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