Welcome to bird week! How could I let the new editions go by without recognition? If you look closely, three little babies are crowding around their two unhatched siblings. When I came in yesterday there was one then a second by lunch. This morning there were three so we'll see what tomorrow brings! Tiny little aliens - their parents are so big and beautiful - can't believe they started out like this!
Happy Birthday, Baby! This is what welcomed me back to my office this morning - a brand new baby raven (with Mama). By noon there were two little pink aliens and I'm hopeful that at least one more of the remaining eggs will hatch. History in this nest is that there are never more than 3 surviving chicks (they just get too darn big for the nest). This photo has a terrible reflection - I really need a polarizer but I'm using it anyway -I was so excited to get the baby and mama in the same shot!
We went out for Japanese tonight and then to the grocery for some quick shopping. The girls were helping dad pick vegetables when I snapped this photo.
My dear work friends sent a beautiful fruit arrangement to the house today. The girls were more excited about it than this photo shows, this is just the best one I got of both of them - the others were great of one but not the other...etc. This one was accidental, which is probably why I like it best.
T. was being helpful when she took the camera out of my bag before we went so here is a really bad cell phone photo for today. We were trying to keep ourselves occupied while we waited over an hour for our dr. apt today.
C. and her books - the last two weeks she participated in Read Across America and tonight we needed to catch up some to fill her sheet so we had a nice time reading some books and being together. Here she is with the little stack.
Today we went through some of Sherry-Ann's things. One of the things that she and C. enjoyed was to bead necklaces so this is the bead box that they used. We are bringing this home to our house for C. It is so hard to think that they will not have any more sessions creating jewelry together but at least C. can continue on and enjoy the hobby and share it with her sister.
This is my mom's little baby, Cricket. I don't see her very much, she's not a kid friendly dog for the most part. Cricket is a little fickle - she likes you until she doesn't like you but right now she likes me and she is even cuter in person so I enjoyed playing with her today.
The empty piano - today I had to do the most heartbreaking thing. I had to tell C. that one of her grandmothers had passed away. Our hearts hurt over the loss and I am down with my mom, helping or more just being with her. This piano was Sherry-Ann's pride and joy and somehow fitting for the day. We will all miss her terribly. Lots of tears today.
Bright, crisp, windy day - the girls and I had lunch out today and then went to play at a local park. They were chasing each other around a fountain and surprisingly - no one ended up wet!
I didn't notice HOW much T. enjoyed our foray to Basket Robbins tonight until I tucked her into bed. Realized I needed a photo for today and thought that this pretty much summed it up - kind of messy but sweet in the end!
Spring!! The girls school had this fun station set up outside the front door for families to hit on their way home tonight. Cups, stickers, soil and seeds. Both girls had a ball decorating their planters and then sticking the little forget me not seeds into the fresh soil! What a fun Friday night treat - took all of 10 minutes. THIS is what I love about their school!
Passing on the torch - tonight I taught the kids how yummy their fries were dipped in their frosties! Isn't this why we have kids? To pass on all of the fun stuff? They had swim lessons tonight and ate like they hadn't eaten all day after their lessons.
Guest photographer Martin for today! My dear friend Kristi and her family came for dinner and an evening of fun. I am SO excited they came by to see us! With 5 kids between us, I had lots of fun photos today, but I really think this one that Martin snapped for us at the end of the visit summed up my day - the special surprise of the week. C. is already plotting a visit to their house in the future as she and Kristi's middle daughter have become fast friends. Thanks again for the GREAT visit, Kristi!
So I have the St. Patrick's day posed photos of the girls - they are cute, but I was MUCH more excited to get this photo of the raven eggs outside my office window! We have a huge nest that has been up on the 4th floor outside what is now my office for maybe 4 years now. When I left for vacation the daddy raven (Frank) and his new gal (no name yet) were cleaning the nest up and sure enough, I came in and five beautiful eggs were waiting for me. The window is right at the nest level so I can peek in on the babies when they are born. I just love the hope and promise of Spring and these little blue eggs. Go ahead and pinch me for not wearing my green on my blog!
