The Mom I Want to Be

We had our block party back in June. The firefighters came and turned on their pumper so the kids could play in the water on our street. When Katie was two, the firefighters did the same thing at that year's block party. Katie wouldn't go in the water alone, so I took her myself. These are my favorite photos from that day. (Yes, that's her - the little one in the green hula skirt. Can you believe she was ever that little?!)

Before Katie entered my life, there were so many times I was a bystander to the world. I didn't want to impose myself on others by getting in their business, so I stood on the sidelines and tried not to "bother" others. Let me clarify that: I've never been a shrinking violet, but I also knew that people had boundaries and I tried not to overstep them and be rude. Being a mom has blurred those boundaries somewhat. My friend Mary and I were just talking and I told her I'd rather err on the side of being nosy and imposing on people, instead of just sitting by and watching someone who might need help and not doing anything to help them for fear of offending them. Does that make sense?

Being a mom has changed my way of thinking, and made me more empathetic and maybe more impulsive in some ways. I don't want to sit on the sidelines anymore. I want to jump in to the thick of things and truly live. It helps that I have two kids who haven't put on the yoke of self-consciousness yet. On a daily basis, they invite me to dive in and get WET. And that's why I love those photos so much. Most adults don't get too wet anymore. We're too "mature" for that, I guess. But once in a while, it's fun to act like a kid and join with the kids and be silly.

I did it again at this year's block party. With BOTH of my kids this time. And even better? Dan joined us too.

This is the kind of mom I want to be. When my kids are old and think back on their childhood, I hope it's moments like this that stick out in their memories.

Macro Monday

This is a photo of Jackson's favorite toy right now. Countless times every day he says, "Where's my bouncy bouncy ball?" I have no idea how two "bouncys" got into the name, but that's what he calls it. The fact that I was able to use macro mode AND that he didn't move for this shot is amazing. I love that I can even see the ridges and whorls of his prints on the skin of his palm.
Go check Donna's blog for her Macro Monday shot.

I'm a Finalist!

Woo hoo! I just saw that I am one of four finalists in Michelle's Work-Your-Camera Contest. Go to this post on Michelle's blog and check out the finalists. And feel free to leave a comment telling her which of the four photos you like best. Maybe it'll help the judges with the deliberation process. You don't have to pick mine, really. I won't be mad if you don't. But I'll be so happy if you do!

Work-Your-Camera, Last Day

Today's the deadline for Michelle's Work Your Camera Contest. I experimented one last time during a trip to the mall with Katie's Daisy troop. They earned a Build-A-Bear party with their troop cookie money, then lunch at Chick-fil-A. (Yes, I am feeding my child CHICKEN all week long!)

I think I got some decent shots. The last one is of Zoltar, the mechanic fortune teller at the mall. (Just like in the movie "Big.") There is a little reflection on the glass I was shooting through, though.

Now the question is, which photo will I enter in the contest? Dan's choice is the photo of Katie's eyelashes from Day 1. (He says it reminds him of a Jodified photo. That's quite a compliment!) I like that one too, but I'm also tempted to enter the nail polish or gumball machine ones from above. Or if we're going strictly on how well I worked the depth of field issue, then I should enter the mailbox photo or train photo from Day 2/3. Those show a sharp focal point, but the mailbox one definitely isn't as visually appealing as I'd like.

Ugh. I just can't decide! Too bad I can't just enter a portfolio of work. Ha!

Cow Appreciation Day

I am a GRITS - Girl Raised in the South. Therefore, I love Coca-Cola (not Pepsi). And I say "y'all." And I call a grocery cart a "buggy." And all my midwestern friends know how much I love Chick-fil-A. Even though I'm a White Castle Craver Hall of Famer, my true passion lies with CFA.

When we got our first free-standing CFA in the St. Louis area in mid-2007, I was overjoyed. I heard that when a new CFA opens, the first 100 customers get a year's supply of free CFA. My friend Beth (also a diehard CFA fan) and I were trying to coordinate how we could camp out overnight to be one of the first 100. I was even considering taking a 3-month-old Jackson with me at one point. Turns out the entire metro area was WAY ahead of us. The parking lot was packed more than 15 hours before the store's opening. So we didn't get our free CFA food.

Until today.

Today is Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A. That means anyone who shows up in a cow costume gets a free value meal. And guess what I have in our Halloween costume box? Yep! A full cow costume! Complete with rubber udders. My mom's group planned to meet up at CFA and make costumes for our kids so they could earn a free meal too. My friend Michelle cut out felt spots, made cow tails and brought masks for the kids to color. We thought we were the only freaks in town to go to this length. But when lunchtime rolled around, you should have SEEN the crazies start walking in the door! I loved the groups of adults who showed up (obviously on their lunch breaks) with spots on their suits or cow ears pinned into their hair. It was very entertaining.

However, my favorite part of the day was when we were in the kids' play area and someone else's little boy walked up and started squeezing my udders. The mom was so embarrassed. I just laughed.

Jackson has been talking about the big cow all day. My kids are being raised with a deep appreciation of the world's finer food. What else would you expect from a GRITS?

