Saturday, March 29, 2008

4 years and counting...

I had the privilege of photographing this couple and their lovely family on a glorious day just after their 4th wedding anniversary(February 29th). These two, I believe, are the model of what every couple aims to be when they have been together for that many years. They were the most joyful family I have ever personally met, and I am glad to have been able to bask in the warmth of their love and happiness, if only for a few hours. Thanks, Hackers.




Tuesday, March 25, 2008

I Can See Clearly Now the Fog Is Gone

Ahh, so I think part of my mental fog as of late has been due to this horrendous cold virus I have been fighting off. I had a raging fever all day Sunday and have been struggling ever since. I finally did remember why I couldn't get my act together with the Easter egg hunt..I was busy baking a birthday cake for my babysitter Erika's 13th birthday. Erika is a vegan and although her mom couldn't make a cake for her, I am known to make a MEAN vegan chocolate cake, so I volunteered to bake one for her and deliver it (with the help of my little loin fruits) to her dinner party at Sweet Tomatoes. You can find the recipe here

After the cake delivery, which included 13 funky neon candles and a Happy Birthday Serenade from the 4 year old, Mister, the kids and I had dinner at Ruby Tuesday's (Mister refuses to have dinner anywhere that doesn't serve alcohol...especially on a Friday night) We had the candy/egg discussion in the car on the way home. By the time we actually got home and tucked the children in I was too pooped to make another trip to the grocery store. Mystery solved.

Here is the cake I made for Erika and the headshot I did of her for her modeling/acting portfolio:


Monday, March 24, 2008

More Purim

On Friday morning the preschool kids had a Purim parade and everyone was dressed in their finest costumes. Even G's teachers were dressed up...my favorite was Maid Marian..hearkened back to my old favorite Disney cartoon movie, Robin Hood, where the littlest bunny was scampering to keep up "hey guys, wait for me!" But I digress.

After the parade, we went into the temple for Kabbalat Shabbat where the children re-enacted the story of Esther. Too cute. They sure do like to Party, Party, Par-ty! Here are the pictures.

I just can't remember

My friend Di called me this morning to ask if I needed anything from Costco. We got to talking and she mentioned that they missed us at the Annual Neighborhood spring egg hunt on Saturday. I was explaining to her that I had bought candy and eggs to put together and drop off to the event planner's house, but then I got the last e-mail on Thursday saying not to include chocolate in the eggs, due to it's meltability, and I got frustrated and basically abandoned the effort.

As Di and I talked a memory came back to me... I distinctly remember having a discussion with Mister on Friday night about getting more chocolate-free candy to drop off in the morning so the kids could participate. And I remember there was a reason why it didn't happen. We were out somewhere. Or something. I can't remember. I really can't remember. I think I am losing my mind. Maybe I should go back to bed.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Happy Purim!!

Today is Purim. I tool G and Little Guy to the Purim service and Carnival last Saturday... They both dressed as Tinkerbell. Little Guy got some strange looks from those unfamiliar with my I don't Care What He Wears As Long As He Puts It On Himself philosophy. There was another Tinkerbell there, but HER brother was dressed as Peter Pan. Why didn't I think of that?

G was so excited to get to the celebration, she litereally DRAGGED Little Guy along behind her on the way in. I love this holiday, it is definitely the most fun I've had yet this year.

The little Egg that Could

My friend K is pregnant for the third time. Not usually a very huge deal, I know, but this pregnancy is pretty amazing. Her first two were through invitro, and after the second one the doctors had two blastocysts left over. The doctors didn't implant these last two because they didn't seem strong enough. Sure enough one of them fizzled out, but the second one suddenly started growing. The doctors asked K and her husband what they would like to do with the extra embryo..destroy it or freeze it. They decided to freeze it, the destruction of it was a rather distasteful thought.

So, last year when the bank where it was being stored told them they needed to decide what to do with it, K and her husband chose to go ahead and try to implant it. With the first two pregnancies, they had 3 live embryos implanted, and only one survived each time. Apparently the thawing process itself is rather traumatic, and they didn't expect this last frozen embryo to survive. But it did. They went ahead with the IVF and that little egg that could made himself right at home. CONGRATULATIONS K!!

I am taking a series of photographs of K. The first is the embryo itself, the second and third are from her 1st ultrasound. I am going to take similar pictures featuring each of the followup ultrasounds and then one with the little guy after he is born. It should be a cool timeline for them.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

It's his potty and he'll cry if he wants to.

