Our week

I had a nice Mother's Day due largely to this spunky little girl.


I woke up to a sweet little voice wishing me a happy mother's day.  I joined her in the kitchen to find this:

She had wrapped book that she made at school for me.  It's all about me, complete with illustrations.  I tried not to read into the page that stated "if I could give my mom anything it would be a mirror."  She also helped her brother make a card during an evening when I wasn't home.

She even snuck out of bed Saturday night to hang this banner for me.


Taylor was determined to be helpful on this day and kept holding her hand up during the breakfast preparation, declaring "I've got this handled."



The rest of the day was not photographed, but it included a lovely lunch with my sister and mother, a chick flick to follow, a new t shirt (which will be making an appearance on this blog soon), and a pizza dinner with my mother in law.  I'm a little late on my mother's day ritual, but every year I sit down and write in my journal about all the things I love about my children.  I document all their little quirks and funny sayings so I can remember them just as they are now.  That's on my to-do list for this weekend.  I will be sure to include the way Taylor mispronounces words.  (She says delepe instead of delete., and last night she said that Charlie was just going to bark on his vegetables if I made him eat them.)

Monday night was my last photography class.  We went to Devou park to photograph the city.  I'd never been there before, but was very impressed with the view from Drees Pavilion.


Then we traveled to Covington to capture twilight photos of the bridge.


Tuesday was a special day for the art of photography.  A huge, international project took place on this day.  The idea was for people all over the world to photograph what life looks like in their corner of the world on May 15th.  The photos are then uploaded to a website so we can see what May 15th looked like in the lives of people everywhere.  It's a very neat concept and I can't wait to explore the website soon.  www.aday.org (People have one week to upload their photos.  They are extremely bogged down so wait until next week before checking it out.)

These were the photos that I submitted:

I love Taylor's smile as she gets off the bus every day.


I didn't submit this one, but it made me laugh.  I did submit the next one.


I finally ordered piano books for Charlie and he officially began lessons on May 15th.


A ladybug on our sunflowers.


I didn't submit this one, but it does capture their relationship quite well.



A rare picture of the three of them smiling and looking at me.


I love this one. I'm a sucker for backlighting.


The kids exploring the big leaves on a tree outside.


Charlie's teacher asked me to teach a music class.  They loved it (so did Morgan).



The rest of the week was typical.  I dropped off CDs of photos for the mothers of these adorable newborns:




Morgan and I hung out at home a lot too. I was cleaning and doing laundry when  I found her sitting in her own reading nook with a chair full of books.


This weekend is shaping up to be a busy one filled with soccerpractice, photo sessions, piano lessons, a birthday party, and a charity run.  I hope everyone enjoys their weekend as well!

Sorry for the wait

Oops.  Somehow over two weeks have past since my last blog post.  I think that is the most since I've started this new format and really got interested in recording my family's adventures through photographs and words.  Although I haven't posted lately, I've still been capturing images of my sweet little ones and their shenanigans as well as reflecting on what I want to say about them here.

Last week, I was formulating a post in my head about messes and childhood and embracing the two.  Sometimes my  mind goes straight to thoughts of how much more complicated or involved things can be and I forget about how much more fun they can be, too.  Case in point- making cookies the old fashioned way.  I remember when I used to make cookies with my mom and I'd try to get as much dough on my fingers while rolling the balls before placing them on the sheet.  I did this because I knew my mom would let me lick my fingers when we were finished.  Fast forward twenty-five years and I've found myself slicing pre-made cookie dough and telling myself the real fun was in eating the finished product.  Well, I'm happy to report that I've since seen the error of my ways.






This propelled a week of messes which I overlooked and chose to focus on the smiles behind them.







I've also encouraged the bigger kids to delve into the art supplies and make thank you gifts, birthday gifts and mother's day gifts.




 I was especially proud of Charlie for maintaining his attention on something other than electronics to paint three pictures for his grandmothers.


Aside from art, there have been other new interests the kids have discovered.  Like making your own shoes out of snow boot liners.


Playing for hours in a rock pile.






Using a box of wipes as a stool.


Shoes, shoes, and more shoes.


Gardening.




So somewhere between my thoughts of the messes I'm embracing, I started thinking of everything else I'm so grateful for.  Like the seven years of marriage that our family just celebrated.  We took the kids to LaRosa's for spaghetti-o-plenty.




And Taylor's unexpected acts of kindness.  Like when she spent some of her allotted money at the book fair on a book for her brother.


She's growing up so much.  I volunteered at her school last week and got to see her reading the part of Narrator in a play for her class.


I also saw the new chickies that just hatched in their classroom.


Another thing that has my heart smiling is all the quality time my kids get to spend with their grandparents.  All of the big kids have taken an interest in Grandma's gardening.




I love how a simple thing like a funny looking bulb can elicit such laughter and good cheer.






Morgan and Addison are finally aware of each other's existence.  In fact, for the past three weeks Morgan has greeted her cousin with smiles and waves.  I can't wait to see their relationship grow.


Finally, we celebrated Mark's birthday this week by going to a hibachi grill.


Before our food was prepared, Morgan kept a close eye on the table next to ours.  When our chef began she was a bit concerned, but decided it was okay as long as I stayed next to her.


And can I say how cool it is that my girls will eat sushi?


We finished his birthday celebration at Graeter's.  Taylor said that the bad thing about grown ups is that their birthdays are kind of boring.  She's not wrong.


Sorry about the delay in getting this post out.  I will post another one soon about my mother's day.  Until then, have a great week!