saturday bloggin' aka photo vomit

i don't normally blog on saturdays

but yesterday we got together with friends

and made tie dye shirts

then we had to wait 24 hours to unveil the final product

and i went a little camera happy

because tie dye

and toddlers

let's just say, i think this will be the first of many tie dye adventures

now on to the photo vomit part...

p.s. if this has inspired you to do some tie dying with your littles, 

here are some "resources" / what we used:

* how to & inspiration courtesy of sheena's first and second tie dye extravaganzas

* this tulip brand tie dye kit 

(except i hit up my local michaels store and used a 40% coupon so it only cost me $10ish)

* $3 t-shirts from good ol' walmart

* dollar store tablecloths left over from the girlies' birthday party:  

...one to do all the dyeing on, so that once we were all done, we could wrap up all the bits and pieces in it and chuck it

...and one more to lay our (still pretty wet) shirts on when we unwrapped them, once again so that we could contain the mess then wrap up and get rid of it easily

the girls still haven't tried them on yet (you have to wash them before you wear them), 

but they're pretty stoked about them, and it was a super fun process!

pink milk and pigtails

i often feel like i'm up to my neck in "unprocessed" photos

you know, ones that just get offloaded onto a hard drive without even deleting the baddies?

(let alone, picking favorites, any editing that might be involved, etc)

tell me i'm not the only one who does this?  anyone?

ok, maybe it's just me

but the point is, i'm trying to find ways to get better at it

("it" = keeping up with all the digital images i'm drowning in)

so that i can actually enjoy the pictures i take

and maybe, just maybe, even print some

i suppose i could just stop taking pictures altogether

that would definitely lessen the amount of work involved

but that's not going to happen any time soon

(obviously...have you met me?  i still remember the look of shock in my father-in-law's eyes when we travelled overseas together a couple years ago and he heard the speed at which my shutter was going!)

so instead i'm just making an effort to get through my photos, month by month

so that they are a little more manageable (baby steps, am i right?)

and who knows, maybe i'll start posting "a month in photos" for each one

as motivation to get it done

all that being said, it's halfway through february and i'm still working on january

(hah!  typical!)

in my defence, the photography business has kicked up a bit lately, so i've been tied up with that

(hooray!)

plus the girlies were sick for a month straight, basically

which always switches us into more-cuddles-less-stuff-getting-done mode

but, speaking of being sick, here are a few photos from one of our sick mornings at home

complete with "pink milk" 

(aka steamed milk with one pump of raspberry syrup...you're welcome)

no shortage of sass in this house... :)

sisterly conversation (trust be baby girls, cultivate that relationship - it never gets old!) 

k mom, we're over this whole paparazzi thing...! 

hopefully i'll have more to share with you soon!

a bittersweet milestone

last night, my girlies reached a new milestone:

their first night in a "big girl bed"

another step away from babyhood

another step towards independence

another bittersweet mama moment, 

as i glanced over into the guest room and saw their disassembled crib leaning against the wall

but, there's no bittersweet taste in their mouths

they are straight up excited

and actually fell asleep quickly and without nearly as many shenanigans as i expected last night

(i'm sure it helped that following a busy morning out, naptime was spent screaming instead of sleeping)

so here's to my girlies, growing up just a teensy bit more...don't be in too much of a rush, eh?

a smorgasbord of celebration

hi, friends!

today is a good day to celebrate

"why?" you ask?

well, for starters, it's friday, which is always a good reason to break out into a happy dance

but today is even more celebration worthy than your average friday

because it's also the Fourth of July, so without further ado:

                                                                                                                 

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

                                                                                                                 

and although i hate the movie (sorry to all you Will Smith fans / that crazy husband of mine) 

i am proud to be American and very thankful for those who have fought to earn and keep our freedom

and as if all that isn't enough reason to celebrate, it's also my sweet little nephew's the three week birthday

he was born at 28 weeks and is a teeny tiny little person

i took this picture of him the day after he was born, he's since grown a bit and is doing well, 

but as with any preemie, any and all prayers are appreciated!

finally, here are some pictures i took en route to our camping trip last weekend
because smiling faces are a good way to end a celebratory blog post
(and yes, my child is wearing a jacket on her legs instead of her arms in some of these...life with two year olds!)

one of those nights...

you know those moments in life,
when you stop, look around and think, 

"i want to remember this" ?

sometimes they're big, defining moments:

proposals, job offers, births

aaaaand sometimes they're not-so-"big", but equally special moments

friday night was a bunch of the latter strung together for me

after a particularly challenging day with the kiddos

daniel came home and suggested we try out the girlies' new wagon

(that our awesome neighbor gifted to us the night before - thanks, neighbor!)

let me just stop and say, this man knows my heart well

he knows that getting me outside and moving is a sure-fire way to lift my spirits

even when i'm being a big grump-face

and i'm standing there with my hair all up in a crazy, frizzy bun (the size of my HEAD), 

still in my jams from the night before, 

drowning in piles of laundry that i've sworn to conquer before the day's end

and so we laced up our runners 

loaded the kids into their wagon

and headed out in search of adventure

we let the kids pick which direction we should head

and wound our way through neighborhoods we've never seen before
until we eventually found ourselves at a grocery store

where we picked up dinner and began the journey home

but then we thought:

why not sit down right where we were,

on a random grassy patch on the side of the road

and have an impromptu picnic?

the girlies were thrilled about the idea

so we handed out food, sat back and enjoyed the dinner in the great outdoors

(i realize roadside meals are hardly "the great outdoors" compared to say, camping,
but  you gotta take what you can get, right?  right.)

the sun began to set and cast a stunning glow on everything in sight

the girlies showed off to any and all passerbys

and we filled the air with laughter and conversation 

we continued chatting away on our way home after we ate
the wind picked up
we threw our outer layers on the kids to keep 'em warm
and settled for t-shirts and goosebumps on our own arms

the girlies got into the chocolate bar I had picked up for dessert,

we laughed about it and didn't bother wiping off their newly acquired chocolate beards

i looked over to daniel and said,

"thank you. this was such a great idea. 

and i love the light at this time of day, 

it makes everything that much more beautiful, even the traffic!"

p.s. all of these photos were snapped on my phone - how awesome is technology sometimes?!