New URL

I've moved the blog over to a Wordpress format. I'm tired of how time-consuming Blogger and Live Writer make it for me to create a blog post. I'm loving how the new blog looks, and I REALLY hope you'll join me over there. I've made it easy to subscribe to the blog by posting a link in the menu bar as well as the sidebar on the left, so I hope you'll subscribe or bookmark me, or whatever you do to follow your fellow bloggers. :)

Here's the link to the new blog - I imported everything from this blog, just in case anyone wants to look up an old recipe or something. ;)

www.adventuresinmunchkinland.com

Hope to see you soon!

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Easter

I know I'm really late sharing these, but I've been busy making headbands and editing other sessions, and my personal pictures have fallen behind on the priority list. These pictures are clear back from Easter.

Easter was really nice this year - Sasquatch's mom was here, and it was wonderful to be able to share a major holiday with family. The girls were a little bit spoiled - new dresses, new jammies, and a couple of new toys for each of them. The Princess received a book/CD called "The Composer is Dead." The story was written by Lemony Snickett, and the music is done by the San Francisco Symphony - I HIGHLY recommend it if your kids are into music - it's a great way to introduce kids to various musical instruments, and the writing is hilarious.

We were invited to dinner with several other families in the ward, and it was so much fun to spend time with friends on Easter. One of the things I miss most about being back home is the fun holiday get-togethers where the girls get to play with their cousins, so it was great to be able to spend time with a big group of people - it helped me feel a little less homesick. I'm so grateful that we were invited.

The munchkins all participated in an Easter egg hunt, which was lots of fun. The Princess was too busy hunting for eggs to let me take pictures of her, so I followed Sparky around instead. She refused to look at the camera, but it was fun to capture her first experience hunting for Easter eggs - she thoroughly enjoyed picking up the eggs and putting them in her bucket - she had to look in the bucket every time she dropped an egg inside it. Once she verified it was still there she would move on to the next egg.

She agreed to stop long enough to pose for a picture, but you can see she wasn’t thrilled about it. I love soft, hazy sunset-ey pictures.

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Sparky's Favorite Words

It's after midnight, but Sparky's still wide awake. I think she's teething. We tried to get her to go to bed around 10 because she was all sorts of grumpy, but when she was still screaming an hour later I couldn't bring myself to make her stay in there any longer. Hopefully the Ibuprofin kicks in for her soon. And with any luck she'll have a full mouth of teeth by the time she starts Kindergarten.

Since Sasquatch lets me sleep in on Saturday mornings, I decided to be nice and stay awake with her while he turned in "early." I think he deserves that every once in a while - especially since he's been working SO hard these last few months. AND he watched both of the girls all afternoon while I had fun downtown doing a family portrait session (I LOVE it when families opt for urban sessions!!).

So, Sparky's bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and she's talking up a storm and I'm trying to keep things quiet and low-key to remind her that it's time for sleep. All the talking made me realize that I haven't been very good about documenting her favorite words. She started talking like crazy while Grandma Rosie was here, and now there are some actual words mixed in with all the gibberish. Some of her favorite words are:

DAY-doo (thank you)/WEH-come (she has to say the two words together - it's never just "thank you")

Pwease (please) - Not quite as cute as The Princess' version (she used to say "Beeps" for please), but still pretty adorable - especially when she signs it at the same time

Boop (book)

SEE-see (Seriously)

BAY-bee - She refers to all of her stuffed animals as babies

PUPpy - Sometimes she's referring to an actual dog, but it also means "goose," "squirrel," or any other random animal we see while taking our daily walk

KEY-key (Kitty) - The only animal she does NOT refer to as a "puppy"

Oof-oof - This is what a (real) puppy says

Meow - What a kitty says

Cack-cack - What a goose says

Tweet - Treat

Coo-kie - She distinctly pronounces each syllable and stresses the "k" sound in the middle - I'm not sure why she can't pronounce the "k" at the end of "book"

Soos (Shoes) - She tries to put them on several times a day and gets upset when I won't take her outside for a walk

Soss - (Socks)

BUH-boos (Bubbles)

Bap (Bath) - Don't make the mistake of allowing her anywhere near the bathroom unless you want to indulge in her chronic desire to strip down to her birthday suit and take a "bap"

She also has an adorable way of saying her sister's name any time she sees a picture of her (or sees my camera - she thinks any picture on my camera's LCD is her beloved big sister) or thinks it's time for her to be home from school.

