Another photo shoot..

No reason in particular other than to practice, practice, practice, my photography skills.  I experimented with Florabella and My Four Hens actions.  My style is still very much "all over the place" but I find that I'm always drawn to the clean edits and vintage/hazy type edits.

Here's the latest...

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”

The interview...

I recently came across this blog post (check it out here... blog post) from Becky Higgins blog and was inspired to try it out on Mallory.

The blog post discusses ways to document what your children say.  One of the ways they discussed was to conduct an interview with various questions they can answer and to write down word for word what they say.  I used the sample questionnaire (from the blog post), eliminating some questions that weren't age appropriate for a 2 year old.  I asked Mallory the questions while I video recorded her answers.

These were some of her answers: 
What is your favorite color? Purple
What is your favorite book? Llama llama Red Pajama, and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie 
What is your favorite food to eat? Chicken Nuggets 
What is your favorite song to sing? Turkey in the Trot (from Barney)                                             

My hope is to continue to do this every so often as a way to preserve their words, ideas, and thoughts as they grow from age to age.  Awhile back I wrote a blog post about Mallory at 22 months: all her favorites, her skills, the things she loves to do etc.. I recently went back and read it and was surprised that some of the things I never would have remembered had I not written them down.  Everybody tells you how fast they grow, enjoy every moment etc..  As self appointed family archiver I love being able to chronicle our family life for safe keeping.  I truly believe these are the little things we can do for our children that someday will be cherished in really big ways.

Here's my Mallory update at 2 1/2 years old....

-You love Mac and Cheese, Chicken Nuggets, Guacamole, and any fruit ever offered.
-Some of your favorite toys are puzzles, train set, doctor kit, Mr Potato Head, Crayons (coloring), Candy Land, and playing in your kitchen.
-You love your routine and like things to be done the same exact way over an over. If we or a babysitter happens to do something out of the routine you get very upset.
-You are a great big sister to Jillian.  Lately you have been trying to teach her words, you say "Jillian, say Ma Ma", "Jillian say Lady" etc.  Every night when mommy is reading to Jillian before bed you turn on her night light, turn on her lullaby music and giver a kiss goodnight.
-You are a great "sharer"!  You aren't territorial over your toys and never have been.  Whenever someone comes over to play it never occurs to you to say "That's mine", or "You can't play with that".
-You are 100% daddy's girl through and through!! 
-You love Barney!!  You know all the songs from it and sing and dance along with each episode.
-You continue to love books and have moved on from board books, you prefer real storybooks.
-You know almost all your letters, can count to 15, you know what town you live in, can say your full name, can spell your first name, can say your birthday, can identify basic shapes and colors.
-You are not potty trained yet and every time mommy asks you if you are going to go on the potty you say "soon mommy", or "sometime". 
-You and Jillian are the light of our lives and always will be!!

“Children will not remember you for the material things you provided but for the feeling that you cherished them.”  -Richard L Evans

Valentine's Day

Just a few from Valentine's Day....

First Haircut

We finally got around to taking Mallory to get her first haircut on Sunday.  At 2 1/2 years old it was a bit overdue...her hair was so long!  I still wanted to keep it long so they just evened it out and trimmed it. Is there any place to go other than Kid Snips for a first haircut? She picked her dvd to watch (Barney of course) sat in her little car, picked a treat from the treasure chest, got a balloon, and a certificate with a photo and lock of hair for safe keeping. Geesh....all for a haircut? I'm pretty sure my first haircut had none of the above and was most likely done by a friend in their kitchen....kids these days! Either way, it was a fun day and I'm glad we got the chance to "celebrate" this milestone with my baby girl!

Baby Legs!

I got suckered into ordering this adorable trend for Jilly Bean, they're called baby legs and they are like little baby leg warmers.  They have a ton of different cute patterns.  Of course I had to do a photo session with my little baby legs model!   I ordered mine through a great deal on Zulily.  By the way if you have little girls you must check out Zulily. You sign up for the website and they send you daily deals on adorable baby, child and mom items!  I'm not overly into designer brands, especially with children's clothes but they often have the best deals with some of the cutest little girl dresses, hats, baby legs, etc. 

Every Child is an Artist....

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." Pablo Picasso

Brought out the finger paints for the first time today!! Mallory had a blast and I had fun watching her enjoy it so much!! 

I'm taking a photoshop class over at clickinmoms and learning a ton!  I created this storyboard that I received from Beth on the clickinmoms blog. If you're interested there's a fabulous tutorial from Beth and you can download the storyboard for free, check it out here: http://www.clickinmoms.com/blog/

On the move...

Jillian is crawling all over the place these days!  Today I found her as she was about to crawl up the stairs! Yikes, I guess it's time for baby gates! 

The Blizzard of 2011

The great blizzard of 2011 has arrived and it certainly did not disappoint! Here are some photos from inside and out of our home on this epic day in Chicago weather history!

Our Backyard



Our sunroom door!



Not going outside!

 

Watching the blizzard from inside!