I am thankful for...

....my hometown. On a crisp, clear fall day like this.

Nana & Poppa

I'm just figuring out my new (and very awesome) computer, so I'll be posting more about Thanksgiving soon!

Reversal of Follicles

Something was different about my girls yesterday...just can't put my finger on it...

{not feeling well again yesterday, thus the glassy eyes}

Click here for a fun look back!

This.Is.Life.

{this picture is worth about a million words}

I tried to do a photo shoot yesterday of my very own two little munckins, to use for this year's holiday card. Well, you know what they say about the shoemaker's kids never having shoes? Totally right. I take pictures of other peoples' kids all the time, yet when it comes to my own...oh boy, I just don't have the touch! To my credit, I think the photos are nice and clear. It's my subjects who give me fits :)

But in looking through them, I realize how much I truly treasure these photos. They tell the story of how my girls are right now, at this very precious moment. And isn't that what a holiday card should be all about? The unperfect moments that make us real? That make us happy! So be prepared, if you are on my holiday card list...you may just get something a bit unexpected this year :)

You've come a long way, baby*

As many of you (who is you? does anyone read this besides the obvious?) know, I have started a little photography business. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of photographing my friend Carrie's family. I met Carrie when I was pregnant with Lucy, in prenatal yoga class. I was then in a "new moms" group with her and her son L.J. Carrie had her second, daughter Emmie, just about 14 months after L.J.

I got this great photo of the two gorgeous kids yesterday:


And then I went into my archives and found this photo that I took of L.J. during the new moms group...almost four years ago now:

{that's him on the right}

Needless to say, he's grown up as a child and I have come a long way as a photographer as well.

*Note that I titled this blog post in a way I kind of disdain. It was the ad slogan for none other than Virginia Slims, and it implied that women made progress because they could now smoke with abandon. Yuck. But still, the slogan worked here. But now it works less because I've explained the heck out of it. Should I just delete it? Nah, I've just typed too much to hit "delete." I haven't got all day :)

Sick days

{the two little convalescents}

Lucy came home sick from school on Monday. Fever and general malaise. Since then, her fever has been up and down...mostly up at night and down during the day. She's had a cough, sore throat and a very scratchy voice. Almost no voice at all today, which is odd for my chatterbox girl. Is it swine flu? I dunno...maybe. Her doctor's office doesn't test and frankly, they almost seem annoyed with the whole thing. Hmrph. So I am treating her symptoms and she seems to have turned a corner tonight. If she has a restful night sleep tonight, which she hasn't had the past few nights, I'll know that brighter days are ahead. Phoebe had a fever on Tuesday after her nap, but has been fine since then. So I really have no idea what is going on. We've kept them both home from school all week, with me primarily watching them. Since Monday, I have been out of the house a grand total of once -- we took a drive last night and I ran into the Container Store to buy some hampers. Will the excitement never end???

To keep "busy" we've been...

Watching tv:
Making hats:
Watching tv:
Dancing in the kitchen:
Watching tv:
Playing with "snow":
And did I mention?...watching tv:
Handing out trophies (for "being a good sick girl"):
And, yes, we even spent a little time outside:

{get better soon, lu. you're gorgeous even when you're sick!}

Halloween: The Post Mortem (ha ha ha)

The festivities started last weekend with a party at the home of one of Lucy's school friends. I missed out because I was off at a photo shoot (sounds so glam, doesn't it?) and I didn't dare burden Jeff with a camera and two little girls. I did see a photo from another mom and it appears that Lucy had a great time. There was another party at her school on Friday...I went to that and snapped some photos of her there. Here is Ariel, enjoying the party:

Oh boy were the kids cute! Yesterday, which was officially Halloween, was a beautiful day. Windy but warm...perfectly mild and sort of spooky Halloween weather. My parents were here, and they prepared a special breakfast for the girls while I was off, where else, at another shoot. But I was back by noon and ready to prepare my special Halloween lunch...grilled smoked gouda sandwiches (Jeff made those) and homemade curried pumpkin soup. It was de-lish. After naps, the girls got into their costumes. Lucy decided that she was done with Ariel and wanted to wear a too-small Tom Brady jersey that she found in a box of things I took out for Phoebe. Ok, ok, so I went with the flow. But of course she also insisted on the pink hairspray I bought, as well as the stick-on earrings. I thought maybe she could be Gisele...a baby bump under that jersey perhaps? But no, she wanted to be Tom, or "crazy Tom Brady" as she put it because of the pink hair, earrings, pink and brown crocs. Hmmm, sorry Tom!

