Raindrops on Shamrocks.

Shining City

I had the privilege last night of taking the press photos for New Stage Collective's next show, Conor McPherson's Shining City. I got to hear the actors slave over their Irish accents while working the very intense scenes. Not an easy job, but I can personally vouch for three of the actors and they are up to the task. I can't wait to get a sneak peak at the show on Tuesday.

The show seems to be, like all great Irish tales, part ghost story, part mystery, part sad love story. Pencil it into your plans now; it will be worth it.

Laughter

Here is my favorite pic from my last portrait sitting. I love the interaction. I have lots of pictures of these cute cousins sitting on their parent's laps and smiling at the camera, but I feel like this caught something real. You can't tell from this picture that these cousins live thousands of miles away. The connection they share is visible. This is the kind of picture I love to take and the kind I hang on my wall: pictures that tell the story of my family, not just show that we all have the same eyes or chin. Don't get me wrong, there is a need and a place for the traditional family portrait, I just love to make sure the whole story is told.

It also helped that these kids loved to play with each other and have a great time. They were a blast!

Crayon Tarts

I have been cleaning and organizing like a mad woman lately. We are orchestrating the big bedroom shift that will give each of my kids their own bedroom. It is proving to be quite the challenge. I have found that due to my lack of organization, I have a lot of extra stuff I just plain forgot about. In an effort to reduce/reuse/recycle, I decided to find a use for all of these crayons I have lying about. I made crayon tarts. I did it all wrong, but it is one of those projects you can't really screw up.
Here's how to make your own crayon tarts:
1. Unwrap the crayons that are still wrapped. It is much easier to do if you keep a knife handy and cut the paper.


2. Break the crayons that are still too big into smaller pieces.
3. Line muffin tin with baking cups then fill with crayon pieces. I heard several different ideas on this. I filled the cups all the way up. I heard another recipe that said to use the equivalent of two crayons.


4. Bake at 250 for around 15 minutes. Less if you use less wax. I kept an eye on them, when they looked melty enough, I pulled them.



5. Let cool overnight.

If I had it to do again, I might group the colors together with like colors. I would definitely not use my good silicone muffin pans, I will use old tin ones ( I am still cleaning wax out of my silicone!) I baked the tarts a little too long, so the tops are all a mucky brown due to the colors melting all together too much.
All in all, they are a good time. These tarts are easy for little hand to hold and they make really cool marks.
Please excuse the baked on oil on my muffing tins. I am not Martha Stewart.

Goldfish

"Its the healthy snack that smiles back."

Does this bother anyone else?

I laughed til I cried.

My girl's night

She really wants to party until she drops. She hates going to bed.

I hear,"Take pidures, Mom! Peez!" from her darkened bedroom. She knows I can't resist that siren's call.


Daddy decides that since no one is ready for bed, it is time to do a little bat spotting on the front porch. She runs and screams.

She really wasn't done running and screaming.

In case you're curious ...

This is one of the ways my husband starts a painting.

Because I am such a good wife and mother...

I made my husbands favorite cookie. It is also the only recipe I make from the Big Red Checked Cookbook of Doom (aka The Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook) that I don't have to alter to make tasty. Here it is - Cappuccino Crinkles.

1/3 cup butter or margarine
(Butter makes a better cookie, and if you have a stand mixer, don't soften the butter. It makes to dough less sticky)
1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tbs instant coffee granules
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 large egg whites
1/3 cup vanilla yogurt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the brown sugar, cocoa powder, coffee granules, baking soda, and cinnamon. Beat until combined, scraping sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in egg whites and yogurt until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in remaining flour with a wooden spoon.

2. Place granulated sugar in a small bowl. Drop dough by heaping teaspoons into sugar (I use my handy cookie scoop and it makes this step a lot easier) and roll into balls. Roll again in sugar. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are firm. Transfer cookies to wire racks and cool.

