is typically not given much thought. But I think it had more to do with the fact that it was an easy moment to capture. We are always, always in a hurry to get ready for school in the morning and the girls know that as soon as they are done eating breakfast they are supposed to go brush their teeth. So this photo required no work from me; I just had to follow them upstairs and snap away.

But if I want to get more introspective about this routine, I can see how capturing little moments like this one add to our childhood memories. Some of my favorite photos from my own childhood are just like this: my big sister and I sharing a toilet seat to go potty, me snuggling on my bed with my cat, and other everyday moments. I hope Sasha and Clara will look back at today's photo and remember something about our daily lives during this time.

And hopefully it won't be me yelling, "Hurry UP!!! We've got to go NOW!!!!"

{Generations}

So I'm going to have to do some major "catching up" with this Joy Of Love class. I'm a few days behind . . . not that I'm surprised! Sometimes the assignment calls for a photo that I just can't take that day. That was the case with this one: Generations. We were to capture generations of our family in some way. Well, I forgot to take my camera with me when I saw my mother on the day of this assignment, so I had to wait until another grandparent moment appeared. I got lucky on Sunday when Cory's parents stopped in to see us for a bit.

Dixon absolutely LOVES his pap. He runs right to him whenever he sees him and gets overly rambunctious and excited. My fellow moms know what I'm talking about: Kid sees someone they like and they suddenly have more energy than they know what to do with and feel the need to show off as much as possible. Such is the case when Dixon sees Pap.

As Me-Me and Pap were getting ready to leave, Dixon literally flung himself down on the floor and began to whimper. He then got up and tried to escape out the door with them. So being the nice grandparents that they are, they came back inside and hung out for a few more minutes. Dixon would have been happy if they decided to stay forever.


Photo info: Taken in horrible lighting - overhead canned lights. Ick. Lots of shadows, especially on Dixon's head. I converted the photo to black and white to deemphasize the bad lighting and the "stuff" around Dixon and Pap.

{Eyes}

I LOVE the topic of this Joy Of Love assignment. Simply get a crisp shot of your loved one's eyes, as they are "the window to the soul". If I'm being very honest, I have to say that I think my kids all have gorgeous eyes. I could stare at them for hours. My goal was to get a photo of all three kids together looking straight at the camera. But I rarely get the photo I see in my head, and that was the case today. By the time I was ready to take the photo Dixon was napping in bed and I was losing my best daylight. So instead, I took inidividual photos of Sasha and Clara.

Here is the photo I selected to use for the assignment:

This photo may not appeal to everyone, but I love it. I love that it isn't your typical, full-face photo. The crop makes it different and, I think, interesting. And more importantly, I LOVE how it captured Sasha's gorgeous blue-green eyes.

When Sasha was born she had intensely blue eyes. They almost look fake in some of the photos I have of her as a toddler because they are so incredibly blue. Then when she was about three or four years old they suddenly became more green. Now they are more green than blue, but they change depending on what she is wearing. Mysterious eyes, she has.

I also think she looks a LOT like her daddy in this photo. A LOT lot. The eyes, the eyebrows (those suckers will be waxed the moment she becomes self-conscious of them), the nose, the mouth . . . this little girl is her daddy through and through.

I love her.

{Dreams}

What are the dreams of our loved ones? That is the topic of the next Joy Of Love photography assignment. I believe it took me all of a nanosecond to come up with an answer. In fact, I could fill a book with photos of our dreams as we are a family of goal-setters and dreamers. For this project I chose the dream that our entire family shares.

It has been almost three years since Cory and I took our princesses - then 4 and 2 years old - to Disney World. And to this day, we all agree that that was the best week of our lives. Sasha and Clara were in little girl heaven, completely caught up in the magic of Disney. And Cory and I were in our own heaven watching the joy on our girls' faces. It was a perfect week. So one of our family's dreams is to go back to Disney World. We talk about it all the time. If it weren't so darn expensive, we'd take a trip there every year. Unfortunately, we have to be financially responsible and that means waiting until we can comfortably afford to go the House of the Mouse.

When we planned our trip three years ago, the girls and I made a big paper chain to count down the days until we hopped on the plane to head south. We hung the chain - which was quite long since we counted down about 75 days - from a hook on the attic door which happens to be in their bedroom. Every day the girls took turns tearing off a link. It was so exciting to see the chain get smaller, especially as we got closer to the big day! When that day came I couldn't bear to tear off that last link. We had so much fun using the chain and it represented such wonderful anticipation that I didn't want to take it down. It remains there today!

Hopefully we will be able to return to land of magic soon. I'd love to go before Dixon turns three since kids stay, play and eat free if they are under three. He turns two in April, so the countdown will soon be on! This time I think Cory and I will surprise the kids with the trip. Kind of like the commercials on tv that show the parents telling their kids that they are going to go to Disney World that day and the kids jump up and down screaming with excitement. I always cry at those commercials! We can't wait to make our dream come true and feel the magic of Disney within us again!

*This photo is rather, um, yucky. I had to use my flash because there was no light in the room, and that resulted in horrible shadows and glare. I'm certainly not posting the photo because it's a great shot - it's simply to document the dream!

{Space: Where They Are Comfortable}

Clearly this assignment threw me, since I am two days late posting my photo. Spaces. Where does my loved one feel comfortable? Hmmm . . . .

Honestly, I can't think of a single spot in our home that one of us just gravitates to regularly. At least not for comfort. The girls are always either on the floor drawing or in their bedroom playing with dolls. Cory and I are often on our computers. And Dixon just runs around all over the place. None of us just lounge around and get cozy or have a special spot that is all ours.

So I had to really think about this one. Here's what I came up with:

Our puppies (well, they're not really puppies anymore, but that's what I call them) love - LOVE - to sleep on our couch. I can't blame them. It's really comfy. We keep them in a crate at night and when one one is home and they hate the crate, so when they are out they want to snuggle in comfort. The couch is their spot.

Sometimes they will sleep on the cushions, but usually they are on top of the corner of the couch. I have a Tastefully Simple blanket folded there that is super soft and they love it there.


This spot is also a favorite of theirs because they can see out the big windows when perched here. Fiki, the dog we had before these two entered our lives, loved to sit and sleep here too for that very reason. It's a great vantage point for keeping watch of what is going on outside of the house.

Our pups are almost always together, too. They are from the same litter and are inseperable. This photo of Perdy by herself is rather rare, but I can assure you that Jasmine is right below her on the cushions. Nice and comfy. What lucky dogs.