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Snowy Sunday

In the name of slowing down and spending more focused, intentional time working on projects, I’m narrowing down my favorite photographs from each week and spending meaningful time editing and processing those images. I’ll share them individually as they are each a project unto themselves.

I adore this moment during a sunny snowfall last Sunday with Courtland and Gladden. You may view it even larger (and more clearly) here.

In other news, I’m off to Austin, Texas until Sunday for work. James will have the help of Momar and Doda while I’m away. I’ll miss my littles but am looking forward to eating breakfast burritos every morning, grooving to some amazing live music, and the accompanying sun and warmth. Do send suggestions my way if you’ve ever been to Austin. Theron told me that I cannot miss out on a Torchy’s Taco. The man has traveled all 50 states, twice, and claimed that you will not find a better taco anywhere, ever. BOLD CLAIM, SIR! I’m up for the experience.

Rainbow Kid

Sunny’s request of me this Christmas was her very own Rainbow Dress. She knew that I was going to knit her a dress, as she chose the yarn herself, but she knew nothing about the style, and oh, the twirly-factor. I was so happy to find this pattern on Ravelry.

I had leftover yarn, so decided to also make a dress for her Bitty Baby.

On Christmas morning she happily, but without much surprise, opened the dress for her and instantly put it on and began spinning around the room. I told her that there was a second part of the present, and the look of shock and awe on her face when she pulled out the dress for her doll made all those hours of twiddling, knitting fingers and morphing into our couch cushion worth it.

Well THIS is a surprise, she whispered with wide eyes.

That reaction was all I needed, the best form of thanks.

Sunny’s Dress pattern here. Doll dress pattern here. 

Dance Dance Dance

Last week I had the privilege of participating in a dance photography master class with former professional ballerina turned professional dance photographer, Rosalie O’Connor.

I spent my childhood dancing for the Boston Ballet and idolizing all of the prima ballerinas that waltzed across the Wang Center stage. I must admit to being a tad star struck in meeting and getting to spend eight hours learning from Rosalie. We shot five different dance groups, and spent time shooting backstage, so we were fully immersed in the performance world. I danced for one of the groups when I was in college, and my sister danced for another, so it was particularly enjoyable to try to capture the spirit and essence of their different styles and emotional impacts. Any opportunity to learn and practice with my camera is a welcome one. I am so grateful for this experience.

Here are my favorite images from the evening.

3/52

“A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014.”

Sunny: Always honing her sense of style. 
Kaki: A snowy adventure with Bitty Baby in a bathing suit and her crazy adorable penguin backpack – a 2nd birthday gift from her very talented Fairy Godmother. Yes, it’s handmade, and even lined with the minky whale fabric that G used to make Courtland’s blankey when I was expecting. 

More details about The 52 Project here. To view all the portraits in the series visit here.

Currently Gawking

Some inspiration on this sniffly Friday morning.

I feel most beautiful when I’m being held by the ones I love.

Hat tip to Lauren! Thank you!

Nebulizer Nation

I feel about as well as Kaki looks.

It’s been a rough week of coughing fits and phlegm and vomit and pink medicine and frazzled work days and sleepless nights and achey heads and pitiful pitifulness otherwise known as January.

Courtland is finally on the mend but the rest of us are down for the count. I’ll be back next week when *fingers crossed * Cartwheel Farm has been purged of the first of many daycare induced winter plagues.

Currently Reading

Over the winter break, I had the luxury of catching up on my ever-growing reading list. Besides my monthly book club read, I rarely make the time to tackle more than one book a month. Thank you December for your grey, chilly days that prime a girl for a day spent curled under fleece blankets with a book and a cup of tea by her side!

First up, Immersion, a young adult novel by my talented friend and fellow Eph, M.J. Prest. M.J. self-published her debut novel this spring, and I must admit, I was sucked into a 24 hour literary black hole upon beginning this adventure. James, you may blame M.J. for my lack of attention to our dependents and household during that day of, well, Immersion.

The title of the novel so aptly suits the story on many levels, not the least of which is that it is the story of Atlantis weeks before its plummet into the Aegean sea. The lead character, Artemis, is a strong-willed, thoughtful 16-year old girl who I look forward to sharing with my daughters as they enter their teenage years. With novels like Twilight peppering the YA bookshelves, I’m relieved to have an option along the lines of a Hunger Games or Forest of Hands and Teeth for my daughters to enjoy as they navigate the growing-pains of their teenage years. Not only is the story exciting, complete with mermaids (and mermen!) and many sailing adventures, it tackles difficult issues of identity and class, and female empowerment and agency that my own girls will confront as they grow.

