Wordless Wednesday: SNOW!

Wordless Wednesday: Technology

Blue Eyes: Laughing at Myself

I was telling Theresa the other day about the terrible post processing sins that I committed in the past and I'm not sure she quite believed me about just how bad they were.  Why didn't someone stop me?!? 

After learning about "naturally enhancing" eye color, here's what I did to my poor boy.  I can't help but laugh at these crazy blue eyes. 

Ah, much better!  See, his eyes are really blue on their own... No need to "naturally enhance" those baby blues!

Granted, they weren't all THAT bad, but I'm hoping I can dig up all the originals and not have to pass down Ben an album full of neon blue eyes. ;)

Wordless Wednesday:Kids Were Here

Wordless Wednesday: Imagination

A Letter to My Daughter

To my sweet little girl,

I took the pictures above in the afternoon shade.  It was pj day at school and you were twirling and dancing, very seriously, in the backyard.  The neighbor had been over and she had shown you some new moves, which you were happily practicing.  You really wanted me to leave you alone, especially since you were feeling a little shy about those new moves.

I was simply shocked when I downloaded the pictures.  Who is this big girl in these photos?  Whose long legs are those?  Somehow you've simply sprouted, seemingly overnight. I'm sad to see you growing so quickly because I just love your little heart.  I really long to slow you down a bit.  You're so sweet and funny at this age.  Your sense of humor makes us all laugh.  We adore these moments with you when you have that playful twinkle in your eyes.

When you turned five, I made you promise you wouldn't get any bigger.  Sometimes you still bring that up and insist that you've tried to stop growing.  I'm afraid you've inherited some worrywart traits from your mom (and probably Nana too).  You keep it inside mostly, but now and again you'll ask a question that shows how you've been stewing over something.  You worry about Mommy and Daddy when they're alone somewhere.  What if they get lost?  You worry what your teacher will think if you change your reading book or if there's a note you need to give her.  You worry about Ben and what might happen if he decides to play football someday.  Worry, worry, worry.

You love writing.  You write everyone little notes.  You write stories.  You write reports.  You write.  It completely melts my heart.  You love school.  Last week you had no homework and were sad.  You came home and made yourself a page of math problems to answer.  Ben was horrified. :)

You are still as stubborn as the day is long.  You probably always will be.  You probably come by this quite honestly. ;)  We wouldn't have it any other way, though we do fret about what teenage Mia will be like. One of the joys of having you in our lives is your intensity.  I can see threads of this back to the little pictures of your developing personality.  And now it's there too, in everything you do.  Your heart is so big, little one.  We love our baby girl, to the moon and back.

Love always,

Mommy

Storytelling

I joined an informal group of ladies for a challenge to tell stories through our pictures for the next month. I love these sort of mini challenges because they always lead me to see different possibilities in my photography. This one in particular pulled at my heartstrings because I've been feeling like childhood is rushing along lately. It's going so fast suddenly that I feel it sliding through my fingers. So, I've been trying to take pictures each day to tell the story of life in our family right now. It's rather kid-centric, but so is our current reality. Honestly, there should have been a whole lot more soccer in these pictures. I think I'm really avoiding telling the story of just how much time we spend at the soccer field. {And thanks to my husband for taking Mia to soccer right now so I could finish this up!} You'll see a couple of these again later because there's a blog post percolating about them. :)

 

Head on over to Erica's blog to check out her take on storytelling. :)

10 Questions with Ben

{1} Who's the smartest person in your family?
You... and Dad.

{2} What's your Daddy really good at doing?
He's good at cooking like you and that video game he's been playing.

{3} How are you like Mommy?
We have the same coloring skin.

{4} How are you different than Mommy?
You have black/brown hair.

{5} How old is Mommy?
25.

{6} If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
It would have to be... eye lasers.  Or super power punches.

{7} What did you and Daddy do together that you'll always remember?
Wrestling! Oh yeah baby!

{8} What chore did you do last?
Making my bed; that's really the most boring.

{9} What's your favorite song?
 Hey Soul Sister {No hesitation whatsoever}.

{10} Where would you like to go on vacation next?
Michigan.  Wait, no.  Actually Florida and go to Disney at the Mansion.  Sometimes it freaks me out, like the elevator.  But it's a good freak out.

