Silly Series Day 3: Klondike Madness

So it all begin with these...

...handed out to 5 kids. They each got two (we moms were feeling so generous).
I brought my camera over because of the beautiful light and because I thought, who doesn't love catching kids eating ice cream? Wow. Whether it was the immediate sugar rush to the head, or just the fact that kids love being goofy, my lens saw some silly action. It was Klondike madness.

There was another package back at home and there are two left in the freezer. I am using all of my mighty strength to not go in there right now and partake of the leftovers. I may be mad for a Klondike (a peanut butter and chocolate one) but I refuse to give in. Please pray for me.

iheartfaces oh so dramatic (and silly) bw photo

It's day two of my Silly Series and have I mentioned before that my son is TEN?  If that sounds like a broken record to you then a million apologies. But when you have a ten year old son (one that rarely makes a willing appearance in front of the lens) you too will find yourself sounding like that broken record, only because it serves as a coping mantra as you navigate the waters of TEN-ness. (He's TEN. He's TEN. He's TEN. He's TEN....)
Today my TEN year old is unaware that I have entered his mug shot into a wonderful little photo contest on iheartfaces. The theme this week was "dramatic black and white". And while I know that this may not be the penultimate black and white photo EVER in the history of man, I would like to point out that for a TEN year old, it is "dramatic" in the interpretive sense of the word.  (And, I heart his face so that's all that matters.)

Go check out all the other lovely dramatic bw's over at iheartfaces.
There are a lot of amazing photographers out there friends!

My first theme week: The Silly Series

As I slowly uploaded pictures from the weekend I was met with silly face after silly face. Kids can be so lovely. But as I mentioned recently, something happens when they get a buzz in their funny bone. So in honor of all the silly kids I know (and I know a lot) I decided to do my first ever theme week: The Silly Series. Nice huh? And be prepared, cause I have some Sillies to share.

Monday's Silly? My favorite soon-to-be teenager sharing a moment with me on the beach...

This girl never fails me. She is always willing to give the camera some silly loooooove. Her mother is my dear friend whom I've known for the last twenty one years. When we were young and single we shared some very silly moments (some that I will keep private for now) and this girl has definitely inherited her mother's silly genes. This is why I can always count on some camera action with her when I need it. (Thanks Girl!) When I look at her I realize that she is true barometer of my aging years. I can still remember getting off a long flight from Argentina, going straight to the pay phone (yes, pay phone people) in the baggage claim and calling the hospital to hear the news that she had arrived.  Over the twelve years I have known her I have cherished: cleaning up cherry laden poopy diapers, capturing her in her ladybug costume, watching her rock climb, sharing two terrifying bear-in-our-campsite moments, watching her create beautiful artwork, and sharing laughs on inflatable rafts in fridge Lake Tahoe water. Almost thirteen years later I am a proud to be called "T".

So honored to give this girl the top Monday spot in my Silly Series.

Stay tuned for more Sillies...

xoxo

My own little Mini Boden shoot

Earlier in the week I posted a peek of a photo shoot I did for a friend and today I'm showing y'all some of my favorites as I have gone through them during the week. I must say, these girly girls are just so beautiful and if you knew their mama like I do, then you would know that they take after her. She is one beautiful mama inside and out. And, I must also say that as I was going through the photos I felt as if I was editing a Mini Boden shoot.  (Which btw, I would seriously have fun shooting a real MB shoot. You can watch a behind the scenes video here and I think you will agree.) I am thinkin' that I should call up the people at Mini Boden and tell them that I have found the perfect models. They might not have British accents but these girls certainly look the part...

That picture above...oh my...Gerber baby watch out!

The next two pictures below have a back story: All of us adults thought that the blue "4" was super cool especially since Miss N was FOUR...and wouldn't it be cool if she could stand next to that super cool blue "4" seeing that she is the only FOUR year old in our little group? Miss N was not down on that idea. I think her mama pulled out some amazing bribe from her bribe stash because we eventually got her to creep, creep, creep up next to it.

