It's not over yet,

Home made popsicles. Fresh picked raspberries
in a popsicle mold covered in fruit juice and frozen
for a special treat on a super hot day.

We're headed into the last week of summer vacation, we have school supplies nearly checked off our list, just tissues, glue sticks and a box of watercolour paints left, well also shoes; but then we are ready and excited about heading into Grade 1.

The Peanut spent this summer participating in the Library's summer reading program, reading books to me as well as vice versa. We've over shot the 50 days of required reading, and in that time we've finished the Hobbit and started on the Harry Potter Series, (me reading to her, currently we are on book 2) as well as a stack of picture books, poetry books, information books and Easy Reader books (The Peanut reading to me, or alternating pages between us). We'll be handing in her reading club form at the end of this week and we'll be keeping on with the reading. It's a lovely way to have some Peanut and me time every day. So with the end of summer looming


I'm determined to squeeze every last second possible out of summer except for those two days of rain they're predicting...

Summer started off a little cool and damp. the Peanut's Birthday party was threatened with rain. Our plans to fill the backyard with boxes and let the kids play with and in them was thrown out the window when the rain continued to fall right up the moment that all our friends arrived. Instead of boxes our friends enjoyed the new back yard swings, the jump rope, hula hoop and sand box. They ate up all of our home made ice cream cake and fresh cut veggies.

Even without the boxes it was a lot of fun and we'll revisit the box idea next summer. Perhaps for the Bean's 1/2 birthday extravaganza. For goody bags I made each child a hand drawn paper doll that looked just like her or him and included a few sheets of clothes for them to decorate and colour. In the rush to get them all done I forgot to photograph the finished dolls but I have plans to make more.

After the birthday party rumpus we hit the Vancouver Jazz festival where the Bean enjoyed roaming free through the crowds, followed closely by either the husband or me. The Peanut enjoyed the music and blew bubbles and crawled over some of the public art in front of the court house.  It's been a few years since we last went to the Jazz Festival. The last time we attempted was the day the wheel axle broke on our car and the trip was aborted in favour of getting the car towed and  calming our nerves.

the addition of a swing set to our back yard has kept both girls busy this summer. The Peanut loves to swing and the Bean has figured out how to get her feet swung around to go down the slide, she requires a little aid to climb the ladder but that's coming (all Gods please help me) The first half of the summer in our back yard was full of sandbox play, Side walk chalk, slip and slide and sprinkler fun. Once the heat set in sprinkler fun was the best way to keep cool without going too far from home using too much energy getting back home after having fun. I loved watching my girls play together and mostly get along.

 

When we did head out; we hit the beach

Visited the wading pool at the playground:

waded in the water feature at the PNE grounds:


 

Hit the playground, where we spent the bulk of some visits trying to contain the Bean, who would try to play in traffic if given the chance:

We managed to check off almost all of our summer Must Do List,  including a back yard camp out complete with s'mores and flashlights. and in between we filled out days with lots of silliness and even a few timeless moments.

Our summer wasn't all fun and happiness. We lost a family member, and are still reeling from that. The Peanut is still trying to wrap her mind around saying good bye to her little cousin and we've had numerous conversations about death and I see more in our future. It's one thing to say good bye to a great Granny who has had a full life and yet another thing to have to say goodbye to a baby who is close in age to your baby sister. We're working on making the idea of death seem (to paraphrase Dumbledore from book one:) like another great adventure. Something that should not be frightening because everyone does it, hopefully after living a life full of love and adventures.

So anyway, I've not posted even a fraction of what we've done this summer. I may post more pictures later or I might not. Life flies by on you and my next post might just be full of first day of school things or perhaps a look into what I started on my birthday and am so excited about that I'm itching to get back to it every day...

How did you spend your summer vacation? Did you do anything extraordinary or was it a summer just like a summer should be?

A Thousand Words: Local Murder Edition

The Bean has been keeping me awake nights with tossing and turning and teething and not being happy about going back into her own bed. Add in the early morning bed invasion of the Peanut and I don't get a lot of sleep or a chance to doze lazily in the mornings. I don't mind, I really don't there's something sweet about the whole family snuggled up first thing in the morning. The Bean and the Peanut giggle at each other, I get a few stories out of the Peanut and then we're up and starting the day.

What isn't sweet is the sound of about 100 mourning crows in the backyard. Yup that's right they were in mourning for one of their own. I had a murder of crows at the soft and gentle hour of 6AM and they were not being soft or gentle in volume.  And then there was the body left behind.

