~ Best Shot Monday – Pretties ~

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When I wrote about Seneca’s first haircut, I realized I hadn’t gotten any pictures of the end result.  So, we played salon a bit recently.  She is seriously growing up WAY too fast!  I’m constantly amazed by what she does and says, and I’m realizing now just how preoccupied I was with her as a newborn to soak up all this changing when Calder was this age.  Seriously, she’s stringing together 3-5 word sentences, repeating everything and has a fierceness that I know will serve her well while simultaneously causing us to have all sorts of head-butting going on come the teen years!

Pretties 4

Pretties 3

Pretties 2

Pretties 1

While I love the colors and excitement of all the other, something about this one makes it my best shot today!

Pretties 6

~ Happy Valentine’s Day ~

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Being a middle school teacher I’m afforded annual reminders of young love – I wonder how many Candy-Grams I’ll get this year?  While I too gave and received various heart-shaped candy boxes or pillow-toting “I Love You” plush animals, I’m amazed by the breadth and growing depth of the love I know celebrate on Valentine’s Day.

I never understood how love could be anything but passionate.  And yet, falling asleep by 9pm, lacing legs with my equally weary husband or hearing the squeals of joy as we “play laundry” with the kids by folding them up and placing them in the closet  – those are the unexpected moments that I all-too-often forget to stop and appreciate, and recognize as unmistakable, all-consuming love. 

Here are a few shots of the fun we had last week in preparation for Lovey Dovey Day

Valentines 1

I love how they got giggly after the first “I’m-not-sure-what-she-wants-us-to-do” shot!

Valentines

Here we made my variation of these playdough cookies.  They turned out really cute, tasty, and are totally adaptable to any holiday!

Valentines 3

Valentine Treats

Valentine Treats 4

I find it thoroughly adorable that he’s beginning to be a very willing subject!!

Valentine Treats 3

I can’t find the exact site for the recipe I used, but here’s a different one.  It is REALLY good.  The only problem I had was that the extract changed up the melty goodness of my white chocolate.  I have a feeling this could become a regular treat for any holiday!  Looks like I’ll be stocking up on candy canes this coming Christmas!

Valentine Treats 2

We did another little crafty project this weekend too, but I only got phone photos of it so far!  Hopefully I’ll get a picture added before too long!

Team-up Thursday

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I’m so thankful I’ve made the commitment to get back to a bit more regular blogging.  It’s felt good to get my camera in my hands again, get my mind working on processing the things that happen throughout my day. 

Team-up Thursday - Health

One thing that helps me stay focused is having a purpose for a post, so you can imagine how thrilled I am that Jaimee agreed to be my partner for Megan and Melody’s Team Up Thursday!  I always adore her photos and can’t wait to see her creativity as we dive into the various themes!

In the throes of dealing with the flu last week (all four of us within 2.5 days), pnemonia and then a double ear infection (the last two were solely Li’l Lady) I threw out the theme of health.  Here are our interpretations of our theme this week!  A quick glance at other shots around my place will let you know that my picture is the sniffly girl, and Jaimee’s is the tea.  Thankfully we’re all on the mend now and hoping for health from now ’til spring!

~ Wordless Wednesday – Snow Day ~

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If memory serves me correctly, our only other snow day this year also fell on a Wednesday.  Then too, I took full advantage of the time to make some super fun holiday treats.  While I’ve yet to photograph them, today too was spent creating some lovey-dovey Valentine’s confections.  My favorite of which is the super pepperminty popcorn, though I think the kids are going to like the cookies better.  I’ll try to get pictures up soon!

Garth’s been a busy fella keeping us shoveled out, though we have zero intentions of leaving the house today!  We got a good 14 inches of snow since yesterday morning.  The craziest thing is that just MONDAY, knowing the weather was imminent, I opted to push naptime back and go for a couple mile run with the kids in the jogger.  Bundled in snowgear and strapped into the jogger, we enjoyed the bright sunshine and the near 40-degree weather.  We had green grass with odd banks of snow here and there.  Today…well, it’s a much different story…but one we’re enjoying nonetheless.  Today’s gift was even better considering we knew about it last night, so we actually got the chance to sleep in until nearly 7:30!!

Oops!  I just realized this was supposed to be a wordLESS post!  Guess I’m more into Wordful Wednesday today! 🙂  Now, for the pics!

See the grassy spots?!
Pre-Snow 2

These are shots from yesterday afternoon – the kids haven’t made it out yet today, though I’m sure they will!
Snow 1

Snow 2

Snow 3

Snow 4

Snow 5

Snow 6

What’s better than coming inside for nice hot cocoa?!
Cocoa 1

Cocoa 2

Cocoa 3

Cocoa 4

Check out more Wordless (or Wordful) Wednesday!

~ Best Shot Monday – Woof ~

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So a couple of years ago I waxed nostalgic about how much I would look back with fondness at the ways in which having a dog would enrich my kid’s memories of their childhood.  I grew up with pets, but they never really felt totally a part of the family.  Maybe it was because they didn’t mind, weren’t the least bit trained or generally embarrassed the living tar out of me whenever we took them to the vet – or worse – when they bolted out of the house and I had to run after them screaming like a banshee!  I did say enrich, right?

Five years ago we became proud puppy parents for the first time.  He’s very much my husband’s dog, and over the years he’s become even that even more so as my patience with his antics grows thin.  I suppose spending much of 2007 and 2008 home with him on maternity leave didn’t help in the way of bonding.  Instead, I was busy keeping him away from the babies, bottles, and burp chunks he licked off the floor – gross, right?

There’s far too many stories I could share about the ever-widening gap between my early affection and more recent annoyance with our four-legged friend.   I suppose we’ll continue to make our peace and perhaps someday we’ll come back around to enjoying one another’s company.  Until then, my Best Shot this week shows how I’ll adjust to life with what looks like two canine companions!

Crunching