January was fairly sedate. A few birthday parties, some festivities, and a lot of downtime was what it had to boast.

Heavy Snow? Come at me brah!

Registering my troop for Northland Encampment this May.

Coffee Party!

My Monday Walk @ Macken

During the Impromptu Roadtrip From Hell!

Baby Brother

Just like the snow, December came with little warning and disappeared just as quickly. In fact, this entire year has seemed to fly by. It seems only a few days ago that we were spending New Year’s Eve fixing a broken couch and watching bad films as we waited to welcome 2013… And here we are, once again, on New Year’s Eve, waiting to usher in yet another new year… And so goes the cycle.

Here are a few of my favorite December 2013 pics.

Miranda experimenting with different methods of delivering snacks. (Yes, that’s a roller skate!)

In mid-December, we travelled to my paternal grandmother’s house to take part in the traditional tree trimming.

Christmas morning, I went to wake Jas and found him alone in bed with a green M&M… Maybe there’s something to those commercials that portray her as the leggy cartoon character!

Mae after opening her present from Jas & I. I couldn’t have nailed this one any better if I’d tried!

This is the time on Christmas when we rest! ;D

Jas & the girls putting together their Visible T-Rex. I said it looked like he’d just helped a mama dino birth a skeletal baby!

Goodbye good memories. This restaurant has been a staple of the girls’ childhood as their grandmother used to take them there quite often. On this evening, we found that it had closed its doors for good. Miranda and Mae both thought of it as a favorite because of all the great times they had with their grandmother.

Have a happy new year!
~H

November felt rushed. Too many things to do. Too much responsibility. Too few breaks… And my photos reflect that. They are uninspired, tired, and rather utilitarian. Not at all what I strive for or what I enjoy.

As an aside, I really think that I’ve bitten off a little more than I can chew on all personal fronts and I am hoping I can reorganize or delegate some of my responsibilities in the upcoming months so that I don’t feel so overwhelmed. However, since that is not what’s happening now, here are my November photos.

Fat Lip Hollie

Wetlands Workshop with the Brownies @ The KC Zoo

Miranda: Big Head, Tiny Legs

Cooking with Mae: Cheesecake Crust

Photo Bomb Mae – Ever the ham, Mae just couldn’t help herself!

October ushered in cooler weather, family travel, and a generally good time! We started the month by participating in the Gladfest Parade with the Girl Scouts, then we went on a trip to St. Louis mid-month to celebrate my cousin’s wedding. By the end, I found myself buried in burlap as I attempted to finish Miranda’s costume in time for the Trick-or-Treat festivities.

Take a peek!

Miranda as Sam from the movie Trick-or-Treat. It took me quite some time to get it this far and there’s so much more to do before she takes it to Comicon 2014!

Miranda holding the head of her alter ego

Starbucks on a very cool, very early Sunday morning!

Cupcakes in celebration of Juliette Lowe’s Birthday after our troop volunteered at a local food bank.

The annual Haunted Hollie pic.

Mae dreaming of her own wedding, many years away!

Part of my troop after they walked in the Gladfest Parade early in the month.

Thanks for looking and have a great November,

~H

September was a month of planning. Our Girl Scout troop started its new member year, the children were settling into their new school year, Halloween costumes were discussed, and fun was had!

Favs:

The cries of undead children could be heard throughout the Cracker Barrel that day… Or maybe that was just Miranda Anne’s cries of hunger!

Skeleton in my closet, or just on my back?

A day out with the girls in historic Weston. Much wine was consumed… Much fun was had.

Air Hockey Queen

And that, my friends, is all! Thanks for peering into my little world and, until next we speak, I wish you a perpetually fulfilling existence!
~H

August was a month of getting things back to normal. School started for the kids. Planning was done. Things were said. Driveways were cut in. Parties were had. Stuff, just kinda happened! We visited the Balloon Festival in early August and we also scoped out the scary, abandoned Metro North Mall. The Scouts had a workshop at one of the local groceries and we celebrated Jason’s birthday with family a little early this year. (Yes… the Big 4-0!)

So there’s no real theme to these images. Just a mismatched group, kind of like our month!

I ordered my 23&Me kit last month and it came! So, of course, I sent it back out the very same day. Results were pretty quick (3 weeks or so in total, but small pieces were coming within a week (I think) of the box’s arrival back to their facility.)

Results were interesting… Some of it wasn’t all that surprising. (Markers for MS were higher than average. Go figure!) More surprising areas were that I really didn’t have a lot of markers for anything that most people I know have. Sure, higher chance of a few autoimmune disorders (Crohn’s, MS, etc.), but no higher probability of diabetes or breast cancer or anything normal like that. So, I guess if I end up there, it’s all due to what’s been done to me or what I’ve done to myself, not my genetic inheritance!

Ancestrally, I discovered that beyond the genetic pull toward the Northern European, which was there to be sure, my maternal line also had some Asian markers! That was kind of interesting/exciting/new. Makes me wonder how that happened since no one has ever mentioned anything about such things and my gram used to be quite into genealogical study.

~

Early in the month, we went to the balloon festival. It was pretty cool. (Although the weather was hot as Hades that day!)

Jas tried to take the girls up in one, but they didn’t get in line in time. Maybe next year?

~

Being the good leader I am (or try to be is probably a more apt way of putting it!), I scheduled the girls to finalize their Brownie Snack badge at a local grocery, where a licensed dietician taught them how to make a few healthy snacks, sent them on a scavenger hunt, and quizzed them about the good and the bad in the grocery aisles.

This particular treat was a sort of chocolate-cherry smoothie that the girls thought was tops! They also made a sort of banana/honey/nut butter wrap that looked pretty alright, but I would have left that tortilla right out!

In the end, fun was had by all, learning took place, and badges were received. Yay!

~

Jason turns 40 this year. I have said in the past that if anything is going to happen, it should happen to him first and I guess that includes getting older! We have plans to celebrate with the other side of the family this weekend — It should be fun!

~

Dry ice can be so much fun! We’d used some to transport ice cream to a party, but the real fun was after… walking through clouds of fog and feeling so very mysterious. The girls thought I was suddenly the most magical person they’d ever met!

~H

I’ve labelled this last month “The Lost Month”. Starting on June 22, I have been on so many different immune suppressing medications and treatments that by July 14, I ended up with an emergency stay in the hospital due to a very nasty infection. Following, I led a semi-quarantined, work-from-home existence for the entire rest of the month. In fact, I spent so much of my time hidden away from anyone who might be a carrier of disease that I actually started relishing the life of a hermit!

So, my images are a lot of what I saw everyday: Myself, my kids, my family, my life…

With that in mind, here are a few of my favorites from July:

This is me, sans make-up,  right after I died my hair pinkish-red on July 3rd. The color has been holding surprisingly well, considering I used cheaper color than I’m used to for such bright hues. I’m thinking the fact that we left it on for 3+ hours before rinsing might be part of the reason!

These are some of the medications I was taking at the beginning of July. This is only a partial pile.. There were more that were taken later in the day. I found myself musing that there was something inherently flawed in a system that profits from your illness while simultaneously being trusted with curing you of that illness and pondering which side of morality the resulting actions would lie.

My mom and Lizzie on Independence Day. This is something my family does. They play the guitar and sing and, sometimes, I try to sing, too. That’s one thing I hate about the immunosuppressants. (Amongst the many things… There are oh, so many things I hate about them.) They make me more susceptible to everyday bugs. So my throat is sore more often than it isn’t and that pretty much destroys any chance of singing I have… and I love to sing.

This was one of the IV meds they gave me while I was in the hospital. That was the most ridiculous weekend ever. I ended up with the flu and lost over 35 lbs of water within 24 hours due to the illness. It got so bad that I started passing out and my legs kept cramping up, becoming immobile for 30+min at a time. Eventually, after passing out in the bathroom with my eyes open and Jason thinking I was dead, we decided it was time for me to go to the hospital. Where they took a look at my blood work and said “Nuh-uh — You ain’t going nowhere.” I was there overnight and went home the next afternoon, still sick, but much improved.

This is my sweet, old, dapple dachshund, Pig. He is 10 years old and getting a bit senile. In fact, most of the time, he doesn’t know what’s going on and gets confused, but then he sees me and is so happy because he always recognizes me. He’s such a sweet little boy.

These are Girl Scouts doing their Summer Service Project in a local community garden full of harvests slated for those in need.

While working from home, Bloo was the best collaborator I could have asked for! In fact, she had something to say about almost every decision I made when it came to meals, jobs, breaks, etc.

