His Loving Arms

The fabulous Kate over at Shutter Sisters posted something very interesting yesterday. She wrote about her husband and how he unintentionally gets forgotten in the daily grind.

"Bleary-eyed we stagger through parenthood, aware of each other only peripherally. In front of the camera he exists as child-carrier, slide-catcher and armpit-tickler, captured in bits and pieces alongside headlining cereal-splattered cheeks and tricycle prowess," she writes.

She challenged us to peel our camera away from the kids and turn it on our hubby. To share a picture of what makes us love our husbands. Here's mine.



True, it's a picture of the back of his head, but to me it's so much more. It shows the wonderful, loving relationship he has with our girls. It shows how gentle and caring he is. He's snuggling with Big J. I took this picture when we went bowling last week. He is so good at teaching her, at getting her excited to learn something new.

Just Another Manic Monday

I wish I was better at thinking of post titles :)

Big J is off from school today. The weatherman says it's going to rain. As is the case on most rainy days, we'll probably spend most of it doing this .....



I love coloring with her. She has such a wonderful imagination. And she's not afraid to color outside of the lines. I hope she continues to do so. Hope you have a wonderful day.

Check out more from Best Shot Monday.

The Day After

I'm still on a Valentine's Day high. Yesterday was so nice! I had a great day with the girls. We did a little shopping at Target, bought a new game, did some coloring, and played all day. While Little J napped in the afternoon we made some sugar cookies with pink icing.


Big J just had to cover them with sprinkles. And I mean really cover them!


If I hadn't burned the cookies they probably would've tasted really good.



My hubby got me beautiful pink hydrangea and he also got Big J pink roses. She absolutely loved them! We had tons of candy in the house, which I loved. :)



Later last night, my mom came over to babysit while Hubby and I went out to dinner. We had a lovely time just sitting and talking. I told him all about my plans to do Maile's workshop and we talked about how cool it would be to have my own business. He told me to go for it and that was such a relief. We haven't really talked about my photography at all. I'm reluctant to share it with everyone because I'm afraid they'll try to talk me out of it or not take me seriously. Last night I made the decision that I'm doing this, fulll speed ahead, with everything I've got. I signed up for a Photoshop class in March, I'm doing the workshop in May and until then I'm going to take pictures everyday. I'm gonna try and soak up everything I can at my job too.

After dinner we came home and watched Lost. Pretty exciting huh? Well, it was for me. My sister is coming over today to visit and I'm excited to see her.

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day =!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I absolutely love this picture and I was so surprised to see it straight out of the camera. Big J was facing a set of 3 windows in my dining room and I was sitting with my back to the windows. The natural light just lit up her face and I snapped away. Pure sweetness!



This is the same picture after playing in Photoshop. I just sharpened it and made her eyes pop a little more.


For more pure goodness, check out Stacy's.

To All The Fellas

What not to do when the mother of your children goes back to work (at your request).

When your loving wife is in the shower, don't barge in on her with your 10 month old daughter, stand there and ask what she's doing. This may be the first time she's had a quiet minute to herself all day. Don't take that away. And don't use the baby as an excuse for your lack of respect. I'm pretty sure the baby doesn't "need to see" her.

If your wife depends on you to be home at a certain time so that she can make it to her job on time, don't call and say you're going to be late. She may not make as much money as you, but that doesn't make her job less important. And don't act like there's nothing you can do. Your boss is well aware of the fact that your wife works at night.

When you finally do get home after a long day of sitting comfortably at your clean desk alongside other grownups, don't complain that dinner's not ready and the kids haven't been fed. Throw some water in a pot, boil it, and make pasta. You're a big boy, you can handle making something for yourself. Your wife is on her way to her 'other' job.

If your wife also works on the weekends, don't wait until 30 minutes before she has to leave and ask if you have enough time to shower. The answer will always be no.

Monday Fun

This weekend we took Big J bowling for the first time. She loved it ~ up until the
8th frame and then she was like, "Can we go home?" Still, we had a great time. It was nice to hang out with her, just her, for a little while. The baby was with my husband's sister.

The days and the weeks pass so quickly and I forget that we don't get to spend a lot of one-on-one time with Big J. It was just the three of us for so long. I feel bad that she has share our attention and I just hope that my big girl knows how much we adore her.

Here's my best shot for Monday. Check out all the other fabulous pictures here.