I particularly loved M.J.’s attention to the world of Atlantis. You are fully immersed in the sights and sounds and tastes of the island, drawing you closer to the story and its characters. Having experienced M.J.’s unbelievable talents in the kitchen, I was not surprised to find myself salivating at her detailed, delicious descriptions of the very food of Atlantis. Now I must convince her to cook some of those delicacies so that we may experience them firsthand.

Immersion is an  exciting coming-of-age tale that you’re sure to enjoy as much as any Young Adult. A quick read (perfect for a vacation or plane flight!), and for only $2.99, it’s far too good to miss.

Immersion available here. 

Home Improvement // Year 2

One of our projects before the New Year involved finally painting our (itty bitty) upstairs hallway the Sharky Gray color of our stairwell. This project has been on our To Do list since March of 2012. Yep, nearly 2 years.

The painting was motivated by my purchase of these FLOR carpet tiles to line the floor of the hallway. I love the rainbow array of colors that pulls together all the various schemes and patterns happening in the five rooms that open on to that hallway.

^^I love these prints by Story People that we’ve collected over the years – the original rainbow explosion in the hallway that is now complimented by the FLOR.^^

In photographing the new hallway, it dawned on me that I never shared the final result of our upstairs bathroom redo. We used hot pink FLOR tiles in the bathroom, and completely replaced the sink by making our own out of an old kitchen cabinet. We sourced the faucet and fixtures from Homeclick.

Here are prior posts about the project. Here’s our bathroom as it stands now (I’d say an improvement to the before).

Looking at these images made me realize how very much we need a different laundry hamper to finish off the room. Given my obsession with 3 Sprouts (Remember this post? Since then, we added the Whale trunk at Christmas to serve as the keeper of the girls’ costumes and dress-up clothes and the Fox bin as the holder of all winter accessories (hats, gloves, scarves, etc.)), I ordered one of their laundry hampers in the blue polar bear. It is clearly a kid-friendly bathroom, so why not adorn it further in childish awesome?

Hanna heartily approves of the new rug. She sleeps in the middle of the hallway to keep tabs on all of us. While it’s a wildly inconvenient and precarious place to rest, I don’t blame her. That rainbow calls to me, too. Now we desperately need to focus on redoing the downstairs bathroom, which namely needs an improved toilet. We have our eyes on this. Oh home ownership. How you have affected my priorities in strange (and at times depressing) ways.

Weekends

My eyes lazily and begrudgingly open to a silhouette of spiky, tousled hair and fuzzy appendages. I register the presence of a toddler armed with Care Bears, a blanket, and a baby doll as my body registers a continued state of exhaustion.

Climb on in. 

I reach for my phone, the bright display illuminating the room, causing our dilated pupils to recoil.

Ouch.

6:17 a.m.

Double ouch.

I should still be sleeping. YOU should still be sleeping.

But I pull her in close.

Perhaps we’ll snuggle together and drift back to sleep peacefully for another hour or two…

My eyes close… then WHACK! An elbow meets my nose. THUD! A knee lodges into my gut.

Or not…

As I duck and dodge assault from an awakening toddler, whines crawl up the stairwell.

Fine! I’m up! We’re up! 

I throw off the covers and am struck instantly by the unappealing chill of the morning air.

We should probably admit defeat and program our heat to turn on at the same time seven days a week, but we hold out a kernel of hope that we might not be awakened until the 8s on a Saturday or Sunday. Our thermostat the symbol of our eternal optimism, of a former life when the weekends represented a time of sleeping in and leisure mornings, of lazy days and reading or cooking or shopping or movie watching or dating or *name enjoyable adult activity* at will.

I combat frustration. Exhaustion. Stir craziness. My propensity to yell and temper. The weekends are far more challenging than the work week. Another unexpected twist of parenting. One of many.

_______________________________

Brunch begins at 9am, as naptime would intervene with a more civilized start of 11. We still visit. And eat. And connect over cups of steaming coffee. But the coffee is now a necessity not a luxury. And conversation is punctuated by diaper changes and breastfeeding, potty runs and coloring.

This is the new normal. The new weekend. We adjust expectations and welcome the perspective of this growing gaggle of girls.

2/52

“A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014.”

Sunny: We’re all going stir crazy in this rainy, grey weather. Trying to make the most of an otherwise dreary day.
Kaki: My friend pointed this out in this post, but there really is something so endearing about a toddler with her hands in her pockets. Cute. Casual. Confident. 

More details about The 52 Project here. To view all the portraits in the series visit here.