So, I was getting the kids ready for a bath the other night, when Little Guy decided to sit on his little potty seat for the first time. I went into my room to get something and he comes running in, barebottomed, and grabs me by the hand. "A Mess!" he says. "A Mess!" I follow him to the bathroom and what do you know, there sits a little piddle in his potty. G and I were so proud of him, There was much dancing and clapping and joyful shouting. I went to get my camera, and when I got back, G had cleaded the mess up for me. Sweet, but eeeewww! And when I tried to get Little Guy to pose on the potty for me, he wasn't very happy about it. Oh well.

He hasn't done it again since. Maybe the joyful shouting was just too much.




Monday, March 17, 2008

Happy Patrick's Day!

She says it like that. She asked me who Patrick was and I told her he was a guy who got all the rats out of Ireland a long time ago. The Irish people were very happy for that, since the rats were eating all of their potatoes, I told her. So now they celebrate him every year, and everyone wears green because green is the color of Ireland. "Oh! Like Ratatouille!" she says. Yep, just like Ratatouille. But without the whole chef thing. And not in Paris.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Don't crush the daffodils!

lThe neighbor boys come over to play pretty often. They really love to play in our front yard, doing crazy jumps off of our tree stump into the daffodils...the only flowers we have in our yard. The prior owners of our house must have planted them, it surely wans't me. My green thumb is severely broken. There is one particular bare spot in between the daffodils that they use as a landing pad, so I only have to remind them to stick to that spot and we are golden.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Toothless

I heard an unexpected pounding on the front door. Little Guy rushes up the stairs and rounds the corner headed to the window to see who it is. The dog sleeps. She's such a good alarm system. I want my money back.

Little Guy yells "Cha-lee! Cha-lee! 'En-ree!" The neighbor boys came for a visit. They are two of my children's favorite playmates. Every day on the way home form school G asks if they can come over and play. I am always delighted by how sweetly they all get along, playing dress up and pretend family at our house and climbing trees and hide and seek at theirs. I hope Little Guy is sweet like those two when he gets older.

Back to the surprise visit...it turns out that 'En-ree lost a tooth at school that day! And how proud he was of losing that tooth. It was the first top one he had lost, and that is a big deal to any kid. He had brought it over just to show G, in his little tooth carrying case in the shape of..what else..a tooth that hung around his neck. He proudly showed us how the inside of the tooth was "dirty" where the root had decayed.

Then, the boys came in and played dress up. By the time their mom called for them to come home, En-Ree had lost his precious tooth. It had fallen out of his pocket while he was changing for dress up. I assured him I had a picture of it so the tooth fairy would know about it. Happily, G scoured the house and was able to find it, so that 'En-ree could show the fairy his tooth himself.



Thursday, March 13, 2008

By Jove, I think I've got it!

My business card design that is. What do you think? All suggestions and opinions are appreciated.
Front:


Back:

Saturday, March 8, 2008

The Business of Being Born

This documentary by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein really spoke to me. I am a huge advocate of educated childbirth. I feel that this film could enlighten young women about what childbirth is and is not. If you get a chance, check it out. It is available on Netflix.

The Business Of Being Born

I was raised knowing that birthing was a natural part of life. If my mother could have natural childbirth, then so could I. And I did. And if I can do that, I can do anything.

Little guy. Born {free} In the water.

Bubbles & Bye-Byes

At the end of class, the children are given hand stamps and then bubbles are blown for them to run around and pop. This just may be Little Guy's favorite part. I always get a chuckle when they fall asleep on the way home with their head on their hands and wake up with ink marks all over their faces. We'll miss you Rach!

Circle time

Circle time is about the only structured time in the Tiny Tikes gymnastics class. The mommies and tots sit around in a circle and do stretches and sing songs, pretend to bake cookies and gobble them up (I am particularly good at this one) and roll around on the ground (another strength of mine). Little Guy's favorite song to sing is Itsy Bitsy Spider; he tries reeeally hard to do the whole finger thing with it. I remember being little and trying to figure out how the grownups did that, too. It amazed me then as much as it amazes him now. Really interesting.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

The Pit

Oh how children love to go in the foam pit. Of course we adults have to get in there and help them get out, which causes us to get stuck in the pit while our children run away at top speed laughing as we grunt and groan and slowly and awkwardly crawl to the edge and heave ourselves out. Oh what fun. I am certain there is an entire village of lost socks at the bottom of that foam pit. And perhaps a lost child, too.

Balancing and swinging

He really likes the beam, and could probably do it all alone, but still likes the comfort of holding someone's hand. This was the first time he played on the rings, and after a timid start, he seemed to really like them.