I'm no animal CSI specialist so I couldn't say what the cause of death was but I did cordon off the crime scene, take a few photographs of the body and the surrounding evidence. None of the witnesses stuck around long enough for me to properly interview them so as of now it is in the cold case files.

A Thousand Words

Birds on a wire

The "I'm getting excited about photography again!" edition

A Thousand Words

The Pictures that should have been in my last post

Dinos Galore

Some of my favourite photos from the Royal Tyrell Museum.



Our second leg of the trip was spent with the Husband's Dad. The highlights from that portion to follow soon.

Now I really hate to harp on this but I'm still looking for entries on the Seaside Sidekick Giveaway If you know anyone who loves to play in the sand, send them over! Deadline for this fantastic contest is on Monday night.

A Thousand Words

It's a little late and I'd planned on sharing these photographs in my last post but these things happen with a couple of busy girls to look after...

A Thousand Words

To tie last weeks to the now...

and another Portrait by the Peanut

I'll be spending a moment to remember our veterans today and send a prayer for peace and tolerance.

Not as easy as I thought it would be

spending the morning setting up and shooting product shots that is.

It seems that the bulge in the belly area isn't as flexible and easy to maneuver around as I expected. Also getting up and down off the floor to get nice close ups that show off the iridescent qualities and the details of each ornament was more of a chore than I'd considered it would be. Have I mentioned that pregnancy is uncomfortable?

So anyway, what you're seeing are some of the final finished pieces from the collaborative work I'm doing with the husband; holiday ornaments to adorn your tree. I'll be giving you all a sneak peak of some of the individual pieces from today's photo shoot over the rest of the week.

Up next on the to do list, other than editing all the photographs I took today is writing copy so I can start listing for next week. Oh and hitting up the library for some Peanut time.

A Thousand Words

A Thousand Words

If you like these shots: check out my Etsy shop TMCPhoto

Lethal Halo
some of my favourites from last weekends shoot






In case you are interested you can find out more about this incredible band on their official website

And just to celebrate Earthday:

I'm sure the neighbors with the beautiful manicured yards love this

A big Grumpapotomus

Thank all Gods that the husband stuck close to home today and took over the Peanut. Lethal Halo; The band I'm photographing next week played a live show Saturday night and he went out to watch them and then slept in on Sunday. The moment the Peanut woke up all evidence pointed to a grumpy little girl. We've gone diaper free over the last 10 days and have remained dry all night but keeping her in the mindset of going straight to the bathroom first thing in the morning is a bit of a struggle even with the dry bum. There was a lot of whimpering and moaning and whining and a little crying and at lasted on and off all day long. When the Husband got up he was awesome and took over, going out with the Peanut to the park and shopping for supplies and letting me have a little me time.

Of course this morning is shaping up to be pretty similar. We are waiting on the call to go pick up the Peanut's eye glasses (It's been three weeks since they were ordered) and she's already tried to divert my exasperation with requests for hugs about 50 times. She's a smart little girl.

New to the shop

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I was planning on introducing some of the 1000 Word photographs which I post of Thursdays here, to my Etsy shop.

Over the weekend I added a new shop section and listed two of the photographs from the weekly feature to boot! I'm listing these photos in 5"x7" sizes and will also add ACEO sizes as well. Not everyone has unlimited wall space or the funds to spend on wall art. Smaller prints that can add a splash of colour, or an interesting place to rest your eyes in your home seem to fit the bill.

These two prints are the flagship items in the new section and I will be adding new ones as time goes along. Are there any 1000 Word posts that you think need to be added to the shop? I have an idea of which ones I'm planning on adding; I'd love to see if great minds think alike!





The Peanut still has a cough but her sinus seems to be drying out. On the other hand the Husband now has a sore throat... Hope every one had a great weekend!

In which the not dressed fairy finds her clothes

The Peanut loves wearing fairy wings, she'll drag them out of the dress up chest and put them on with mouse ears, ribbon tutus and most often and most likely nothin' at all but the wings. I'll be the first to admit that there is nothing sweeter than the Peanut in her all togethers and wings but if I've just finished dressing her in the days outfit (which in and of itself can be a half hours worth of work and a physical work out to boot) turning around to find a pile of clothes and a streak passing by with wings can leave me feeling like I've wasted my morning.

And then this is what I was gifted with today: