18/365

Just playing around with focus and depth of field tonight. I thought this one came out interesting...

17/365

He loves me, he loves me not...he loves me. And he brought me home flowers, too. What a guy, huh?

16/365

One of the things I love most about being a mom is getting to experience so many "firsts" with Molly. Since she loves ducks, we decided today to take her to the park so she could have her first experience feeding the ducks. She loved every minute of it. She kept saying, "More, ducks?" and throwing the bread at them. Check her out in action here...I also love how that one ray of sunshine snuck in behind her.

15/365

Touch of red.

14/365

Scenes from the playground.

Only in the south is it a sunny 70 plus degree day in January. The playground was packed with kids of all ages just loving that weather. Here are some perspectives that are not the norm.

13/365

12/365

Animals on parade!

11/365

Funny farm has an all new meaning at the Schroeder household. Molly successfully discovered a new species...that of duck-cow origin. How silly!

10/365

There are certain objects in everyone's home that just characterize the people who live in that home. I grew up in Disney World. I have been there countless times...almost every year of my life for as far back as I can remember. It's also the place where I honeymooned. I have nothing but fond memories of my trips to Disney World and anxiously await the first time I will take Molly.



Some kids wear their hearts on their sleeves. Molly, she's more original than that. She wears hers on her feet!

9/365

Parts of a whole. It's funny how one tiny part can have an impact on the functionality of something as big as a railway car, huh?

8/365

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. The last time I was out with Erin D. and Erin N. was years ago as we trudged through Denver snow and the Coors Brewery in Golden, Colorado.

As fate would have it, the three of us were brought together again tonight for some good times and catching up. It's the funniest thing about good friends...no matter how much time elapses, it's easy to pick up right where you left off and feel like it was just yesterday. The picture for today is not impressive from a photography standpoint. But it's what we did and the product in the picture will always remind me of how lucky I am to have good friends.

7/365

This is my hand.
My hand will do
A thousand loving things for you.
You will remember when I am tall,
That once my hand was just this small.



And in honor of the playoff game tomorrow...welcome back, Deuce!

6/365

Today was a gloomy, rainy day. The sun was pretty nonexistant and my ability to get out and take photos today fell short on both timing and weather. So I am going to cheat a little bit and post a picture from my shots taken two days ago at Heritage Park. It's just what I need to brighten my day since it's got that touch of sunlight peeking through. I am also pretty proud of it on a photography level because it's one of the first shots I have taken in complete manual mode. It's not perfect, but I am pretty proud of the attempt.

Here's to brighter days and sunlight.

5/365

Wednesdays are long days for me. After work, I go to class. The only time I get with my Molly on Wednesdays is in the mornings before she goes to school. There is really no greater feeling than walking into her room in the morning to get her up and seeing her face light up when she sees me. Motherhood really is an ego booster, simply walking into her room can make her instantly happy, and that feeling of love is irreplacable.

She has taken on a new habit lately where she likes to have a vast collection of stuffed animals in bed with her. I laughed this morning when I noticed two things about her bed. One, her pillow was on the opposite end from where it was when I had laid her down the night before. And two, she had a frog, a mouse, a pig, and a baby respectively keeping her company in each of the four corners of her bed.



I adore everything about Molly's room. One of the things I am most fortunate for is having a talented friend, Amie, who painted her wall letters and individual canvas pictures of the animals that are in her bedding. I know Molly will come to appreciate the love that went into those works of art as she gets older. I know I already do. Amie, thanks.

4/365

It's still cold. There is still frozen water in fountains in the Katy, TX area. Here's the proof:



It's been a long day. Following a full day of work, I had to attend a textbook adoption committee meeting. I brought the camera with me when I left the house this morning in hopes that I would get some shots after the meeting. Sadly, it got out too late for me to go and get Molly before I ventured into the streets of downtown Katy. I went to one of my favorite picture spots, Katy Heritage Park. I have taken Molly here a few times to get some pictures of her, but this time I was able to look closer at the location itself and find some interesting things to photograph.

One of the things I really like about this particular park are the wrap around porches on the old houses and the old fashioned wooden swing that hangs on one of those porches. After taking some time to walk around the area and photograph some different things, I sat on that swing and looked at what I had. It was the first quiet, alone moment I had had all day. And it felt great.

3/365

Today the weather was a little warmer than it had been, so I picked Molly up from daycare and we headed out for an afternoon walk in the neighborhood. I brought the camera along and we happened across a lot of dead plants, frozen from the cold weather we have experienced of late.

Then we happened upon a plant that looked healthy and vibrant with these pretty red flowers still in bloom. I have always loved photos of flowers, so I played around with my focus points and was able to get a shot that I really liked. Here it is.



As we continued, we made an obligatory stop at the playground. I have often said she is a fearless child. She climbed all the way to the top of the structure on her own. I had to catch my breath for a minute and ask myself how she got to be so brave. I just hope that bravery serves her well in the future and she always has the courage to climb to new heights independently. I am pretty sure she will.

Oh, and talk about powerful sun...I just love the way the flare came out in this picture.

2/365

Baby, it's cold outside! Even in the south!

The last several days we have experienced something unusual to us southerners...a winter freeze. The temps have dropped as low as the teens overnight! Being used to hot summers and mild winters, many of our area neighbors have had to deal with frozen pipes and loss of electricity in their homes. Luckily, we have not had any suck misfortune.

I snapped the photo below today while we were trying to get some pics of Molly for her 2nd birthday party invitations. As we wandered around, we came upon a fountain. At first sight, we thought some kids had pulled a prank and dumped soap inside of it, but as we got closer, we realized it had a thin layer of frozen solid water on top of it. Bobby was able to pick up a part of it.



I also decided that since I will be doing this, I may as well do the two birds/one stone deal and also post a daily pic of Molly (at least on the days when it's not a pic of her anyway!). This is easy for today since we had a photoshoot anyway. It's funny that we spend so much time trying to get our kids to look at us and smile, when sometimes just letting them do their own thing can yield the best pic of the day. I think that's what happened here.

1/365

Molly has a love of books. She is the only child I have ever seen ignore all other toys on Christmas morning and want to go straight for the books Santa brought for her.

We recently got her a toddler sized armchair (her "reading chair") courtesy of a gift card she received for Christmas. She has found it the perfect spot to sit and flip through any of her books. Here she is reading her book about a puppy named Pepper. At this moment, Bobby had asked her if she was ready to go bye bye and she had promptly replied, "No...read it!"

The Intro

I have read about Project 365 on many photographer's websites and the idea always intrigued me. I mean, what better way to really become better at understanding and operating your camera than to commit to taking at least one photo every single day for the next year?

I love taking pictures. I always have. When my daughter was born, that love became more intense. I wanted to be able to capture every moment. While I was on maternity leave, I took pictures of her every single day. When I returned to work, and then enrolled in graduate school, and she grew older and mobile, those pictures slowed down. I'd be willing to bet that I still take more pictures than most moms, but I know I often miss some stuff because of that which we call life.

So my commitment is to take at least one photo every day and post it here. I am sure many of them will be of Molly (I mean, she is my favorite subject!), but I am going to expand my horizons and try to also capture other people, places, or things.

So I hope you will follow along as we begin!