Mamatography week 24

5/31. Four Things

We went to a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. I think it's hilarious how much Davis loved skeeball. He wasn't very good. Moira, on the other hand, is actually getting able to get the ball into the hoops.

6/1. B is for...

It's fabulous that we can get Moira to play some of "our" games now, instead of just Candyland. She really likes Ticket to Ride.

6/2. A Moment

I took the kids for a picnic in the park, so Walker could have some time to himself.

6/3. On my Table

Technically this isn't my table. Or a table at all. We were learning about bugs at Moira's nature school, and this was the incredibly detailed bug she made. She added some spots and a few legs after I took this picture.

6/4. After Dark

This guy has decided that he doesn't need to go to sleep until 10pm. It is tiring for the adults, but not for him.

6/5. Environment

The new otter exhibit at the zoo is pretty cool. And the otters must like it, because they just had babies. It's been a really good year for babies at the zoo. The sloth bears, otters, lions, and snow leopards have all had babies, and the giraffes are expecting.

6/6. Transport

Moira's favorite way to travel.

This post is part of the Mamatography 2013 Project with Diary of a First Child and Momma Jorje.
We are taking (at least) a photo a day to keep a record of our year. Join us at any point during the year and start sharing your own daily photos!

Also linked up at Hobo Mama and NPN.

Mamatography week 23

5/23. PJ's

Somehow I got the photos out of order, so I shared the photo from 5/24 last time. Here is Davis, not in PJ's at all because I also didn't manage to get a themed photo this day. Disorganization for the win!

5/25. Us

I made this set of peg dolls for Moira, and she adores them. Walker, me and the baby peg doll were the first set when she was 3, but when Davis was born, I decided she needed a new peg, so the little one is Davis now.

5/26. Favorite Thing to do on Sunday

Dress up fancy and go places!

5/27. Can't Live Without

Love. And date nights (technically this was a date afternoon). Even when we get a flat tire on said date night.

5/28. What You're Doing Now

Sitting in the car while the baby sleeps.

5/29. Kiss

Davis has been extra snuggly and mommy focused lately. Extra kisses!

5/30. Tools

Moira agreed to let me make her some shorts so that she has enough pants/shorts for a full week of zoo camp. This is my first time tracing a pattern from one of these combined pattern sheets. It was easier than I expected.

This post is part of the Mamatography 2013 Project with Diary of a First Child and Momma Jorje.
We are taking (at least) a photo a day to keep a record of our year. Join us at any point during the year and start sharing your own daily photos!

Also linked up at Hobo Mama and NPN.

Mamatograhy, week 22

5/17. Season

Spring is far and away my favorite season.

5/18. I Want

This is the Eiffel sandwich from our local organic co-op. I wish they had it in their deli more often, because it's my favorite thing, by far.

5/19. My Favorite View

I love watching my parents with my kids.

5/20. Light

This giant patch of mushrooms was hiding in a little copse of trees at outdoor preschool. Most of the children (including Moira) were afraid to touch them, and I realized I may have layed my "NEVER touch a mushroom!" lessons from our old forest walks on a little thick.

5/21. I Care About This

He is so methodical and careful, and so very gentle. I really want to help him hold a space in his life where he gets to be the gentle and kind person he is.

5/22. Change

Every day he gets more and more capable, but at the same time, more reckless. He's been going down the stairs by himself for months, but in the last week he fell down them twice because he's trying to walk up them the same way Moira does. He also figured out how to climb over the rail at the top of the bunk bed, but refuses to try coming down the ladder, in favor of climbing over the railing anywhere the ladder isn't, so we've had to start taking it down while we are playing up there.

5/24. Go

Going for a walk is a big favorite of all of us. It is getting more difficult now that Davis doesn't want to ride in the baby carrier or the stroller. He prefers to walk for a block and then have me carry him the rest of the way on my hip.

This post is part of the Mamatography 2013 Project with Diary of a First Child and Momma Jorje.
We are taking (at least) a photo a day to keep a record of our year. Join us at any point during the year and start sharing your own daily photos!

Also linked up at Hobo Mama and NPN.

Wind world

Remember Wind Girl? She retired from superheroing, but the Wind Country is still quite alive in Moira's imagination. Things I have learned about the Wind World recently:
Many words in Wind sound like completely different words in English, making translation difficult. For instance, the Wind word for dog is "Cat" and vice versa.
There is a thriving expat Wind community in our neighborhood. Moira, and 100 of her Wind friends, plus a personal maid for each of them all live in one small house a few blocks from us. There are a large number of Wind dogs and cats living in the same neighborhood, but each of them gets their own house, unless they are married, in which case they share.
Each country on Earth has their own society of Winds, who do things differently. Mostly based on what temperature the local winds are.
Each Wind has to do a year of work on the superhero team. Moira stepped down when her year was up.

Time for art

Ever since our trip to California where Moira had multiple meltdowns about her art not looking "right" I've been trying to do more directed art together. She had mostly stopped doing anything but scribbles for quite a while, and I was just kind of ignoring it.
So now, I'm trying to show her techniques.

The first one we did was pointillist art. I explained the plan (draw a picture, and then fill it in with a qtip), and then I started making my picture while she experimented with the materials and made a bunch of abstract pictures.

After my picture was half finished, she took a closer look and decided to start a new picture. She also drew a sun, with a tidal wave at the bottom. She made a few more sun and water pictures, which she gave away before I could take pictures.
After that, when we sit down together she's been much more interested in what I'm doing, and hearing about new techniques for art.

