2012...a blog year in review...

It has been my tradition for the last several years to do a "year in review" showcasing each month's blog header and sharing my favorite post of the month as well as the most viewed.

January's header actually showed bird photos as well as a Brooklyn photo before this proud grandma switched over to all grandbaby photos. 2012 was also the first year I choose a theme or "word" for the year like I have seen on other blogs. The theme for the year was Choose Joy which was reflected in each header and I personally really enjoyed making the extra effort to find joy in even the most mundane of days. The January 1st post titled "Choose Joy in 2012"" was my most viewed post that month but my favorite was "Project 365...days 13-23" in which I showed some photos from my warm vacation to Jamaica and returning home to see Brooklyn.

My favorite post of February was a "wordless Wednesday" with photos of a beautiful February sunset out my windows, but can you believe the most viewed post was "little things" where I showed a new paint can topper that made repainting the whole interior of my house a lot easier last winter.

The most viewed post of March was "a week in review" which announced baby J due in July was a girl named Bailey, some outdoor dog & bird shots and photos of my grandnieces, Kinley & Keena. My favorite post was "Spring arrives" where I got out the macro lens and took photos of the early budding trees and shrubs.

During April, Brooklyn turned 6 months old and the post titled "a little big girl" was the most viewed post. My favorite post was "mosaic Monday..Easter weekend" which highlighted a family Easter.

May brought the most viewed post in the history of my blog (2006-present) and that was a post titled "Pine Hollow" which showcased my fairy garden. I linked this photo to a blog party, was invited to enter it in a fairy garden contest (in which I won one of the categories) and it was also pinned many times on Pinterest. I guess with all that extra attention I can also list that post as my favorite of the month as well.

The most viewed post of June was also my favorite, "Butterflies and Brooklyn" showed a butterfly landing on little Miss Brooklyn during a photo shoot. Such a special memory!

I used two blog headers for July - the first one held a blank frame for the much anticipated arrival of our second granddaughter and it was updated with her photo once she arrived on July 25th.

Of course my favorite post was announcing her arrival titled "She's here!". The most viewed post of the month was "garden tour...part one".

The most viewed post of August was "a mosaic of garden shots", since I'm composing this review on a -3 degree night I would have to say it is also my favorite :)

September brought the beginning of the slacker blogger with only 2 posts for the first time ever! "Catching up" was the most viewed as well as my favorite.

October brought "bugs in the garden" which was the most viewed post. My favorite was "Brooklyn's birthday weekend".

November's favorite and most viewed post was "Happy Thanksgiving" in which we tried very hard to get three little "turkeys in ruffle skirts" posed.

December's most viewed post was "Merry Christmas" with photos from Christmas eve as well as our 2012 Christmas card. Until the Sandy Hook tragedy I was posting simple joy daily photos and one of my personal favorites was "JOY in color" showing some of the beautiful birds in my garden. I am so excited to finally have a resident cardinal and I can only hope that spring 2013 will bring a female so we have a resident couple! I'll be back tomorrow with a new header and a new "word" of the year...

week in review...

I hope all reading this have had a wonderful Christmas! Ours was prolonged and finally ended yesterday with all the holiday and birthday celebrations. I thought I would share a few mosaics of the fun and of course my grandbabies and special nieces...Mari & Emma! Christmas celebrations with the family and a playdate visit from Mari...

My two birthday dinners with a sense of humor added...

and finally the 3 littlest Johnson cousins showing off their cuteness in matching outfits...

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all! We spent last night with Bailey & her parents for a wonderful Christmas eve of church, candlelight, dinner and fun.

Even though today is Christmas we will be celebrating until next Sunday with many parties and look forward to Jayme & family arriving on Thursday. I'll share photos as I'm able...

who's eating all my corn?

He doesn't even look a bit guilty either...

I'm so thankful that this beautiful cardinal seems to be staying for the winter...

It's cold this am and the feeders are extra busy...time to get out there to refill them.

Christmas cutie...

Guess who is spending the day with Grandma & Grandpa?

Little Miss Bailey dressed up in her candy cane shirt & skirt :)

She helped Grandma wrap presents and Grandma decided she is our family's best gift in 2012 - so into a box she went. I love that the girls are too young to say no to grandma's crazy photo ideas!

