On a roll....

I joined a new flickr group which I'm pretty excited about.  The group picks a different crayola color every week from the 64 box of crayons.  The idea is to try to find something that color and photograph it.  The color this week is cornflower.  Ava got to help with this one.  First we got out the box and she gave me all of the blue crayons and I found the cornflower one.  After that we colored a swatch of paper to carry with us as we sought out something in that color.  She even carried her camera with us so she could take pictures too.  I recently gave her an old camera to have because she likes to play with mine.

Here is my submission for cornflower...

                                                                                

                                                                                  ...a flower arrangement my Mom and I put together.

Ava's Poppie came by today and brought her some robin's eggs so I figured while I had my camera out I would photograph them too.  Ava liked having them on a little serving dish.  

Inspiration

Winter months=boredom and lack of enthusiasm

I don't know if it's the lack of sunshine and subsequent vitamin D deficiency or the all around lack of color.  Maybe it's the cold temperatures and the shorter days.  I really can't put my finger on the exact cause but it seems the photographer in me hibernates along with the bears.  I recently brought my camera back out after only using it once this whole year.  I have used my iphone for those "you gotta catch this" moments...sad I know but hey, it works.

A few of my friends and I are going to start our own little self paced class together to try to get ourselves to use our cameras a bit more.  We also our going to do a project 52.  Some have been doing it from the beginning and some have just started.  I just started and I may not participate in each weeks  theme but I am  hoping it will help inspire me and get me out of my box a bit.  This weeks theme was fear and the alternate theme was feet.  These are my shots for each....nothing overly spectacular but I at least got the cobwebs off my camera.

I also captured this adorable moment with my modern child using my iphone and sitting with Monk her favorite companion.

I had some more to post but I will have to cut it short.;  My poor dramatic child is having a moment and wants attention.  I think it is time for us to retire for the night :)

A rough 2011

This year has started out to be a rough one full of trials and tribulations.  Lately it has really made me appreciate my little family and how wonderful it is to be blessed with every moment I get to spend with them.  Yesterday we took Ava to the Calvert Marine Museum and she had so much fun.  We have also started planing our summer vacation and I am beyond excited for it.  I have about two months left before I graduate from the massage program and I am just so ready.  I can't believe there is such little time left but then again I am ready for the next phase.  I have a summer gymnastics class for Ava planned as well as a Mommy and Me art class.  I am contemplating taking a ceramics class myself.  It seems the modern day parent thinks of "me time" as bar time but I guess I am a bit old fashioned in my ways.  I don't find it justifiable to leave your child to go get drunk...I don't know just not my style.

Anyways before I go off on a tangent about the over abundance of irresponsible parents out there I will go back to my own ventures of late.  I have been trying to become a bit more of a crafty Mom.  I recently took to making felt food and want a sewing machine so I can try my hand at quilting.  I want to make Ava a large quilt from her receiving blankets.  I also would like to try to make her a few little summer dresses and maybe a skirt or two. 

Here are a few of my latest creations...all hand sewn but would be much simpler with the help of a sewing machine which is on the wish list but more importantly we needed a new laptop.  It should be here this week but ours is just getting a bit ridiculous and if I didn't know how to work on computers if would have stopped working a lot time ago.  It is missing keys on the keyboard, has no battery, and it slow no matter how many times I reformat it.  I need something I can take to school and we just need something that works.

Ava has been mastering new talents as well except hers are more of the musical nature.  She loves playing the piano and singing.

The next photos are SOOC but it's the best I can do with how incredibly slow the laptop is being.

 I think the boat was her favorite part.

 She told me these were robots...love the perspective of a child.

 She said he had big teeth and was too scary.

Cuter than a kitten!!!

Just another fun day with my bright and bubbly two year old.

 

When her Daddy came home she ran to the door meowing at him.  Today she was Ava the cat and I think she really enjoyed her "cat face", as she called it.  I'm really loving my Tuesdays with her.  They really are a nice break and she has been extra cuddly with me lately so we lounge and cuddle during morning cartoons.  It's such a gift to have such a wonderful child...she really makes my days brighter.  This is what we were but on this earth for.  To have children and watch them grow...it is our one true purpose.  It's like all the time that existed before them was simply a waiting period before life truly began.

I am beyond blessed....it is such a happy life.

I heart faces--Smile

Smile...

I have a ton of photos with smiles in them but I really love this one because of the moment.  We were at Nan and Pop's to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary.  I asked Nan to sit in the chair with Pop and snapped a few photos.  Nan turned to Pop and said, "put your arm around me like you actually know me" and when he lightly popped her in the chin.  She grabbed his hand to hold it down and he just laughed.  He is so clearly proud of himself and it shows.  I love when personalities shine through. 