Most recently, I showed her a different scribble technique, she told me when I suggested it that she already knew how to do it, but then when I started scribbling she decided to give me a try anyway.

Here is Moira's scribble. It includes a pond and a frame, two of her favorite things to draw right now.

Davis made one two. He didn't tell me anything about it.

I figured that since we are doing more art for Moira, I should set up some more baby friendly art activities. Like the corn syrup paint I made for Moira's first paintings. He liked it, as you can see.

Here's his finished picture. He only ate a little bit of the corn syrup.

This is Moira's. She loves to pile paint and glitter glue and that kind of thing in one spot on the paper, and I've been trying to convince her to spread it out a little, you know, so it can actually dry. I like how it looks like a dragon now.

Mamatography, week 21

5/10. Stars

I found this five shaped sparkler while we were looking for Mother's Day presents, and then forgot to give it to Moira on her birthday. She played with it on my birthday instead, and after a little hesitation, she thought it was cool.

5/11. A Smile

I loved the outfit Moira put together for our family trip to the zoo. She was in a delightful mood, and danced through the whole trip, so I ended up taking a lot of pictures. We didn't get to see the new otters (the purpose of our visit) but we did get to have bacon, and do the special Mother's Day activities they had set up. We also rode the carousel, and Davis pointed out every single horse on it, "Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!"
I think it's funny that horses were the first animal sound from both of my kids. It made sense for Moira, since we could see horses from our living room window (and front yard, and every time we drove anywhere), but Davis doesn't have that visual cue. He just knows they are awesome, I guess.

5/12. A Mother

The amazing Lauren baby sat my kids ON Mother's Day so Walker and I could go out for a dinner for my birthday.

5/13. Sunrise/Sunset

We don't really have a good sunset view because there is a hill in the way, and I missed sunrise, but this was what the sky looked like while the sun was setting.

5/14. Need

I needed a break this day, but it was hard to come by. I eventually convinced the kids to play upstairs while I watched the Great British Sewing Bee.

5/15. 7 O'Clock

At 7, I was having drinks and dinner with my friend Jennifer at a dive bar near my house. Apparently taxidermy is hip right now, because this isn't the only par near my house with hunting trophies.

5/16. Mailbox

Our mailbox looks really pretty right now, but then the wisteria loses it's flowers and makes a runner for the parked cars on the street. It requires a lot of upkeep.

This post is part of the Mamatography 2013 Project with Diary of a First Child and Momma Jorje.
We are taking (at least) a photo a day to keep a record of our year. Join us at any point during the year and start sharing your own daily photos!

Also linked up at Hobo Mama and NPN.

Mamatography week 20

5/3. This is Really Good

I was feeding this yogurt to Davis all wrong. Bites too big, or two small, or not fast enough, or too many bites in my mouth. Something. So he took matters into his own hands.

5/4. In My Cup

I had a headache for a few days in a row, coinciding with super hot weather. I finally remembered that I could make iced tea in the morning, which helped things feel part of the way better. It's too bad I don't have caffeine every day, since I'm really bad at remembering things outside of my normal routine when I'm in pain. It's a good fix for my headaches, but I almost never remember to do it.

5/5. Paper

Detritus from Moira's birthday party.

5/6. Broken

We went to Moira's Fiddlehead Forest school at the Arboretum this day and learned all about decomposers. We found lots of broken trees teeming with happy life.

5/7. Something Beginning with F

Lilacs! We have these all over the yard. Too bad they aren't the family favorite dark purple lilacs, although I did just find a very crowded one in a hidden corner of our yard, which I plan to transplant.

5/8. Shape

This day was watch week at Moira's ballet class. Her teacher is constantly telling the kids to "make a shape!" when she wants them to stand still.

Here's a video of their practice for her first recital.

5/9. A Snack

I came downstairs for a snack and found these dark purple lilacs delivered by my aunt for my birthday. They are from a bush in her yard that came from a cutting of my Grandmother's lilac bush.

This post is part of the Mamatography 2013 Project with Diary of a First Child and Momma Jorje.
We are taking (at least) a photo a day to keep a record of our year. Join us at any point during the year and start sharing your own daily photos!

Also linked up at Hobo Mama and NPN.

Mamatography week 19

4/26. Childhood

We found this in the closet, and both kids spent hours playing with it.

4/27. Earth

From one of our board books. This one is a little preachy for me.

4/28. My Sunday

I wish more of my weekend looked like this. Before kids this was pretty much what we did, well, and playing games. We've started incorporating Moira into the game playing, so I know the future will look more like this, but I'm getting a nostalgic while waiting.

4/29. I Wore This Today

I bought this skirt at the thrift store, and it's very cute, and then I discovered after a bus ride that it was at the thrift store because of a broken zipper.

4/30. Glasses

I almost didn't remember to take a picture this day. This is our "interesting glasses" shelf.

5/1. I Bought This!

Davis and I went on a run to the comic store while Moira was in ballet class. I love comics.

5/2. Morning Ritual

Leftovers for breakfast, and catching up on social media.

This post is part of the Mamatography 2013 Project with Diary of a First Child and Momma Jorje.
We are taking (at least) a photo a day to keep a record of our year. Join us at any point during the year and start sharing your own daily photos!

Also linked up at Hobo Mama and NPN.