She loves to say DAH-dee and Ma-MEE, and I love how she pronounces all the consonants - so cute!!

Up - She says this when she wants to be picked up

Hep - Sometimes she asks for help instead of screaming in frustration - usually she screams

WIH-ga? (What's that?)

Hi - It's so adorable to go in and get her when she wakes up from a nap. She always says "hi" in the most nonchalant manner.

Buh-bye

DOH-stay? (Downstairs - with a question mark at the end) is still a staple in her vocabulary - she hates to be cooped up in the tv/computer/playroom

I'm sure she says more than this, and probably MEANS a lot more with her nonsense words (she repeats the same ones over and and over), but these are the words that stand out because she says them most often these days.

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Random

It’s been a while since I’ve shared any images of The Princess. Here are a couple of  images I captured of her at the pond near our house.  The pond isn’t really much to look at (although we walk down there just about every day to feed the geese), but I LOVE how well it photographs. I thought I’d already shared the wing  portrait, but I can’t seem to find it, so I must have just shared it on Facebook. If you’ve already seen it, here it is again. It’s still one of my all-time favorites.

That’s it for now. Hopefully I’ll have my new computer up and running within the next couple of days. Sasquatch built my current computer when we’d been married for about 2 months, so it’s really old and runs slower than molasses in January. The new computer should be MUCH faster, and I’m hoping the speed will make my editing process faster, so that I can share pictures on the blog more regularly.

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Cupcakes

There are few things that I love as much as photography, but baking probably comes pretty close. More than baking, I love decorating – especially cupcakes and sugar cookies. It’s so much fun to decorate sugar cookies with royal icing, but it tastes pretty awful (I prefer cream cheese frosting for eating), so I usually only decorate sugar cookies when I can take them somewhere and leave them there.

I wasn’t terribly fond of cupcakes - especially after I took all the time to pipe homemade butter cream on a bunch of cupcakes and the Princess took one bite and told me the frosting made her want to throw up. Thanks, Alton Brown. You and I usually have a pretty good food relationship, but you failed me on the butter cream.

I’d given up on butter cream, but somebody at playgroup suggested that I try making Italian butter cream instead. Holy crow! Sooooooo much better! You use regular sugar instead of confectioner’s sugar (making a simple syrup of sugar and water and then pouring it into the egg whites), and I think that makes all the difference! In some ways, piping frosting onto cupcakes is even more fun than decorating sugar cookies with royal icing. :)

A couple months ago, when Sasquatch was in Utah with Miss Sparky, The Princess and I went on a photography outing with our friends Larisa and Foster. As bribery, I promised The Princess a stop at our favorite bakery if she agreed to have her pictures taken and gave me nice facial expressions. She obliged, so we made a stop at the cupcake cupcake counter at said bakery. I usually can’t bring myself to drop $3.50 on a single cupcake (we usually share one), but I think it’s okay to splurge on occasion.

On this particular day, they had some adorable cupcakes on display that looked like ice cream sundaes. Chocolate cake and vanilla butter cream topped with chocolate ganache and sprinkles and crowned with a maraschino cherry. They were almost too cute to eat!

I decided I had to replicate them at home. The Princess was impressed when she saw them. Without being prompted, she told me that they looked just like the cupcakes at the bakery. That was a nice little boost to my ego.

I also made some plain-looking but oh-so-tasty chocolate cupcakes with hazelnut butter cream. They weren’t quite as pretty as the sundae-cakes, but they were my favorite on the taste scale.

I couldn’t go to that much effort without taking a few pictures, so here they are. :)

Don’t you just love the “catchlights” in the cherry?

And the hazelnut… I’m not much of a food photographer, but you get the idea.

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Glee!!

I'm so excited that Glee starts again tonight!

I know it's totally geeky (or should I say "Gleeky" - ha! I'm hilarious, right?!?), but I love this show. I think it's probably my all-time favorite TV show.