Enjoying my last week of family leave with T. We were out blowing bubbles - it was a little windy but as you can see, she can always manage to have a great time. She has the greatest laugh - it just sets my heart off to hear it. =)
When online becomes IRL. We had a special visit with my great friend through the digital scrap world and her great family! Here all of our children are posing in my backyard, in the rain after an impromptu water fight. Aren't they cute?!!
Five years ago today, we met the most beautiful baby girl in a conference room in a hotel in China. It was an incredible day that we mark every year. Today that little baby is a beautiful almost six year old. We started the day at Grandma's house - they are truly the best of friends and it was very hard to go home. Tonight we had a feast at a favorite Chinese restaurant with good friends and ended with a gift from her memory box of items I bought on that trip to give her every year to remember that special time when we became a family!
Playing at Grandma's house - why is it I can buy them tons of new toys but its the old toys from my childhood that they love the best? They had a blast dragging out the miniature Tupperware set and serving us all multiple meals. The girls had no problem leaving Disney when Grandma's was the next destination.
Our last day at Disney and our final ride of the day - Dumbo - at T.'s request. She is piloting beside me while I took this photo of big sis and dad in the Dumbo behind us.
Great day at the Magic Kingdom today and at some point we found the face painting. T. has added Nemo to her obsessions so that is what she chose. Cute, huh?
Okay first - you GOTTA love the Lightning McQueen Mickey Ears. Man I love them. In fact I ended up wearing them most of the evening when she got tired of them! We had an outstanding day at California Adventure and T. got to all of her heroes! I think it was a tie between watching Crush talk, hugging Handy Manny and of course, seeing her precious Lightning and Mater. Newsflash that they are building a Carsland at California Adventure (unfortunately by the time its built ..she will probably be into the darn Princesses - *sigh*) I love this photo because you can see big sister hunched down pointing and making sure her sister didn't miss a beat!
The moment of realization! We woke up the kids early today to tell them we were leaving on a secret adventure - this is the moment C. figured out (as we were driving down Harbor) that we our destination involved a certain mouse and his friends....
Today we all went off to HSM on Ice and the conclusion of the event was a mini concert with Corbin Bleu! T. was not impressed and kind of put off by the loud music so she and dad went off to hang in the lounge area. C. and I screamed and danced and had a good time!
So this photo is fun because I took it in a totally dark room while T. was trying to sneak out of her bed. For "fun" I'm trying to put her down in her own bed tonight. Don't think it will stick, but she thought it was a fun enough idea at least to start with. The bummer with work days is I pretty much only get bedtime photos...as this whole week has pretty much summed up! Tomorrow I should have something more exciting!
I got home from work pretty late tonight and didn't have anything specific in mind. C. came down the stairs for one of the many "bedtime stall events". I should be mad when she does that but how can you be mad at this sweet face?! So instead I kissed her goodnight again and grabbed my photo. They make everything worth it!
We had a great morning and it all started at the dentist. C. LOVES her dentist and is so excited to go. Makes me really happy because at her age I had already developed a big phobia. We go to the same dentist and he totally rocks. Here she is getting her xrays done - big girl! She had another perfect checkup!!
The Dr. is in. When C. wakes up earlier than everyone, she often goes into our loft to quietly play. This morning, she had her entire vet office setup going and was taking care of a sick puppy, taking her temperature and recording it on her clipboard. It was beyond adorable!
Today is so special to me - today is six months that T. has been our daughter (at least officially - if you ask me, she was mine the minute I saw her face...) So I wanted to capture some beautiful, meaningful photo but when I went to find her, she had secreted herself into my bathroom and had coated her hair in Vaseline and sprayed the shower with hair de-tangler so here she is in her best "civil disobedience" pose in reaction to her timeout and I realized that THIS was the symbolic photo of being her mother, not the perfect, smiling photo. I love this child - naughty or not.
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