Once she was there she cracked a smile. And then we asked her to show us how a four year old twirls.

Another "shy" moment. I love capturing the real moments cause that's what this was. Mama offering some encouragement...maybe some more bribes?

The picture above? My favorite. A passing smile caught on camera. Beautiful. (I'm calling Mini Boden.)

And then below? Little Miss A, all happy gaga and perfectly cute. The blue flower in her hair? A few years ago another friend of mine started an online baby bow boutique, Bitty Bows. She makes these amazing bows that will stay put in that fine baby hair. Miss A was her latest bow model on her website.

See, she's just that cute!

Who doesn't love a broccoli baby?

Our last stop was the chicken coop. These hens plucked around our feet and the rooster even showed off his vocal chords as we stood there. (I think it was a gentle reminder for us to step away from his girls...or else.) As we headed back to the car, the little one enjoyed a ride with mama. Watching her enjoy her thumb, nestled against her mama's chest, gave me that (slight) twinge of baby lust. I wanted a baby for ONE day, just to remember what that was like to have my own little ones held close in the comfort of my own arms, dozing off to sleep. (Woah, I'm sounding like my life is at its end am I reminiscing about the golden days. Reality check: my kids aren't that old, my youngest is 7 for goodness sakes, and those weren't the golden days--hello, no sleep.) But 'tis very true that time with your kids goes by too fast. Even though you work to cherish the moments you have at every step it still goes by in a blink. I am glad I caught that moment for my dear friend. I wish I had a picture to remind myself of that moment I had with my own. (sniff, swipe tear)

Now that I am fully melancholy and ready to go dig through the stash of old baby photos, I think I will sign off for the weekend. I need a Sabbath from my crazy week. See you on Monday blogger world...

xoxo

Hey, what's so funny?

It's never a dull moment when these two are together. I usually spend my time laughing at them, laughing at each other. And with her buddy giggling at her, Bean holds nothing back--digging deep into her well of silliness.  She's her own SNL skit with an audience of one.

It began with Zach sitting at the computer listening to his new favorite song by
Green Day, "21 Guns".   (At least he is over Eye of the Tiger. I was not appreciating living out my 80's high school memories on a daily basis.)

Which to the girls, sounded like "21 Gums"...as in old-ladies-without-teeth kind of gums.

This sparked a fit of laughter. Of course, nothing like a misunderstood song lyric to get you giggling.

At which point Bean launched into a scenario: imagine if an old lady began laughing and her teeth flew out and hit you in the head. Ha ha ha ha ha... And then those teeth bounced back and hit someone else in the head. Ha ha ha ha ha... And then the teeth just went back and forth, back and forth. Ha ha ha ha ha...

Hit the pause button.
I know you are searching for the hilarity in this. Your jaw is slightly slack and your brow is a tinge perplexed...a look of "huh?" is written all over your face. I don't blame you. This is when I rolled my eyes and said "Hilarious, I can't think of anything more funnier." But think back to a time when you sat with some little ones and they giggled at something inane, ridiculous. Remember the slow giggle that grew in your belly as you watched their funny bones split open. There is something about the innocent and untainted imagination of a child that causes us to let go of our restraints and allow ourselves to let out an adult giggle.
Hit the play button.

So as they laughed on and on about gums and spit the conversation bled into something about hairy armpits. Hairy armpits. Hairy armpits.

I won't entertain you with the details of that conversation. I'll just leave you with the image of hairy armpits and let you all decide if that's funny...or not. (Not)


p.s. I'd like to hear about what gets your kids giggling. Always nice to know that my kids aren't the only ones that are one notch away from normal...

Where were you at 9am this morning?

Me? I was standing here with a friend ready to embark on our morning walk. This is where I walk/run several times a week and I never, ever get bored of it. I walk the two mile loop, sometimes twice, sometimes with a friend, sometimes not. (Depends on my energy and mood or how much time I have.) When the trails finally dry up you can walk up in the hills, though I have yet to do that. I need a friend to show me the way. (Debbie?)