Big Sunday

I had a sitting in one of our city's lovely parks ( I will post pics soon) and then I went to see one of my best friends. Her little girl got a hair cut ( several inches!) and I just had to see it!


I also saw my other muse. She is so delicate, yet could take you out with a glance.

Birthday Saturday

We had two birthday parties on Saturday. The first on was a party for our favorite 8 year old (good lord she's 8?!) and then we had to run to my Dad's birthday dinner at Dave and Buster's. Good thing my kids like to party all the time. They were barely tired when we got home! I didn't take a whole lot of pictures at the first party due to the fact that I was getting my baby fix in. I took quite a few at D&B.

My daughter loved the claw game. Luckily, my sis is really good at it, so my girl got two toys.


My daughter really bonded with her Aunt Randi this weekend. Here is my girl's victory dance while she played skee ball with her aunt.



Here is Aunt Randi's Britney moment:


Such a great influence:


Just to prove I also have a son, here are a few pics of my boy kicking butt playing Star Wars Starfighter:

Friday's bowling party

I spent my Friday night at Del-Fair Lanes shooting a bowling fundraiser for the Fariellos. It was to help the family with Roman's existing/escalating cost of health care. I got to meet another cancer warrior, Corey Nickell. It was a great night. Lots of love and support poured in for sweet Roman. It was also a celebration of sorts - Roman had all of his regular scans 3 days before the benefit and he was NED (no evidence of disease.) Jody Fariello shared a bit of Debrea Nickell's (Corey's mom) writing in an email the other day and I thought I would share. It is about what it is like to have a child with cancer. It opened my eyes and broke my heart. I am posting it because September is Childhood Cancer Awarness month. I wanted to share why it is so important to raise awarness for this childhood disesase. If you see a gold ribbon - that is what is is all about. Here is Debra's story:

There is a storm coming at you. The warnings are out. Prediction is 75% chance of heavy rain, damaging winds, large hail, and a threat of tornados. What do you do? Do you carry your umbrella? Do you park your car in the garage? Do you secure loose items? OR Do you rely on the 25% chance that GOD willing the storm will die out? Your car already has scratches and dents from a previous storm. Your hair is a frizzy mess when it gets wet. You have on a nice outfit today. You have an old tree in your front yard, will it be able to withstand the storm. Do you risk leaving everything out there in the threat of the storm? There is a 25% chance that everything will be FINE. Why worry about it? Why take precautions? There’s no guarantee that you or your possessions will be damaged further. There’s also no guarantee that your world won’t be destroyed in an instant.

This is my life. How do I live my life as if everything is FINE! There’s a 25% chance that Corey won’t relapse. There’s a 25% chance that he will live a full and healthy life. But what if the storm hits us again. There is a 75% chance that it WILL! He is already scarred physically and emotionally. Our family is scarred. Our spirits have been lifted with the second chance at life but the storm is coming. Will it reach us? Will it be worse than the last storm? The prediction is the next storm will come back with a vengeance and won’t stop until it has destroyed everything. Is everything FINE! NO it is not. This storm is not over. Corey has been wounded several times but he did survive the first big storm. Will he survive the next one? The storm is coming. There is a 75% chance that it will hit hard and destroy everything! Help us take cover so it doesn’t hurt us again! How do we live with this fear and threat? Why doesn’t the rest of the world get it? Why can’t they see this storm looming over us? When will it go away? Why does it have to stay there for the rest of Corey’s life? We don’t know how long he will live? We don’t know if he will grow up to be an adult and have a career and a wife. We know that he won’t be able to have children because his battle has left him sterile. He will always need hearing aids and struggle to be “normal” like everyone else because he has permanent hearing loss. He still has so many storms to take cover against just to live. Why can’t everybody see that this storm is NEVER going to be over? HELP US! We are fighting so hard and we just want the storm to be over. We want the storm to go away. Please GOD make this storm dwindle into a soft rain shower. NO it can’t go away, there is a 75% chance that it will destroy us! A 25% chance that it will go away is not enough. We need better odds. We need a secure place to take cover. How do I protect Corey from this storm? There is no cover. There is no safe haven. There is only hope and faith. Live your life on that alone. You know we do have a 25% chance that the storm will miss us!

