When I was actually blogging on the regular, photos were a massive part of that activity. This was a place to let the photos tell the story as much as the words. I don't know how much I still have in me to take and prep photos for this purpose.... I'm not even being as post-y on Instagram and Facebook recently... (Maybe that's something I need to dig into and think about. The "why"....)

But today is Friday, and even if you haven't seen a post-a-day, I HAVE sat down to type a little every day, and today felt like maybe we could do more photos than words, kind of an easing into the weekend.

So in keeping with the overall slowdown of my blogging and posting, etc., I've also dropped down to a place where I almost NEVER take "everyday" photos with my real camera. The very capable and VERY convenient iPhone 12ProMax does the bulk of the work these days. And that's okay. Except that those photos aren't on my desktop computer, so it's not as easy as you'd think to just grab the week's photos and drop them in a blog post. It takes PLANNING. And waiting for things to upload, download, etc. 

But even if I was still taking lots of Big Camera photos and uploading them to this computer, there's still the endless dilemma of getting them over to Lightroom to cull them and edit them before they're ready for sharing. 

 It's honestly kid of a lose-lose, at least in this passive blogging mindset I'm in right now. I need to think this whole thing through and decide what I want out of this blogging act. For the moment, I just wanted to get my rusty fingers typing again. But maybe I'll eventually want to get my rusty photo-posting to warm back up too. I dunno.

What you are getting, therefore, is a very cute set of photos from spring, the last time I consciously took out my big camera to take photos of each of my kids individually and all together.  I actually already have plans to do a new set of these this weekend, a Fall Edition, so it might be fun to see these now, and then compare them to the new ones I will get in the next few days. But for now.... here's what I have for you:

 

LARKIN, age 5.5

 

 

 

QUINN, age 9

 

LUCY, age 11

 

NOAH (and Fiona), age 14.5

 The Whole Gang

 

That's it. I got some typing in, I gave y'all some photos.... It's officially the weekend as far as this blog is concerned. Byeeeee!!

Now We Are Six: Larkin Clementine

 

 Now We Are Six

 

When I was One,
I had just begun.
When I was Two,
I was nearly new.
When I was Three
I was hardly me.
When I was Four,
I was not much more.
When I was Five, 

I was just alive.
But now I am Six, 

I'm as clever as clever,
So I think I'll be six now 

for ever and ever. 

 

A.A. Milne

 

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My baby, as clever as clever, is blossoming into a big kid, and it's amazing to watch. Of course there is a tender spot in my heart right now remembering all the baby magic, all the toddler shenanigans, every incredible, darling, sweet piece of her from her birth day til today....

But it's worth that natsukashii to keep having the gift of watching her grow day after day. It's worth the missing of the younger years to get to have the older years with her. 

Larkin is magic. Always has been. Always will be. And my life is richer because she is my daughter. 

Have a BEAUTIFUL 6th year, my love!

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Larkin and the Little Red Book

• Because she is always grabbing this Chaucer book off of my little book display. 
• Because she happened to match the book on this February morning. 
• Because I had done her hair in anticipation of heading out the door on errands. 
• Because she chose the rain boots herself. 
• Because every time we put on her Totoro socks, she and I sing the Totoro song. 
• Because I always have a child's chair handy.
• Becuase the front door open lets in just the right amount of light. 
• Because she won't be this little forever.
• Because I adore having her as my daily sidekick for this beautiful time we have left before the world scoops her up. 

Unplanned, perfectly wonderful photos from my spunky, darling, fun 2.5 year old on an average winter weekday.

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Quinn is SIX!!

 

 Now We Are Six

 

When I was One,
I had just begun.
When I was Two,
I was nearly new.
When I was Three
I was hardly me.
When I was Four,
I was not much more.
When I was Five, 

I was just alive.
But now I am Six, 

I'm as clever as clever,
So I think I'll be six now 

for ever and ever. 

 

A.A. Milne

 

The day before his birthday, Quinn's whole kindergarten crew at school celebrated their 100th day. There are five kindergarten classes, and all the teachers planned a super fun celebration for the kids-- treats, games, crafts, collections, counting, etc. etc.  

This 100 Days thing is not new. My older two kids have gotten to celebrate with special activities during their kindergarten years... But one thing I've seen lots of other schools do that my school never did was to invite the kiddos to dress like they're 100 years old. I mean, COME ON. So cute!! I've envied all my friends' posts with their little grandmas and grandpas, and wished our school did that part of the 100 Day celebration. 

So imagine my delight when the flier came home this year WITH THE COSTUME PART ADDED! Woo!!!! Little old Grandpa Quinn, here we come!

Except, you cannot have missed his expressions in these photos. He was NOT into it. The suspenders and plaid shirt were already a major compromise. The glasses and the gray-dusted hair put him over the edge, and he was NOT a happy kiddo as we got ready for the bus. (Needless to say, I didn't even approach him with the makeup pencil to draw on some wrinkles. Even though it hurt my heart to have to skip it.)

He gamely posed for me anyway, but would NOT smile (I almost tricked him, in photo #2/4, if you look)... but this last shot, a candid, shows how he really felt. 

 

Dang it. 

Poor kiddo. 

(Poor me. I REALLY wanted this. How do other mamas get their kids into this idea???)

But never fear-- he ended up having a WONDERFUL day, and changed right into his jammies when he got home, and all was well. 

And this morning, his SIXTH birthday, I made sure to grab just a few more photos, so that he would not just have Sad Old Man portraits for his birthday:

And now he is six, and he's clever as clever. And so darn sweet. And funny. And handsome. And kind. We are lucky lucky lucky he's in our family, and so delighted to celebrate the HECK outta him today. 

 

Happy birthday, my beloved Quinn Atticus. 

Halloween: The Year of the Waterbear

Halloween 2018: The Year of the Waterbear

It's the yearly tradition of Halloween costume portraits, huzzah! From oldest to youngest (and weirdest to most common), I present to you my cute, crazy kids, all decked out and ready to trick-or-treat.

 

Noah, age almost-11:  He learned about waterbears/tardigrades this past year, and they have risen to the prime position of "favorite animal" for him. It made him extra proud to see them featured in the summer move Ant Man and the Wasp, and has read endlessly about them, sharing random facts about them at the dinner table. So when he decided to be one for Halloween, I wasn't the least bit surprised. His costume was the only one I had to make this year, and despite it being kind of epic, it was really really really easy.  Check out my fluffy, stuffed, fleecy, clawed waterbear:

 

And for reference:

This kid--- fantastic. One-of-a-kind. And REEEEALLLLY huggable in this getup. ♥

 

Lucy, age 7.5: Well, it was no surprise when she began talking about being a unicorn for Halloween. I figured the more rainbowy the better. But it was in early September when she took her idea to the NEXT LEVEL. Upon spotting a"ride-on unicorn" costume at HomeGoods, she begged to have it/be it for Halloween. Better yet, she decided that she didn't want to be the formulaic "princess riding a unicorn", she wanted to go ahead and still be a unicorn herself. So her costume became "Lucy: The Unicorn Riding a Unicorn."  Still with lots of rainbows. 

 

(And extra-special shoutout to my friend Beth Maue for the perfect custom unicorn shirt she made for Lucy. It became the perfect base for her costume! 

 

With two trunk-or-treats and these photos under our belts, Lucy has had plenty of chances to get her unicorn makeup done. She ADORES having glitter on, and probably would let me draw rainbows on her face daily. She also requested a tulle tail, so we made her a super-simple flowy one together. 

 

This last shot? My very favorite of her. ♥

 

Quinn, age 5.5: this cute kiddo had other ideas for his costume for most of the summer. But then Joe got them hooked on the new remake of the 80's robot cartoon Voltron, and that was that. Quinn decided he REALLLLY wanted to be Voltron. Luckily, A.) I'd only bought an $8 mask for his other idea and hadn't gone any further with it yet B.) The online shop for Spirit Halloween had a Voltron costume in his size. EASY PEASY.

 When Noah was this age, he had the equivalent style of costume as Bumblebee from the Transformers, and I think if a 5-year-old-boy wants to be a faux-muscled robotic character in the cheap polyester costume, THEY DESERVE THAT. It's a joy for them, and I love how they light up to become the character they love.  I mean, look at this cute kid. ♥

 

Larkin, age 2: I had a million ideas for this one. But I ended up going with one of the most classic kid costumes of all time. Second only, maybe, to a witch. A black kitty. She loves our actual black kitty Fiona,  she's down with getting a kitty face painted on (thank you, liquid eyeliner!!), and she has a perfectly darling "NEOW!" (yes "Neow", not "Meow"). Now that I have seen her all dolled up in full costume, I cannot imagine her in anything cuter than this. A perfect 2-year-old costume. 

And she was REALLY willing to cooperate for photos. So because of that, and because she's so CUTE, and my last baby, I just.... took ALL THE PHOTOS. And I'm sharing all the photos. I bet you money you won't get sick of them, even though you'll be scrollin' for awhile. I mean, all those expressions. She's a darling black kitty heart-melter. That's all. ♥

(She's saying "NEOW" here...)

For all the madness of getting costumes ready, and then getting them dressed at LEAST three different times during the season, usually beginning two WEEKS before the actual 31st (meaning I have to get to work earlier than I usually do, haha)-- so much work that Joe and I mostly don't even bother to attempt costumes of our own, which we want to remedy someday-- for all of that, I LOVE this. I love costuming my kids, finding a way to make their harebrained ideas a reality... And I LOVE seeing them so free and joyful in their final getups. And though getting the portraits is almost always a study in mom-photographer-frustration, I NEVER regret making them a priority and making them happen. I have YEARS of these portraits in my archives now, and hope to have years ahead of many many more. 

Happy Halloweeeeeeeen, friends! Have a spooky, sweet night! 

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