A little historical note: This is actually historical land once owned by the famous Murphy clan (of the town of Murphys near Angels Camp in California gold country). Somehow in the dividing up of land after their passing this part was saved and made into a county park. To the left of the road is the inner circle where cows have been pasturing for over a hundred years. When they are actually in the circle, instead of up in the hills, you need no iPod my friends. Your tunes are the long moooooooo's of conversations between the females and babies and the lone bull that guards them all.

Speaking of the lone bull: try explaining to your son why one bull gets to be with all those females. Why the females actually allow it but really do not associate with him unless it's their "duty".  Sometimes I regret opening my mouth to offer little educated bits of knowledge to my children. Sometimes it's just not worth busting open the can of worms with my very curious 10 year old.

A minor freak out moment: One winter day I was out there, dodging rain drops, and spotted two wild boar rooting in a muddy ravine about 100 feet off the path. I had heard stories in these parts of town, so I suffered a minor panic attack hoping they wouldn't notice me, wishing that I could sprout wings (like I do in my dreams) and fly away. Obviously I came away unscathed, lived to tell about it, and am here doing so on my blog. Ta-dah!

Where were you at 9am this morning?

Where do your roots grow?

I met two dear friends today to do a little photo shoot out a nearby homestead. One friend came with her camera to shoot with me, and the other was the mommy of these beautiful girls. Today was actually part one of the photo shoot, the second coming later with just the little Peanut. Back when I had my first camera I did some photos of Big Sis. Oh my, I totally didn't know what I was doing back then. I wish I could go back in time and reshoot those moments for Mama. Oh well, she'll just have a pictorial representation of my growth as a photographer hanging on her walls. (Thanks for stickin' with me Stac!) Anyway, we walked into this garden and were met with this awesome wall. I could have spent all day there and been totally satisfied, but the girls were anxious to show me the butterfly garden and the animals. I MUST go back there with some kids...at sunset time when the light is amazing. Any takers?

Moments at the wall...

I have never seen two big sisters love their baby sis any more than these two. They insisted on holding her, loving her, and tending to her every need. True sisterly love in the air!

I will probably share some more pictures later this week after I've had time to go through them all. It's been a long day and I need to go tend to my own kids, give them love...make sure their roots are growing healthy and strong.

this or that?

daisies or roses?

daisies

pumps or flip flops?

flip flops

make up or au'naturel?

au'naturel

royal treatment or camping?

camping

expensive date with hubby or movie at home?

movie at home

fruity specialty drink or water?

water

nick nacks or empty space?

empty space

more or less?

less

noise or quiet?

quiet

cramped book shelf or a trip to the library?

trip to the library

full calendar or wide open days?

wide open days

city landscape or empty horizon?

empty horizon

frilly frou-frou or earthy?

earthy

fussy or easy going?

easy going

crowded party or dinner with a few good friends?

dinner with a few good friends

ocean liner cruise boat or canoe?

canoe

bling or no bling?

no bling

complicated or simple?

simple

bouquet of long stemmed roses or just-picked yellow daises on my windowsill?

just-picked yellow daises on my windowsill

xoxo

It's official...

Spring has SPRUNG....

...and Winter is DONE.
(There must be a song about this, but all I can think of is "Ding dong the witch is dead...")

I have been checking in daily on the trees across the street, waiting for signs of life. And right on time they have announced the arrival of Spring. (Such a contrast to the scene I captured on the first day of Winter last year!) I was so giddy, I led Bean over to inspect the new buds with me. She enjoyed picking the pollen pod thingys and disintegrating them into the wind.  (And you thought Mother Nature was solely responsible for your spring allergies?!)

Something about the faithful clockwork of nature and the rush of growth bursting onto the scene
makes me smile every time I inspect the tiny spring buds.

And the sun and wind in this little bud's hair brings me a smile as well.

