I like Valentine’s Day. I like the sentiment behind it, the gifts and special occasions it gives rise to, and the unabashedly cheesy nature of it. You don’t have to use the finest ingredients or finest materials in order to express your affection. And that suits me just fine.

That being said, I received a phenomenal bouquet of roses last Friday. They are amazing and I’ve enjoyed them every day. My Valentine further melted my heart by sending our daughter a bouquet, too. (Note to Livia’s future husband: you have your work cut out for you!)

Livia’s class will exchange Valentine cards at the end of the school day. Around 90% of our elementary school comes from impoverished families, so I admire how teachers handle V-Day celebrations. They send out a class list and encourage all children to make their own valentines with teacher-provided construction paper if needed. The kids will exchange cards and then take them home to open them. It’s a win-win and fun for everyone regardless of family income.

I really enjoy making cards with Livia each year. I like including a non-sugary treat, which then allows me to feel a bit better when I send along sweets like the cupcakes below. It’s fun to see Livia grow in ability from year-to-year. This year she was super-focused on writing the recipients’ names and checking off the class list. I even left the house for a Walgreens run and returned to my child studiously working! Those of you who know Liv know what a feat that was for her.

Our special Valentine cupcakes were simple to prepare: box mix with sprinkles, Wilton’s easy buttercream frosting, and a strawberry heart marshmallow for the top. The time that Livia and I spent together, making memories right alongside cupcakes, was extra sweet.

We are not guaranteed easy lives, friends. In fact, the older we get, the tougher life is going to be. We will see friends and family become ill, get divorced, deal with death and suffer through all kinds of other trials. But God in his grace lavishes us with great love—the joys I see and hear and taste and smell today are from him. I can open my eyes to see this beauty and I can be thankful for it.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

This year’s December Photo Project has been particularly fun for me. I leave the DPP with a final image of a photographer who is happy, tired, satisfied and deeply joyful as she celebrates this Christmas season.

Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

An elf came over and wrapped presents with me today. It was a beautiful elf with a beautiful name. Thanks a million, Rebecca! My elbows and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

(Yes, that is a pig in a teacup for Livia. No, you may not show her this pic before Christmas.)

I’ve eaten many a Rudolph candy cane, but for the first time in my 34 years, tonight I made some. With my faithful 1st grader at my side handily glue-dotting red pom poms, I pasted googly eyes like the non-pro I am. The eyes slide down to the red noses while we twisted antlers atop the heads. It was fun. It was classic. It was a Christmas craft.

DPP moment #19.

There’s just nothing like a grocery store for a little photographic inspiration. Um, kidding. Though I will admit the vivid colors of the supermarket look great through my lens.

I try to avoid the grocery store at all costs on the weekends (something I can do as a freelance photographer, writer and partial SAHM mom). I found myself at a local HyVee today voluntarily decorating tables in their club room. Turns out they have a nice space on their second floor for catered meals, and my friend Leigh of the Foster Care Closet needed a second pair of hands to take care of table decor.

While I was upstairs I couldn’t help but spy on the plebeians below. A few were doing good deeds as bell ringers.

Others were merely shopping for fruit, unaware of the photographer in need of a photo one floor above them.

I decided that shooting from behind glass was for weenies and I pulled out my camera after going through the checkout lane. This dude was a little taken aback by the impromptu portrait… “Wha??” Poor guy. I know it was a little surprising. My apologies. I hope you don’t read View From the Prairie Box.

My niece Madeleine and nephew Noah are too darn cute. I love their energy and drive. They are both creative and smart as all get out, not to mention very photogenic. More photos from their shoot to come soon.

Happy holidays, friends! I hope you all have enjoyed lots of turkey and lots of family time. I’m admiring a fully decorated house this morning as Livia was extremely excited to put up the Christmas tree. It was up on Thanksgiving night—a first for us. My dad and I got up early yesterday to partake in Black Friday sales. We ate our McDonalds breakfasts, drove around town, bought a few things and were home by 9:00am. Certain friends of mine get really wound up about the evil stores on evil Black Friday. To that I say, bah humbug. I wouldn’t trade my early morning adventures with my dad for anything! It’s a great memory.

And finally, hello!, the December Photo Project starts next Thursday! I am chomping at the bit to get started. Woohoo!

We had a really fun day yesterday. Livia has been brandishing her cutlass—“It’s a cutlass, not a rapier,” she explained to me—and donning the pirate earring and eye patch for a few weeks now. She has such a strong imagination that she got lost in her girl pirate role, explaining to someone, I can’t recall who, that she really was Livia and not a pirate. Our friends the Littles hosted a party for some school friends and it was a great time. This is the first year I’ve pulled out my camera to document the celebration! Normally I’m running from place to place, in the dark, with my costumed child.

It was also a fun day because I got to make cupcakes for Livia’s classroom. My inspiration photo shows a spider cupcake with nicely curved black legs. I learned quickly that perfectionists do not good classroom mothers make, and settled on red legs that poked out kinda straight. And then, because my child is a self-proclaimed entomologist, I told the first-graders that spiders have eight legs and the cupcakes have six. Spider mite cupcakes, perhaps?

I hope my friends had Happy Halloweens as well. Now, it’s on to November. November!! Before you know it, Christmas will be here.

Livia sat at the dining table for well over two hours, carving her little pumpkin.

If Pumpkin Carving were a class, the progress report would read:
Design: A+
Completion: A+
Use of Time: A+
Study Habits: A+

And at the bottom a note would say: Livia works well in class. She pays attention and uses tools (even sharp saws!) correctly. She asks for help when she needs to, then gets right back to work with remarkable focus. I enjoy having Livia in my Pumpkin Carving class. She is a delight.