one year old

I have officially gone back to my slacker-blogging ways.  I just can't seem to find the energy to keep posting consistently.  I still do enjoy it, but I think I'm going to have to be okay with occasional posts.  Maybe my new goal should be once a week?  

Last week Z turned one!  Wow, I can not believe it.  We had a very low-key celebration.  I made him butternut squash muffins with citrus glaze.  I'm no baker, but these were yummy, and I'm still enjoying the leftovers.  Here's Z with his muffin-cake.  I think he likes it!

Inquisitively looking at the girls, who graciously offered to blow out his candle.  Hmm...what's going on?

YUM!  He definitely likes it :)

A few personality shots.  What's up with all the cameras in my face?!

Miss A giving David the stink eye.

Here's Miss M trying to put on Z's birthday crown.  He did not like that one bit!

Happy Birthday, Z!  We're so glad you're part of our family.

thankful

It's become our tradition every Thanksgiving to make "thankful links."

We've been doing this since Miss A was 15 months old and Miss M was 3.  Back then, we asked the girls to tell us something they were thankful for and we wrote it down for them.  Now, we each write our own!

I use old scrapbooking paper to cut long 1-1/2 inch strips.  This year I used Christmas colors: red, dark red, green and white.  We had the parade on in the background as we were doing this.  It was really low key.  Everyone can write as many or as few as they'd like, and take as long as they want to finish.  When everyone is done, we staple the strips together to make a long chain-link.  The girls love it, and it's become a fun tradition.

What are your favorite traditions?

the treasure party

Miss A's treasure party was a lot of fun.
Lucky for me, the Dollar Tree was selling wooden treasure boxes for $1 each.



Next, Mr. Wood helped lead the kids through a treasure hunt at our neighborhood park. He's quite clever, you see, and came up with four riddles for the kids to solve. Each riddle led to the next riddle. After all four riddles were collected, the reverse side made a puzzle picture of their "treasure." Miss A said this was her favorite part of the party.



La piece de resistance. The treasure cake. I'll be honest. Making cakes like this stress me out. You pretty much have one shot at it, and if it goes badly, it's all over. Thankfully, this bunch of 6-year-olds thought it was great and were quite happy with my feeble attempt. Oh, and they all loved those chocolate coins.



All in all, it was a great time. And now, I'm all partied out.

July 4th bike parade

Time for our bi-annual bike parade out in Ft. Collins. Check out what David made:

It's a bird, it's a plane...it's a submarine! Most people thought it was a boat, but hey that's ok. Check out the periscope A is holding. It's really a submarine. If you're curious how he did it, don't worry, I'll post a "making of" set of photos too.




All lined up.








Cute little K. She's getting so big! You may remember her from last fall when I took her one-year pics. Love that hair!


The girls had a lot of fun, and were quite proud. They won the Grand Prize purple ribbon for the entire parade. Go, David!


And, if you really want to see more photos, here's a little slideshow for you:

easter festivities

It's too hot in Orlando to put candy in plastic eggs, so the kids get tickets that they exchange at the candy table. True redemption.



The kids are entertained by our friend, Marc, the magician. He's an amazing magician, and our girls always look forward to his magic.



I just love my fisheye!



A is lovin' her candy, and totally not in the mood for a photo.



I played with this black and white a bit. I added Ginnie's soft gold on top of my conversion, and added some texture. What do you think? It's sort of old-school-classic to me.

birthdays...

My good friend and fellow photog Emily asked me to take photos at her son Caedmon's birthday party. I was happy to help, because I know how much I want good photos at my girls' parties, but when you're the mom and the photog, it doesn't work out so well! I'll let you know when it's your turn, Emily ;)








What a cool alien cake!

be mine!

Happy Valentine's Day! How do you celebrate? We don't really have any family Valentine's traditions to speak of, but I'd like to start some. My friend, Cindy, had a great idea that she shared with me yesterday. Ever heard of the book The 5 Love Languages? According to the author, everyone receives love and shows love in one or more of five ways: encouraging words, gifts, lots of hugs, acts of service and quality time.

My friend's idea focuses on loving our family on Valentine's Day in such a way that they really feel loved. First we'll have to explain the concept to our kids and see if they get it. Then, we'll have to help them think of ways to show love to one another. I think this is a great idea to make Valentine's Day about loving those around you in a special way. (And, it means I'm in for lots of presents :)

I think we'll start small today by explaining the concept of love languages to our girls. I'd love to hear any traditions you have!

festival of lights

Hollywood Studios has a festival of lights/light show during the Christmas season. I had fun capturing it. There was some fake snow too. It was so packed, though, but we still had lots of fun. If you're going, it's best to check the schedule, because last week they only had it on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

Major photo overload ahead:









(I'm trying to learn to use my external flash. I'm definitely in progress. More on this in my next post!)

a little teaser

Just a teaser for what we were up to this weekend...now I've got you hooked! :)

thanksgiving snaps

So, I'm a bit "behind" in posting my thanksgiving photos. We have an annual tradition of writing out "thankful links." It was fun this year to see the girls be able to write their own.







We celebrated thanksgiving with close friends. We're so blessed to have them! Here's our host, Mr. Cannon, carving up the big bird.



The most amusing part of the day: static electricity in the bounce house. Just look at A's hair!





The kids at the kid table were very dismayed by a nearby wasps' nest, so they all moved to the grown up table. I'm sure you're jealous that they were able to play and eat outside. Well, just think of the suffering we undergo in the summer heat...we're in the blissful days of Florida weather at the moment.