A Mother's Day Present

6:15: I suggest Jonah should remove the training wheels on his bike so that he can keep up with his friends in the neighborhood. He's been avoiding it, saying that he'll do it "this summer." I'm secretly worried that he'll get frustrated or won't be able to focus. I talk to him about patience and explain that if he starts to learn tonight then he'll probably be able to ride his bike by the end of the week.

6:16: I go inside to give Lydia her bath and put her to bed. Mike stays outside to help Jonah.

6:50: Jonah calls me outside.

He did it... in thirty-five minutes.

"It helped that he's fearless," Mike says.

They're enjoying some ice cream to celebrate right now.



Yeah! We're proud parents tonight :)

Are you a fan?

I've added a Traci Falder Photography Facebook page. Since I'm recruiting high school seniors right now for my business, I thought it was important to advertise in this way.

I want 100 fans. If you're on Facebook, search for me and become my fan, please!

Friends

We had a warm fuzzy moment this morning. Since our family is banished from other humans until tomorrow when we're not contagious anymore, our Monday has been quite different.

The kids asked to play outside this morning. Our neighborhood is very quiet during the day. They had fun on our playground in their pjs while Mike and I watched through the windows inside. After a while, they walked to the field behind our house and sat & talked.


I wonder what they were talking about :)

Wacky Day/Wacky Weekend

They celebrated Wacky Day at Jonah's preschool on Thursday. He asked me to take some pictures for his "2009 book." That made me smile.

He picked out his outfit: a pajama shirt, mismatching socks, a church tie, a hat on backwards, and a pencil in his cap.

But now we're sick. Sick. Sick. Sick.

What does a house look like when Mom & Dad are sick? Lots of movies and popsicles!

After living in misery since Saturday morning we decided to visit an urgent care center this afternoon. It's strep throat for three of us.

I asked Jonah what hurt this morning?

"My throat," he said.

"Anything else?"

"My esophogus."

-- a response only Jonah would give:)

From Massachusetts...

...to Indiana. We enjoyed a quick visit from Leann and her girls. I'll post more pictures of them on my photography website soon!

Jonah gave Taylor an unprompted kiss and hug as they were leaving this morning. He obviously knows a cute girl when he sees one!

Grammy's New Hobby

...yet another reason to be thankful for her!

she's growing up

After a trip to Wal-Mart tonight, Mike was returning Lydia to her car seat and made a nonchalant comment about her hair.

With both hands she wiped her bangs away from her forehead and said, "...having a little trouble with them [her bangs]."

Mike responded immediately, "Did you just say you're having a little trouble with them?"

"Yeah," was her reply.

My baby girl is growing up.

What's Your Talent?

Jonah was talking yesterday about talents.

"My talent is jumping and doing flips," he said, "And your talent is taking pictures."

"What's Lydia's talent?" I inquired.

He didn't miss a beat.

"Following you around."

Look at these cool girls!

Audrey

This is for my family:

I'll finish the other ones from the birthday party tonight.

Finally

I never feel like I'm able to get a good picture of Lydia. She loves to pose for the camera, but she always gives me that silly grin and never a nice smile. I followed her around the yard a few days ago. I finally captured her-- the Lydia that I see-- the beautiful, dainty girl that warms our hearts. I love this picture.

I Found it Interesting

I was at the playground tonight with the kids. We were the only ones there until an older kid came and started swinging.

Jonah was very calm when he came to me and in his I-can't-quite-get-my-words-out voice he says, "The squeaking on his swing erupts me."

"Erupts you?"

"Yeah," he says, "It's disappoints me. I need earphones or an ipod."

I found it very interesting. Sure his vocabulary was not quite what it should be, but I understood what he was trying to say.

The squeaking bothered him.

At that moment, his brain was completely in sync so he knew as soon as the squeaking began it was going to bother his brain.

I'm thankful that he's learning to recognize that which causes him to get "out of sync"-- and that he can verbalize it to me.

He put on Lydia's hat at my suggestion and told me that it helped a bit.

Good for him.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Seriously. My kids are into their silly faces.

Seattle, Part II

Troy and I took pictures most of the weekend, but here's a small collection of some of my favorites.










Can you tell we had one adventure after another? The Space Needle, the tide pools, a tourist "duck" tour, a motorcycle ride, a three hour time change, Pike's Place Market, the original Starbucks, three meals of fish and chips (yes, T & A, they had another meal at the airport:), a playground, the monorail, a personal tour of Fire Station #10, Ashley's wonderful cooking, the Seattle aquarium, two consignment stores, plenty of money in parking meters, one heartfelt conversation, and lots of love shown by an aunt and uncle.

Seattle

We returned from Seattle at 2:30 a.m. this morning. I have lots of pictures to post, but I'm not sure when that's going to happen with all the work I have to do with TFP this week.

Here's an initial favorite:

Grammy

My Superhero

It's a bird, it's a plane
NO-- it's The Destroyer Man!

Following his return from preschool, The Destroyer Man is seen in the epic action-adventure The Destroyer Man Returns, a soaring new chapter in the saga of one of the world's most beloved superheroes. While two weary parents plot to render him powerless once and for all, Destroyer Man faces the heartbreaking realization that he's not in control.

His latest victim:

My Formula

I've always had this formula in my head that goes something like this:

If the time it takes to play something is greater than the time it takes to clean it up, then I'm willing to let the kids have fun.

My formula backfired yesterday. It took a little longer to clean up than I thought!

Too Cute

Lydia and her friend, Delayna

New Room

We're decorating Lydia's room right now. I say "we" because my fabulous friend Beth is definitely the brains behind it all. I'm loving the process, and I think it looks beautiful so far. I'll post pictures once it's complete, but for now, Beth recommended that I take some fun pictures of Lydia in her room.

I tried a mini photo session with her on a whim yesterday. I didn't even brush her hair. I actually was trying to make them fuzzy which I'm not sure was the best idea. I guess it was an experiment for me to see what direction I want to head. I don't think I figured it out yet, but regardless, I think she looks awfully cute!

Haircut

Lydie had her first salon haircut last week. She thoroughly enjoyed it. She asked all day when she was going to see Miss Kara to get her "aircut at Body and Sole."


And, Ladies and Gentleman, we've got a track star in the house. I've noticed specifically in the past couple of days that Lydia's had moments where she just acts like she's three years old. She said, "Mark, Go, Ets [set]," repeatedly as she raced in a short line from our kitchen to the living room today after church. I'm excited for this next phase.

Today

A Day in the Life

Yesterday was a bad day. Bad. Bad. Bad. So I decided to completely change the focus of our day today. Pictures make me happy. Using my camera makes me happy. Here's a look at our GOOD day today:
9:00: tv time

9:45: outside time

11:15: hot chocolate to "warm our bones"

12:00 puzzles before nap time (notice the outfit chosen by Lydia, of course)

1:00: coloring during Lydia's nap

2:00: playing outside with Tyler, Jonah's neighbor friend

4:00: a snow party with friends

6:30: dinner with friends

8:30 Good night!

39 Degrees

Fun in Canton

Mike said on the phone this morning that Jonah needs some "Grammy-time" every few weeks to get him back on track. I agree!

And I think I need "Canton-time." I spent two hours wandering around Target by myself last night and shopped Old Navy clearance by myself this morning :)

Abby, my cousin, was here. We love Abby!

Quote of the day:
Jonah: "Abby, why do you have chains on your teeth?"