1... Breakfast

 

Technically, this is my second photo shoot featuring the first week of January, but that's OK right?  Last week was a bonus I guess.  On this particular day, we slept in much later than we normally do.  Breakfast is generally around 7:30, 8:30 at the latest.  Since we had nothing to do and nowhere to go, I thought documenting breakfast would be a good idea.  Oatmeal, cereal bars and bananas are a pretty typical breakfast. On this morning the kids insisted on bringing their lovies to the table.

 

 

   The boy is eating the sides off his cereal bar first, because it's "more better" that way.

 

 

 C girl is enjoying a "green C-baw"

 

 K girl is covered in her third helping of oatmeal.  That girl LOVES her oatmeal!

 

Happy Wednesday!

 

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The Little Things Week 1

Every Monday I will post a quick snippet of little things I am thankful for, things that happened, stuff I want to remember.  There's no specific number, just whatever I want to keep forever.

*Potty training is in full swing.  Both C girl and K girl have had multiple successes.  They have also peed all over the house.  I'm so thankful our downstairs has hard floors instead of carpet!

*The boy has been a big help with our potty training endeavours.  I have a timer on my phone that goes off every 10 minutes, and the girls have to sit on the potty for a few minutes then they can go back to playing.  The timer sounds like a duck and he has been so great about stopping what he is doing when the duck quacks and helping me encourage the girls to sit on the potty.  He celebrates their successes with them and has been their biggest supporter.  I love that, he's such a good kid.

* It's been cold, so so cold.  On cold days I long to spend my day on the couch watching TV covered in a blanket or in bed under the covers devouring a book.  With the help of my kindle, I have read 3 books this week.  So far, my Kindle is my favorite Christmas gift of all time. 

* We also got a Wii for Christmas, and Jon and I have had 2 bowling "dates" after the kids have gone to bed.  I don't enjoy video games at all, but I'm glad there are a few games on this system that we can enjoy together.

The New Year

Kids don't respond to a new year the way adults do.  At least my kids don't.  They aren't looking at a blank calender with hopes and dreams bottled up and waiting to burst onto the fresh clean pages.  They aren't filled with regret of wasted time, lost dreams, mistakes made.  They aren't determined to do better, resolving to start over.  There's not goal lists, no resolutions.  Each day is a day, in and of itself, undefined and full of possibility.  Starting new has no allure, every day is new.

The boy, five years old, looking forward to starting school this year.  Kindergarten, a big step in any young life.  He's smart and funny and has the uncanny ability to take a mom by surprise when combining both these super powers. 

C girl, two years old, a true beauty queen.  She smiles like the sun, loves her unruly hair, and asks for "pretty toes and fingers" almost daily.  She loves "Cindawewa" and all things pink.  She trys to make us laugh and usually succeeds.  She tells the world she had a birthday and she's three now.  She hates being told no, and eats constantly.  She loves spicy chili.

 

 

K girl, two years old, my wild thing.  She marches to the beat of her own drum that isn't a drum at all but the beat box sounds she makes with her own mouth.  She's a Tinkerbell girl.  She loves to dance.  When she's mad or sad, the whole world falls apart, but her smile puts it all together again.  She is independent and won't let anyone do anything for her that she's sure she can do herself.

They aren't worried about reinventing themselves, they are perfect as is.

1...a trip to the Aquarium

We started the new year off on the right foot, with a family trip to the Aquarium.  There's nothing like a view of ocean life to get you excited about a fresh new year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The beginning

Fifty-Two weeks in a year.  It seems like a lot, when you look at from the beginning, but the year starts moving swiftly along, picking up speed with each passing week.  Soon enough you find yourself in a whirlwind of a year, wondering where the time has gone.

I want to slow down time, halt it for a moment or two.  I want to treasure the beautiful parts and let go of the rest.  To preserve the special.

This year I will be pulling out my Nikon D3000 once a week to shoot my kids, my family, things that are special to me, my life.  My hope is to slow down time and hold on to as much as I can.

My camera was a gift two years ago.  I am not a photographer by any means.  I have never taken classes of any kind, and at the beginning of this, I don't even own photoshop.  I am currently editing my photos using Picasa and Pic Monkey.  By the end of this project, I hope my photography has improved dramatically.

I also have a problem moving my photos from digital form to... anything else.  There aren't a lot of pictures hanging in my house, but there are thousands on my hard drive.  This year I want to incorporate more of my photography into my life.

Lastly, I am a story teller.  Here you will also find bits and pieces of my life, stories woven into the photography, which will be the main component of this blog.

Thank you for joining me on this photographic journey.  It will be a beautiful one.

Amber Dollison