Part of it probably stems from my high school choir days. Although at my school, it was actually considered socially acceptable to be in choir. I was in Madrigals, which was our version of show choir (we didn't get to perform any mainstream music like they do on Glee, but it was still SO much fun). Most of the Madrigals were pretty popular (I wasn't - I was too painfully shy and didn't know how to flirt - most of the members of the group were notoriously talented at flirting), and none of us ever had Icees thrown in our face.

But in spite of the differences between the show and my personal high school experience, there's still so much about Glee that reminds me of one of the few things I actually loved about high school - music; particularly singing. I wasn't a great solo singer in high school, but I was great at singing in a group (matching pitch, sight reading, all that fun stuff).

One of my favorite memories about Madrigals is the weeks leading up to Solo and Ensemble festival. We used to practice our pieces in the hallway near the gym - the ceilings were really high, and the acoustics were amazing. When everyone matched pitch just right, you could actually feel the notes bounce off the ceiling - it was so cool! We'd occasionally practice the school hymn in that hallway as well - just for the fun of it.

I also loved Christmas. It was so much fun to practice beautiful Christmas music and then perform at various events around the valley during the months of November and December. We had the opportunity to sing on the stairs inside the church office building during my Junior year. While we were singing, President Hinckley came into the foyer and stopped to listen to us sing. He said a few words to us (I think I wrote them down in a journal somewhere), shook a few hands (I was too high up on the stairs to get to shake his hand), and left a lasting impression on our hearts. I still miss being in a choir when Christmas rolls around each year.

The actual show Glee is so different from my high school choir experience (the music is much cooler and better produced and there's a bit too much drama), but it still evokes some of the positive feelings that I have when I think back on high school. It reminds me that there were actually a few things that I enjoyed about school (photography was my other love, even back then - I still miss the darkroom!).

I'm pretty excited for the show to start again tonight. I'm feeling a bit melancholy and homesick since Sasquatch's mom went back home on Sunday, so it will be a good distraction. And it's so much fun to watch Sparky dance to all the musical numbers!

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Flip-Flops and Funny Faces

Sorry for the lack of blog posts recently. There are some things going on in my non-existent social life that are really bugging me. I naively thought that high school ended after high school and that at some point in my life, I’d actually “fit in.” Not that I want to be like “everyone else” – I’m still a fan of being unique, but still! 

I really want to blog about the specifics that are bothering me, but Sasquatch and another good friend have managed to convince me to be the better person and just leave it alone. I’m REALLY trying to be the better person, but for some reason, it’s all led to a little bit of a creative block. I’ve struggled to come up with anything else to write about, and I haven’t really wanted to edit any of my personal pictures in a while.

I’m determined to get over the whole thing, though. I desperately want to figure out how to be happy regardless of the circumstances. I’m still holding onto the hope and faith that certain things in our life are going to change soon, but in the meantime, I know it’s not a good attitude to say “I’ll be happy when…”

With that being said, I decided to edit some pictures of Miss Sparky last night. She LOVES to steal other people’s shoes and socks. Her very favorite shoes are a pair of The Princess’ flip-flops. She manages to clomp around in them remarkably well, but she’s prone to stepping out of them. This causes her no end of frustration, and when she’s frustrated, she makes that lovely little scream that sounds like a bottle rocket going off in the living room. Since I’m not a huge fan of high pitched noises reverberating off the vaulted ceilings (and amplified by the uncarpeted floors), I’ve asked The Princess to please keep the shoes in her bedroom.

I had to take these pictures first, though. When Sparky is actually willing to look at the camera (which isn’t very often), she gives me the funniest little cheeser grin, which I LOVE. I know I make a point of telling my clients to PLEASE refrain from telling their children to “say cheese,” and I’ve never uttered those words to my own children, but somehow they figure it out anyway. I think it’s kind of adorable in an only-every-once-in-a-while-on-camera sort of way.

Gotta love Sasquatch in the background working on code in this next one.

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The Princess is Going "Old School"

The Princess and I were in the car the other day listening to one of the 4 not-so-great radio stations that can be picked up by our car's half-broken antenna.

