'member me?

Life has been crazzzzzy. Yes, so crazy it's worth extra z's! We're alive, we're well, just trying to keep our heads above water!

The most exciting thing that has happened in the 2 weeks of radio silence...

This stubborn little girl FINALLY decided she was ready to be potty trained! When I say decided, I mean she came to me wearing her panties one morning and said she wasn't going to wear diapers anymore. We haven't had any accidents since that morning. Easiest. Potty. Training. Ever. (If you don't count the months of her screaming whenever I placed her on the toilet to give it a try. )

Joy of Love - Day 17 on Day 26

Not quite 10 days late, but I'm trying to get back on track. The theme for this day was staying in. What do we do when we are home? This is one of the kids' favorite things to do, color on the sliding glass window. Clara is using her window crayons, they are much messier than the window markers.

I don't remember the last time this window had a proper cleaning. The only time it is clean is when the kids need a blank canvas. I think the dirty background is a great backdrop.

A week in the life

No surprise on my end, but I have really fallen behind on my assignments for the Willette class. I have some of them ready to go, just no motivation. This past week was full. So, because I can't properly compose a paragraph right now, I am going to pull out my magic bullets for this post.

* Last Friday WPPI started. For those of you (who like me a year ago) who don't know what WPPI is, it is the big ol' photography convention / trade show that comes to Las Vegas once a year. I attended WPPI-University. It was for people in the process of setting up their own business. It was fun, but it was intense. I didn't even go to all the classes because my brain started to overload. If I would have sat through one more class I may have walked out to the casino and handed some drunk man my camera and told them to have fun.

*Sunday was my birthday. The big 36. I can't believe I am heading towards 40. Not possible. Here is where I should insert that I had a great day, but I had to speak at Church. Because I had been so busy the whole weekend, I was up at 6 am trying to put my thoughts into some kind of outline that made sense. The talk went well, but I was so HAPPY to be done with it.

After church we came home and had out little family party. Thomas had decorated, Steve and Clara baked a cake and Steve BBQ'd some steaks. It was a nice, quiet night. My favorite.

* On Monday I was back at WPPI to attend the trade show. I wasn't really excited to go walk around and look at stuff I couldn't really afford, but I heard that they would have speakers at many of the major booths. While I was there I started listening to this woman at the SONY booth. She was fantastic. I went back for her second presentation and was blown away with everything she was sharing. I decided to approach her after the talk and tell her how much I enjoyed her and how much I learned from her. We were talking with one another and she invited me to a luncheon she was having on Wednesday. I grabbed her bio information and came home and googled her. I had NO IDEA who I was talking to. Her name is Me Ra Koh and she has been featured on Oprah and is a correspondent for the Nate Berkus show. I poured over her website and decided that this luncheon was something I had to attend. I am so glad I did, it was fantastic. She invited 60 women to a garden luncheon in honor of her scholarship program she developed a couple years ago, SOAR. We ate lunch, she spoke, and then she took us out to shoot a bride and groom. She gave us her tips and tricks and just spent time working with each of us. Not only was she there, Dane Sanders, an amazing lifestyle photographer, was there as well. After she shared her tips, he shared his advice for about 30 minutes. I learned more from the two of them in the 2 hours I was at the luncheon than I did all weekend. It was a great way to end the convention.

Hopes and Dreams

Conversation while at the dinner table last night...

Clara: I want big arm pits like yours when I bigger. Mine are so small.
(lovingly said as she cupped my right breast in her tiny hand)

Thomas: She means boobs.
(said so matter of fact - no shyness or silliness)

Question Steve and I asked each other after the kids were in bed?

Who taught Thomas about boobs?

Day 15: Kiss

Despite his look in this picture, he really was a willing participant.

Could she BE wearing any more clothes?

6 shirts. Just what you need when it's expected to get to 72 degrees today.

I couldn't help but think of this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q--6wtCPHg8

It wouldn't let me embed.

Ketchup

Day 13 - Routine

Day 14 - Wedding rings

This assignment scared me. I am not really good on close up shots, so I kind of threw in the towel and had Thomas hold them for me. It's not really a detail shot, but at least I did it.

Love it.

"Powerful candids are by definition revealing. They give us hints about inner workings but leave room for imagination about who the subject is and how they are motivated."

