You oughta be in pictures

But you might want to avoid going down the big kid slide feet first on your belly right before your pictures, or you'll end up with a black eye (or black bridge of nose. you pick.) and something that looks like this picture:


Lovely, isn't it?

Here kitty kitty

My brother in law sister in law's little kitty (I highly doubt that the man of the house was the one who wanted the kitty. Just a guess.) just had some babies.

This kitty mama is still a baby herself - but somehow it's much cuter and seemingly not as horribly wrong as when it happens to young girls. Why is that?

The daddy of these baby kittens was not well received by my brother in law (maybe he is more protective of this cat that I thought?). I will spare you the details on tomcat's fate. I think you know where I'm going with that anyway. Like naughty boy human like naughty boy cat.

So back to the cute stuff.

Sydney is 100% animal lover, and was SO excited to see these baby kittens.


She loved being able to pet the little babies. Do you see how tiny the kitten is that she is petting here?


She also likes dogs - but apparently not nearly as much as she likes cats. (chuckle. chuckle.)

Soccer practice. Take 2

You will be happy to know that I remembered to charge my camera battery for Elisabeth's soccer practice this time! I am so glad I did, because I was able to get some really cute pictures of...um (Really! I purposely brought it to take pictures of Elisabeth this time. Just you wait.)...Sydney with her Grandpa L. (aka, GuhGuh).

Pardon the haze in the pictures. It was so humid on this spring day that the lens had a foggy film on it. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get it off! Anybody know how to fix that?
I was able to get some great pictures of Sydney with her Grandma L. (also aka GuhGuh) as well.

Future gardener? (Or landscaping thief?)

And you'll be happy to know I took some great pictures of our energetic Elisabeth too!

Elisabeth appears to be enjoying soccer this year. She is much more active than last year. If you don't believe me, check out the first picture in this post, which gives you an idea of how last year's drills went down. This year appears to include much more running and kicking the ball. And many more smiles.

There is still something so appealing about that net I guess!

We have a couple more practices left. So far I haven't heard a single complaint about soccer. I guess my ballerina is not meant tutu be. (chuckle chuckle) And that's totally fine. It shows us that Elisabeth is becoming eager to learn, is willing to try and is capable of making her own decisions.

As an added bonus it gives me the prestigious Soccer Mom title I love so much!

Brush your teeth!

Brush teeth every night before bed? Yeah, we do that.




Although...now that I look at these pictures I can see quite clearly how Elisabeth got that cavity.

And in case my children aren't enough of a reminder, here is the Sesame Street gang performing in a pageant about oral hygiene, produced by Bert. (And don't ask me what the first split second is all about - perhaps some kind of subliminal message from the 70's?)



I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. I love me some Prairie Dawn. She cracks me up!

Bokeh Master

I have always wanted to take pictures with great bokeh - you know, where the subject is crisp and the background is all blurry. Okay, maybe you didn't know. I didn't know this photographic style had a name until recently. Anyway, in order to achieve the crisp subject with blurry background you need a shallow depth of field / large aperture setting.

My Nikon D40 kit lenses didn't allow me to do this, so for Mother's Day Mark bought me a new camera lens that does allow for this. I LOVE it! And Mark.

The problem is, the new lens doesn't autofocus on my D40. Well, it's our D40, but I think I've claimed the rights to it. I mean, the lawnmower is ours too, but I'm not jumping to use it. So the new lens doesn't autofocus on our D40 - you have to manually focus the lens on your subject. It's a function of the camera from what I hear, which means I'm now saving my pennies for a bigger and better camera model.

And here is why:


I was focusing on her eyes, just like I was taught. Can't you tell?

(But WOW those little foam disks Sydney is holding sure are beautifully in focus!)

Anyway, just wanted to share with you what many if not most of my pictures taken with this lens actually look like. Hope you enjoyed viewing my photographic awesomeness!

Beads Baubles and Bows

Material girl.

Accessories included.

A father's love (for one of two).

Small packages.

Baby curls included.

What more could a person ask for on Mother's Day?

Ahead of the curve. And a beauty tip.

Remember when I told you about Elisabeth's first black eye at the age of 5?

Well Sydney has got Elisabeth beat by 3.5 years.

This picture was taken on Day 2. And of course, Day 3 is picture day at daycare. Such perfect timing, as always.

I will let those of you who have endured the Icepack vs. Toddler battle in on a little secret: Forgo the ice for egg white. That's right, egg white. Not only is it cold on the skin, it's also a lot gentler to repeatedly dab on vs. fighting to keep an icepack on your child's face. And also takes the swelling down quicker. And gives them a great skin tightening facial. My neighbor's mother happened to witness alongside me the bridge of Sydney's nose meeting the bottom edge of the slide as she fearlessly slid down on her belly. And the jelly bean sized bump that popped up instantaneously right between the eyes. She very calmly told me to get an egg white and I thought "what on earth is she talking about? egg white? how about ICE!" She proceeded to tell me that she grew up in Poland, where they didn't have ice cubes, so this is what they did.

