Category: family

I remember when we first moved into the “city” from the “burbs” (…I air quote mostly because I’m pretty sure there is nothing “city” about our new neighborhood, except for the fact that we are much, much closer to All the City Things than we were when we lived in the land of the Far Far Away Burbs. You, know a whopping 25-30 minutes away.)

I digress…

When we first started coming to this little gem of a park it had just been built and Ardyn was just a newborn. I remember swaddling her up, packing up the fancy spaceship-sized stroller and driving ALLLLL the way to the city to let Quin run amuck at this awesome new park. (And because I had heard a rumor about parmesean truffle fries.) We learned very quickly:

a.) To always bring a swimsuit for the kids (cold, wet kids are never a good time) and

b.) that food-truck-food is the best-type-food

We also learned (and by “we”, I mean “I”) that the city was pretty freaking awesome and that leaving the land of Far Far Away Burbs couldn’t be all bad if fun parks like this and food trucks were involved.

Fast forward two years and this is still one of our favorite places to come with the girls. Only now it’s a much shorter drive, there are TWO of them running amuck, and the newborn space craft has been replaced with a cheap umbrella stroller that happens to keep my purse nice and comfortable. 😉

Today was a much-needed good, good day.

(Mostly because it started with mimosas,but also this…)

As a child I remember that my mom hated having her photo taken…if we’re being honest, she still does! But I can distinctly remember her saying to my dad, “Don’t get me in it”, whenever the camera came out. And now, as an adult looking back at my childhood photos, my favorites pictures are the ones with her in them, be they few and far between. Of course, losing my dad this past year has made us cling to the photos we have of him as well. But since he was such a ham, there is no shortage there…something we are all so grateful for. But these juxtaposed scenarios have made me really understand the importance of photos and of being IN them, whether you want to or not…

Since I can remember, I’ve always felt the need to document life. Be it journaling or taking pictures, I could never get enough. Even in high school and college, I was the one with the disposable (and then the shoe-box sized “first digital”) camera in my purse at every party and event. Once I had my girls and got my first nice DSLR not only did my love for photography grow, but so did my list of personal insecurities: “I didn’t lose the baby weight yet”, “I haven’t had time to do my hair”, “I don’t have on any make-up”, “I’m wearing yoga pants with baby food stains on them!!”…I can literally still hear the endless excuses that came out of my mouth. Probably because I still use most of them! Ha!

Anyways, I make a “yearbook” photo album every year for our family and this year I looked back on some of the older books and noticed a very glaring theme: every year since Quinlin’s birth my presence in the family yearbook has decreased. But then again, the pictures I usually saw of myself in those years made me cringe or start picking myself apart anyways, so I didn’t care much that there were only a few to flip quickly past.  Until recently…

 When making the album for this past year, I actually became sad to see how few times I was present in my family’s happy memories.

Everyone playing on a beach, baby puking on Daddy’s shoulder, Aunties and Uncles giving presents and hugs, grandparents stealing kisses and reading books…but where was I?

 I’ve spent so much time snapping away during important moments or life events, only to look back at my pictures and feel as if I wasn’t even there. And if I feel that way, what will my girls think one day when they look back?

And so, here I am- making an effort to get myself in the frame, insecurities and all. Because I’m not perfect and I’m sure my mom felt the same things I feel now, yet when I look at old photos of her, I don’t see her imperfections or self-doubt, I see happiness and I see reminders of amazing memories. (OK, fine, I see some sweet 80’s fashion too, but come on…that’s all the more reason to love them!)

I’m going to attempt to do this once a month, but I’m also going to make an effort to hand the camera to someone else for a few shots every once in a while, and to not yell at my husband when he tries to take pictures with me in them. Because, I WAS there too, dang it!  Shoot, I probably planned and orchestrated whatever was going on anyways, so why not be a part of the memories just like everyone else. 😉

This is for you, my girls…

And this is because of you, Mom.

Most children are tired after an hour long dance class.

Not mine.

It seems that after a day at school followed by play time with her sister, dance class is just the warm up session.

She comes home from dance ready to par-tay! She also just happens to know that her mommy is a sucker for the light in this room…meaning she can get away with pretty much anything, like jumping on this freshly made bed.

And, hey, if she can have a little fun, so can I.

Dinner can wait..I mean, didn’t I just feed them lunch anyways?

So yesterday was Butterfly Release Day. We’ve been growing these little guys for about a month now and Q has been anticipating this day with equal parts excitement and dread.

A little backstory:

My mom gave the girls this butterfly garden for Christmas along with a cup of live caterpillars that were no bigger than my thumb nail when they arrived. I made an exception to my “no creepy crawlers indoors” rule and let them set up shop right smack dab in the middle of our living room. I’m not going to lie, I was pretty surprised by how awesome the whole experience was for us all, and how invested we became in these fuzzy little bugs. I even bought Quin a little Nat Geo kids book on butterflies and I swear to you, she read it daily, asking a million questions along the way. We had one little runt ‘pillar who struggled every step of the way and even formed his chrysalis days after the rest of his pals. We were pretty sure he wasn’t going to make it, but a chrysalis he did make, and lo-and-behold, a few days after his pals, out he came as a butterfly with his crumpled little wings.

I wish I could say that I wasn’t nearly as excited about a slimy bug hatching out of it’s cocoon as I was- but I’d be lying. It was pretty cool, ok?

So when the weather was suitable, we took our “flyers” (as Ardyn called them) out to the front yard. Quin took them out one at a time, the more advanced butterflies zipping right out of the tent before we had a chance to handle them. Out they went: Tiana, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Aurora. We thought we were all finished with the release, and I even starting dumping out the leaves and flowers at the bottom of the tent when I uncovered our favorite little runt, Rapunzel hanging out on the bottom. Q lifted Rapunzel out of the tent and they fully bonded for a few fleeting seconds. She rested on Q’s finger and even sat on her nose for a quick moment. Again, I questioned whether or not this straggler was cut out for the real world- but then off ‘Punzel went. Q watched her go and then proceeded to have a full blown melt down. She cried for a long time saying how much she was going to miss her “Princess Butterflies”. Poor Gal.

Me?

I’m pretty happy to have a bug-free living room once again…

but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to start planning a springtime butterfly garden. For the girls, of course. 😉

No, we’re not keeping it…