Snaggletooth

It took six and a half months to make an appearance, and only three weeks for the final curtain call.

Katie lost her first tooth today!

She was at Steak & Shake with Grandma and Poppy when she took a bite of her chicken and then felt her tooth in her cheek. She spit the tooth out, put a napkin to her mouth, and started freaking out when she saw blood. She asked for a Band-Aid for her mouth. Grandma calmed her down and they wrapped the tooth in a napkin and got a plastic baggie from the waitress. The waitress was so excited for Katie that she gave her a dollar. Isn't that sweet? When they got to the car, Grandma let Katie look in the passenger vanity mirror and see the big hole in her mouth.

The bad news is I wasn't there to witness this. The good news is I wasn't there to witness this. Loose teeth give me the heebie jeebies. Make me wanna gag. All shivery. Yuck. So I wouldn't have enjoyed seeing the wiggly tooth fall out of her mouth with blood. It was bad enough seeing the tooth in the napkin when they brought it home. I had to do some deep breathing in order to even touch the thing. But it got better with time.

Of course, I wish I had been there to share this milestone with Katie, regardless of the heebie jeebies. I was there to see the tooth arrive, but not its departure. Oh, well. There are lots more to lose, and I'm hoping to see them all! Guess the heebie jeebies will just have to get used to it.

Tooth Fairy, don't forget to stop at our house tonight!

Jackson's First Theater Experience

I took Jackson to the movies for the first time today. I was a bit nervous, since he can barely sit still for a 30 minute episode of "Word World" at home. But since it was a free movie at the local theater (Does anyone else's town have free summer movies? It's so cool!), I decided to try it because I could always abort the mission and not lose money in doing so.

We saw "Space Chimps." When the lights dimmed, Jackson turned to my friend Beth and said, "Miss Beth, turn the lights on!" And after a little while, he saw a woman walking up the steps to her seat and shouted out, "My seat!" The selfish little guy was making sure she didn't take it. Throughout the movie, he kept pointing to his seat and Beth's seat, saying, "My seat. Your seat." He got a little restless near the end of the movie, but thankfully it was just over and hour long and he lasted through the entire thing.

I remember doing this same thing with Katie when she was around two. Her first movie was "Clifford's Big Movie." She surprised me, just as Jackson did today. Sometimes I underestimate my kids.

Work-Your-Camera, Days 2 and 3

I'm frustrated. Again. Because somehow, in some way, I lucked out and got some decent photos to show depth of field for Michelle's Work Your Camera contest. I'm having better luck than I did with the photos I took on Sunday, but now I can't figure out exactly HOW I got these new photos to turn out. I feel like a moron for not understanding the whole aperture and shutter speed thing better. I mean, I'm college educated. I have pretty good common sense (at least mostly). But throw in an f-stop and my brain turns blank. Ugh.

Anyway, here are some photos I took yesterday and today. The mailbox one had to be Photoshopped to erase our house number in the white paint on the pavement, but everything else in these photos is untouched.

Fireworks, Take 2

After Saturday's soggy debacle, we shot the last of our fireworks off on Sunday night. There weren't as many big fireworks, but there were enough to keep the kids happy. And enough to let me experiment with Penny again!

Polish Your Clothes

Guess what I left in the pocket of my shorts? A bottle of glittery red nail polish. And guess what covered the inside of the clothes dryer? Oh, yes. It did.

And the clothes that were in the dryer too.

I'm such an idiot.

Soggy Independence Day

Oh, it was a wet day! But we rolled with it, and tried to make it memorable. I think we succeeded!

The morning neighborhood parade was postponed until 6pm. We hung out at home and our friends Dena and Natalie joined us. The girls holed up in the basement and played while Dan grilled chicken quesadillas and Dena and I talked while she did her nails. When parade time rolled around, the rain had stopped so we decorated ourselves.

Then we decorated bikes and wagons and gathered the neighbors to parade.

We were about 10 minutes into the parade when the BOTTOM. DROPPED. OUT. We were drenched!

We scattered like roaches in daylight and headed back to our garages. When the rain turned into a light drizzle, we let the kids play in the puddles and run around with umbrellas while the adults changed clothes.

The rain passed, and we hung out until it was time for fireworks in our clubhouse parking lot. That was kind of fun, until the rain halted the fun and we finally gave up and headed home.

Like I said, at least it was memorable!

Playing Tourists in Our City

Since Dan had the day off from work, we escaped the daily grind on Friday. We took the kids to the grandparents in the morning, and spent the day together. Dan said the goal of the day was to do whatever I wanted, which felt so luxurious to me!

We started our adventure with lunch at one of my favorite places: Buffalo Wild Wings. I love me some wings! We sat in a booth, and Dan did one of the simplest things - but it had lots of impact. He sat on my side of the booth, so we were side-by-side. Sounds a little silly, but it was so nice to sit together and snuggle. And sooooo nice to have an entire, uninterrupted conversation. That hasn't happened since Jamaica!