{hike!}

Phoebe was very patient while I put her in her full rock star regalia:

{bad-ass phoebers}

{punk rock girls}

And last but certainly not least...for those who don't know me personally, I am 17. Ok, plus almost 20. But really, I am 17 at heart. It keeps my mom amused to see that I am still basically a child when it comes to being goofy. And why the heck not. I could walk around in mom jeans on Halloween, perhaps going a bit "crazy" with a fun sweater from the Home Shopping Network...or I could do this:

{zexy, no?}

Uh-huh, yep, that's me. And lest Jeff be left out, I got him in on the goth action as well:

{ok, enough ghouling around...har har har}

In case you hear differently from him, he loved every minute of it. And now we finally have a nice family photo to use for this year's holiday card:

I HOPE YOU ALL HAD A SAFE AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Free falling

{october = lady bugs}

Halloween: myth v. reality

Ah, Halloween. Five years ago, if I had gazed into a crystal ball and seen two little girls in my future, I would have believed the following myths about their Halloween costumes:

(1) They will certainly match. Perhaps Little Bo Peep and her lost sheep? Mary and her little lamb? The little girls will be sooooo happy to be presenting a cohesive theme!

(2) I will make the costumes by hand. I will by no means ever purchase them at Target! The horror.

(3) They will never be a Disney Princess, a Sesame Street character or anything remotely resembling same. They won't even know what those things are!!

And now, of course, the reality:

(1) You try telling Lucy that Phoebe is going to have a costume remotely like hers. I dare you.

(2) Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Throw it in the cart...let's move...I haven't got all day!

(3) It's a little-known fact, but Walt Disney bought the rights to ultrasound waves back in 1950. So while we are hearing the pleasing "thump thump thump" of the baby's heartbeat, baby girl is hearing "When You Wish Upon a Star." And from there on out, you just can't fight the power. As for Elmo, he is quite literally thrown onto their backsides within 10 minutes of birth. I went from cloth diapering Phoebe to having a child who now refers to her diapers as "Elmos." How the mighty have fallen.

So, what are they going to be for Halloween this year? For Lucy, Ariel (the Little Mermaid, a la Disney). But just the dress and the shoes. For some reason, she has no interest in the red clip-on ponytail offered to her (by me)...at Target.

And Phoebe, well, I bought her a little black tutu that I just couldn't resist. I had thoughts of making her a witch. But she won't wear a hat, or carry a broom, I know that. So I really had no way to make her look witchy, especially since she looks like an angel. Off we went, for inspiration, to...Target. Where she proceeded to fall in love with an Elmo costume. We purchased red Converse sneakers to match and called it a night. Then I made the mistake the next morning of making her try it on before she had her coffee. And whoo boy, that did not go over well. And now all she says about it is "NOOOOO ELMOOOOOOOO!" Instead, I decided that we'd go back to the black tutu and simply accessorize it into a costume. A $3 t-shirt from Children's Place ($3 because who the heck else would want it) plus some fuzzy silver mock-crocs do the trick nicely. So here she is, my one-year-old "rock star." It ain't a little sheep, or Mary's little lamb, but it sure is something.

And here they are together, umatched and happy, just the way I like them:

Just photos...I'm tired :)

Kinda spooky...

Forget Halloween. What is truly spooky is how this child managed to get none of my genes (ok, except my absolute worst gene in the form a mild blood disorder).

{mr. strong genetics}

Bye-bye wide-angle lens...

...I shall miss you dearly.