Theme Thursday: Catchlights

Holy Smokes you guys. It's Thursday. I am in utter disbelief. I mean, it makes perfect sense that it is Thursday. We had school today. At my house. But somehow the dots did not connect in my head so I need to catch up.

It's Thursday. Theme Thursday. Catchlights. On it.

We tried to do a photo shoot for M this past weekend. You know for a brilliant 1 year old picture. But she has transitioned into "hard to photograph." She would rather be climbing and jumping and not sitting. Anything but sitting and smiling simultaneously. What were we thinking?!

But apparently 3.5 is the age where they come back around to the possibility of posing. So we took some of C. I present to you: Catchlights.

Now for the elusive picture of both kids at the same time!! At least I have two weeks before Groups is the theme. Gives me time for plenty of outtakes. 

Link 'em up with Micaela. It's fun. 

Theme Thursday: Silhouette

Well we went from zero to sixty. Silhouette is one of those things that's not hard exactly but certainly requires more effort and thought than say, sun flare or same photo/different angle. But I like a good challenge.

Except my weather did not cooperate. It's still not. In the past week it has been gray and cloudy 5/7 days. And the other two days well ... okay I dropped the ball. I could have and should have done a better job with that. But that still leaves me without a Theme Thursday picture, and I love Theme Thursday. If there ever was a T.T. groupie, I am she.

Not participating by week three is not an option.

So I buckled down and decided to make it happen. The lighting is not a beautiful sunset or sunrise. It's not even anything but cloudy. But that's the real life of this week.

So there you are. A silhouette of my two looking out the front door at the cars.

Link up with Micaela.  You know you want an excuse to use your good camera. (Or just take a picture, whatever.) See you back here next week for catchlights. I should probably start today to make sure I get a cooperative subject. :)

So Much Goodness

The past few days have held just so much goodness.

My family came into town on Friday afternoon and we had a pizza party. They played with the kids and then after bedtime, we played games and chatted.

Saturday included C going to the grocery store with my dad, C going swimming at the "show and tell,"(hotel) M's party with a taco bar and cake. So many moments of joy.

My parents got her a Minnie Mouse set, a blanket, stuffed animal and lovey. When we helped her open it she smiled and held on to the package. When we took the stuffed animal Minnie out and handed it to her, she picked it up, smiled HUGE and hugged it and rocked it. It was one of the best moments and of course no picture could ever capture the love and joy right then.

Sunday involved lots of playing, saying goodbye, playing outside and football.

Yesterday our friends threw a Halloween party and it was a hit. We had so much fun!

Today is kind of rainy and dreary, but we've played hard. Singing Halloween songs. I am in the process of making bread and chicken noodle soup for dinner. I also made Pumpkin Pretzels as a treat. Pro tip: just go buy the orange Wilton melting chocolates. My color doesn't look good at all plus then it's one less step!

Also I built a toy shopping cart today. Not that building toys is hard exactly, but usually Husband deals with that stuff. But I built it all by myself and even though pounding the wheel cap thing on took me probably double the time it would have taken Husband, it doesn't matter.

Life is good people.

Bittersweet

M's big girl car seat came on September 30. It is a convertible seat so we could have transitioned to it that exact day. But I wasn't ready yet. Because the big girl car seat means that my baby isn't a baby anymore and I just couldn't do it. 

So I made an excuse to wait until her birthday. 

Then on Thursday I determined since we weren't going anywhere I didn't really need to do it yet. 

Then on Friday I decided it was raining and I didn't want to carry the heavy car seat to the garage (we don't have an attached garage) and get it and me all wet. 

Then yesterday I figured we were busy with family and her party. There just wasn't any time. 

But today, my family left. 

And today it is sunny and bright. 

And today, the Vikings played early and won and we have no plans. 

And tomorrow we actually do have somewhere to go. 

I was out of excuses. So we went out an installed the new car seat. 

It is very likely that we won't have another baby ride in our baby car seat since it expires in the not too distant future. Far enough out someone could theoretically borrow it for a weekend but not for the entire first year of my non-existent third baby. 

This seat carried my babies home from the hospital safely and kept them both safe and secure for the first year of their lives. It seems silly to me to go all KonMari here but it also seems incredibly appropriate today. 

