January 30, 2012
A banjo for Christmas
I've waited to take pictures of my special gift from Matt, because I wanted to use a proper camera instead of my phone. But here we are at the end of January and I've been unable to proudly show off my new banjo. I did my best with the phone camera to capture its beauty.
My dear friend Kippy (whom I call my Venn diagram friend because we have so much eerily in common that our "overlap" is enormous) has helped to reignite my passion for the banjo, particularly clawhammer-style mountain music. She is learning bluegrass, and together we have played and learned from each other the simiarities and differences between the two styles. My old banjo, which is over 20 years old and was of marginal quality even at its best, has endured at least 8 moves, four of them being lost distance. It has also stoically taken the abuse of young children and the weather extremes.
It was time for a new banjo.
Here it is:
It plays like a dream.
Thank you Matt!
"How do you like to go up in a swing, up in the air so blue?"
"Oh I do think it the pleasantest thing ever a child can do!" - Robert Louis Stevenson
The fruit and grains girl
There are times when I wonder how it is, exactly, that Molly is so extremely strong. (And I mean, STRONG. This girl has an iron grip!) Because aside from milk, she gets zero protein. She shuns meat before she even knows what it is. And beans? Eggs? Cheese? Puh-leeze! She gets more than her share of fruit, but she comes by that honestly, being my child and all. However, every daily attempt we make to get some kind of meat or legume into her fails miserably. Last night she took a piece of turkey burger and held it over her tray, announcing "uh-oh!" right before dropping it. Point duly noted, kid. My vegetarian friends are cheering - but I'd like to formally invite them over to my house to teach my toddler how to be a healthy, well-rounded vegetarian. Any takers?
January 22, 2012
Fingerpainting 101
Instructor: Sophie Student: Molly
January 20, 2012
More 2011 Phone Camera Gems
The failure of my camera back in December forced me to use my phone camera exclusively - and it also forced me to download (finally!) all of those pictures onto the computer. In the course of the year that I've had this phone, I took over 400 pictures. Many of them I weeded out, and all of them are lacking in photographic quality. However, going through them was like walking down Memory Lane and it has been enjoyable. For the forseeable future, I will continue to use my phone camera - at least until we invest in a new digital camera. So please forgive the blurry pictures and the red eyes and remember, it's the CONTENT that matters! Speaking of content, I have made an interesting observation: the phone camera is more likely to capture the spontaneous goofiness in the family (of which there is plenty!). Here are some of the keepers:
Sister love:
Daddy's driveway Valentine from the girls:
Molly knew early on that she would love popcorn. She kept trying to pilfer mine!
Picking peaches with Sara on a VERY hot afternoon:
Sara and Molly cooling off: (Despite Molly's expression, she had a lot of fun in the pool with Sara!)
Sophie looks like she is strategizing how to conquer this crazy cone. I think most of it ended up in the trash, but not before her top, hands, wrists and forearms got covered in ice cream. A trip to Graeter's is one of the fun parts of visiting Grandma and Grandpa in the summer.
Molly's first trip in the rocket grocery cart. She LOVED it.
Sunday morning pajama walk:
Sophie's cake variety brainstorm:
Sophie walked out of her bedroom one day with this sign on the dry erase board. Question: does this count as Haiku?
Coasting on her scooter:
Sophie got ahold of the phone, and here is her self-portrait:
First trip of the year to the park:
Notice Molly's left hand placed defensively on my shoulder, primed to push me away the second I get too "squeezy." Sorry, kid. I can't help it.
I think perhaps Sophie has outgrown the front pack.
Grammy and Sara couldn't resist working on Sophie's new puzzle! Nice pinky ring, Grammy!
Here you go, Sara! This one's recorded for posterity.
Fever sleep: Molly spent New Year's with a very high fever and the beginning stages of pneumonia. The down side: a sick, unhappy baby and worried parents. The up side: lots of cozy hours in the big bed with my baby!
January 19, 2012
January 13, 2012
A few Christmas pictures
These are the last photographs taken by my poor, overworked, abused camera. But it captured some good moments from the big morning:
