My Year in Photos? Thought you would never ask!

This post is part of the 2013 Think Kit Challenge, a blogging project by SmallBox. I thought long and hard before committing to this project. A challenge always comes in handy when one is trying to motivate oneself, so I selfishly accepted this challenge for that purpose. Besides, when I saw the first prompt, I knew I had the material.

My year in pictures seems to be the same year after year. It involves my family and friends, which make up the bulk of my time and energy, leaving only enough time and energy to make a wholehearted but half-a***d pursuit of the Arts. In my opinion, you cannot pursue the Arts - the Arts pursue you. For the purposes of this blog post, I narrow it down to family.

This past year has been a year of challenges for our family, so that is my focus. The pictures below are not for the purpose of bragging, but for the purpose of congratulating these amazing people that have accomplished so much in spite of their difficulties. So I would love to highlight some of their successes.

My youngest granddaughter, Lena, accepting the 2nd place trophy in her school talent showcase. She was in Kindergarten and competed in the K, 1st, & 2nd grade division with a solo tap dance. I am not only proud of her talent, but of her courage and composure. Her Division 2 Young Champions Cheerleading team also took 1st place in the State Competition.

My oldest granddaughter, Carys and her Level 4 Young Champions won 1st place in the state competition and competed at the nationals in Virginia Beach, VA. She also completed her first 5K in August - the Elvis Presley 5K run at the tender age of 9. 

My only grandson, Gabriel, the one who bears the blame for making me what I am today (Grandma), beams with pride over his 1st place Spelling Bee trophy. He competed as a 6th grader in the Arlington Middle School competition with such composure and confidence! He heads to the county competition in February, 2014. In addition to being smart, he is one of the kindest 12 year old boys that I have ever met. I would be remiss if I did not brag on his gaming skills also.

How does a grandmother get so lucky?

My daughter accomplished a lot this year. She had surgery on both of those beautiful eyes, taught school, taught yoga, redid 3 bedrooms, all while raising my wonderful grand kids. She somehow managed to have a bit of a social life in addition to all of her responsibilities.

My son also accomplished a lot in the past year. He moved back to midtown (his favorite place to live), rebuilt a long-neglected social life, lost weight (so proud and so jealous), worked at his job, worked on his music, and remained an all-around good guy. This guy is my wings!

How does a mother get so lucky?

I did my first juried art show in many, many, many years. It was the premier show of Art2Wear in Germantown TN. I have to admit that I loved the attention, the adoring crowds (wink, wink), rubbing elbows with all of the creative people.... But it gives me pause to consider what I really want to do, and I really enjoy rubbing elbows with my tight knit little group at Memphis Melange Etsy Team and Indie Style Market. They keep me artistically stimulated, give me creative criticism, high fives, kicks in the butt when needed - you know, like family. 

There is one more picture I have to throw in, just because there is a lesson here to be learned.

Never, never, never accidentally fall asleep around my family.You are fair game for a practical joke.