The Moment

This is how we spent all day yesterday:We watched, excitedly all morning long. We monitored various news channels and web sites, we Facebook-ed and Twittered. Our kids waved flags and danced around. And we celebrated a new day.

Best Shot Season

Fall is unequivocally my favorite season for photos. The skies are bluer, the colors are more varied and the cooler temperatures makes everyone more comforatble outside. This weekend we had the opportunity for a much needed day of family adventures. Just the four of us, we set out with no real immediate destination, took the scenic backway and visited a lot of our favorite Maryland spots.

We started at the Washington Monument State Park which has a short uphill trail leading to a big stone monument with a great view. Sarah fell asleep in the car, so my husband dutifully carried her up the hilly trail and even all the way up into the monument where she woke up at the top, confused and wondering how we would get down from there.


We continued on for Halloween costume shopping, an ice cream snack and a visit to another park. A wonderful, fall family day.

Click for more Best Shot Monday at Mother May I.

Photography is not about light. Photography is about life.*

Every time I read or hear that photography is all about light, I am a little discouraged. Not because I disagree, but because I don't really know exactly how to manipulate, use, or adapt to the light in a situation to get a certain result.

But I can capture life:


*This post at Shutter Sisters quotes Brooks Jensen.

Monday

I just love watching these three together.

More Best Shots today at Mother May I.

Mommy Time Randomness

This afternoon I came home from all my errands and whatever and put in a movie for the kiddos. They needed to chill and I needed to get some things done. So, maybe I have an hour? or so to figure out how to edit more photos, do some laundry, straighten up the kitchen, return phone calls and emails and read blogs.

Almost an hour has elapsed now and I spent 30 minutes on the phone with a friend, edited one photo, wrote one email and read some blogs. Now the phone rang again to remind me I have to write something for a newsletter and email it today and there is a little girl in my lap holding a party blower up to my mouth telling me to, "blow it, too loud!"

::

I had an awesome dinner last night though. My husband and I went out with friends to a beer tasting dinner. It was a four course meal and each course was paired with a different Flying Dog beer. I ate smoked duck, one of the best crab cakes EVER, meat on a skewer and fried bananas. While the food was amazing, after being served four full sized beers (I did not finish them all)
we headed down the street to another restaurant for appetizers and dessert.




Also, I have an important question:

Plaid shorts on an attractive man in his early thirties: Awesomely Fashionable or Terribly Elderly?

Awesomely Fashionable?

Terribly Elderly?

Changes

My girl has always been MY girl. She is mama's best friend, sidekick, hip-attachment. When there is an opportunity to choose a parent, she will always choose Mama over Dada.
Who will give you a bath? Mama. Who will put you to bed? Mama. Who will you scream at while kicking and flailing on the floor? Mama. And as this little Mommy-clone grows up, she has learned the power of manipulation. The power of sticking it to Daddy that he is not The Preferred Parent. Making it obnoxiously clear by pushing away Daddy's kisses, refusing his affections, and teasing, "No, Mommy!" at every opportunity.


There has been a change in our household, a shift in the placement of one little girl's attention. Maybe it's because of Daddy's extra efforts, maybe it's because she's realizing that being mean isn't paying off, maybe it's because Mom's not so exciting anymore. But Daddy has lately become the object of Sarah's affections. She sat in his lap and told him a 20 minute long story about touching the radio at an Easter party. She sits in the bathroom with him on her little potty, singing and reading books. She asks Daddy to come play dollhouse with her.



And he couldn't be happier with this new found friendship.




Theme Thursday: Change; click over to The Land of K.A.
Also, it's Love Thursday at Shutter Sisters; click to share the love.

Monday's Stirrings

My husband is learning to play the guitar. And Jack is studying his every finger placement, the way his right hand strums along the strings, the way he holds the neck, the rhythm to which he plays. Jack loves to watch his dad's every move to file it away to duplicate one day himself.