And I will tell you, it works! I wonder if she knows which food product can cover up a black eye...

First Day of Soccer!Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

Today was Elisabeth's first day of soccer! She's very excited to be playing soccer with her church friends again, and I must say she's made a remarkable improvement since last year, as evidenced by this photo taken approximately one year ago.
I am also excited to officially be titled a "Soccer Mom" again, because with this impressive title comes the gift of being organized in life all while having fun with the kids! I gathered our gear, which now includes 3 soccer balls, and headed out the door to pick up the girls at daycare. I couldn't wait to show you pictures of Elisabeth's soccer practice, so I made sure to pack my camera as well.

When Elisabeth and I arrived in Sydney's room, we were greeted by three little girls with the cutest matching hairdos I have ever seen! Sydney and her friends Abby and Sydney (#2, of course) were all treated by Miss Vanessa to a day at the baby salon. Apparently when Miss Vanessa started doing one girl's hair earlier in the day, the other two lined up grunting asking to have theirs done as well! So when I saw the three of them, I ran out to the car to grab my camera. This was one memory that could not be missed. After all, this was the first time I had ever seen Sydney #1 (or #2. Or Abby.) in pigtails, and oh what a sweet site it was to me.

Sydney is on the right. And the left. But ours is the one on the right. Abby is in the middle, in case you weren't sure. Sydney #1 is crying because she didn't want to sit - she wanted her mommy! Which is also why the photo is a bit blurry. I had a very short window of opportunity here. Don't they look like triplets?

Just for fun, here are two more pictures from the evening. Some of you may know that Sydney's pet name is "the live-in raccoon" which we chose because we felt it was slightly cuter than calling her our "human garbage disposal". Well my friends, the proof is in the pudding meat. Do you see how her cheek is already filled and she's ready to insert the next piece? Thatta girl!

And Mark has commented that my girls are turning into their mother (more on this later) - here is one of Sydney snapping away just like her momma does. Elisabeth was doing this too. I love it!



What? You want to know where the pictures of Elisabeth's soccer practice are? Oh. Well, this totally organized soccer mom forgot to charge the batteries for the camera. I ran out right after taking pictures of the triplets. Score one for mom.

God Bless the Neighbors the Beer and the Rainbow Play System

What started out as a simple Friday night out at McDonalds,

and playing for free on a bunch of fancy swingsets,

later turned our backyard into a huge party, starting with a sea of wood.

Thankfully, we are blessed with 5 sets of great neighbors. Also thankfully, beer works on men as a dangling carrot does on rabbits.


Similarly, a slightly constructed playset works on children much like that dangling carrot!
I will stop to tell you that once the playset reached this point my stomach sank. You see it in the picture above? It was literally taking up the entire yard. The entire yard! Okay, fine... It only took up close to the entire yard (I'd like to say that I never ever ever exaggerate, but that would be an exaggeration).

So after asking the men repeatedly what my options were and hearing that I had a whopping no options, we decided to chop down our baby tree. This was, as you saw in an earlier post, slightly difficult for me and extremely difficult for Elisabeth. In any case, here are some pictures of the tree-chopping incident that are sure to put a smile on anyone's face:

I'm no expert here, but I think there may have been some kind of display of testosterone going on during the battle with the tree which at the moment, appears to be winning.

Ahh, yes. An axe! I've heard that helps when chopping a tree down. At this point I stopped taking pictures of the tree incident. You're welcome. But you'll be happy to know that the tree did in fact succumb to the men and the axe.

Day 2 started with a bit of very sweet father-daughter bonding, which Elisabeth loved.

Look carefully at the picture above. How much work do you think is actually being done? This picture was taken shortly after I brought out the cooler of beer for my beloved neighbors and husband. They quickly sprung to "action" when they saw the camera aimed at them. It was too funny to not share with you. Hope they don't mind.

Check it out! We're so close to being done! The kids had a blast testing everything out as soon as they could. Even the neighborhood ghost got in on some swing action.

Finishing touches for the day, before the rain started (which by the way, has not let up since! I think we have been able to play on the swingset twice.)

Once the rain started, we all came inside and enjoyed a celebratory bratwurst dinner. We were also rewarded with a very entertaining fashion show! Here is one of the samples, which will be in stores next season. Giggle giggle.

The finished product, minus a few details that we hope to take care of next weekend. As long as Mother Nature cooperates. Maybe I should have titled this post "April showers bring May play towers" (Hey - I tried.)

We are truly blessed to have so many great neighbors. It's nice that what could be considered a daunting task was actually fun!