I think I managed to take all story-telling images this week, that’s a first! I’m super anxious though, because they all look like snapshots to me, not art. I know in capturing our every day lives, I’m not going to create art everyday… that isn’t reasonable… but I worry that these are all crap images. My photographer friends will understand this. My kids won’t care though; once they are grown up, they will enjoy looking back and seeing what their lives were like. Every once in a while, I’ll go back to my 2009 posts when I didn’t care about the quality of the pictures… it really is about the story.
Day 155 ~ Going Short for Summer
First day of summer vacation starts off with a public Facebook whine by me. Dominic didn’t get his guitar practice done Thursday night so he was off screens the next morning, and promptly complained of being bored. Anna was playing on her DS and felt her wrist pop. She couldn’t move it for about 45 minutes so I put it in my old wrist brace and called the doctor. Sure enough, she partially dislocated it. The joys of EDS. It didn’t keep us from getting her haircut later in the day.
I just love Heather, our hair stylist, so much… she has always been incredibly sweet to Anna. Not only did she give Anna a rocking short ‘do for summer, she invited us into her home again to play with her gorgeous boys, Grady and Beckett. Beckett is 8 months old and such a doll. Anna brought one of her reborn baby dolls with us and Heather was so kind to give Anna some of Beckett’s newborn clothes for him. <3<3<3 How sweet, right?
Nikon D750 | 35mm | f/2 | 1/200 | ISO 640
Day 156 ~ Chris vs. The Monster
Jenny and Chris surprised us Friday night with a pop-in overnight. Yay! We decided to meet for lunch, everyone had errands to run, so Chris chose TJ’s Burgers & More… home of the Monster (1 lb. beef) and the Beast (2 lbs. beef) burgers. Chris was disappointed to learn that one had to consume the Beast to get a photo on the wall, but I promised him a t-shirt if he could eat the Monster.
Nikon D750 | 35mm | f/2 | 1/200 | ISO 800
Day 156 ~ Monster Slayer
Chris did it! He slayed the Monster burger, one full pound of ground beef. I have to say, he did look a little green around the gills. But I followed through on my promise and bought him a t-shirt. I don’t care how old you are, it’s always fun when your parents buy you a present.
Nikon D750 | 35mm | f/3.5 | 1/200 | ISO 800
Day 157 ~ Go Prank Yourself
Sunday was our first real day in the pool this summer. Dominic had Taylor, the girl across the street over. He was playing around with the noodle and is becoming more aware that girls really don’t like to get splashed with water, so he squirted himself.
Nikon D750 | 35mm | f/7.1 | 1/250 | ISO 50
Day 158 ~ First Summer Library Visit
While Anna slept in Monday morning, Dominic and I went to the Tye Preston Memorial Library to check out some library books. We looked at the new arrivals and recommended reading sections first, then got a few easy readers for Anna before heading to Brookshire Brothers in Canyon Lake for produce. Just a couple more weeks before the new HEB Plus is open just down 306… so excited!!! They are offering curbside-to-go service, can’t wait to take advantage of that.
Nikon D750 | 35mm | f/2 | 1/200 | ISO 800
Day 159 ~ Scheduled Guitar Practice
The kids do much better with a schedule on these lazy days of summer, so we tried a white board schedule (that my mom has had great success with when she has the kids over). Dominic seems to especially like the structure of it. Here he is practicing his guitar (the 10-10:30 time slot). We are really seeing an improvement having him do 20 minutes a day. Anna was supposed to play with Cooper during this time slot but played with Sky instead.
Nikon D750 | 35mm | f/2 | 1/200 | ISO 800
Day 159 ~ No Fear
Later in the day, Dominic had his friend Bristol stay the night. We love hosting Bristol; he’s a funny, wise kid that Dominic really gets along well with. After dinner, the boys got in the pool and I went out to feed the deer. I spotted a momma and baby bunny in the front yard and got Anna to come out front with me to see them. The deer surrounded us. I still had the bucket of feed so we tried to get them to eat out of our hands… this one doe got so so so close to me… about two feet away before she shied away.
Nikon D750 | 105mm | f5.62 | 1/200 | ISO 800
Day 160 ~ Reading Practice
Anna doing her 15 minutes of reading out loud to me. Dominic chose a book about puppies for her and she is doing a great job sounding out words. She says she is not a good reader, but she really is. It takes her a little while, but she can read most text and comprehends most of it too.
Nikon D750 | 35mm | f/2.2 | 1/200 | ISO 800
Day 160 ~ New High Score
After Bristol got picked up earlier than expected, I took the kids to the Gattiland in San Antonio spur of the moment. I looooove Gatti’s Pizza and miss it so much since there isn’t one in New Braunfels. Dominic played a basketball game in the arcade area and made a new high score on this machine! He was so stoked! I’m just noticing his hyperextended elbow… looks so much like Anna’s.
Nikon D750 | 35mm | f/1.8 | 1/200 | ISO 800
Day 160 ~ Playing Together
It wasn’t very busy so Anna wasn’t too scared to play a few games. Usually the noise from the kids bothers her too much to participate. Here she and Dominic are actually playing something together, a very rare event for the two of them. It made my momma heart happy.
Nikon D750 | 35mm | f/1.8 | 1/200 | ISO 1250
Day 160 ~ Never Too Old
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Dominic going round and round on the little kid merry-go-round. I nearly snorted! I guess you are never too old to ride the horsies, at least if you can fit on top of them. 😉
Nikon D750 | 35mm | f/1.8 | 1/200 | ISO 1250
Day 161 ~ Rapt Audience
Chelsea, the wonderful events coordinator for our River Chase neighborhood, contacted me about a month ago and asked if Anna would present Cooper at the Kid’s Club Storytime about pets for today. I talked to Anna about it and she was game, so we agreed to bring Cooper the Cockatiel for a show and tell. Dominic decided to join us last minute this morning and I am so glad he did. Once we were inside, it got more and more crowded with little kids, toddlers, and babies. Chelsea read a few stories about pets then was going to have us present our unique animals. In addition to Cooper, there was a hamster, a tortoise, a chicken, and a puppy (bonus!). However, before she could even begin the first story, Anna began to get super anxious so I had her sit on the bench outside with her phone. Dominic volunteered to present Cooper when it was our turn to share. I went out to check on Anna while the gentleman introduced his tortoise and discovered her completely eaten up with mosquitoes and very hot. I felt terrible, so I brought her back inside. She was so scared. She just cannot handle little kids. She’s worried one of them will cry, then she will cry too. Even to this day, if Dominic gets hurt (even if he doesn’t cry), Anna will start freaking out, hitting and lashing out from her primal brain. So I’m standing there with an overheated, eaten up, anxious Anna, hoping to get this over with. Dominic does a wonderful job introducing Cooper to all the kids. There were probably 30 kids there… he said, “Mom, I will use my theater skills!” And he did! Once we got home, I got Anna doctored up with calamine lotion. I swear it’s something like this nearly every day. I feel so bad for her.
Nikon D750 | 35mm | f/2.2 | 1/160 | ISO 1000
Thanks for looking! Hope everyone is enjoying summer so far. <3