After lunch, we went to the Cathedral Basilica. I have never been inside this church, and it was gorgeous. The mosaics are stunning. We wandered and I was overjoyed to just play with Penny (our camera) and stretch myself on the manual settings. I think Dan was ready to leave before I was, so he just sat down in a pew and let me sate my photographer's eye. I got some good photos, and some that were downright awful. Here are some of the better ones:

We were at the basilica for an hour and a half, then headed towards Forest Park so I could take some more photos. We stood at the top of Art Hill and took photos in front of the grand basin:

And a photo of Saint Louis:

Then went inside the (free) art museum. I have to admit that art museums aren't really my thing. There are too many off-the-wall kinds of displays, like one that was called "Octagon" and was made from Rit dye and canvas. (Seriously? This is art?!)

But then there are others that stun me with their beauty, like Danae by Artemesia Gentileschi. She painted this at age NINETEEN. Wow.

We decided to head to University City for drinks.

We sat outside Blueberry Hill and watched all the crazy people walk by. This might be THE best place in St. Louis to people watch. Seriously. God makes all kinds! After a few drinks, we went inside to use the photo booth. I love those things! And Dan humored me, again, by playing along.

Around this time, we got hungry and headed to Clayton for dinner at Remy's Kitchen and Wine Bar. I used to eat here all the time when I worked full time, but have only been back once for a Moms' Night Out event. Dan had never eaten at Remy's, so I was glad to show him a new place. He sat in the same side of the booth with me again. (How sweet.) After Remy's, we had dessert at Roxane. I had the chocolate fondue and Dan had a gooey butter cake brownie. It was divine!

On the way home, we decided to stop and rent a movie. We stayed up late to watch Revolutionary Road with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. It was very dramatic and generated lots of conversation between us, but it had great acting.

The icing on the cake was getting to sleep in Saturday morning, then Dan ran out to buy breakfast and bring it home to me. What a nice mini vacation. I thoroughly enjoyed being a tourist in our town, and hope we get to do it again soon! (Hint, hint, Sugar!)

Work-Your-Camera Contest

My new bloggy friend Michelle is hosting a contest that I want to win! Regardless of the fact that it is FRUSTRATING to me. She is encouraging everyone to try new things with their cameras. Yesterday, I was inspired and took Penny (my camera) outside to try and play with the depth of field.

I quickly got annoyed. I printed Michelle's blog post to guide me "out in the field," but was still annoyed at how I couldn't get Penny to do what I know she can do... but I know I'm just not experienced enough to make it work. It's a frustrating feeling.

But I kept trying and plugging away. I got some of the following photos. Remember, I'm trying to make the depth of field very shallow, meaning things in the background should be fuzzy. I probably took a good 30 photos of the same freaking rain drop on a bush, and got this one:

I also tried to be creative with fireworks:

And then I moved on to sidewalk chalk.

When those didn't get me as hopeful as I wanted, I defaulted to Katie's eyelashes (which is cheating because Michelle used eyelashes as an example in her post):

Grrr. I'm still annoyed because the photos aren't quite what I had in mind. Back to the drawing board.

How you doin'?!

I just had to use that phrase because it's one we've taught to Jackson. Today in the car, he said his usual, "Mommy, what are you doing?" and then backtracked and said, "Mommy, how you doin'?" in the Joey-from-Friends style. So cute! He is making me laugh in so many ways these days. And I am in awe by him, because he has started using his manners without being prompted. He tells me, "Thank you, Mommy" when I get him some milk. And he says, "Excuse me" if he burps or coughs. He is so darn cute!

Anyway... how's everybody doing? It's been a quiet week for me. Literally. The day after my baptism, I lost my voice. I was down to a whisper for a few days, and probably just started getting my voice back fully yesterday. That's a whole week, y'all. Of me being quiet. Oh, so rare!

As annoying as it was for me and those listening to me, it was a good lesson for me too. For one thing, I couldn't yell at the kids. I kind of liked that, and I'm sure they did too. And since I was whispering, they would whisper back to me sometimes. It was kind of fun.

And, for another thing, I did a lot more listening last week than I usually do. I don't feel like I'm the best listener, and often wish I were better at it. I got my chance to do just that! I listened to my friends' talk about their lives a little more, I listened to my kids a little more, and I listened to God's whispers a little more too. If my throat hadn't been hurting, it might have been REALLY nice! And here's the other downside: I couldn't sing very well at church. That was a bummer!

Just as this past weekend approached and I thought I might start feeling a tad bit better, I woke on Saturday with a pinched nerve in my neck. Yeow! It was pretty painful. And it was about the same on Sunday and Monday, until I went to the chiropractor - and have been doing so every single day. It's still a bit pinched, but at least I'm able to move and pick Jackson up again. Now if I could just get this minor lupus flare to simmer down and stop attacking my hands, I'd be peachy!

There you have it: an update on my ailing, frail body. I've been joking all week that I got baptized and then the devil wanted to shut me up and put me in pain. But he didn't succeed because I found a way through it all, and the silver lining to boot! Even when my voice is silenced, I can still find words to praise the amazing ways God works in my life. Lucky me. God is good!

Wordless Wednesday

Messy Play, with ketchup and mustard. Yum!