Missing You Already Dad

Tyler left today to go on a business trip. I am not complaining because he hardly ever leaves and I know there are women whose husbands are gone for sizeable chunks at a time. Or women who raise their children alone. So, let's be clear that I know how good I have it. At the same time...I miss him already, and it is clear how much he helps out around here. So, we took some kodak shots for you Dad. Hope you are missing us too.

I know I look a bit concerned in this last picture with Pearl. She had taken a nap after church and by the time she got up, the light was fading. The first few pictures I took were too dark and I was wondering if I was going to get an adequate shot at all...hence the angst in my expression.

Loves to you across the country. I hope the time flies while you are away. Really, I do.

p.s. Tyler, you know my love of the 50mm, but you can't beat the wide-angle lens for getting pictures at arm's length. It's growing on me.

Storybook Family

I took this photo shoot a while ago, and somehow forgot to post pictures on here. We love the Jett's and were super excited when baby Savannah came along. Then I was even more excited to take some pictures for them. Here are some of my favorites in no particular order.

They are such a beautiful family. I am a tad jealous that Savannah got those blue BLUE eyes of her Dad. Why couldn't I pass on my baby blues?

Texture

I cheated this time around. Tyler is the one who likes to take pictures of texture. Remember this post? He is still at it. He has been taking pictures of textures for over a year now. So, I went and grabbed some. What I love about textures is that it is a piece of the whole. You will probably recognize most of these, but think about how it is different as a piece of the big picture.

Photos of the week:

Cool huh? I haven't become a texture junky yet, but it might become a hobby of mine.

Memories

Winter is settling in like an old friend. Perhaps an unwelcome friend in my book. One that I know is coming to visit, but I just can't seem to get excited about. There I go complaining again. I swear my weak Washingtonian bones will never get used to the snow and cold here. It certainly isn't terrible, and I can't start the winter complaining, because the cold lasts around here until April. That is a lot of cold. And at least I don't have allergies in winter. There is one Huzzah!

This morning there was frost on everything. I think frost is very pretty, and I like watching the sun soak it into dew.

Photos of the week:

When I was little, I learned a little song from the Brite Music books. It went:

Playful little Jack Frost came last night
Yes that's right
Came last night
Painted all the ground a frosty white
Just last night


Playful little Jack Frost froze the air
Here and there
Everywhere
Spread a frail design of Angel's hair
Just last night

I had great images in my head of Jack Frost creeping around and frosting the windows with his icy breath. It seems that nowadays Jack Frost gets a bad rap. He is bad in Santa Claus 3. And the Fairy series that the girls enjoy has Jack Frost as the bad guy as well. I know he is said to bring winter, and I know that I was just harping about the cold, but I always liked Jack Frost. I have fond memories of him. I am sad that he has become the scape goat of winter. I mean, if you want an evil winter figure, I think the Snow Queen wins, hands down.

On the Shelf

You probably all know that I am a sucker for holidays. I love to decorate and change things around. The kids love to help, and this November, I was pleased when June thought of a new idea for me. We have all these cute blocks with different Thanksgiving sayings on them. We usually chunk them together, but June put them all over the house this time around. There is one by each cluster of objects. Genius I tell you. It makes me smile to look at them.

Photos of the week:

Then again, they aren't stapled down, so sometimes small hands mix them around a bit. I caught this one in the act.

I am a little concerned at how fast time passes these days. At this rate, Christmas will be next week. I'm not quite ready.

Reflections Entries

Just so you know...I am NOT blogging every day this month. I often try that in November, but I am not going to torture myself this time around. That said, I am still trying to catch up, hence the continued posting.

Reflections is a program that has been going on before I was in school. I remember entering something once or twice. I want my girls to be involved if they would like, but only if they have an idea they want to run with. I don't want to be holding their hand, or staying up late finishing their project. (That is only for book reports and State projects. I'm kidding.) Reflections is meant to be their own work, so it would kind of defeat the purpose if I did much.

There is a different theme every year. In 2011, the theme was "Diversity means..."

I had already told June that if she wanted to use my camera she could. She came up with her own idea of who to photograph and why.

In the meantime, Robyn came home one afternoon and I had bought a pack of eraser tops since all the erasers on our pencils are either worn down or eaten off by little ones. I had left the extras on the counter and Robyn set to making some art with them. She was so proud of her creation that she wanted to enter it in Reflections. I am not quite sure how it fit the theme, but here is her Eraser art, entitled Something New to Taste.

If you can't tell...it is fruit. It could be diverse because there are different kinds of fruit, or perhaps this is a different way to think of erasers...it is all in her mind. But I really like.

June on the other hand struggled to get hers finished mainly because her sorry mother kept forgetting to set up the photo shoot. But just days before it was due, we got everyone nailed down and June did her thing. She did a great job posing the kids and taking pictures. I helped her put them in a collage and I think it turned out great. She titled hers Anyone Can Be a Friend.

Looking at her pictures, I suddenly think that I may have no talent at all and we just have a really nice camera. Or, we'll just chalk it up to June having raw talent at an early age. Probably it is a combination of the two. But it was fun that they both participated.

I found out later that you can enter more than one category, although only one entry PER category. I think this household will stick to one entry period. This mother can only handle so much artistic exploration.

Jett's Halloween Party

I had good intentions to host a Halloween party every year starting last year. And that is where is stayed...at good intentions. It wasn't until Jenaca called me up and asked if I wanted to come to her Halloween party that I realized I wasn't having one. I hadn't even thought of having one. It wasn't even on the radar. Oh well, there is always next year. But I was glad for an excuse to dress up and go on a date.

This was the costume I talked about making. June used it after me, but I broke it in. It was pretty easy to make and I am proud of myself for doing anything that involves sewing.

Yes, I was wearing more crazy eyelashes. I got a whole bunch on sale after Halloween last year. I was going to let June use the eyelashes too but I forgot she wears glasses. I didn't see those two working well together.

And now for a real picture of the Ornothologist. (Which as you all know is fancy talk for bird-watcher.)

The party was fun and we played a few games that we played last year. It was girls against boys, and I am proud to say that the girls won. Woot.

I admit that I felt old. EVERY couple had a baby there. And unanimously, it was their first baby. I guess I could have brought Pearl, but that wouldn't have changed the fact that she is the fifth child. It was a nice feeling to know we aren't at the beginning, and refreshing not to have to drag along a child who will ultimately be cranky by the end of the evening, but still...old feeling.

I loved this little guy's costume.

Cannon was looking good as Superman.

I did use my mothering skills though and let a child puke into my bare hands. It seemed better than letting it get all over the carpet. I saw some very startled faces, and the actual mother wasn't batting my hands aside to take over. I think several women were surprised I would even do that. But, in all honesty, it didn't bother me one bit. Maybe there is something to be said for us 'old' mothers. Been there. Done that. Just wash your hands well afterward.