We’ve had a lot of snow days this year. It’s not terrible. I like getting out of our responsibilities for a day. The worst part is that I have to do the shoveling but I just tell myself it’s a really good workout. Another thing that’s a really good workout is sledding. The third workout I got was getting everyone in and out of their winter gear. I’m exhausted.

The list of things that have gone wrong in the first two weeks of January is laughably long. I broke a filling, the kids shatter my laptop, my power charger fried my battery, we had several snow days/delays, I forgot to take the kids to swim (and karate and cheer), and Linc finally potty trained but not without peeing on every pair of underpants he owned. We now own more underpants AND as of this morning he’s officially done with diapers. I also got my computer fixed, ordered a new battery, made it to all our activities, and scheduled a dentist appointment.

I’m feeling very accomplished despite the setbacks, especially since on top of regular momming and housekeeping and cooking I’m also taking a photography class online. I’ve taken a few classes from Clickin Moms before and they’re always great, so when an ad for the class called The Documentary Approach crossed my Facebook feed, I saved the post. I kept going back to it and finally decided it would be a great way to keep me inspired during January.

So far we’ve focused on light (which is terrible in January) and this week is composition (which is something I thought I was good at but now I’m not so sure). It hasn’t been good for my confidence, but it has been good for my creativity. I am really, really looking forward to warmer weather so we can go outside and I can take pictures somewhere besides my house though. As much as I love documenting our life, I really like taking aesthetically beautiful photos in between so much reality.

You know what I need? Another photo project.

(That’s sarcasm. Serious sarcasm, because I already do my iPhone photo posts AND I’m doing another 365 Project which you can follow on Instagram.)

But I am a huge, huge fan of Sesame Ellis so when she started a group on Facebook to share and learn and discover new photographers, I couldn’t help myself.

So here’s this month’s 12 photos on the 12th of the month. The theme was supposed to be New Beginnings. These were all taken in January, so close enough for me.