"The Boys are Back in Town" began to play, and The Princess said, "Mommy, I really like this song." We listened to the song for a minute, and then her little voice piped up from the back seat, "Mommy, this song is old school, isn't it?"

Makes you feel old all of a sudden when your six-year-old starts telling you that music is "old school." At least she wasn't talking about Pearl Jam, or Korn, or Alanis Morisette. Although that's probably just because I don't have access to a radio station that plays them.

Speaking of old school, she came home from school the other day and was so excited to show me a "new" dance that she had learned. She then proceeded to perform the Macarena.

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Winter Still Life

Some images from the night I took The Princess outside to play in the snow. It’s been a long time since I’ve photographed non-people (even though in high school I swore I’d NEVER photograph people because I wasn’t any good at it), and it was fun to get back in touch with my artistic side.

I stole borrowed Larisa’s 105mm Micro lens for these images, and I do NOT want to give the lens back to her. It takes such yummy closeups – both for abstract photography and babies (you should see some of the images I captured of Sparky’s eyelashes – maybe tomorrow). If anyone has an extra 1K lying around and you want to buy me a gift, I can tell you exactly where to purchase my new lens. :P

As usual, these images look much better in any format besides Blogger. I’m still feeling pretty tempted to switch over to Wordpress for the better image quality, but I don’t want to lose all my cute little sidebar widgets (or my few loyal followers).

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Snow Day

I know I’m super late posting these pictures, since it snowed a couple weeks ago, but I wanted to share them anyway. The grandparents will appreciate my efforts, if nothing else.

I’m still getting used to this whole snow in the South thing. It seems so strange to me that 2-3 inches of snow can shut down an entire city for half a week. You should see the grocery stores on afternoons when a snow storm is still a mere possibility. You’d think the apocalypse was just around the corner the way people jam the bread and milk aisles.

To be fair, it usually only snows once a year around here, which makes the expense of hundreds of snow plows rather unnecessary. However, since our government doesn’t  “waste” money on snow plows, we’re at the mercy of Mother Nature when the rare snow storm occurs. We have to wait for it to melt to be able to leave our neighborhood.

The Princess was super excited to hear that snow was in the forecast. I was worried that it was going to be another situation where there was lots of  hype about a storm that would never deliver.  So when I looked out the window right before The Princess’ bed time and saw that the snow was sticking, I told her to put on her coat – we were going to enjoy the snow even if it didn’t stick around until morning.

We were pleasantly surprised to wake up the next morning to several inches of snow. Both of the girls were thrilled at the chance to play outside in our wintery wonderland. Unfortunately, due to the rarity of snow, we were poorly supplied in the winter clothing department. The Princess wore her daddy’s gloves and a pair of too-small rainboots that quickly filled with snow (and made her cry when she wanted to take them off 10 minutes later – I thought it was because they hurt her feet, but after the hysterics wore off she informed me that it was because she was afraid I was never going to be able to get them off her feet). After reading the blogs of some more experienced Southerners, I’ve since learned that the proper foot coverings for playing in the snow are bread bags or grocery bags. At least we know for next time.

Sparky wasn’t sure how to walk in the snow. She made it about two steps off the front porch before face-planting a snow drift. I took her back inside to warm up, but she quickly wanted to go back outside and try again. Notice the adorable socks mittens she’s wearing on her hands.

The weather actually stayed below freezing for several days. Church was cancelled (a first for me), and The Princess missed three days of school. We all had a bit of cabin fever by the time the roads were clear again.

While it still seems strange to watch the world shut down at the first fluttering snowflake, it’s kind of cool to enjoy the “magic” of a snowstorm again. It’s neat that my girls get to live somewhere that “snow days” actually happen sometimes, and we’re forced to slow down and just enjoy the day and our time together.

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Puppy Love

When Sparky went to Utah with her daddy a few weeks ago she stole adopted a stuffed puppy from Grandma Rosie’s house. This puppy has now become a fixture in Sparky’s life. She insists on taking it to bed with her, and won’t allow you to remove her from her crib until she’s secured the puppy in a death grip snuggle to carry him around the house while she fully awakens. Thank you, Grandma Rosie (and Aunt Lizzy) for allowing a nice Valentine’s gift to become the new best friend of our little redheaded girl.