She also loves to show what a big girl she is now by showing off her rolling over skills and we cheer and show her how much we enjoy it.

Joy multiplied...

what's important in life...

I've continued to look for the simple joys in everyday life including the last few days of shock and grief over the tragedy at Sandy Hook elementary but it seems frivolous to post them. Looking at the faces of my grand babies, nieces and nephews and the beautiful and innocent children of our church at Sunday morning's Christmas program and thinking of the families that sent their beautiful and innocent children off to school Friday morning never knowing these poor babies wouldn't be coming home breaks my heart. I saw the following video of little Ana Grace (a victim) online this am singing her heart out while her brother plays the piano. The same brother that was also in Sandy Hook that fateful morning but was unharmed physically but I can only imagine his and his families emotional injury and pain.
 All one hears these days is "gun control, gun control, gun control"! America doesn't need gun control - gun control doesn't keep the guns away from the bad guys they'll find them anyway. What America needs is mental health awareness and help, and people coming back to God. Families that bring their kids to Sunday school and church and not just drop them off at the door and pick them up afterwards...Families that pray together and teach their kids right from wrong...Church pews filled back up like they were when we were kids and not the half empty ones we see now...TV and entertainment that doesn't glorify violence and has more moral themes...the list could go on and on!

In this nation where people fought to remove "one nation under God" from the pledge of allegiance but the courts upheld it, lets start acting like it!

Politics aside, I'm grateful our president quoted scripture at Sunday's memorial service in Conn. when he said: "Scripture tells us, 'Do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly, we are being renewed day by day. "For light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all, so we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven not built by human hands." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 to 2 Corinthians 5:1

He ended his speech with: "For those of us who remain, let us find the strength to carry on and make our country worthy of their memory. May God bless and keep those we've lost in His heavenly place. May He grace those we still have with His holy comfort, and may He bless and watch over this community and the United States of America." Come on America...you know what to do!

Christmas is a week away...we always hear "Jesus is the reason for the Season" at this time of year. Yes, he is...it is the celebration of his birth, but I like this quote better..."Jesus is the reason for ALL Seasons". Another favorite quote: "The Magic of Christmas is not in the presents but in His Presence".

I'm off my soapbox and will go back to photos this week...if I've lost you as a follower after this little post...I understand but just couldn't not share how I felt. This blog is about "Garden of Life and Life in the Garden" and I just couldn't let this one go without saying anything after seeing little Miss Ana Grace's beautiful smile and song.

day 14...

is a beautiful morning with everything covered in hoarfrost. I think it makes a perfect winter scene and that makes today start out with JOY. I wish I had time to go outside and share the JOY with macro shots but today is a busy office day so you get a photo through the window...

an extra joy is capturing this redpoll on the tip of a branch...

JOY in color...day 13

Day 13 had me smiling with Joy at first light when I spotted Mr. Red Cardinal at the empty feeders! Wow, can't believe he is sticking around and he had me dressed and filling the feeders asap.

Other colors I'm loving this am are the rose red on the redpolls...

and bright blue against the snow backdrop.

the 12th day of JOY...

involves feathers! Who isn't smiling when they see a wild headband of feathers :) Once again Grandma dressed up Brooklyn with a little Christmas spirit and picked out a feathered green & red headband. Brooklyn didn't know what to think as I posed her in her little chair...

She didn't really want to pose so I let her play for awhile...she immediately went for her car which has been a pretty popular toy this morning.

She soon discovered if she moved her head the feathers went every which way so a new game was invented...sway your head back and forth and watch the feathers fly by your face.

It was a pretty funny game until a feather got stuck in her mouth but once grandma showed her how to brush it out it was a silly game again.

Only took one more time getting stuck in her open mouth and the game wasn't so fun anymore...the headband came off pretty quickly then. I'm on the road home today so I'm extra thankful for all the love and JOY I received from Brooklyn the last few days...I won't see her again until the 27th for a belated Christmas celebration and I'll sure miss her!

joy day 11...

Everyday I read the Paul Douglas weather column. He is just a pretty interesting weather guy who I've watched for years on tv and now read via his blog. Today's simple joy came while reading his post and seeing the following graphic...

