838 Photos

I finally managed to plug my iPhone into my computer and download all the photos I've taken since I bought it. 838 of them, and only about 400 are blurry. So I figured there must be SOMETHING worth posting, for posterity and all. Because I find that if I haven't put it here, a few months later it feels like it never happened. But be aware that these go WAY back. And of course, I picked the best ones. So we look happy and instaperfect and enviable. But there were plenty of cranky, shouty, rusty, sticky moments mixed in. Full disclosure.

Big Man, Bigger Chair

Snuck lipstick out of my purse

Bike, sunlight

Crazy pretty sky, the kind of which my great grandfather used to call a sheep sky (looks like a flock of sheep as seen from heaven)

We are dedicated zoo-goers

B&W selfie

My daughter the newscaster

And ballerina

Christmas happened

It was pretty

 

It snowed. A LOT.

But we kept having fun with it. Mostly.

And mixing drinks when times got rough

We ate a lot of cookies, too. That always helps.

Lucy continued to push style boundaries.

We enjoyed Christmas with my sister and her family.

There was a lot of plaid.

We began our year of doing something new every week with ice skating. If I ever get off this non-blogging rut, I'll go into some more details about our adventures.

Lucy celebrated 100 days of school by dressing up as an old lady. If they ever reboot the Golden Girls, I'm having her audition.

Finn discovered a love of basketball

 

M. turned 38, and was presented with the now-traditional Wisconsin birthday cake.

Finn passed his first belt test in Tae Kwon Do

We celebrated Ground Hog's Day, Pinterest style

I made miso soup. And I'm only showing this photo because I'm realizing that I should make this again. Yum.

Lucy wore leg warmers.

Finn lost one of the big front teeth.

We got more snow. By now it was mid-February, and we were less cheerful. Also it was a ridiculous amount.

The kids goofed around.

We thought it was spring. We went to Rehoboth for a weekend.

Then we got more snow.

And even more. This was practically April. I was pissed.

But the skies cleared, the brown started fading to green, and we dined outside. Spring was here.

M. and I went on a date to celebrate my 27th birthday. Ahem.

We went to Texas to visit this lady.

And Texas bluebonnets (better pics are on the big-girl camera)

And somehow, impossibly, Lucy turned 5. And got registered for Kindergarten. I don't even know.

We've had some more fun family outings, like this one to the National Building Museum.

Spring days in DC are awesome. Why don't we go more often?

Lucy discovered a love of pretend tea with real china.

And I breathed a sigh of relief that spring was here to stay when our dogwood tree bloomed.

We are now enjoying most evenings on the deck, with cool beverages, until the heat of summer drives us inside.

While the kids spend lots of time staring at the Kindles. Party poopers, but at least it gives us some grown-up time.

And we are having fun.

 

 

Resolving

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Snowflake Soiree

Lucy's dance school hosts an informal recital every December at the end of the Fall/Winter semester. It's held onstage at a local theater, but there's no fancy costumes or all-out stage make up. It was held yesterday afternoon and, like last year, Lucy's class gave a ridiculously cute performance. They may not have  known all (any) of the steps, but they looked so happy to be there, faces full of smiles. Even the girl who kept yawning.

Check it out:



Not to get all braggy or anything (said to denote that bragging will now follow), but I'm just blown away by what a performer Lucy is. She clearly had no idea what she was doing. She absolutely did not know the steps of the dance. Yet she stood there, smiling and serene and graceful, completely capturing the mood of the song and the ability to look good doing absolutely nothing. Between that and her flair for dramatics (every stubbed toe is a cause for transfemoral amputation), I think we may have a born actress on our hands.

Some stills from before and after her performance:

Backstage beforehand

The rest of our weekend was filled with tantrums (from both kids) and lots and lots of cookie baking. I think I went through 12 sticks of butter. I'm waiting for a few gifts to arrive at our house so I can package up a couple of boxes to mail out to family members, and I have a few more gifts to wrap and put under out tree. But I think I'm done actually BUYING gifts, as of today. That, my friends, is a nice feeling. Bring it, Christmas.

Fall and Photos

Remember when I used to post here? That was nice. Gah, I hate that I haven't made time for this. I need to be posting here, need to be putting images and snapshots of our life here. It's so stupid - I don't even know why I feel like I'm too busy to do this lately. There's something about the kids being a little older, having a little more homework, going to bed a little later... I don't know, it all just seems insurmountable to add in extra stuff lately. Working out, blogging - they've both gone completely by the wayside, sacrificed to the comfort of the couch and the TV remote and a glass of wine. My Hulu account thanks me for being so up to date on my queue, but my waistline and digital memories do not.

 

Also, remember when it was fall? That was nice, too:

 

That's a Finn hidden under the leaves there.

He kills me with how cute he is.

 

Then it was Thanksgiving. I set a pretty table, and my mom and dad joined us:

This little one woke up at five am Thanksgiving morning, throwing up. She rallied by late afternoon, and joined us at the dinner table (where she ate nothing, with style, and in pajamas)

I even made fresh rosemary napkin rings. I channeled my inner Pinterest goddess.

He drank soda out of a grown up glass and thought he was in heaven.

The next day we busted out our Christmas decorations to get a move on a holiday that was less than 4 weeks away:

And I tried my hand at some shaped Bokeh  photography this week (see how the lights in the background are star shaped?):

Even attempted some Christmas card photos (out-takes below):

I'm still working on this whole bokeh technique (you should have seen me trying to fashion a makeshift lens cover out of black construction paper that was 3 years old and seriously faded - it took a really, really long time), but I've at least had some beginner success (here is one of the many tutorials you can find online). Then I broke my 50 mm/1.8f lens in a tripod accident (OK, I was a numbskull and let go of the camera when only 2 of the 3 tripod legs were at the same length) and was really upset with myself. Such a good lens! And a gift from my dad (it was an old Nikon lens of his that fit my camera). The glass/lens is completely cracked.  A bit too late to remedy this for Christmas, but rhis is definitely going on my next birthday/mother's day wish list.

That was Tuesday of this week, day 2 of our two days of snow days. Now it's Thursday evening.  M. is away on a quick work trip, and I am doing what I normally do when he's gone - staying up too late and gorging on TV shows he never wants to watch (3 more episodes of Scandal Season 1 are now in the bag). And while I'm not working out, at least I'm blogging. So that's something :-). And now, since it's practically midnight, and the small creatures of the family will be up in under 7 hours (not to mention the full work day I need to put in tomorrow), I'm going to bed. Goodnight!