mommy's side of the story

two sisters

2010-07-09T22:28:00.004-04:00

best friends, worst enemies, partners in crime... one fearless and one who is much happier to swim in the shallow end...

the 4th

2010-07-07T21:57:00.003-04:00

A perfect summer weekend in just about every way... great food, great weather, great people. And ice cream. Lots of ice cream.

A true New England girl, eating steamers as fast as she could get them out of the shell!

school is out!

2010-06-19T12:22:00.002-04:00

let the summer fun begin...

a girl and her teeth

2010-06-15T22:24:00.002-04:00

"It is not fair that I am the only one in the family with loose teeth. It HURTS to eat things."

Three teeth gone and two more on their way out. Poor baby.

Less than a week into summer vacation and she is already missing school. I am "school sick"- like home sick but when you are missing school- she told me. She liked Kindergarten that much.

As for me, I still can't believe how fast this year went. Or the fact that she now proudly calls herself a first grader.

family portrait

2010-06-02T21:50:00.004-04:00

Big sis in goal in the upper left hand corner, Daddy coaching in the upper right hand corner, my leg, and little sis demanding that I start taking some pictures of her. A real life family moment that makes me smile.

the return of the summer face

2010-05-24T08:24:00.001-04:00

A little left over food, a little dirt and a lot of popsicle.

Looking forward to another week of warm sunshine!

three days of celebration

2010-05-19T14:18:00.003-04:00

Day one: 20+ kids, a bounce house and a balloon man followed by a family cookout. Claire had a blast and amazingly enough, I also actually got to enjoy the day too. At your next kids party, I highly recommend hiring entertainment and serving wine!

On day two, the actual birthday, Claire wanted to get dressed up fancy and meet Daddy for dinner at "the fancy seafood restaurant with the fish on the door". The girls and I had a great afternoon at the park, rode the swan boats and then meet up with Daddy at the fancy seafood restaurant.

About halfway through our fancy seafood dinner Claire threw up. A lot. We are still not sure why. Especially since half an hour later (following an emergency dress wash and dry in the ladies room) she was begging us for an ice cream cone. Which she got, because it was her birthday after all.

And finally, on day three, the preschool party.

And with that, my girl is officially 4!

4

2010-05-15T23:02:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow we celebrate her 4th birthday. Where has the time gone? And how can I make it go just a little slower???

tea time

2010-05-07T13:24:00.003-04:00

Mother's day tea. Possibly my favorite preschool event of the year. And a big day in our house that involved Claire and I getting dressed in our fanciest clothes under Abby's supervision.

Claire's favorite thing about mommy, as read to the class by her teacher? "Sometimes Me and Mommy go to McDonald's when Abby is at school"

April Vacation, Day 5

2010-05-07T13:08:00.002-04:00

April vacation, Day 5. A day at the zoo with friends. Posted on May 7th.

So much for the idea of posting a picture a day for five measly days to get me back into the swing of updating this blog.

I have been busy sprucing up my photography blog (thank you Rita of CoffeeShop!!) and posting plenty of cute kid pictures over there though!

April Vacation, Day 4

2010-04-22T20:56:00.001-04:00

April Vacation, Day 3

2010-04-21T20:55:00.000-04:00

April Vacation, Day 2

2010-04-20T21:41:00.000-04:00

April Vacation, Day 1

2010-04-19T21:07:00.000-04:00

school picture day

2010-04-14T22:24:00.004-04:00

"Why are you laying on the couch? Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes, Mama. I am just resting because today is school picture day and I don't want to look tired in my picture."

******

I am a photographer. A children's photographer in fact. I take hundreds upon hundreds of pictures of my children. And in fact get paid money to take pictures of other people's children.

I could care less what my daughter wears for her school picture. Or what she looks like in it. I will buy a package regardless to document a piece of her history, but the portrait I took of her at the beach is the one that will remain on the wall.

So the fact that my kindergartner marked this day on her calendar, selected her outfit days in advance and then spent the morning fussing with her lip gloss and hair while practicing her picture pose is a complete mystery to me.

But I am pretty sure it means that I am in big, big trouble when her wedding day comes along.

home office

2010-03-28T20:32:00.004-04:00

The view from my desk...

My three year old in a photo lab box pretending she is a cat. Another box (UPS visits often), some props and a reflector I have been meaning to put away in the background.

Pretty much what working at home with two young children looks like, in case anyone was wondering.

sick day

2010-03-26T23:06:00.002-04:00

Snapped in between serving popsicles, making smoothies, loading up movies and spoon feeding a certain someone her breakfast.

the land of m&m pancakes

2010-03-24T15:26:00.001-04:00

For breakfast this morning my girls had M&M pancakes. Buttermilk pancakes made from scratch with 100% pure organic maple syrup filled with M&Ms.