::

I am not very sneaky with the camera. My family goes about their business and when I notice a moment that demands to be captured, I have to run around (usually to the dining room table), grab the camera, make sure the card is not still in the computer, possibly throw on the flash, check the ISO and make sure I didn't leave it on some weird setting, then dash back compose up the shot and fire. All the while, sounding like an enormous, clumsy buffalo trying to tiptoe up behind my subjects. Not quite the stealthy, graceful, silent photographer I intend to be.

::

Tracey is stirring up sentiments in her best shot today. Something about the high emotions and exhaustive energy needed to mother a four year old. Hmm, I think I can relate. Click over there to see all the incredible bets shots this morning.

The Best Buffalo Wings EVER

My husband has become something of a weekend chef around here. He will sometimes whip up a delicious breakfast egg concoction or he will mix a little bit of this and that into a delectable dinner.

Recently he has found a calling in the art of cooking in cast iron. We purchased a cast iron skillet and a dutch oven on the condition that he would clean it up and make me fried chicken. Following a bit of advice from Alton Brown, and what he could remember of an old wings recipe, and throwing in some new ideas from fried chicken recipes, he has come up with the most incredible thing I have ever put into my mouth.

Delicious, golden, melt in your mouth buffalo wings:


I would happily share the recipe with you, but so far it exists only in my husband's head and, I believe, it is still in its development stages.

I can however, share what I contributed to this delicious plate of heaven:

Unfried French Fries

Cut about 2 medium baking potatoes into 1/4 inch strips. Toss in a large bowl with 1/4 cup Italian salad dressing and 1/4 grated parmesan cheese (the powdered kind). Dump onto a baking sheet lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 12 minutes at 425 degrees, turn over, and bake for 12 minutes more. If you need to leave them in the oven longer while the rest of your meal cooks, they will only get more crispy and soft inside and delicious.

Walk

I love Thursday Themes. I love the idea of a photo assignment, something creative and interesting. But I am really bad with following through. Either I have a great idea that I can't capture or I scroll through my photos and find no connection to the theme. (I think I'm over thinking it and I should just relax a little)

But walk, walk! I can do walk.

In the evenings if the weather is nice my little family takes a walk after dinner. We live in a small town and we walk along main street and down the little alleys. I have taken pictures of just about every flower along this route, wild and potted, and pictures of my children chasing one another down the sidewalk.



I love to watch the walk of a toddler. My Sarah has a belly-first, determined gait as she clomps and thrusts to her destination.

And lately, most of her walking is done behind this stroller.



Walk to Picture This for more takes on today's theme.

July 6

Today my husband and I have been married for 5 years. All at once it feels like no time has passed and like a lifetime has passed.

On September 21, 2001, this man asked me to marry him. I felt like the most special girl in the whole world. Out of everyone he could have chosen to be with, he wanted to spend his life with me.

We were married July 6, 2002, and our wedding was one of the happiest days of my life. We had a beautiful ceremony, we were surrounded by families and friends who loved us, and we were beginning the next chapter in our lives.

Since then, we have laughed a lot and cried only a little. We have helped each other through tough job situations, a trying home sale, moving, sleepless infant nights. We have discovered each others weaknesses and leaned on each others strengths. We have born two children and delighted in them.

Five years ago today I never thought I could love someone any more than I did that day. Every day since has shown me that I have.

Happy anniversary.

The Perfect Weekend

I get it in my head that before we go away for our first weekend away since the babies were born things must be perfectly in order. I get this way when preparing for most things, especially trips and company. I make these looong lists detailing all the minute things that must be accomplished for this event to be a success.

Yesterday I managed to clean out the car, including vacuuming and washing the car seat cover. So, that was good, but I haven't gotten the kids' clothes out of the dryer yet. I hand washed all the extra dirty dishes so the kitchen would look pristine when we left, but the floor still has yesterday's (and the day before's) cereal and baby snacks all over.

What will make this weekend perfect is not the fact that our beds at home have crisp, clean sheets on them for when we get back, but that we will be staying in a place where I won't have to wash the sheets. It will be perfect not because I have the best car entertainment for our drive (I do have an introductory German language CD), but the fact that I will get to talk to my husband alone for more than 48 hours.