Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Childhood Magic

One day, I just carried my 50mm lens around most of the day and here's what we came up with:

Lambie Love.  With Humid Hair.

 Peekaboo!


Gogurt for the win!

 Coloring has to be her favorite activity.  Short spurts at a time, but super fun.
 The moment of decision.  Which color to choose??

 Banana Sandwich.  And dimpled knuckles.

A day with Tatum is a fun day indeed.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

A few more photos

(My blog is now a photo dump with long captions, and sometimes a story.)

I missed this photo in my initial sort of her 2 year old photo shoot.  I kind of love it.  Tying those balloons to a carabiner and hooking it to her pants kept the balloons in my shots at the right heights and never flying away when she let go.  One of my more genius (non-pinterest) ideas ;)
 My girl in the kitchen.  She loves carrying her stool all around the house with us all day.  My biggest, most involved helper.  
 A few weeks ago we went with our friend Brenda up to the Vanderbilt mansion about an hour north of the city.  This was the smallest of their estates and we sure learned a lot on the tour.  I thought I might be done with tours when I stopped living with my dad, but now I live with Scott who loves them equally as much.
 These two... she is always happier when Dada is around.
 It looks like T isn't the only one he likes to throw around.  There was more than one moment when I really thought I was going over.  Scott mostly has control but he has been known to loose his footing in the past.  Like the time he walked backward off the doc at Utah lake, wearing is clothes and all his gear.  
 Brenda gifting Tatum her birthday presents.  This gift commenced her love of purses, and for the next month, she carried around not one but three purses, insisting on holding them and filling them from sun up to sun down. 
When Bryan was here he asked what it feels like to "Just barely miss a bus."  Well about three minutes later, he got to experience it himself-- we waited about 40 minutes in the hot HOT sun never knowing when if/when the bus would show.  And when it finally did, there were 2 more of the same bus directly behind it.  Bah.
 At the end of June we said goodbye to our dear friends the Hendersons.  Tatum and June were just becoming the best of baby friends.  
 $1 Pizza. 
 Regardless of the fact that my right eve is a little quasimodo-ish, I really love our expressions in this one.
 Our little Columbia girl.  I pretty desperately want some Columbia school spirit gear for her.  
 BUT, we thanks to Uncle Bry we do have some BYU swag!  Here we are at the 911 Memorial.
 Georgia's Frozen party was a big hit for all the littles.  Pin the nose on Olaf and crowns for all?  Win.
 Ah, I die.  

 I'd say adventure playground is our fave.  Totally shady no matter how sunny it is, perfect age-appropriate water play, cool sand pit, fun playground and a giant fountain.  Plus it's close to Trader Joes and has a beautiful city backdrop.  I could go here twice a week.  And I pretty much do.
 At Target the other day I went down an isle to quickly grab something and I come back to find 3 new items in my cart, all balancing on each other.  This girl, she's always up to something.  She escapes from her seatbelt so fast.  

The ride home from this target trip was a nightmare to say the least.  As you know, buses are super unpredictable, so when I saw my bus approaching, I ran for it, 4 bags + 120" curtain rod, stroller, baby and purse in tow.  The bus pulled over and I was scrambling big time to get Tatum out, my bags in hand, fold the stroller, while keeping my metro card accessible to pay, and balancing the curtain rod on my shoulder.  Oh, and preventing my (wild) two year old from running into the street, or toward a scary drugged man (we were in the Bronx after all...) So yeah, not the ideal situation.  Luckily some saintly woman held T's hand and led her up the stairs onto the bus, but then she just started roaming while I had dropped one Target bag which led to losing two more while attempting to pick up the first.  Bah!  I finally got on, paid with a bent card and struggled over to an empty seat, making room for my stroller and leaving my goods near the front of the bus in a little storage compartment.  That stuff could have been stolen in a snap.  Luckily it wasn't, and luckily I had lots of snacks for a hungry girl who only likes to stand in public transportation and stares at people who look different than her.  Worst ride ever.

And then we went to the MET and suddenly NYC life was appealing again.



 The rooftop is only open select hours in the summer.  
 This is a different night from the story before, but you get the idea.  Being a mom in the city isn't always a cake walk. 

Thursday, July 10, 2014

July in Review

The girl chose this sturgeon as her carousol animal.  She's just so fun now that she can think on her own and do stuff.  Two years old is really great!
 Glasses are her big obsession as of late.  She snags them whenever she gets a chance, and its a little heart wrenching to take them away from her when she thinks she's so fancy and belly laughs with how silly she is :)
 We gave it our most valiant effort to make it to Seattle for the 4th of July.  We were at Terminal 5 for a total of 8 hours last Thursday... trying to get on any flight or connection to Seattle.  Between the holiday weekend and hurricane Arthur we just didn't make it.  It was especially painful since we were the only ones not going to be with the Tanners, and since I'd worked really hard all week to make it possible- sewing bedding like crazy, doing laundry last minute and timing our milk perfectly for the weekend away.  Oh well.  We win a lot and lose some.  This was a lose.
 Scott came to wait with us for about the last 2-3 hours.  She always has a better time with Dad around.
 Oh just one of the crowd. 
 We ended up at the Brooklyn promenade for the 4th of July.  Watching between two buildings and blocked by a tree, but ya know, we saw color.
 That night cityscape made it all worthwhile.
 Oh, and watching Tatum in amazement.  That made it worthwhile too!
 The rest of the weekend was pretty low key (remember, we had no plans to be here) so a picnic in Bryant park and hemming lots of Scott's pants was in order.  I think we did 6 or 7 pair, it was quite the sewing fest for a girl who doesn't consider herself a tailor. 

 She loves cars and dinosaurs.  Don't know what to say.  We made a track for the first time this week and it was a big hit!
 Betcha thought we would forget about Scotts helicopter within a week of Christmas. Am I right?  Well, you're wrong.  It is still one of our best toys.  Tatum talks about it all day long in anticipation of when Daddy gets home to play with "Copter, Daddy's toy."
 Beach day!  My little mermaid had such a blast at Coney Island.  It was so fun she made me want to take her once a week!  
 We went with some friends, Amina here is just Tatum's age!
 "shobel."

 And our other friends brought about 15 dinosaurs to the beach!  Heaven!

All in all, a great July!