Happy Spring!
xoxo

Mommy Camp

It's turning out to be quite the mommy and Bean weekend, I know. The men are off on a Boy Scout camping trip leaving the girlz to do their own Mommy Camp--as Bean calls it. We sat down today after school and wrote up all the things she'd like to do with me. The list is long. So we started off with a trip to Target to spend a gift card (one hula hoop, box of crayons, and Pin Print later). Then we headed over to Red Robbin for a cheeseburger.

While we were there we put the new crayons to good use and worked on this:

I would like to point out my contribution: the blue clouds and green grass. After we completed the picture I noticed that my blue clouds looked an awful lot like our hands that Bean drew. Huh. (This is why I am a photographer, not a painter.)  I would also like to point out the new hair-do Bean is using on her people: the side part/swept bang look. I'm the one in the dress...with the darker hair. (Next Tuesday I'm getting my highlights done.) Bean also accidentally gave me six fingers on my right hand. And then did it to herself too. (Thanks Bean)

After we got home the weather was just too wonderful so we played with the new hula hoop...

I have to say, I have completely lost my hula hoop mojo. Like really really lost it. We were going to do a competition and I barely squeaked out two spins. It was the craziest thing. It's not like riding a bicycle, at all.

We moved onto the jump rope...

When I was her age I was the best jump roper ever. I even won a competition in kindergarden for the most jumps. (In first grade I won the "standing on one foot for the longest amount of time" competition.) Anyway it was apparent today that my kinder self could totally woop my a@#. After ten jumps my brain was so jarred I needed to sit down. (Go ahead and laugh, I'm already there.)

Soon after, the neighborhood boys came over to borrow some bike tools and so Bean got out her scooter and showed me her ballet moves...and then did circles around the boys while I sat in the driveway and waved at the cars and neighbors passing by.

We came in at twilight and crawled into my bed, played Go Fish, went through her favorite Seek and Find book, and watched YouTube kitten videos on my iPod. I sent her off into Dream Land with some back rubs, prayers, and a lullaby.

On the list for tomorrow: morning bagels, farmers market, netflix movie, painting nails, Hello Kitty store, and maybe Easy Bake Oven.

I am not picking up my camera tomorrow and so I will be back on Sunday. Tomorrow it is just me and the Bean. :)

Happy weekend!
xoxo

Sweet moments caught with the timer

The sun was slowly sinking behind the hills.

Bean and I were perched in the glowing sun, chit-chatting.

She said, "Mommy, one day I'm going to use a camera like you."

(Smile)

To which I replied...

"I hope you know you have the freedom to pursue whatever path your creativity leads you down."
Then we decided to capture ourselves with the camera's timer.
It was a mommy and me kind of moment and Bean was lavishly handing out smooches.
This was truly my most favorite part of my day.
(Well, that and the part when my hubby made dinner.)

As for the comment about wanting to use a camera like me...
I know I walked 30 years before my creative soul found rest behind the lens.

I hope it does not take her that long to discover whatever that place is for herself, 

but I do know that I will love and encourage her for as long as it takes.
And if one day she wants to pick up the camera like me, I will gladly welcome her by my side.

Green green my world is green

In honor of St. Pat's Day I decided to let green be my guide.
Amazing what you find when you open your eyes. Green is everywhere friends!

My green world, from left to right:

1. Bean's hair scrunchy thingy  2. An Irish girl dressed up as an Irish girl  3. Yep, my shoes  4. Girl wearing very festive Dr. Seuss-like hat  5. freshly mowed lawn (thanks Zach)  6. My neighbor's lone cactus that sits right on the border of our property (not what I would have planted there but whatev, I'm neighborly)  7. Kermit the Frog?  8. Little kinder showing me her lucky charm necklace  9. My handy water bottle (BPA free)  10. Park bench painted standard city green  11. Trash can...also painted standard city green  12. My favorite little house plant (that I have not killed...yet)  13. Girl jumping in "Irish Girl at Heart" shirt (personally I don't think she's Irish) 14. Garden hose that can never stay wound due to neighborhood kids using it as their personal water source  15. Neighbor's weed (next to the lone cactus that I would not have planted)  16. Cool manly plaid shirt  17. Port-a-potty (or is it porta potty?)  18. Happy Flub (some Club Penguin animal--my kids are obsessed)  19. True red headed Irish girl with thingymabobs on her head  20. Perfect Pears (that will be sliced into a spinach/sausage/dried cranberry salad tonight)

And there you have it! I should do this more often, it was quite fun.