The photo is not perfect and was taken at night in a small dimly lit living room with flash (blah) but the moment is perfect.  I could have choose a photo of my smiling two year old out in the bright sunshine but when I saw the category I just knew this was the photo I wanted to enter.

Click on the button below to see more great entries.

Mommy's Never Sick...

O wait...at least that's what I always use to think.

Now that I am the Mommy I realize that it's not that Mommy isn't ever sick but that Mommy's don't get sick days.  Even when they are allotted sick days at work or school they have to be saved for when the kiddos are sick.

InterruptionAlert:  Excuse me while I regain my train of thought.  Ava just brought over a bottle of silver glitter nail polish and asked to have her toes painted.  Which is followed by a careful method of blowing on each single piggy one at a time until it's dry.  She came up with that method by the way.

So where was I...Ah yes...Mommy's never being sick.  I often find that it is better to go to school or work if sick versus staying home to be care taker of a child because children do not allow Mommy's to sit let alone rest while sick (or ever really...until they are teens and that's all they do).

So where do I start this story....maybe back on Tuesday of this week when I took Ava to the doctors for a rash.  I should not have taken her because I knew it was due to a skin irritation and to treat with Aquaphor and Benadryl but alas my Mommy guilt crept in and made me doubt my instincts.  All those annoying what ifs came to mind and so to the doctors we went.

Now since the doctors thought it may be a strep rash they put her in with all the other sick kids.  One certain 9(ish) year old boy was standing next to her and just straight coughed all over where she was playing.  Ummm, I so wanted to turn and say didn't your Mother ever teach you to cover your mouth but they called us back.  I proceeded to cover Ava in the purel that was in the room but it must not have been quick enough.  She must have managed to get a finger in her mouth or nose or some orifice before I could properly cleanse it so by Friday (Thurs night to be more exact) she was all stuffy.  My little baby came down with her very first cold.

Interuption Alert #2:  I just asked Ava a question to which she replied sponge bob and pointed in another direction for me to look at.  I have found that when she wants to avoid a question or doesn't want to be bothered she simply says sponge bob and points for me to look another way.  Now my question is why sponge bob...she never even watches sponge bob and another question is where do they learn this stuff.  Ok, I had to get that out....back to my post.


 So since you do not give toddlers cold medicine she has been getting tablespoons of local honey, warm water, plenty of fluids, benadryl, and sleeping propped up with pillows.  So we are just relaxing and waiting and not getting much sleep.  Well, I am not getting much sleep.  Aaron is also sick and became sick about a day after Ava.  I do not have a cold but I have been battling upset stomachs.  Something that became a common place for me after the removal of my gallbladder.  Well actually about 8 months or so before they removed it.  I feel I am most likely intolerant of a few things...the biggest being dairy and quite often my stomach gets pissed after meals that aren't bland and boring.  Life is not fair sometimes.  Everything yummy hates my stomach or my stomach hates it.  So to get back on track  I ate dairy the other day and so I haven't been feeling exactly peachy lately.  So I have been trying to rest up as much as I can when Ava is resting because that's about all I'm gonna get.

After Ava's nap today we got out the art box and her tin of markers and crayons and some paper.  The pictures aren't the greatest because I didn't want to use the flash or turn on the florescent's since Aaron wasn't feeling well so we just had dim lighting in a basement so yeah, this is what you get.

I also just realized that I never posted this video the other day.  This is one of Ava's new favorite things to do.

She also loves to brush peoples hair and we already knew she loved dress up.  Typical girly girl.

Before I go I will leave you with a Mothers Prayer I found in a book I have for activities for toddlers. It's called the Toddler's Busy Book by Trish Kuffner...it's got a ton of great ideas in it.

A Mother's Prayer:
Dear Lord, 
     So far today I've done all right.  I haven't gossiped, I haven't lost my temper, I haven't been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or very indulgent.  I'm very grateful for that.  But in a few minutes, Lord, I'm going to get out of bed, and from then on, I'm going to need a lot more help, Amen.

I'm not a religious person but found that to be so fitting.

Tomorrow we are off to JoAnn's to pick up supplies for our new to 2011...drumroll...art and music Tuesdays.  Tuesdays and Fridays are the only days I will be home and Fridays are reserved for laundry and various chores so Tuesday it is.  I feel with school and homework I get caught up and don't do special projects with Ava so this year we are instilling a special day for projects.  I also have a few projects for myself so it should be fun.

Ok my arm is being drug away by a toddler who wants a Popsicle and since she doesn't feel well a Popsicle she gets.  Til next time...