I thought I would start to show, state by state, some of my photos from our roadtrip. Here we are in South Dakota. We stopped in Sioux Falls, the Badlands, Mt Rushmore, and Deadwood.
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
D'arcy turned eleven.
D'arcy turned eleven in late August.
She is the kind of girl who wants more. More adventures. More knowledge. More great food. More people. She's hungry for life, and I know from personal experience the road ahead will include learning to savor, to be content, to be intentional, and to rest. I'm excited to see her walk and find balance.
Sometime this year, we decided we would take her to Kings Island for her birthday. Stephen and I haven't been since before she was born, but now D'arcy is tall enough and brave enough to ride most of the roller coasters. My head didn't handle it well, but D'arcy had a great time riding everything she was tall enough for with Stephen and her Aunt Connie.
D'arcy spent a good part of this past year learning to solve her Rubix Cube. These days, that means watching a bunch of Youtube videos to learn the algorithms, and then practicing, practicing, practicing to get faster. She would carry around a paper to record her times. At the end of last school year, she and her friend, Aria, entered the school talent show to show off their rubix cube skillz.
A ten dollar toy kept her busy for an entire year. I was wracking my brain for what I could buy her that would entertain and challenge her in a similar way. I decided on a Ukulele. She is already playing the piano and trumpet. I thought the Ukulele would be easy and fun and put her Youtube searching and watching skills to good use.
When the opportunity presents itself, either at our community yard sale of block party, she has started busking. She'll play Louis Louis on her trumpet hoping someone will drop a dollar into her case. This year, she can add to her repertoire.
D'arcy also spent the last year....
jumping on her trampoline.
growing a bunch of tomato saplings with her fifth grade teacher, and selling them at their year end picnic.
party planning with her friend Mike. They started a for profit party planning business for all those top priority parties. The one party they planned had a guacamole contest with a pretty snazzy trophy, a homemade pinata, and bobbing for blueberries (which was pretty disgusting).
During the summer, she woke up many a day and made her own french toast or omelette. She would cook up a couple pieces of bacon, and grab some basil and tomatoes from our garden to throw in her eggs. Our other kids are eating cold english muffins.
D'arcy, Maggie, and Penelope share a room. Unlike other older sibling tyrants I've encountered, she doesn't bug her sister to turn the light off. Instead, she turns it off herself long before the official "lights out" call and yells at her sisters if the complain or try to turn them back on. I figured out that she needed the room dark so she could watch Netflix on her iTouch screen. She hates turning up that screen brightness because it really kills her battery life.
Tonight, I just walked by their room and heard her telling her sister, "Don't ever say I don't love you or I don't like you. I love you very much. Just because I'm telling you you're annoying doesn't mean I don't love you."
She started sixth grade this year. She told me a couple times she was nervous about all the homework she will have. But, really, it was a feigned nervousness. I believe it was more of an excitement to take on a new challenge.
Year twelve, she's ready for you.
She is the kind of girl who wants more. More adventures. More knowledge. More great food. More people. She's hungry for life, and I know from personal experience the road ahead will include learning to savor, to be content, to be intentional, and to rest. I'm excited to see her walk and find balance.
Sometime this year, we decided we would take her to Kings Island for her birthday. Stephen and I haven't been since before she was born, but now D'arcy is tall enough and brave enough to ride most of the roller coasters. My head didn't handle it well, but D'arcy had a great time riding everything she was tall enough for with Stephen and her Aunt Connie.
D'arcy spent a good part of this past year learning to solve her Rubix Cube. These days, that means watching a bunch of Youtube videos to learn the algorithms, and then practicing, practicing, practicing to get faster. She would carry around a paper to record her times. At the end of last school year, she and her friend, Aria, entered the school talent show to show off their rubix cube skillz.
A ten dollar toy kept her busy for an entire year. I was wracking my brain for what I could buy her that would entertain and challenge her in a similar way. I decided on a Ukulele. She is already playing the piano and trumpet. I thought the Ukulele would be easy and fun and put her Youtube searching and watching skills to good use.
When the opportunity presents itself, either at our community yard sale of block party, she has started busking. She'll play Louis Louis on her trumpet hoping someone will drop a dollar into her case. This year, she can add to her repertoire.
D'arcy also spent the last year....
jumping on her trampoline.
growing a bunch of tomato saplings with her fifth grade teacher, and selling them at their year end picnic.
party planning with her friend Mike. They started a for profit party planning business for all those top priority parties. The one party they planned had a guacamole contest with a pretty snazzy trophy, a homemade pinata, and bobbing for blueberries (which was pretty disgusting).
During the summer, she woke up many a day and made her own french toast or omelette. She would cook up a couple pieces of bacon, and grab some basil and tomatoes from our garden to throw in her eggs. Our other kids are eating cold english muffins.
D'arcy, Maggie, and Penelope share a room. Unlike other older sibling tyrants I've encountered, she doesn't bug her sister to turn the light off. Instead, she turns it off herself long before the official "lights out" call and yells at her sisters if the complain or try to turn them back on. I figured out that she needed the room dark so she could watch Netflix on her iTouch screen. She hates turning up that screen brightness because it really kills her battery life.
Tonight, I just walked by their room and heard her telling her sister, "Don't ever say I don't love you or I don't like you. I love you very much. Just because I'm telling you you're annoying doesn't mean I don't love you."
She started sixth grade this year. She told me a couple times she was nervous about all the homework she will have. But, really, it was a feigned nervousness. I believe it was more of an excitement to take on a new challenge.
Year twelve, she's ready for you.
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Penelope turned two (90 days ago).