Thank you old friend. You have done a good job. 

7QT That Actually Are Quick

one. It's Friday!! My family is en route to spend the weekend with us and have M's party tomorrow. And it's Friday. That just bears repeating.

two. This girl loves her Little People Princess Castle. I am actually really surprised because C always takes a few days to adjust to new presents which gets me all anxious. Gift giving is my love language and so when people don't automatically love things I get for them it gets me all worked up. But this was not a problem yesterday at all. She jumped right in and hasn't stopped all day. #winning 

three. Animal crackers are having a moment in our lives right now. C loves that they're animals. Husband and M love that they're tasty. I love that they are small and I can hand one to each kid and that's like a treat. It stops the crying and keeps the grumpys at bay. 

four. I know it's early. But let's talk about the next President of the United States. I am really kind of nervous about how that mess is going to clean itself up. 

five. Who's been following this train wreck via headlines? Oh. My. Goodness. 

six. This week off of a school has proved to be a Godsend, we all needed this break. Next week looks to be just as good since we have a Halloween party on Monday and then Trick or Treat on Friday and Saturday. 

seven. Have a great weekend!! We're having Minnie Mouse cake so it's sure to be exciting over this way. 

Linking up with Kelly. Did you read her EO post? I die. It's so good. 

Different Angles: Theme Thursday

If you've been around the Theme Thursday block before, you may remember that I enjoy stretching the themes a little. I mean, there's no rules exactly, but I like to push the boundaries of the theme. It's just what I do.

So I was going to post something kind of like this:

10.22.14 Sometime in the wee early hours

10.22.15 2:12 am 

Same photo. Different angle. The angle of a year makes all the difference. It's M's birthday today and it is making me ache and consuming all my thoughts. Where did my year go?! How did she get from the little smush in a bucket crib to my big girl who is part mountain goat?

But that really is stretching the theme a little much for only the second week. I should probably follow along with the spirit of things until we all get our sea legs then I can start mixing it up a bit. I mean, there's plenty of time to go a little crazy. But this week got away from me so you are still getting birthday themed pictures. 

M got to open one of her presents this morning before her daddy went to work. It is the Fisher Price Little People Birthday Party. She loves it. She has been walking around with the little girl all day and she loves making the cake play the birthday song. The wrapping paper has been fun to play with too. 

Happy Thursday! Link up your different angles with Micaela! Because you should. 

Happy Birthday Baby!

Dearest Baby Girl,

Happy Birthday Honey!! I am so glad that you have been with us in the big world for a whole year, though I can scarcely believe it. It truly seems like just yesterday you finally decided it was your birthday and graciously opted to show up. But you did show up and we are so glad.

 Watching you grow into our family has been such a great pleasure. I love being your mommy. You make each of us a better person just by being in our family. Your brother has learned patience, sharing and kindness just from you being you. What a gift you are to us. Especially me. I loved being your favorite person for months, even though we are past that and you are all about your daddy.

I love your chubby cheeks and your bright blue eyes. I am just going to state right here and now that I am so thankful to God and genetics for those baby blues. I would have gotten over my distaste for the song "Brown Eyed Girl" had you, in fact, turned out to by my brown eyed girl. But I am SO glad you're not. From the day you were born and every day since, I have loved to stroke the bridge of your nose and nibble on your ears and I'm just going to keep on until you tell me I can't!

You have such a good sense of rhythm already, it's so crazy. You my girl, are the most observant baby. I have no doubt that you are taking it all in and you remember. You take things so seriously in public, I never know if you're having a good time or not, but you come along for the ride anyhow. Every once in a while, you reward us all with that giant baby smile but that does not mean you want to be held by them! 

It's true what they say that every baby is different, because you came with your own learning curve. Except for the gross motor skills thing, just like your brother you wanted to be on the move. Creeping, crawling and walking ahead of the group is just what you like. Watching you run around the house is my favorite. I am pretty sure I could record that 100 times and never get sick of it. It melts my heart that you've already figured out "Run run run run and hug your mother."

You, my little girl, make me so very happy. I love you so much!! Happy birthday little girl, I hope it's a great one. I will try my best to make it happen for you.

Love, Mama (you really could say that more often, I wouldn't mind.)