This is a creepy little chapel located outside of a local eatery. The building is old, leaky and has a door that is open to the elements, but blocked off with a heavy gate. To me, it looks like the set to some sort of horror film, only it’s real :\

This is Mae at Girl Scout Day Camp, when we came to pick her up on the last day. It was hot, she was tired… But look at all those adorable freckles and curls!

And that’s that! Thanks for reading and, as always, have a great day!

~Hollie

June was marked by a major MS exacerbation and the subsequent treatment thereof. Not a lot of travel, but a lot of family time was to be had by all.

Here are a few highlights

~H

Zona Rosa’s Entrance Tower

The Blanket Monster DOES Exist!

The newest Will Smith action Flick…

No wonder they never know what to expect from me when I go in for an MRI!

Me, after 5 days of 1000mg Solumedrol treatment.

May was, again, busy. There was the first meeting of our Girl Scout troop. Also a graduation ceremony to attend. There was a class trip to the zoo, a Mother’s Day celebration, a visit to the farm, a yard that needed trimmed, Family to visit with, groceries to get, and lot’s and lot’s of other normal things mixed in as well!

As a result, we had a lot of images to choose from. Still, a few stood out as my personal favorites and I’ve included them here, each with a little commentary.

Mae was so funny. She wanted the birds to land on her, but did not want them on her head. Too many tales of bird flop stuck on people’s hair and clothes, I guess

Still, she was pretty pleased with herself when they came to land on her, even though she had no food to give them. Plus it made her look pretty darn cool in front of her friends from school, considering none of them seemed to be able to get any to land on them.
~•~

The yard needed mowed. The bushes needed trimmed. The mower needed fixed. The bikes needed maintenance. Really, everything needed a little TLC after all the odd weather we’d had this winter/spring… So all four of us, motivated by responsibility and the promise of ice cream (for the little ones), went out and gave the yard heck, just in time for Memorial Day.

While Jas mowed (and I steadied him on a couple of passes), the girls and I trimmed the jungle outside the fence, cleaned up twigs, toys, and stray debris from the front yard. Then, we all made a trip for burgers and ice cream in Liberty, by way of Five Guys and Baskin Robbins.

This panorama was taken just after we got home in that waning light between late evening and night.
~•~

I try to take at least one pic of myself each month, straight on like this with no fancy angles or lighting, just so I can look back in 50 years and say, “Man, I wish I was doing as good now as when I thought I was a wreck then!”

Actually, I take them so I have some sort of record of how I aged. So that my daughters can look back and say, “I remember when mom looked like that! That was about the time she took us to the zoo and we saw the hippos sleeping at the bottom of the pond.” Or they can think to themselves, “Maybe that is what I will look like when I’m 35.” Or maybe even, once I’m dead, they can look back and think of me as being there with them for a few minutes.
~•~

This was taken at my mother’s farm in rural Northwest Missouri. As sweet as the image is, I have colloquially called it “Tick Hunting with Mae & Miranda” as both girls were warned before hand and garnered several ticks out of the deal. Of course, they also found a nest of baby bunnies, a frog, and scared a few snakes out of hiding as well… Yay for the farm!

We were visiting in honor of mother’s day and to pick up some donated supplies from my mother and my aunt. We also ended up visiting my aunt’s farm to see her and her baby chicks and roasting marshmallows on an open fire by the end of the night.
~•~

The coins the children begged off of me at the small arcade in our local pizza haunt. Who knew shiny new quarters could bring such joy?
~•~

The girls received these slippers for their birthday from Aunt Mary, the Great. They love them and wear them a lot. So, when they sat side-by-side on the couch, with them pulled all the way up, it was just too cute to miss.
~•~

I call this one Marabou & Feathers. We were perusing the aisles at the local craft store, when Thing 1 comes around the corner with this on and tells me that I should take her picture. So I did. First her way, then mine… I think it turned out pretty well.
~•~

Pinewood Derby Time! The girls and Jas all raced cars. Mae’s Devil Derby Racer won most of its heats, but didn’t quite place. Jas’s Chinese Dragon Screamer took third in the adult class.

We also spent a lot of time running around trying to get ready for the end of the school year and the beginning of our Girl Scout troop.

All in all, a pretty full month!