-Robert McNeely, White House Photographer

Day 12: Physicality - Eyes

Valentines Day Cards

This is Thomas' first Valentines day in school. I have been a tad too excited about it. I found this idea on Design Mom. I caution you against reading her blog. She recently moved to France and is going to spend the next year there with her family. She is making the move sound so easy - like even WE could do it.

I may or may not have spent an hour yesterday searching for Physical Therapy jobs in Paris.

Day 11: Dreams

Ever since I started today's assignment I can't get the Cranberries song, "Dreams" out of my head. If it's stuck in your head now too, your welcome.

Dreams. We all have them. Mine tend to be a tad off the wall. The most recent one I can remember stared me and Cloris Leachman. Then there was another one with me, Matthew Perry, My husband, and a baby in a beach house. Like I said, they're off the wall.

Can I please have eyelashes like this? It's always the boys who get the thick, luscious lashes!

Every night Thomas says his prayers before bed. Each time he asks Heavenly Father to help him have "happy happy happy happy dreams." Sometimes he pauses after the phrase and throws an extra happy in there just to cover all bases. He is so worried about having scary dreams. It breaks my heart that he is afraid of dreams, but I know he'll grow out of it.

Clara dreams. I know she does because she talks in her sleep. I know she talks in her sleep because she makes her way into our bedroom every single night. It's a tricky situation. She is so quite and gets into position between the two of us with out making a peep. If one of us wakes up in the middle of the night, they are responsible for taking her back to her room. But it's really pointless. She always makes her way back in. Every time I get frustrated I try and tell my self that it won't last forever and I will miss waking up with her cuddled next to me when she is older.

To see all the other submissions at Willette, click here.

Day 10: Space

Today's assignment is all about a favorite space. For Clara that would be anywhere she can get wet. She loves water. Every time we drive by the public pool she asks if we can go. I tell her that it's too cold and she tell me, "It's okay, I'll just shiver like this." Then she shows me how she is perfectly capable of shivering. Since we are experiencing bitterly cold temperatures in the mid 60's, she has to make do with the tub.

There's nothing better than a clean set of raisin feet.

Or baby-doll feet - because baby must do everything Clara does.

(My favorite part of this picture is her chipped nail polish.)

Day 9: Passions and Hobbies

Clara's Passions: Pink, Princesses and Playing with make-up

That pretty much sums up her life.

Today we were looking for her shoes. Like every other day we were having a hard time finding them. She said, "Don't worry, I'll just use my magic wand to find them."

Don't you hate it when you are getting your picture taken and your crown starts falling off your head?

However, after it has fallen, it's nice to know you can use the reflection to check your lipstick.

She said she needed more.

Day 8 - Gift of the heart

Question: Do you know how hard it is to get a beauty shot of a waffle iron?

One of my favorite gifts of the heart from Steve has been this waffle iron.

Before Steve and I had kids we traveled. A lot. Both of us would often come home on a Friday night and decide that we wanted to get out of town. We were DINKS (that's double income no kids) - we could, so we would. We would drive down to the beach and spend the weekends walking on the sand, eating seafood on the pier and searching antique stores for vintage cookie jars. It was great.

Being the big dorks that we are, we always enjoyed a good hotel breakfast. Before we would check into a hotel we would search the breakfast room to see if they had a waffle iron. If they did we would stay. If they didn't we would high tail it out of there and check the hotel down the street. This was back in the early 2000's, hotel waffle irons weren't as common as they are today.

Fast forward a few years. Our impromptu traveling had become a thing of the past. We were now a family of 3 and we were down to one income. One morning I came downstairs to find this fancy waffle maker on the counter. It wasn't a special occasion. My awesome husband bought it for me because he loves me and thought I would enjoy it.

And I have.

Day 7: Generations

My mom is a great sport. I called her at 8:30 this morning and told her Clara and I were coming over to get a picture. When we got there she yelled out her back door, "I thought you weren't coming until 9:30!" She was just getting into the bath tub. I told her she was fine and she could take her time. Clara had other plans. She went busting in on Grandma in the tub while I stood in the kitchen laughing. I wish I would have gotten a picture, that would have been a great photo for the assignment! Instead I had Clara sit on Grandma's lap when she was fully clothed. Even though I am sure a picture of Grandma cowering behind a towel would have been priceless, this one will have to do for now.