Thursday's shoot.

I got to shoot a really cool birthday party for a lady who's age "ends in a zero." It was an amazing Indian themed party. The food was beyond words (catered by Baba Indian Restaurant) and the company was even better than the food. What a lucky woman to have so many great friends. Here is a picture of her cake. Too cool.

I, like Christopher Columbus...

...have discovered something that millions of people knew about already. I have discovered how to clean a little greener, and in the process I have cleaned better. I discovered the power of vinegar. I am amazed at how versatile this stuff is. It does everything. I am thinking about putting it in my gas tank and solving the energy crisis. It is only about $1.50 a gallon, so I can make a ton of cleaner with it. It cleans and deodorizes my counters, my stainless, my walls - it even removes crayon! I also love the fact that my kids can spray it straight in their mouths and I will not have to call poison control. It is nearly perfect.
So that is where I have been for a week. Shooting, going to birthday parties, getting used to a school schedule and cleaning my house from top to bottom. My plan is to have all of my clutter and mess under control before Hurricane Christmas hits. It is good to have goals, right?

Went to the zoo. The monkeys were a hit.

The boy's last night of freedom.

We spent the last night of my boy's summer vacation on the front porch looking for bats, blowing bubbles, running around and singing at the top of our lungs. The weather was perfect, the sunset was beautiful and I really appreciate having that night with my family. Nights like that one remind me that there is nothing wrong with leading a simpler life.

The boy's first day at school.

All parties involved have survived, and actually have found this new aspect to their lives very agreeable. He loves his class, loves being at school all day and really loves recess. I love the schedule. When forced to be up at ungodly hours, I can actually be very productive.

Now, on to the sad mommy part. I think the picture above is perfect. He is walking away from me and not looking back. He never did. This is the only picture I got from his first day of school at the school. I always put up roadblocks of sorts in my thoughts, things I remind my self of when I get sad. "Oh, I have plenty of time with him, he isn't walking yet" onto "Oh, I have plenty of time, he's only in pre-school" then "Oh, he is still my baby, kindergarten is only a half day. He will only be away for 3 hours." Well, this is the last of my blocks. He is in school all day - over 7 hours- out in the real world. I can no longer protect him from mean kids who might make fun of him. I can't protect him from a girlfriend who might break his heart. The sad thing is I realize I have to let him have these experiences as they are what will make him a strong and capable man, but it still really sucks. All I can hope now is that I have built the kind of relationship with him that will allow him to be open with me and help him through the rough patches.
The person who is not doing as well without the boy is little sis. She grabbed her backpack as we were leaving and kept insisting that she is going to school, too. She sat on her bed with a backpack on for about an hour after we dropped him off. She started yelling for him as soon as she woke up from her nap. Seven hours is just too long to go without her big bro.

Sunday.

Well, I woke up late because I didn't have my two year old alarm clock to rouse me at 7:30. Somewhere around 1 o'clock I realized that there was nothing keeping me from enjoying another glass (or two) of wine. Cleaning is so much more fun when paired with a little wine and chocolate.

The sunlight was pretty, the wine was good...it led to drunken photography. The real irony here is that the glass pictured above is no more, but it didn't meet it's end in my Sunday afternoon adventure. It died when I was stone cold sober and making dinner for the kids. Poor glass - at least we had the afternoon.

Saturday.

Still no kids! We didn't know what to do. OK, that's a lie. We went to see The Dark Knight on Imax, had lunch and went to Half Price Books. Heaven. Don't get me wrong, I miss my kids, but this is the first movie my husband and I have seen together since September.
Of 2005.
The theatre got evacuated before the movie was over.
Did I mention I was 7 months pregnant at the time?

The last movie I saw with someone else was in December. I guess what I am saying is we were overdue for a date . When we got home I realized that we had one bottle of wine left from my trip to Italy. We ordered Gotham Knight on demand and competed our Batman day.

