A walk in the woods

"A Walk in the Woods" performed by C.F.L. and brought to you by her doting mother who was trying to take advantage of a break between rain storms.

In Charge

Just in case I started thinking I was in control over here.

We all know who is driving this ship.

(And yes, our little baby is wearing a princess dress.) 

Thankfully, the sun is shining, the air is crisp, and we are all healthy.  The windows are cracked because we are in need of some fresh air in this house.  I've just returned from our Wednesday morning Bible study and it was wonderful.  You should never underestimate the power of spiritual nourishment.  It feeds my soul and keeps me moving each week.

Today

You know your child is still sick when you give her a cookie and she doesn't even take a bite.

She is doing much better today and we're hopeful she's finished puking her guts out, but only time will tell. If she makes it through the night, then we're done.  (Yea.)  If not, then we're not done.  (Boo.  In case you had any doubt about how I feel about that or puke in generally, really.)

I gave her some food today but she didn't eat a bite.  But being in good spirits, she played with it.

And while dodging the puke, Cordelia has managed to keep a good attitude.  Because that's what she does.  She rolls with the punches and has the most incredible eyes all at the same time.

I love my girls.  But I don't love puke.

Lysol, laundry, liquids

Or, "Puke, Poop, and Pathetic"

Or, "Germs, Gross, Super Gross"

But no matter how we describe it, the day has begun.  And we are up with the sun.

I'm hoping this bug is fast, furious, and finished!

(Since I'm clearly house bound all day, I think my alliteration descriptors will continue to go through my head . . . )

Fix-It Friday

Another Fix-It Friday at I Heart Faces.  I love doing these.  It really helps me practice.  This one was a challenge for me because I don't usually shoot photos with a lot of black.  I typically find that I like shooting with a lot of bright whites and colors.  I love the drama of this shot, though!

Original

Edit 1

Edit 2

I'm not usually a big black and white fan, but I couldn't not do this in B&W.  I tried and tried to do a color shot but couldn't seem to do it.  Which edit is your favorite?

In other news, we're enjoying a full Friday with Alex home.  I cleaned the car, finished some unfinished business, and am heading to the park next.  Truly a de-stressing type of day around here.

It's time to face the music.

It might be time to come to terms with the fact that Cordelia is no longer a baby.

Babies don't walk around the house in high heals while reading a Valentines Day card to you.

Around these parts . . .

. . . we are hanging outside.

Can you make us out?  I'm standing, taking the photo.  Eloise has her wings out ready to take flight.  She didn't want her photo taken today, so this is all I got.

It's warm and sunny and a nice break from a cold winter.

Around these parts, we are also spending a lot of time up at school taking photos of the children.  Roughly 60 photos of 60 children needed.

I wish I could show them all to you.  They are turning out really great.  I'm trying to capture the children in their school environments, like Eloise rolling in this donut.  Isn't school awesome?

That's a little bit of what we've been doing around these parts.  We've been doing that and listening to Mumford and Sons.

Love

  We love because He first loved us.  1 John 4:19

I hope you can at least get a glimpse of God's love for you today.

White House and Auction

Today Alex and I toured the White House.  We were like little kids giddy in a candy shop.  I wish we could have stayed longer and photographed the experience, but just as you would expect, we were not welcomed much longer than our tour lasted.  And we were most definitely not allowed to bring a camera, or anything else for that matter.

Now if we had cooler cell phones, we could have at least snapped a shot as we were leaving...10 feet from the last column, officially, but we don't.  So no photos taken.

Only a fun experience that Alex and I shared together.  And that's pretty special.

Plus we got a guided tour, which we did not expect.  Thank you Mr. Secret Service Man for all the funny, amusing information.  And thank you also, Mr. Robo-Cop Not So Secret Guards with Enormous Guns that  Could Kill a Crowd in a Second, for protecting us while we were inside.  I'm not sure if that gun made me feel more safe or more scared.  Either way, I stared a long time at that gun you had.  I think Alex has a video game with that gun in it.

So we crossed the White House tour off the list.  Doesn't mean we are going anywhere anytime soon, but we have done this "to do."

In other news,

I've been busy photographing the children at Eloise's school.  Have I told you that?  The school is having an auction and we are using photographs of the children as decoration for the event.  It's been a time consuming but very fun project for me.  The photos are turning out to be adorable and I think everyone will be pleased to see them.  It's also been fun working with other children not named Eloise or Cordelia.  And practice my mad editing skillz on different skin tones and eye colors, etc.