 

I really couldn’t decide between color and black and white on this one. I love the contrast of her red hair and pink shirt in the color version, but I adore the vintage look of the black and white. I wouldn’t trust the black and white version to print correctly (for some reason, most brown-toned prints end up with a purple tint when they’re printed), but I think it’s adorable online.

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All You Need is Love

In an effort to avoid making a bunch of snarky remarks that I’ll regret later (let’s just say I’m feeling rather homesick and lonely again), I’m going to focus on an enlightening blog post I read a few days ago. Natalie Norton (one of my new favorite bloggers) recently made a guest appearance over at The Coterie Blog, and the things she said have really stuck with me this week (in some ways – in other ways I’m still feeling snarky and sorry for myself, lol).

If you don’t feel like reading her blog post (you’ll be missing out – she’s a great writer), the main gist is about various ways she shows love for herself and her family. Really basic things like doing a load of laundry each morning, sorting the mail on the way in from the mailbox (rather than allowing it to form a pile of epic proportions on top of the microwave – oops, did I say that out loud?), taking care of her body (daily shower, exercise, etc), and making sure to schedule a weekly date night.

While everything she said made perfect sense, the one that stuck with me the most was the laundry.

I’m so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a stay/work-at-home-mom. I love being able to watch my babies grow up and being there when my oldest daughter comes home from school each day. It definitely presents it’s challenges, though, and I’d be lying if I said it was all smooth sailing. I struggle a lot. I struggle with feeling like my business isn’t successful enough to allow me to genuinely provide for my family. I struggle with boredom and loneliness and a general feeling of isolation. I struggle to keep my house as clean as I would like, and from there, I struggle with a feeling of resentment that I’m the “only” person in the house who “cares” if anything is clean (this is absolutely not true – my husband and oldest daughter really DO care, and it hurts them every time I say those words out loud – I’m trying to get better about how I vent my frustrations). Which in turn leads to me feeling like I’m not good enough – I’m not patient enough, I’m not easy-going enough, and I’m not doing a good enough job to keep the house clean so that I *don’t* feel bitter about the mess.

Obviously, my perspective is all sorts of messed up. I’ve been looking at things the wrong way for a very long time. Natalie’s comments about the laundry were what really helped me to see the error of my perspective, and this week has gone much better. In her blog post, she states:

“Loving myself means putting one load of laundry in every morning, FIRST THING.

Laundry is the ultimate SUCK, and I HATE nothing more than hearing my husband and my kids say "Mo'om I can't find any clo'othes!"

I've decided that I love myself too much to allow myself to get behind. Having clean clothes to wear everyday, well, it shows my man and my boys that I love them too.”

This was the proverbial 2X4 to the head for me. I REALLY don’t enjoy doing laundry. I don’t mind the sorting or the actual washing and drying. It’s the folding and the putting away that makes it the epitome of tedium in my world. It’s one of the few thorns in my SAHM side. I just don’t enjoy it. And I tend to feel bitter that I’m the “only” one who “has” to do the laundry (again, not exactly true). Especially when it comes to the white load and matching up all the endless pairs of socks (and the annoyance of realizing that half the socks no longer have a match). Laundry is the chore that I avoid more than any other, which causes me to always be behind. The piles of laundry in my house are so big, that I become overwhelmed, and I avoid them even more diligently.

Natalie’s statements about LOVE really helped me to look at laundry (and dishes, and picking up after the baby) in a whole new light. Is laundry ever going to be fun? I’m not sure. But I’ve been trying to do at least one load of laundry first thing in the morning (including folding it and putting it away). I’ve been telling myself that I’m doing it because I LOVE my family, and I want them to have nice, clean clothes to wear. And guess what – it REALLY works. Even the folding and putting away hasn’t been as bad as I’ve always made it out to be. It’s a wonderful feeling to realize that I’m doing my best to make life pleasant for the people that I love – even something as simple as clean clothes makes a difference in the day-to-day routine. If I do one load a day (rather than waiting for everything to pile up for weekly “laundry day”), it’s not nearly such a daunting task.