Nothing remarkable really in a typical week filled with playdates, gymnastics classes, swimming classes, ice skating classes and visits from grandma with a few hours of school sprinkled in. All leading up to an equally typical weekend filed with parties, goodie bags and special trips.

Claire's biggest concern is currently what type of cake she is going to have at her birthday party. Characters, flavors and frosting colors are debated daily.

Things that they are not at all concerned about include waiting for biopsy results, letters from the state tax collector (owning a business, so so fun), millions of dollars in school budget shortfalls, how national healthcare will impact their future, how as a country we will ever get out of this recession and how our little family will make it through.

Not that I am complaining. I have much to be thankful for too. I realize this. It's just that being an adult... eh.

Sometimes I wonder if they are too sheltered. If they are ever going to be prepared to cope with the adult world.

Occasionally our worlds collide:

"Mommy, that's NOT FAIR!"

"Who told you life was fair?"

But in the end, I am happy that for now they get to live in the land of M&M pancakes.

the leprachaun trap

2010-03-17T13:11:00.006-04:00

Now all we need is some green beer!

love notes

2010-03-15T22:26:00.005-04:00

"I want to give this to my boyfriend so he can come over for a playdate. Do you think it has too much lovieness??"

"Yes, sweetie, I think that it just might"

I am no six year old boy, but I am guessing he might not want to come over if he thinks he will have to walk arm and arm through a field carrying a basket?

Just guessing here.

And also guessing that she is going to scare off a number of boys in her day.

*****

also, some recent baby cuteness over on the photography blog

february at the beach

2010-02-26T15:57:00.006-05:00

I spend a lot of time doing things that do not make my three year old happy. Hands on her tiny hips, she glares up at me and declares "YOU. DON'T. MAKE. ME. HAPPY.". It is often hard not to laugh, since the offense is usually something along the lines of denying her a second bowl of ice cream or passing a vending machine without buying her a pink lemonade.

This week, however, I managed to do something that actually made Claire happy.

For weeks she has been asking to see what the beach is like in the winter and finally we went.

It was a balmy 40 degrees or so, which in no way deterred her from taking off her boots and running up and down the beach for about half an hour, splashing in the water and collecting shells.

A true beach girl!

six years and two months

2010-02-26T15:42:00.003-05:00

A new favorite of my big girl in her beloved bow and sweater...

Sassy, determined and full of style all her own.

just another winter day

2010-02-10T20:44:00.004-05:00

I would say this pretty much sums up life here lately...

the big sister attempting to escape the pestering of the little sister

Raining. Cold. Suck inside. Mom running out of ideas to keep everyone entertained.

And did I mention February vacation starts next week?

yeah, the girls still have christmas trees in their rooms

2010-01-08T20:49:00.004-05:00

This morning as my husband headed off to work, he asked what my plans were for the day.

"We are going to work on organizing some things around the house," I answered proudly, running through a mental list of all the things I hoped to get done.

Take down the Christmas trees in the girl's rooms... clean up the playroom for Abby's upcoming birthday party... have Abby write thank you notes for presents already received... take pictures of toys and baby gear that I want to post for sale on craigs list... it was going to be a productive day.

An hour later...

Five hours later...

And the chores? They will get done... eventually.

why I chose half day kindergarten

2010-01-06T23:15:00.003-05:00

Friends, acquaintances, family are often surprised when they hear that my daughter goes to half day Kindergarten. Or that our town even still has half day Kindergarten.

I will admit that back in the baby days, when I looked ahead the the far, far off day that my girl would start school, full day kindergarten seemed like the mark of a better school. More equals better right? More time in school equals smarter kid right?

Fast forward five years and I chose half day kindergarten. Truth be told, our town does offer a lottery for full day kindergarten. And the lovely private school where my daughter went to preschool offers a very highly regarded full day Kindergarten program. But. Time is going by so fast. My time with both of my girls is going so fast. They have years of school ahead of them. Sixteen, at least.

And full day Kindergarten would mean that on days like today, we would not be able to hop on the 12:20 train into the city, lunch in hand, for an afternoon at the Children's Museum.

waiting for the train- the train ride always ranks as one of the best parts of the day

girl power!

both girls could happily spend hours climbing up and down this thing together

Days like today are the reason I chose half day Kindergarten. I just hope that down the road, those lost hours don't look bad on her Ivy league application.