52photos in 52 weeks: week 4...

...Shadow
The trees casting their long shadows across one of the trails I jog at one of our local parks.

52 photos in 52 weeks: week three...

...Evening
I kept with the main theme (self imposed) of making this project about me with the kids and the hubster just making brief appearances. This is pretty self explanatory. In the evenings (especially lately with that lovely upper respiratory virus working it's way through our house and right to Mommy) I like to cuddle up with my Snuggie (pink of course) and my new nook!

52 photos in 52 weeks: Prompt Week 2 (Jan 6th-12th)...

...Independence
My first thoughts on this weeks prompt since we live in such a heavy military area were the jets, the ships and the bases.
Then my thoughts went to the twinkies and how independent they are of Mike and I these days. Too independent if you ask me.
Then I tried to think of more personally to me.
To me independence is freedom and right now freedom to me is running. Running is something I never, ever thought I'd do but it is something that has recently taken over my life-in a good way.
Right now I am training for my first ever race-an 8K in March with two smaller ones as prep along the way.
When I'm running I am running for me. My mind is clear. I'm not in "Mommy" mode or "Wife" mode. I'm not thinking about what is next on my to do list. I'm free!

Our new normal...

December was a whirlwind!
We live in a very busy, very family orientated, very kid friendly area that boasts countless winter activities so that is normal.
What is (well was) not normal is our new constant companion, the EpiPen:
The day after Christmas our area got dumped with 14 inches of snow. We do not normally get any. It was the end of the world.
On that day of all days one of the twins Braden ate a couple of cashews and immediately had an angioedema reaction to them. It was horrible, he was screaming. He couldn't talk. He started projectile vomiting. We called our friend, a medic who told us to dose him with benadryl which bought us valuable time as it took the medics longer than usual to reach in the storm. By the time they arrived Braden was completely swollen, hived and having difficulties breathing. Luckily they were able to get him stable and we made it slowly to our local ER. The nearby children's hospital wasn't even a possibility in the weather.
In the past week he's been on round the clock meds but has otherwise completely recovered from this incident. (Don't ask Mommy about her nerves!)
I am astounded by the vast amount of foods that contain either some kind of nut or may have been contaminated by coming in contact with some kind of nut.
This is our new normal. Treat every food as a threat until we can prove otherwise. Always carry an EpiPen on our person. Get countless blood tests and see countless doctors. Read blog after blog and visit health website after health website.
We are so very grateful that we were so lucky and that Braden is okay it's just a tad overwhelming the adjustment period to our new normal.

On the craft front:
I'm so pleased to say my December Daily is DONE. My Project Life album is COMPLETE! I'll photo and post about both at some point this week.
I'm also jumping in on the 52 photos in 52 weeks project that you see a link for on my sidebar. Check it out-it's sure to be fun!