Category: photos

Farm Country

(My apologies, but work has kept me really busy these past few days and I haven’t gotten around to sorting through the keychains and weeding out the duplicates for the giveaway. But I promise to do it this weekend and I’ll have the giveaway up on Monday.)

Even with work being crazy this week, E and I found the time to go to Farm Country over at Thanksgiving Point. It’s only 5 minutes away from our house and so it’s a really easy outing. It was the first time we’d been there and E loved it.

E liked seeing all the animals; they have goats, sheep, pigs, chickens, cows, and horses. The goats were his clear favorite, probably because they were the most obliging when he tried to feed them corn.

It was pretty cute. E kept running around staring at everything and spontaneously shrieking in joy.

I think we’ll be back.

Have a great weekend!

J’s Birthday Bash

My nephew J turned seven last week and so E and I went to his birthday party.

The birthday boy and his cake.

The gift-opening frenzy.

The birthday boy’s brother, A. (I have no idea where he learned to make that face, but the little ham did it every time I snapped a picture of him.)

The party was held at one of those inflatable toy places. After a little while E got pretty freaked out by all the kids shrieking and running around and by the huge bouncy castles and slides. And surprisingly, me taking him down the down the big 25-foot tall slide did nothing to improve the situation. (Yeah, I know. But I thought E might like it; after all, he loves the slide on our swing set…yep, I think this little escapade just sealed my nomination for Mother of the Year.)

“The horror, the horror (of the bouncy slide)!”

But E quickly cheered up when we went into the party room to have cake and open presents. Mostly because I got him a balloon to carry around. E LOVES balloons.

Relaxing in the birthday boy’s special chair while the other kids ate pizza.

The balloons contined to be a big hit once we were home and also throughout dinner.

In Living Color

We drive past this house on the way home from the gym. I love how it’s painted. Most of the houses around here are painted some various shade of brown so this house really stands out. Once the red tulips in front of it bloomed I knew I had to stop and take some pictures.

However E was not interested in standing still for a photo.

He was alternately fascinated by the unfriendly dog in the yard and the tulips.

On the schedule for today: tidying up the house to prepare for my sister-in-law Gwyn’s visit. She and her baby arrive tomorrow–yay!

B&W Holga Cherry Blossoms

Last week I noticed that the cherry trees in an orchard by my house were blooming. So I took along my Holga camera and on the way home from the gym I took a few photos. I used black and white film and so they came out a bit moody looking.



There was a large cloud of bees buzzing around the trees. Even though the orchard’s on a fairly busy road, the bees’ buzzing was loud enough to drown out the sound of the passing traffic. The sky was sunny and bright and it was a lovely spring day.

Easter Festivities

Miranda and I thought that E and L would get run over by the bigger kids at the community egg hunts so we tossed some empty eggs out in her backyard and let them have at it. L got the hang of picking up the eggs and putting them in his basket right away; E–not so much. He was more interested in clutching an egg and wandering around complaining about the general situation.

E investigating.

E complaining.

E fretting.

L, E’s cousin.

L hoarding his booty.

L’s new little sister, A, still deliciously smooshy at two weeks.

Big brother L being impressively gentle with A.

A visit from family

Last week my mom and my brother Steven were in town visiting my sister Jan. Jan only lives about 30 minutes away and so E and I were able to get together with them several times while there were here. My mom and Jan even watched E for me one day so I could slog through a backlog from work; it was great.

Steven on the trampoline.

Steven and my nephews, A and J.

E with my sister Jan.

E with my mom.

It was a lot of fun to have them in town. Their company (and eagerness to babysit) will be missed.

And So It Begins

Up until now E has been a pretty good eater: not very picky and fairly cooperative. But during the last few days he has started to be difficult at meal times. He refuses things that he used to like or food that needs to be eaten with a spoon.

This morning he decided that oatmeal should be reclassified as finger food and enthusiastically proceeded to eat it as such. Predictably, the results were not pretty.