Toothpaste and Mouthwashe and Eye Drops... Oh, My!

10 Questions with a First Grader

As our resident six year old girl in the family, we felt it was important to check in on her view of things lately.  Stay tuned for Ben's later.

{1} Who's the smartest person in your family?
 Mommy {points and whispers so Daddy doesn't hear even though he's inside}

{2} What's your Daddy really good at doing?
Drawing pictures.

{3} How are you like Mommy?
We have the same eyes.

{4} How are you different than Mommy?
Umm... Mommy's hair color.

{5} How old is Mommy?
Umm... 14?

{6} If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
To turn into animals.

{7} What did you and Daddy do together that you'll always remember?
Wrestling!! {Big SMILE!}

{8} What chore did you do last?
I set the table and picked up my shoes.

{9} What's the nicest thing you've done lately for someone in your family?
Saying, "Don't spray Dad, Ben."  {During a water fight in the driveway}

{10} Where would you like to go on vacation next?
I want to go camping in the Smokey Mountains, and ride my bike on the road, have fund with my family, and roast marshmallows.

A Tale of Two Kids Update

First grade is in full swing around here.  If you're blessed with school aged children, you know that this means reading and packing lunches and math facts and sight words and packing lunches and phonics readers and packing lunches and soccer practices and spelling words and general back to school busyness.  {Guess who's already sick of packing lunches... THIS girl!}  We try to take care of all the homework as soon as I pick up the littles.  In my ideal world, after our nutritious after school snack, we would all smile our way to the table to engage in thrilling discussions around each of the items on their pint-sized to-do list.  Checking off each in record time, we would then have oodles of free time to giggle, play, and just enjoy each other's company immensely.  That fairy tale ending to this afternoon routine that hasn't panned out yet, but it's only September. ;) Instead, I'm treated to a daily reminder of just how different twins can be.

Always remembers her finger spaces.

"Mom, I'm going to write a letter to Cage about our play date."

"I can spell that!  It's one of my sight words!"

First, let's take our eager learner.  She loves school and takes her work up to her room after she's finished to teach it to her dolls and stuffed animals.  Lately she's been complaining that her walls in her room are too bare and need posters like a real classroom.  For FUN, she makes lists of her sight words and writes letters to her friends.  She asks to do extra sight word practice and makes extra sight word "cups" with the challenge words.  She wakes up every morning excited to go to school and several times a week comments on how fun school is.

It's hard to get started when you can make such cool shadows on your page.

Seriously, are you seeing what his fingers can do?

"My teacher needs me to write all of those words?"

Next, let's examine her twin brother.  Though he also loves school, you can be guaranteed two mornings a week he will complain about having to go to school because he'd rather stay home an play.  You can also be certain that he'd rather chew off his right hand than write ANYTHING, much less sight word lists.  It takes much cajoling to get his homework completed and he probably will tell me that I'm being mean at some point in  the process.  He picks up on things very quickly, but would rather not have to work or practice much.  The letter "s" is the source of intense frustration.

"I always write the "s" backwards."  :(


As a teacher, I had both of these kids in my classroom many, many times over.  It's funny to be on the opposite side of that fence.  So, while we may get for those fairy tale afternoons later in the year, I'm focusing right now on finding a way to make that letter "s" go the right direction. ;)

Wordless Wednesday: Oops!

PS- Can you see her dilation drops at work? :)

Wordless Wednesday: After School Snack {and a little Brainpop}

Start

As life has been plotting along lately, Love has been on my mind in all sorts of ways.

How do we love those we love well?  How do I make sure my stubborn daughter knows my love for her?  How do I make sure my little boy feels my love an acceptance for is uniqueness? How do I show hubs love beyond the every day type?  How do I love myself well?

This is also combined with a certain lack of action on my part.  I've felt lazy and unwilling.  There's a need within me to start, but I'm still not sure what it is I want to start.  Words evade the feelings within me, and I'm left wondering where to turn.  As I was weeding my garden yesterday, I began to consider where I invest my time.  I'm mostly proud of how I've prioritized my life in this season.  Very consciously I've been putting those I love first and setting aside the things that aren't fueling me.  This isn't foolproof and there are still places I can improve, but progress is progress.