Happy St. Patrick's Day. May the luck of the Irish be with you...or something like that.

Rockin' it...and not

With the amazing weather the last couple of days everyone has been outside...and on my driveway.

Scooters, bikes, skateboards, foosball table, pink furry party hats, Hannah Montana glasses, pick feather boas...the normal outside gear. Hey, rock it if you got it. Right?

Speaking of rockin' it...

I am so not rockin' the time change. Sleep has been funky and the past couple of mornings have been hard. I was so tired last night at 9:30pm I thought, of course, it's an hour later than my normal. I then realized, no, it's really 8:30pm according to my body clock. Nice. I'm really messed up.

And with the time change I am always scrambling to get diner on the table because my inner time calculator is now off, by a stinkin' hour. All that light is rockin' my sense of routine.

Can you relate?

Math homework...

Need I really explain anything?
In this case a picture truly is a thousand words...and facial expressions...and emotions.
If you have ever had to sit through math homework with your child then you will completely understand.
If you have yet to sit through math homework with your child then count your blessings.

Although, how can I not practice patience when doing math homework with this child when she is just so stickin' cute? (She's doing math calculations in her head instead of using her fingers. Apparently it is a sign of smartness to do it in your head? If so, I have a loooooooong way to go in the smart department.)

up in the rafters

Geez, I keep posting kitty pictures. I'm so sorry. But when you haven't take your picture for the day and all willing subjects are...well...not willing...you are left to follow a cat around. This one happens to be Grammy and Papa's and she is their baby: Tink. I have to admit, she is a pudgy little cutie and she is kind of human-like in her personality. She is Little Miss Independent by day, but the total bed hog by night. And since she was little she has had a thing for bringing Grammy and Papa leaves, as gifts. They are her tokens of love left at the entrance to their bedroom, on the kitchen floor, in the entry way. Big leaves half her size scooped up in her mouth to be brought home to her people.
(Although yesterday it was a lizard, for which Grammy was sooooo not thankful.)

And here she is up in the rafters, on top of the portable camping table. (I know Grammy is probably mortified right about now with the state of her cobwebed rafters being displayed to the blogger world. Mortified that people might judge her based on the cleanliness of her rafters, but really, come on, who ever is without a dusty garage let him be the first to cast a stone. May I have a show of hands for those who have a dusty garage?) Bean and I went out into the garage this afternoon to find her and Grammy had mentioned that she had heard Tink some where "up there".  Sure enough, there she was, way up in her perch, looking down at the world, and at the girls standing below her pleading for her to come down. She preferred the safety of her dusty rafters and the camping gear and did not give in to our attempts to lure her down. If I were a cat and had a place that no one could get to me I certainly would not give it up for a pair of googly-eyed girls that only wish to smother me with love.

I mean, seriously, wouldn't it be nice to have a set of rafters to climb up into every once in a while to just get away from it all?

Whether you like cats or not, you have to admit, they make no excuses for their personal boundaries.

Sweet Saturday

It has been one of those Saturdays that I love: no phone ringing, no doorbell chiming, no place to be, no party to go to, no nothin'. Just doing things at our own pace.

My Sweet Saturday:

Stayed in bed until 9:30am reading my new book. (The Glass Castle--highly recommend.)

Finally crawled out of bed (tummy was grumbling) and ate a rare pancake--spread with almond butter, chopped bananas and a drizzle of honey. Yum.