I’ve been adopting the same perspective for dishes, and it’s making a world of difference. Now to just get the routine down to the point that I can start focusing on other areas of the house – like the bathrooms. :)

I totally agree with the other things she says (date nights, etc). I know Sasquatch and I are much happier as a couple after we’ve spent time with just the two of us. Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury of a regular free babysitter around here. I have a couple of friends who have been willing to watch the girls in the past, but I don’t want them to feel like I’m taking advantage of them. At one point, I had hopes of starting a babysitting co-op and trading sitting services a few times a month, but that hasn’t ever come to fruition. Paying a babysitter is most definitely out of the question – as is actually going anywhere (it’s too cold to go for a picnic in the park right now). My parents and siblings gave us a “date night” for Christmas (dinner and movie gift certificates), but we’re saving it for Alice in Wonderland (I can’t wait!). However, as soon as Sasquatch’s company is earning a good income, a weekly date night will be a guaranteed happening at our house – happy, sane parents result in a happy, sane household.

Changing my perspective and focusing on LOVE being the reason that I do certain things around the house has made a significant difference in my attitude this week. I’m going to continue to focus on love, and think of my beautiful family every time I start a load of laundry or sweep the floor, and I know it’s going to help me be a happier and more grateful wife and mother.

The Princess just came home from school, and while my house isn’t perfect, I’m going to stop what I’m doing and go spend some time with her. That’s one of the perks of being a SAHM. She had a Valentine’s Day party at school, and we’re going to sort through her bag of treats and read all the cards and focus on LOVE again.

XOXO

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At Least She’s Looking at the Camera

There are a few things I’d like to blog about, but I’m going to take some time to develop my thoughts before posting them. So for now, I’m just going to share a couple pictures of the littlest monkey. She was reaching for the camera – hence the pained facial expressions. I’m trying to get better about looking at the bright side of things, so I’ll just say I’m glad that she was willing to look at the camera for these images. And I’m grateful for bounced flash which provided the nice catchlights (I’m a sucker for a great catchlight) and modeling on her face. ;)

Oh, I’m also grateful that it looks like her hair is FINALLY going to start growing. Although I probably need suggestions for easy hairstyles to get her through the mullet phase.

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If You're the Praying Type...

Last Saturday, this family experienced a tragedy in their home when their youngest baby boy was found unconscious in the bathtub. I cannot begin to fathom the fear they're experiencing as they watch their little boy fight for his life at PCMC. If you get a chance to read the blog - I highly recommend it. You'll need kleenex, for sure, but your faith will intensify 100-fold.

I read all of these amazing stories about the angels who work at PCMC (and every other children's hospital), and I pray daily that my husband's company will take off SOON. We have some ideas for ways to utilize the program that would really help the families at PCMC and every other children's hospital as well. I can't wait for the day when this company is more than just a concept, and we have the financial means to donate certain aspects of the program to various children's hospitals in order to help the families of the children staying there.

In the meantime, I'll continue to pray for baby Bronson, for my cousin's little boy Carter (who will be going in for major heart surgery next week), as well as Natalie Norton and her sweet family.

If you would like to help a GREAT cause and get a beautiful handmade keepsake in the process, be sure to check out my friend Brae's Etsy Shop. They are selling "Spoons for Scarlet" in order to earn money to donate a tree to this year's Festival of Trees (the proceeds of which benefit Primary Children's Medical Center). The spoons are fun and whimsical, and you won't regret checking out the shop.

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Sparky's New Word

Sparky still doesn't say much. She definitely communicates, but most of it is non-verbal right now. Her pediatrician isn't worried about it - she makes eye contact, and she definitely understands what we're saying (her ability to do the exact opposite of what we ask her is uncanny!). She plays "pretend" amazingly well (you'd think she constantly had something in her mouth the way she eats pretend food, and she can turn anything from an actual cell phone to a shoe into a phone and have long pretend "conversations).

Besides, her big sister was a late bloomer in the verbal department as well. As much as I wanted her to hurry and grow up and learn how to speak (for some reason I thought this would magically make tantrums less severe - ha!), there are times now that I wish she'd stop talking for just a moment or two. (I'm sure that once she's a teenager and never wants to talk to me, I'll be wistfully looking back at the days when I was hoping for a little peace and quiet).