In March, {March!  Are you kidding me!?} I wrote about the need to pursue passions.  I truly felt that pull, but I was also paralyze by the circumstances of the life I was living.  Pulling the pricker weeds had me contemplating photography again.  It does fuel me.  I enjoy it and I have a soft spot in my heart for the images of my little ones from the times I was often seen with a camera in hand. I still need to get through this frozen time for me; I'm moved to go back to that place I was in March and make a start to pursue those passions.

For the girl who hasn't picked up her camera in months, it's a commitment to knock that off.  To dust it off. To move forward and commit.  To grow and learn again.  To experiment.  To fall in love with it again.  To start.

Back in the Saddle

Last night, I invited some new(ish) friends from my new neighborhood for a craft night.  Inspired by Theresa's blog posts and tales of craft nights past, I decided to ask a couple of gals over for a couple of reasons:

(1) It was time to retire my Christmas wreath.  I tried to convince myself that it was fine to still have up, especially since it's technically still winter.  I mean, it's not red and green, right?  Nice wintery colors?  I was lying to myself, though.  If it includes ornaments, it's a Christmas wreath.  Plus, even my dad commented on it when they pulled up to the house.  If Dad noticed, it's really bad.

(2) Oh, Pinterest.  I just loved so many of the wreaths I was seeing that I actually thought I might be able to make my own.  I needed the accountability of the group, though.  I know myself a little too well.  I knew that without the other ladies coming over I'd never buy the stuff.  And, even if I did actually purchase it, I'd never actually  make the wreath without the peer pressure.  Wouldn't the Christmas wreath be even more embarrassing after Spring Break?

 

(3) The knowledge that my mother possessed a mammoth amount of felt.  Seriously, there's enough felt here for a year's worth of projects! 

(4) "Girl Time."  We get together with our neighborhood pals fairly regularly, but it's hard to chat with 5 LOUD children running around the house.  Some children less community time seemed like just the ticket.

And, I'm so glad I brought it up.  I enjoyed pulling out my crafty side a little.  Sure, I burned my fingers more than a few times with the glue gun.  Yes, now I have to find somewhere to store that Christmas wreath and a gargantuan amount of felt.  But, the time with friends made me realize something else.  I'm not sure I would be writing this right now without a particular conversation.

You see, I have crafty-potential.  It's possible for me to create nice crafty items, but I'm not particularly craft driven.  I don't long to use a glue gun or repurpose milk caps.  Throughout the evening, I came to realize, through much teasing by my mother, that I'm craft-lazy.  I could do it, but I don't.  Yet this wasn't my a-ha.

 

Later in the evening, after one friend had headed home, Jaina said to me, "So, you don't like dancing {SO true! Unless you're talking the no-one-is-watching-and-I'm-singing-into-a-hairbrush variety} and you're not into crafts.  Other than reading {So true again}, what do you love to do?"

Hmmm... That's such a good question.  I'm not into crafts.  Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased as punch with my new spring wreath.  I'm happy to participate, but I'm probably always be a little craft-lazy. :)  I've been kind of an I'm-too-busy-bump-on-the-log lately.  I didn't have an answer for Jaina immediately.  I said a long "Well..." and thought for a bit.  What do I love to do?  What is just a favorite pastime?  It's nothing I've been doing lately, that's for sure.  And then it hit me... what do I love?  Photography.  And writing. 

I started to show Jaina my picture-a-day blogs  that I used to keep.  I started to feel a little sad that I didn't keep it up last year, which would have captured all kinds of memories of our new life here.  She ooh-ed and ahh-ed enough to make me feel vaguely happy, but I realized that doing this...recording the day to day in life... makes me truly happy.  Looking at the memory card on my camera is depressing: a couple of pictures from a field trip, Halloween, Christmas, and the Circus.  Really, Sara?  Really?  Those are great moments, but they're not THE moments that I treasure the most.

So, after I hung my wreath outside, I sat down here to write for a bit.  It's quite a bit wordier than I intended, but I'm hopping back into the saddle of the things that have made me happy in the past.  I look forward to engaging in the kind of creativity that lights me up.  I look forward to capturing the memories that really matter to me.