I had a goal this month to join Angie and Elizabeth on Project 18. I think it's a great project for capturing everyday moments and the little details that slip our memory so quickly.

Remember last month? When I took 9 out of 18 photos? My goal was to actually take 18 photos. But, alas, today I took exactly one photo, for a scrappy project I'm going to blog about tomorrow. Partly this is because I spaced what day it was, and because I had a headache, and because holy cow I am still fairly exhausted because Kendell's knee keeps us both up at night.

But here's the thing: I don't have to have photographs to capture today's little moments. There's a medium far older than photos, and that's words! So, here's a list of 18 photos I wish I would've taken today.

1. Kendell and me, asleep in our bed until 8:30. This is a minor miracle because his knee starts hurting, and then he eventually wakes me up, and by the time about 7:00 comes around I'm too frustrated to try to sleep. This morning? He slept until 8:30, and then I got up to refresh the ice in his ice machine...and went back to sleep until 10:00. So lovely.
2. Kaleb headed off to church. He is not loving church these days (actually, he hasn't loved church since he was four). Some Sundays I am willing to fight the good fight and go to church anyway. Some Sundays I just don't even try because the contention doesn't seem very spiritual. This Sunday, he was OK with going. Not excited...but OK. He has a purple striped tie and his size-11 shoes and he's just looking so grown up.
3. The three of us in church. We're sitting in the next-to-the-last row because that's where we always sit. There is a kind and very quiet-spoken couple giving the talk...Kendell's head is leaning one way, mine is leaning the other, and we're doing our best to keep our eyes open but it's not going so well. Kaleb is sitting next to me drawing pictures of soccer balls. At least we tried...
4. What would a photo of my headaches look like? I guess just my face grimacing, but what it feels like is metallic. Like liquid metal—silver, maybe, or whatever alloy the Terminator is made from—spreading into the crevices and atop the ridges of my brain. I don't get pounding headaches, I get sharp, stinging ones, and sometimes Excedrin will take care of them but usually Excedrin and sleep are both necessary. So the photo of my headache might be the three of us leaving church early.
5. Speaking of leaving church early, in this next imaginary photo, I'm sitting in the car while Kendell is helping Kaleb clean his church shoe off on the grass. Listen: I am entirely bothered by people who let their dogs poop at the park or on trails or pathways without picking it up, but at least it makes a little bit of sense. WHO lets their dog poop on the grass of a church and then just leaves it? Sigh. They still looked adorable, though, working together. They were even laughing, even though Kendell gets more annoyed at the inconsiderate recklessness of pooping dogs than I do.
6. When we got home from church, Kaleb said "Mom, I know you have a headache but would you mind making me a sandwich? The one you made me yesterday was perfect." (Another sign that Kaleb is Kendell's mini-me: he can eat the same foods over and over again without getting annoyed.) Who could resist? So here's a photo of me making Kaleb's perfect sandwich, which goes like this: grilled bread, light mayo on both pieces of bread, five slices of turkey that have also been heated on the grill until they are just a little bit crispy, one slice of Monterey-Jack cheese, and a tiny dollop of mustard. Kaleb is running up the stairs while I make it, his church clothes changed for his favorite blue t-shirt. 
7. Would two photos of me sleeping be too many? But that nap I took after church was exactly what my headache needed. (And the Excedrin. And the caffeinated beverage later.)
8. Headache managed, Kendell and I drove out to visit my mom. She has been moved to a rehab-style hospital, where she will hopefully get strong enough to finally be able to come home. (I am dreading the other possibility, which is that she won't ever be able to regain enough strength to live at home again.) While we were there I thought "I should just sit on her bed with her and have Kendell take our picture," but I didn't because...I'm not sure why I hesitated, except I wasn't sure if she would want a photo of herself in her condition. But we had a nice chat.
9. The mountains as we walked back to the car. A strong wind had sprung up, blowing clouds so that they were just starting to surround the foothills on the east side of the valley. On the west side, the sun was shining and the sky was blue; where we were standing in the wind, a sharp snow was falling. It was cold but so beautiful.
10. My quilt-covered kitchen table. Right now I am working on five different quilts. That's not a typo. Three baby quilts and then I'm determined to finish the quilt I want to have for soccer games (which start next Saturday!) and the pink and black quilt I've been working on forever. Two of the baby quilts are using scraps from the pink and black quilt (but no black, only grey) and one is made with scraps from the soccer quilt. I like how they are feeding and influencing each other. But there is fabric everywhere! I think I'll finish all but the pink and black one...I haven't decided yet how to arrange the half-square triangles.
11. What is a good life-right-now documentation without some images of food? For dinner tonight (the first food I actually ate, see #7), we had sweet pork burritos. Every time I make them I think "I should share my recipe" but I still haven't. I really should, as it is a delicious and fairly easy meal. 
12. Nathan and Kendell watching TV together in our bed. They have several shows they watch together, and I heard Kendell say "It will be weird to watch this by myself after you move out." SNIFF. No, seriously, SNIFF. This isn't a photo of my son and my husband watching TV together. This is a photo of the ending of things. I'm so not ready for Nathan to move out, even though I know HE is ready. He takes good care of me and I can't even explain how much I'll miss him.
13. Nathan and me sitting at the kitchen counter, using our new phones. I feel a little bit guilty getting a new phone, as I just upgraded this fall, but there was a deal (Kendell can't resist a good cell phone deal!) and for some reason, Kendell really, really wanted me to have the plus-sized Samsung instead of the regular one. Nathan also upgraded, and we're still figuring out the new stuff. He got a yellow case and I got a clear one because my phone is purple. Purple and enormous, but it still fits in the pockets of my running skirt so I'm good.
14. Me, Kendell, and Nathan watching TV together. We all piled into our bed because Kendell still is avoiding the stairs.
15. Kaleb working on building stuff with Lego. He's trying to watch less TV these days. Today he built a house with a bathroom and a kitchen. 
16. More food! Well...do chocolate chip cookies count as food? Nathan was craving some, and I can toss together a batch pretty quickly. So I did. One of the secrets to really delicious chocolate chip cookies? Different sizes and flavors of chocolate chips. Also butter!
17. Me massaging Kendell's leg. I stand on the side of the bed to do this for him. He swears that me touching it gently helps it heal. Might be complete B.S., but I can't do much else to help. 
18. I think the last photo should be of me, writing this blog post in the dark while everyone else is sleeping. I'm working on our PC, which I don't do much anymore—since Kendell works from home now, he uses the PC and I've set up a desk with my laptop in my scrapbook room. But I'd still rather write on this computer, as it feels like home. I've written a lot of blog posts on this machine!

I'd like to promise that next month on the 18th I'll manage 18 photos. We'll see. But I'm glad I wrote down these little details.