Sparky says a few words, and signs a few more. She's quite adept at saying "Da-da," she'll occasionally say "Mama" (although she knows how much I want her to say it, which makes her less willing to do so unless she's in just the right mood), and she's attempted to say her big sister's name a few times. Sasquatch said that while they were in Utah, she took a huge liking to her Uncle Joe and would try to say his name in the middle of all her babbling.

She's very skilled at signing "please," "more," "food," "milk," & "finished" and she's created her own weird little sign for "juice." She also loves to wave "bye-bye," and it's quite adorable to watch her blow kisses to everyone she meets.

Her very favorite word right now is "touch." She loves to be picked up, and then she'll point to various objects around the house and say "touch" so that you'll take her up to said object and allow her to touch it (she's particularly fond of light switches, thermostats, and anything else with buttons - just don't tell her it's a button, or she'll lift up her shirt to point at her own little "button"). Her second favorite word is "downstairs" (although it sounds more like "Dolce," or "dont touch" and Sasquatch makes her mad by saying "Dolce & Gabana" every time she asks to go downstairs - which is about every 30 seconds if you dare to attempt to keep her upstairs in the loft with all the toys).

She learned a new word today. I was making her the only thing she'll eat for breakfast (waffles), and she was getting impatient for the toaster to finish. I pointed to the toaster and said "waffle" and then she pointed to the toaster and said "waff-uh." We did it a few more times to verify that she was actually saying the word, and she said it every time.

We've also been practicing saying "baby." The first time we tried it (she was in the car with me running errands and she was getting tired and fussy) she repeated it every time I said it. Now it's more hit-and-miss. Sometimes she'll say "baby" and point at herself. Other times I'll say baby and she'll just sort of wave at herself.

She may not have a full vocabulary yet, but I'm trying really hard to just enjoy her babyness and allow her to grow up at her own pace. I should probably be doing alphabet flashcards or at least working on colors or something, but somehow I'm just not structured enough to do that at her age. I guess she'll just have to settle for a regular preschool rather than a genius preschool if that's in our budget by the time she's old enough for preschool.

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More Valentine’s Pictures

Here are the rest of my favorite pictures from The Princess’ Valentine’s Day session. I didn’t really like the tutu after I finished making it, but it photographed better than I expected.

I edited out the graffiti on the image below, and left it there on the next image. The color on the image below looks a little off on here, but it’s cute in Photoshop. :)

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Valentine’s Day Portraits

Since the Valentine’s Day mini sessions ended up being a bust (I booked a big fat ZERO sessions despite my various marketing efforts), Larisa and I decided to take our kiddos out last weekend for their own special Valentine’s Day portraits. While I’m disappointed that I apparently can’t even give my work away for practically free right now (the mini sessions were a REALLY great deal – maybe I was giving away too much), it was really fun to take The Princess out for a portrait session. Sasquatch and Sparky were in Utah (keep your fingers crossed that his new business takes off soon), so it was just me and The Princess at home and we needed to get out of the house.

Here are a few of the Valentine-themed portraits that we did for the Valentine cards she’ll hand out at her class party. Which reminds me – I need to make a final decision on which design we’re using and get the order sent to the lab.

I’m playing around with various vintage looks – the goal is to develop an editing style that’s instantly recognizable as “mine.” Larisa and I were talking over the weekend. As much as I LOVE the bright, humorous, FUN style of so many child photographers, it’s not really “me.” So I’m trying to find a niche that really is me and makes me more marketable as an artist.

 The morning shade made it absolutely freezing in this wind tunnel of a stairwell, but she was such a good sport about the entire ordeal. We walked over to Starbuck’s afterwards for a hot chocolate. That’s right – I’m not above a little bribery to get nice portraits of my own children.

  I can’t decide if I like this image better in black and white or “vintage,” so I’m sharing both.

I absolutely adore the combination of these shoes and tights and felt that they deserved to be featured in a picture all by themselves.

After the hot chocolate break, the weather warmed up considerably. We found a couple fantastic urban areas and created some tutu portraits which I’ll share later in another blog post. 

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