After all of this, somewhere around 10 o'clock, I remembered that today was the 12th anniversary of our first date. It was a good one.

"You know the things that I am afraid of
Im not afraid to tell
And if we ever leave a legacy
Its that we loved each other well
Cause Ive seen the shadows of so many people
Trying on the treasures of youth
But a road that fancy and fast
Ends in a fatal crash
And Im glad we got off
To tell you the truth"

Power of Two, Indigo Girls

Friday Night.

After a wonderful dinner out with friends, I came home to a house with no children. I had nothing to photograph! What to do...






My husband and I went out to the top of our yard (our yard is a large flat space at the top of a hill) since we normally are stuck inside once the kids go to bed. It is so pretty up there at night. Our neighbors all leave some form of illumination on and it makes this crazy mix of different color temperatures dappling throughout the yard. It was a lot of fun to go up there with a tripod and a flashlight (to aid in focusing) and shoot away.

No flour peanut butter cookies.(The best cookies, ever.)

Theses are the most amazing cookies when all things are considered. I love this recipe for so many reasons.
1. It only makes 2 dozen, so I am not over run with cookies.
2. It is so easy to make. 3 ingredients. That's it! I had the cookies baked, put away and the kitchen cleaned in 45 minutes, start to finish.
3. 99 calories per cookie! 71 if you use Splenda.

Here's the goods:

1 cup of peanut butter
1 cup of white sugar
1 egg

1. Beat together all ingredients. The dough is very easy to work with. Not very sticky - more like wet sand.

2. Portion out 24 balls of dough on a cookie sheets ( I lined mine with parchment) and put the criss-cross on the top with a fork if you'd like. You can also add chocolate chips or M&M's.


3. Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes. Adjust the time to the softness of the cookie you'd prefer. I thought 8 minutes made the cookies too soft, but I did see a recipe call for that cooking time. I also saw a cooking time of 15 minutes. It is your call.



How easy is that! They are tasty. My husband says they are now one of his favorite cookies. He had no idea they were flourless.

She hates to go to bed.

How do I resist those tears and that pout you ask? The piercing scream that goes along with them makes it pretty easy!

The reason I don't sleep.

The PS3 is supposed to be for my son. He does play it a lot, but it becomes mommy's after bedtime. It has also become a great way for the boy and I to connect in this time when he is changing so fast. We love to play Lego Star Wars together. I am glad we have this. I would be so lost right now. He is becoming such a little man. I see it so much more now that 1st grade looms in the near future. It is his first year away from me all day. They are taking my boy away for 7 hours a day! I am beside myself. He is so excited that I have to keep my apprehension to myself. I am sure we'll roll with the punches, we always do.

So pretty, but so much trouble.

The kiddos love to play on the front porch. I love it, too. It gives me a chance to put my feet up and read, for all of 5 minutes. I'll take what I can get!

I am trying to play catch up.

We had some major computer problems ( I thought I lost three years of work. Panic ensued.)

We now have a nifty raid 1 set up with auto back up to another external hard drive so this shall never happen again. Many thanks to the Schepers for talking my husband through the final set up phase!

I am going to try to post all of my pics for the photo a day project for those who may be curious.

Finally.

I found a good sugar cookie recipe. I should have known to check with Alton first! I didn't roll the cookies, but I think they still came out just fine. The kids are addicted, usually a good sign.

The haircut.

Opa loves to take his boy to get haircuts. He takes the boy to an old school barbershop in Fort Mitchell. Cool place. Opa has used this barber forever, and now my boy will use him. Kinda cool how that works. My son may be 6, but he still hates getting his hair cut. You can see all of this on his face. The apprehension when he first climbs in the chair and the relief when it is all done. Pretty cute.

Waiting for his turn in the chair.

It begins.

A very relieved and freshly shorn boy.



And how did my daughter behave during all of this?

Good as gold, like always!