Team-Up Thursday: Simplicity

Joanna and I kept things simple this week. That's right, simplicity is our theme.



Those tiny red balls dotting the surface of a leaf - are they eggs? berries? I want to know. Regardless, Jo's photo is simply exquisite. I always love her use of selective focus.

And mine: yes, a dandelion...again. Can you tell I like them? I actually kinda cheated this time: I took the photo last week, but didn't edit until a couple evenings ago. Just keepin' things simple!

Things are looking pretty fruity over at Megan's this week...go check it out for more Team-Up Thursday!

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

Earth Day

Nadia and I did our part today: we (trans)planted a tree.

An oh-so-cute little tiny baby oak tree!

A couple weeks ago I realized that Earth Day was coming up and that I should plan something...and then I forgot all about it. So it worked out pretty well that this afternoon when I picked Nadia up from school, we noticed dozens of tiny saplings growing under a huge oak tree in a parking lot median.

Nadia pulled one up...and it came out acorn and all! So cool!

So we brought the baby tree home with us and gave it a new residence.

Nadia is quite proud of her tree!

It remains to be seen if my black thumb kills off this seedling , as it has all others before it...

Team-Up Thursday: Looking Up

Since last week's theme was down low, Joanna and I decided to Look UP this week!

Unsurprisingly, both of our pictures feature tree branches against the sky...but despite those similarities they are two very different images!

I am such a sucker for sun flare, so I loved Jo's photo the instant I saw it. Plus that color, that rich turquoise - that's MY color! Looking at a scene like that and seeing the branches reach for the sun makes hope bubble up inside me.

My photo was taken from my new favorite spot: the hammock! It's the perfect place to relax with my girl or do some studying. I flipped the camera to manual focus for this shot and purposely kept it unfocused and hazy - seems the perfect way to say :::relax:::

I've been noticing something about my photography lately: I am in the midst of a major phase. My recent photos have been all about softness. Soft color, soft focus, soft light. Ethereal. I know that a few months or years from now, I'll probably look back on my current photos and roll my eyes (just like I now do with the photos of my Eye Pop Phase or Guassian Blur Phase! or even the dreaded Selective Color Phase!) but I can't help myself. I'm just loving the soft, subtle vintagey treatments and hazy golden light. It feels peaceful. I'm just not sure tho if that's because I'm feeling more at peace or because I'm craving peace. Maybe a little of both. ;o)



Megan has more Team-Up Thursday at her place!

Flower Girls

I have to admit that I am not altogether sad that my daughter is growing up.

Yes, I certainly do lament the swiftness with which Nadia passes through the milestones of childhood.

But the fact that she is growing up? No, I do not bewail that.

Babies are sweet and charming, there is no denying that.

But little girls are better.

This afternoon in the backyard, we discovered that the roses have bloomed.

A baby would have merely tried to eat the blossoms.

But not my big four year old girl!

She appreciated them just as much as I did.

She tucked a rose behind her ear and said, "I am a Tropicana island girl!"

She posed for a picture, and then she took a turn aiming the camera at me.

She sniffed a delicate pink blossoms and closed her eyes with a look of ecstasy, sighing "I think they smell like nail polish!"

Okay, so that part is a little weird.

But still - she's my sidekick.

And I love her.

Caterpillar Lessons

Sometimes we can find life lessons in unexpected places...like the tiny, wriggly body of a caterpillar.

Nadia got a new pet yesterday....but it's already a thing of the past.

She and I were relaxing in the hammock, talking about "insect week" at school, when we found a caterpillar.

She loved that little thing!

She named it Allie.

She cradled it and cooed to it.

She could tell that Allie loved her, because she was happy crawling on her hand. (?)

We made a little home for Allie out of a glass jar with a few holes poked in the lid.

When I got back from a meeting later, I asked "hey Nadia, how's Allie doing?"

"Ohhhhh, she's just great!!!" the proud pet-owner exclaimed. "Except...I think she's dead. That is probably because I opened the jar and gave her some love too many times."

As I tucked her into bed that evening, she shared the lesson she had learned: "I think that the next time I have a pet caterpillar, I will love it with my heart more than with my hands."

Great idea, honey. But hmmmm, that rule would apply very well to the cat, too!

I think it's a very good thing that kids get to practice playing Mommy to caterpillars and cats before moving on to bigger and better "babies."

But sometimes Mommies need that reminder, too.

Team-Up Thursday: Down Low

We focused on a down low perspective this week, and my partner Joanna gets an award for her commitment! With a baby due in about two months...well, it's not so easy for her to get down there these days. But she did it, and she rocked it. Her parents' cute puppy Buttons even smiled for the picture!

My picture offers the classic little girl summer legs: one skinned knee, covered in bug bites and scrapes, her week-old sandals already all banged up. It just makes me smile. Nadia has been having fun.

Oh, and I put my picture on top this week because otherwise, it looked like little Buttons had grown some really freaky legs! LOL!



Head over to Megan's for more Team-Up Thursday fun!

We Love the Children's Museum

Nadia is Funny

Get ready to laugh! My file of Nadia quotes is overflowing once again and it's time for another edition of random Nadia-isms!

I have a bedtime-resisting child. She just told me, "I'm ready to be a grown up and have my own house so you can't tell me it's bedtime, but you can still come visit me!"

We're driving along and Nadia says,"look in the mirror, Mama, to see how happy I am."

So I look in the rearview and see a BIG ol' smile on my girl's face.

I ask her what made her so happy, and she says, "because God is happy that I'm being a sweet girl, and I'm happy that God is happy about me!"

"Can I please eat something right now, because I'm so hungry that my mouth is tiptoeing close to death!"



"Okay Nadia," I say as I put a plate in front of my daughter, "I made something new for lunch today. It's a grilled pb&j."

"Wow, thank you mommy! It looks delicious"

She takes the first bite and her face lights up. "This is my favorite thing ever! I love it the best. It is better than anything. I never tasted anything this yummy. I'm so glad you made this. It's my favorite thing to eat now." [and on and on in a similar manner]

Finally I cut in, "Okay Nadia, I'm glad you like it so much - how about you eat some more of that yummy sandwich now?"

She takes second bite.

"Actually.....I really don't like it so much after all."

Me: Nadia, if you could pick any pet in the whole entire world, what would you choose? Nadia, with no hesitation at all: A mouse. Me: Really? a mouse?! why? Nadia: so I could bring it home to my kitty Blackie and she could eat it!

We're halfway through the bedtime routine.

"Okay Nadia, time to brush teeth."

"Alright, but I'm not going to brush all of them."

"Why's that?"

"Because these two teeth in the middle will fall out when I'm five years old, which is pretty soon, so it'd just be a waste to brush them now. I don't think I should even bother."



It's getting late and Nadia is still bouncing. off. the. walls. I comment on her high energy.

"Yep," she agrees, "I do have energy today! in fact I have so much energy that I think I can even skip sleeping for tonite!"



It's my favorite time of day: snuggling with Nadia before bed.

"You sure are a great little gal," I whisper to her.

She turns toward me and gives me a radiant smile. "Why thank you for saying that!" she replies. "I sure do appreciate it. You're a great little mom too. Maybe probably definitely the best ever, actually."