Of course, the "Home" and "Brooklyn's house" tag and pointers were not on Paul's graphic but I added them so you can see the source of my joy. I picked a good couple of days to spend up here watching Brooklyn with around 6" of snow on the ground while her Grandpa Jeff deals with the huge amounts back home! He said he spent the whole day yesterday moving snow for neighbors, businesses and on our own yard. To make me smile even wider I read the following quote further down Paul's post... "We just got our first taste of real winter, and the beginning of astronomical winter (which is meaningful only for those who live their telescopes) is less than 2 weeks away. Yet, we are very close to the first harbinger of spring! What? Yes, on Tuesday, Dec. 11, the sun will start setting later every day until the end of June. The reason for this happy happening is complicated, having to do with the changing speed of the Earth as it gets closest to the sun. Who cares why? Let's take heart from the news that our dark evenings will soon begin to brighten - and by the end of the month the sun will be setting a full ten minutes later than it is now." Who knew? The first day of winter on the calendar is not the shortest day of the year any longer - Yeah! Of course, I can't stay up here and not have photos to share of Brooklyn...modeling what Grandma picked out for her to wear today :)

10th day of joy...

Today I had an unexpected joy when I looked out the window at Jayme's and spotted a mourning dove. These guys have long moved south from my central MN home and here I am in northern MN and spy one.

One of the simple joys of spending time with Brooklyn is that Grandma gets to pick out what she wears each day...we are going for a Christmas theme this week :)

9th day of JOY...

The 9th day of December is filled with JOY because it's another day spent with Brooklyn...

We are watching the snow fall here up north but it is nothing like Grandpa Jeff is experiencing back home. Lots of snow and NW winds are leading to blizzard conditions...Grandma is thankful she wasn't on the road today and instead gets in more Brooklyn snuggling time. In yesterday's post, Cindy (Applestone Cottage) commented on loving Brooklyn's little stable. It is the Fisher Price Little People Nativity set. I gave both my little granddaughters one for Christmas as an early Christmas present so they can learn and play the Christmas Story from little on. I have to say it is the best - one of Brooklyn's very favorite toys especially when you put baby Jesus in the center and it plays Away in the Manger and Silent Night. She always does a little dance then :) When she puts the animals in the stable and opens/closes the door the animal make sounds and she can make the angel dance across the roof by pushing the star. Bailey has hers set up but is still too young to play - I look forward to many Christmases watching the girls get out their own special nativity sets that are made to be played with.

Joy..day 8

Day 8 had me on the road for 4 hours but what a JOY it was to arrive at Brooklyn's for a couple days of fun...

With the expected winter storm arriving today and tonight Grandpa had to stay home so Grandma gets to give extra kisses for him too :)

7th day of joy...

It's such a joy to spend time with Bailey and look into those beautiful blue eyes! Joy is also a feeling of accomplishment - I had a great afternoon of sewing and crafting and 3 little girls will look pretty sweet in their candy cane skirts and tops :)

the 6th day of JOY...

ends with a beautiful sunset!

day 5...

The 5th day of simple joys has me very happy that my cardinal visitor has been here for 7 days in a row! I was worried today when I didn't see him until late afternoon but he finally showed up for a bite to eat. The only water source available is my heated birdbath and so far he doesn't seem to have found it. I'm hoping he does soon before he decides to move on.

Joy...days 3 and 4

Day 3 brought me smiling at my beautiful amaryllis...It's crazy how you can plant a bulb on a cold November day and a few weeks later have a gorgeous head of 4 blossoms and one more bud to open!

One of my very favorite things to do is capture the "glint" of the sunlight reflecting in a bird's eyes in a photograph. It's going to be extra hard for me this winter because my new feeder arrangement only gets about an hour of direct sunlight a day. Most of the time it is hard to even make out the eyes of a chickadee (black on a black head) in a photo so capturing the white glint makes for a pretty "joyful" photographer today :)

simple JOYS...day 2

Today I had a quiet day while J was out hunting, I played on the computer and enjoyed some digital scrapbooking which was simple joy #1. The second joy was actually experienced Friday and that was discovering Cadbury makes a Christmas version of their wonderful mini eggs. Maybe, I'm the last to discover these but I'm glad I did. I had a small handful again this afternoon...simple joy #2.