Cleaned out the kitchen catch-all drawer. (Note to self: no need to buy gum for at least another year.)

Cleaned out the freezer, pantry, and that drawer in the fridge that collects nasty unused veggies. (Note to self: eat more veggies.)

Folded some laundry. (Not my fave Saturday activity but it needed to be done. Sacrifices.)

Replied to messages on Facebook. (Oh, and left a few comments on friend's status updates.)

Played one game of solitaire. (Trying to wean myself off of solitaire addiction.)

Cooked two dinners for the coming week. (Yes, totally feeling Martha Stewarty.)

Baked some zucchini/carrot bread. (That is totally rockin', btw.)

Sharpened all the pencils in the house. (I know, sounds totally OCD but it's been driving me crazy the last few days as I've hunted for a useable pencil.)

Helped Bean make lunches for her dad and brother and then carry it up to them where they were snuggling in bed playing video games. (Praised her for her thoughtful servant's heart.)

Took pictures of them all eating lunch in bed, wearing just their chonies, and swore not to post them on blog. (Promise kept.)

Hunted for Bean's blanky so she could take a snooze with her dad. (blanky+dad=good snooze environment)

Sat and watched Bean sleep and love-on her blanky. (She will always be my baby.)

Snapped a picture so I could remember her like this for always. (Love those lips.)

Took a shower at 4pm.  (thankyouverymuch)

Piled in the car and went to find Zach some hiking shoes for upcoming Boy Scout hike/campout. (Shoe sales guy was very nice and helpful--love good customer service.)

Braved the enormous Walmart. (Note to self: don't take kids to Walmart ever again.)

Talked son off of emotionally charged buyer's impulse ledge. (His allowance is burning a hole in his pocket)

On ride home, discussed the power and pull of consumerism and the dangers of walking into places like Big Walmart. (Can I get an "amen"?)

Commissioned my husband to make his famous grilled-cheese sandwiches. (He even added avocado!)

Freaked out about time change tonight and how it was technically waaaaay past my daughter's bed time. (Not looking forward to tomorrow morning.)

Scurried my kids up to take their Saturday evening shower. (insisted on hair washes too)

And finally sat down to do bloggy blog. (Blah blah blah)

Sounds like a busy day, but really not. I love these kinds of Saturdays and they are few and far between. Must savor them when I can.

Hope you had a good Saturday too. Just the way you like it. :)

Here's to one less hour of sleep tonight! 

xoxo

this is kinda how I feel about the rain right now

Today the weather gradually faded from sunny with a touch of clouds, to dreary gray with a dump of rain. And my energy pretty much followed. I think I am probably sounding like a broken record (skipping cd?) right about now as I say, once again, that this week was just looooooong. To end it with a rain visit is just...bleh.

On the brighter side, the kids came home with glowing report cards. That's always nice.

Bean reminded us all that we always go out for ice cream on report card day, which is funny because I remember doing that with them sometime last year and obviously she took it very seriously. She has latched onto that as our little celebratory tradition and reminds us all of it days before report cards come home. It's like a holiday for her really. Do other kids do that?

Maybe a little ice cream sundae will turn that frown upside down?

At least it's Friday.

Happy Friday y'all.

xoxo

little shadow friends

I keep meaning to share this photo but of course, keep forgetting. And then after the day I had today (which wasn't bad, just super looooooong) I was all too glad to discover it waiting on the shelf. As I was cleaning up photo files the other day I found the series of photos from this post. This was an outtake that didn't make it to the blog that day. I had forgotten how cute I thought the little shadows were and when I began flipping all the photos upside down I discovered a little shadow world. Look...two little cheerleading shadow girls. Bean and I call those jumps the Super Star Jumps. They're the kind you do off the diving board. You know that kind?

If I had a diving board right now I'd do one of those Super Stars.
Yippee! My day is done!

An after school activity--shot 100% from the hip and no post edits, just a bit of color commentary