Tag Archives: Reed

Evening Entertainment

December 11, 2013 Molly Leave a comment

When we went camping back in September, I took Reed and Lena out with me to do some long exposure night photography. It wasn’t quite dark enough for the stars, so we did some long exposures with the flashlight, where they could try to draw in the air. They had a blast.

I thought it would be fun to try that again. I had never done it inside, until last night when I realized there was really no reason why you couldn’t do it inside in a decent sized room with all the lights out. So, I set up my tripod and gave them a flashlight. I was making dinner while they did it, so I had to come in every 30 seconds to press the shutter. I actually could have given them the camera remote, as well, but I wanted to keep an eye on them, since the camera could be knocked over if they got too close and too wild.

The first ones in each set, with their name on them, are all of the images merged together.

Everyday Life, Photography, Project 365

A Fairy Princess Birthday

December 8, 2013 Molly 1 Comment

I wanted to do something special with Lena for her birthday, so I researched some events going on around her birthday. I found the Fairy Princess in Kansas City. Perfect! She had told me that she wanted a Princess birthday, so I knew she’d love this.

First, the kids get their picture taken with the fairy princess. This is Lena’s that I scanned. Then, they wave her magic wand, a box opens and they get to pick a bag– with a crown inside!

She needed to switch crowns and then got to go do crafts.

After she was done with crafts, she got to pick out a cupcake and we headed home. Telling me over and over again, “That was fun, mama! That was fun!”

Once home, we opened gifts– what we had gotten her and what my mom had sent. We got her a book, a coloring book and a set of princess themed legos, all at her request. My mom got her one of the recordable Hallmark books which she recorded herself reading, and a cute little outfit. She announced that each gift was “awesome!” and shared what she loved about each.

When she was free, I took her outside to snap the picture of her in the snow in my previous post and I took a couple of other quick shots of her.

For dinner, we had her big quest of chicken nuggets, french fries and cake. Our much-loved babysitter Amanda joined us for dinner and gave Lena a home-made hat and each of the kids a pack of Christmas stickers.

She loved this part.

My 6 year olds, all ready for bed.

Everyday Life, Photography, Project 365

Mooo

December 7, 2013 Molly 1 Comment

Our town has an “Old Fashioned” Christmas parade. It is entirely horse drawn. So fun! We’ve never gone before, and I’m so glad we went, even though it was the coldest day ever for the parade.

As much as I enjoyed the parade, my absolute favorite part was Gus’s reaction to seeing the horses. “MOOOO!” “Those are horses, buddy. Cows say ‘mooo’. Horses say ‘neigh!'” “MOOO!”

There’s a video here, but apparently WordPress doesn’t allow you to embed Instagram videos.

Gus was done by the end of the parade, but Reed, Lena and I still had a lot to accomplish!

We dropped Aaron and Gus off at home, then we headed to R&L’s school’s Holiday Shop. I have fond memories of doing this myself as a kid. You feel so grown up to be shopping without an adult!

I made them modest lists, hoping that they wouldn’t exceed the amount that the school gives them for the shop. I didn’t include myself on the lists. But, sweet Lena and her “Elf”, a girl who was probably in high school, got me something anyways (and still stayed within budget!). I can’t wait to see what it is and it’s so sweet that they thought to do that.

Next up was our random act of kindness for the day. Feeding the empty parking meters downtown to prevent someone from getting a ticket!

Reed insisted on bringing some of his own change to help and even let Lena put some of it in.

Today is Aaron’s birthday and by this point, Gus was taking a nap. So, to give Aaron some kid-free time, I took Reed and Lena to lunch and grocery shopping. Burgers, fries and giant ice cream sandwiches = happy kids.

(She insisted that I take a picture of her smiling like that!)

We celebrated Aaron’s birthday pretty simply. A dinner of his choice, the kids made him cards and I got him a much-needed pair of hiking boots.

Everyday Life, Photography, Project 365

Cheating at Advent

December 6, 2013 Molly 3 Comments

Today is my Imperfect Friday. First, I must confess. I cheated at our Advent calendar. I wanted to know what we would be doing today for a “random act of kindness”, so I peeked at the card. Taking the dogs out for a walk and picking up trash on our walk. NO! Not when it’s 20 degrees outside! So… I changed it. And changed and rearranged several more of the random acts of kindness cards. I cheated. Oh well.

My second confession for this Friday is that Gus didn’t get out of pajamas all day. He changed from one pair of pajamas to another! These photos were taken from 3:15-6pm.

Judge me. I don’t care.

At least his pajamas are cute?

And my final confession– Reed still has incredibly chapped lips. And, I photoshopped it to make it less embarrassing. He has medicated lip balm that he is supposed to apply throughout the day and he puts Vaseline on at night, but we don’t seem to be getting anywhere.

Everyday Life, Photography, Project 365

Bokehs and Sprinkles

December 6, 2013 Molly Leave a comment

Occasionally, I will have my camera sitting on the dining room table. It’s a dangerous spot, so I don’t leave it there often. But, tonight, I was sitting there, with Gus next to me eating a snack, my camera in between us. He loves to touch the buttons and feel the different textures. He pressed down on the shutter and click! He cheered. So, I let him do it again and again, moving the camera a bit to try to capture him.

We worked a bit on potty training tonight. We’re in no rush, but when he’s interested, he can go sit for awhile. I sit with him and we have great conversation. Over and over I heard “Mama, I funny. I funny, mama.”

Lena’s turn to do the Advent calendar tonight.

Day 5. She’s 5. For 3 more days!

After the kids went to bed, I needed to get out of the house. Aaron has been working some odd hours, but our lovely babysitter came to my rescue. And off I went.

It was even colder today. We got a dusting of snow last night and it was around 20 degrees when I went out. I wanted to walk from one end of downtown to the other, but I only made it so far before my hands were too cold to even really press the shutter. I don’t usually drink hot beverages, but I needed something.

Hello, lovely little coffee shop. With a barista who believes that whipped cream and sprinkles can’t be beat.