And as part of the auction, our family has to donate something.  At first we thought we could donate Alex's spiritual services...marriage counseling anyone?  Need a house blessing?  A wedding, a funeral?  Funny things we joke about but definitely not serious.  You don't have to buy those things...he'll do them all for you, just ask him.  Or go to any church and ask them.

So back to what we will donate.  Alex suggested I donate a children's photo session.  4% of that suggestion encourages and excites me.  96% terrifies me.  So I'm thinking I'll just put together a "newborn essentials basket" or a "Princess Perfect" basket of all kinds of goodies.

What do you think we should give?  It can't be expensive so it has to be creative.  And I hate soliciting people, but maybe somebody I know has a service they would like to donate?  I guess my biggest fear is that it will be lame.  I hate being lame.

And with that, I'm off to Target.  Alone.  Life is grand!  Have a great weekend.

Happy Birthday to you, Cha-Cha-Cha

Cha-Cha-Cha!  Eloise is 4 today.  What a sweet little lady you are becoming, our little Miss Elo-Squeeze.

Tonight during dinner, while Eloise was messing around on the bench not eating, I turned on some music.  On the first chord, Eloise shoots up from says "Can I be excused?"  And she went to dance.

She danced and danced and danced until we carried her upstairs (she made it clear she preferred dancing to sleeping) for bed.  The girl moves to the music.  She's got it buried deep in her soul.  And it's really no surprise to us.  During our (very many) ultrasounds with her, our doctor would say "she's break-dancing in there.  I've never seen a baby move so much."  That's no lie.  That's what happened and she hasn't stopped since.

So to help her celebrate, we threw a dance party with John Henry on the guitar and Eloise leading the congo line.  And we all had fun.

It was old school simple and it was fun.  And then we took a family photo to document us all on this special day.

Happy Birthday, sweet Eloise!  I can't imagine my life without you here!

Baby Caelyn

Meet Baby Caelyn.  She is the sweet little gift to my friends and their family.  The younger sister to 2 older brothers.  I can relate.  I too am a little sister with 2 older brothers.

So, Baby Caelyn, you are in for a treat! You will be one tough little cookie and definitely well protected.

And guess what....I also have a sweet little sister.  But that's a similarity we won't draw just yet...

Caelyn is perfect in every way.  And I am honored to know this little, little girl.

What an angel.

For me, it is scary how much fun I had doing this photo session.  I learned loads.  And I might be addicted.  Oh.  No.  First coffee.  Then blogging.  Now photography.  When is laundry going to make that list?  

Which is your favorite?  I'd love to know!

As Fast as Ligtening

Do you know what this is?   

Look really closely.

You're right!  You get a gold star!

It's a lot of little children spinning as fast at they can on our floor while Cordelia stands and watches.

This is a photo from Eloise's birthday party on Saturday.  And it perfectly captures our weekend and how I feel about the fact that tomorrow is Monday.

"No time!!  There's never any time!"  Who says that on everyone's favorite childhood show?  Two gold stars at stake this time.

I just asked Alex if he could take tomorrow off.  He laughed.  Oh well, I tried.

Nap Time, Play Time

Nap time is a sacred time of peace and quiet and efficiency and productivity.  

Well it used to be.  These days Eloise and I are playing too much during this time.  "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" is how I think the saying goes.  It's fun, it's bonding, and it takes everything in my being not to run down to change a load of laundry.

My friend had her little baby girl last week.  All are doing very well and I have the privilege of visiting her this Saturday.  And I asked if I could bring my camera to snag some shots of the sweet little thing.  She graciously said yes.  I've never taken photos of a newborn with my new camera and photography skillz.  My poor children have terrible newborn photos--how I wish I had hired someone to take good ones of them!  And I really couldn't be more excited to see this little baby girl.  I've been looking forward to it all week.

I decided to get some practice when Cordelia woke up.  I haven't taken many of her lately.

It didn't go very well.  I hope baby C is more cooperative.

The basket didn't really work.

This is my favorite.

This is Cordelia talking to me.  She trying to tell me that this was a terrible idea, especially because she had chocolate on her chin.  She says, "Mommy, baskets are for babies.  I'm a big girl.  Sheesh."

After that exercise in futility, we decided to try to color with chalk outside.  HA!  Talk about more futility, but we had to just see if we could do it.  So we went and just saw that we really couldn't.

I'm a big believer in experiential learning.

It's especially hard when dressed in your mermaid costume.

So inside we came and danced to Mumford and Sons.  Am I the last one on the planet to fall in love with these guys?  Have you heard their album...the whole album?  Roll Away the Stone is fantastic.  Please click on ITunes and buy the album and then listen to it and then comment here so that we can talk about it together.  Thanks!