How to sum up 365 days of life and photos? Let’s take a look back at some of my favorites from the past year.

Favorite photo that tells a story:

Favorite Composition:

Favorite Giggle:

Favorite Selfie:

Favorite Esme Portrait:

Favorite Peter Photo:

Favorite Photo taken by Peter:

Peter’s Favorite Photo:

I have loved the discipline of this project. I have enjoyed taking the photos and sharing some thoughts. Choosing a daily photo gave me new insight into our days and often gave me the chance to look at moments and experiences through the lens of a post or through the eyes of a blog reader.

I have been flattered by those of you who have commented and ‘liked’ my photos and posts. I am humbled by those who have mentioned that my words struck a chord with you. I hope our conversations can continue into this coming year!

If you are so inclined, you can see all the photos in one big gallery here.

You can also see all of the 365 blog posts by starting here and then clicking the right hand scroll link at the bottom of each post to move through the days.

Have a favorite picture from our year? Or a favorite post? I’d love to know about it. Maybe leave a comment?

Despite the storm forecast, we made the decision to drive from Ohio to Massachusetts today, as we had originally planned.

It wasn’t a decision we made lightly. Here are some of the factors we considered:

*The storm: Using a couple of weather sites we checked the forecast for several points along our route at different times of day. We also noted the predicted intensity at given points.

*Plan B: Knowing our route, we knew that there were several places we could stay the night should the storm be worse than we had thought. At any point we could scrap the mission and start again later.

*Route Familiarity: We have driven this simple route (Rt 90 all the way!) many, many times before. Most recently just this past October. We’re comfortable with the route, the opportunities for stops, the average time it takes us to get between different points, and our general endurance for the trip.

*Our Kids’ road trip perseverance: By now we have a pretty good idea of how long our girls will last in the car, how often they’ll need breaks and the kinds of snacks to have along.

In the end we decided that an all day trip on Thursday would be our best bet. We left at 4:40am and, with only a few stops, drove straight through to Salem. Including our stop for dinner we were home before 8pm.

All in all, we seemed to stay at the forefront of the eastbound storm through New York and we arrived in Eastern MA just as the northward moving front came into town. Just as we had hoped. The roads weren’t nearly as bad a we had feared they would be and we kept up a decent speed for most of the trip.

Lots of experience, a little guesswork and plenty of prayer gave us a good foundation for our snowy trip. I’m not sure we would recommend it to everyone or if we’d even make the same decision next time, but it was a charmed trip today, for sure!

We rung in the new year with family in Ohio and spent the day celebrating sweet Reuben’s first birthday. Cake and cousins are always a good combination!

As you can see, Esme and Reuben are discussing how I should continue here on the blog. Should I try another 365 project? Should I post as the spirit leads in 2014? Should Peter and I collaborate and write hard hitting articles on today’s most relevant topics?

It’s January first, a day of new beginnings. I have the whole year in front of me and I’m not sure what will come next. Thanks for following along during the last 365 days! I can’t wait to see what the next year holds!

three hundred and sixty five

Good bye 2013 and hello 2014!

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Bedtime in Papa’s childhood bedroom.

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It might have been dark and rainy outside, but we were all smiles inside!

For families that live far apart, Christmas can fall on the 29th of December without any of us batting an eye. Such a lovely day to spend together!

three hundred and sixty two

Today we finished our two leg trip to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. We’ve made this drive so many times that I have lost count. The girls are amazing road trippers and today’s trip was no exception.

Catherine hasn’t napped in the car for years, so you can imagine my surprise when it went quiet and I glanced back to find a sleeping santa.

Note that she hasn’t given up her horse, “Constellation, Jr.”, her new binoculars or the Where’s Waldo book she’d been looking at.

three hundred and sixty one

I ran a quick errand today and came home to this cozy scene.

🙂

Clearly, uncle + face paints = awesome!