Penelope is two. She's twenty three pounds dripping wet. If I'm determined to worry about something, I worry about her weight.
She is still a big Daniel Tiger fan. She can sing the choruses of a few of her favorite songs, "Shut up and Dance with Me", "Uptown Funk", and "Girls Chase Boys". During our trip, she started adding a -y to the end of some of her words. "Can I sit on your wappy?" "I can do it my selfy." She thinks she can do a lot of things her selfy like fastening her carseat or walking across the street. She gets angry if you try to help her out.
On our trip, she spent most of the time in the Ergo carrier while hiking. We let her out for a bit when we were on Antelope Island on the Great Salt Lake. I suggested she walk around the big rocks, and she decided instead to step on each one. Because she's big and independent and two.
But, really, she was such an awesome traveller. She spent time coloring, but mostly just chilled. We did keep her pacifier in commission so we could pacify her on the road if needed. Someday soon we'll take her out of a crib and take the pacifier away at bedtime. There just isn't another baby on the way to need them.
One right of passage that she's eager to get under way is potty training. She asks daily to sit on the potty, and lets me know when she is going in her diaper. A diaper free home is in our near future.
Her big sisters and brothers have taught her a few things. She can count to twenty pretty well. It's a game. I'll say one and she'll say two and we'll count together. Then she'll ask to do it again and again. She'll also give you a fist bump if you ask. She follows the bump with a "fa la la la la" as she pulls her fist back and wiggles her fingers.
When she doesn't think she's being listened to, she'll grab my face, put her head up against mine, and whisper her request in the most infuriating and adorable way. She is quite persistent. When we were in South Dakota, we watched a little movie in the Badlands. She was having trouble sitting still, and I promised her a Swedish fish if she would watch quietly. Less than a minute later, she asks, "I have fish?" And on and on it went until we headed to the car to get the fish.
In May, we were out shopping, and as we were going into Kohl's she started naming her family...Schroe Schroe, JuJu, D'arcy, Maggie. I said, "Who else is in your family?" She looked at me and said, "Daddy!!" It was this first moment of verbal recognition of who her core people were. She belonged to us and we belonged to her. And, I had this rush of joy knowing that she had all these great brothers and sisters to love and care and teach her. How cool is it to be a fifth baby!
Stephen and I were out of town on her birthday. We celebrated a week earlier with a little party at our house. I made her a birthday cake that was collapsing and falling apart. I topped it with two plastic princesses we have in the house. She kept asking to look at her cake. She would sit at the table and just look at the wobbling mess.
Happy Birthday Penelope!
She is still a big Daniel Tiger fan. She can sing the choruses of a few of her favorite songs, "Shut up and Dance with Me", "Uptown Funk", and "Girls Chase Boys". During our trip, she started adding a -y to the end of some of her words. "Can I sit on your wappy?" "I can do it my selfy." She thinks she can do a lot of things her selfy like fastening her carseat or walking across the street. She gets angry if you try to help her out.
On our trip, she spent most of the time in the Ergo carrier while hiking. We let her out for a bit when we were on Antelope Island on the Great Salt Lake. I suggested she walk around the big rocks, and she decided instead to step on each one. Because she's big and independent and two.
But, really, she was such an awesome traveller. She spent time coloring, but mostly just chilled. We did keep her pacifier in commission so we could pacify her on the road if needed. Someday soon we'll take her out of a crib and take the pacifier away at bedtime. There just isn't another baby on the way to need them.
One right of passage that she's eager to get under way is potty training. She asks daily to sit on the potty, and lets me know when she is going in her diaper. A diaper free home is in our near future.
Her big sisters and brothers have taught her a few things. She can count to twenty pretty well. It's a game. I'll say one and she'll say two and we'll count together. Then she'll ask to do it again and again. She'll also give you a fist bump if you ask. She follows the bump with a "fa la la la la" as she pulls her fist back and wiggles her fingers.
When she doesn't think she's being listened to, she'll grab my face, put her head up against mine, and whisper her request in the most infuriating and adorable way. She is quite persistent. When we were in South Dakota, we watched a little movie in the Badlands. She was having trouble sitting still, and I promised her a Swedish fish if she would watch quietly. Less than a minute later, she asks, "I have fish?" And on and on it went until we headed to the car to get the fish.
In May, we were out shopping, and as we were going into Kohl's she started naming her family...Schroe Schroe, JuJu, D'arcy, Maggie. I said, "Who else is in your family?" She looked at me and said, "Daddy!!" It was this first moment of verbal recognition of who her core people were. She belonged to us and we belonged to her. And, I had this rush of joy knowing that she had all these great brothers and sisters to love and care and teach her. How cool is it to be a fifth baby!
Stephen and I were out of town on her birthday. We celebrated a week earlier with a little party at our house. I made her a birthday cake that was collapsing and falling apart. I topped it with two plastic princesses we have in the house. She kept asking to look at her cake. She would sit at the table and just look at the wobbling mess.
Happy Birthday Penelope!
Saturday, July 25, 2015
I blogged a family session!
A client emailed me recently and asked if I still was photographing families. I am! Although, this fall, I'm only booking returning clients because I have a tight schedule. I'm trying harder than ever to walk into a session with no preconceived ideas of what I have to capture. I'm trying to throw that mental checklist away and capture the beauty unfolding before me. Tonight, I got to follow these sweet kids around their grandparents big yard. The oldest asked how I knew her name. I told her that I knew her name before she did because her mom is an old friend of mine. The youngest two are twins, and it's fun to remember a conversation I had with Leslie when she was newly pregnant. She told me her belly was growing much faster than she had expected, and I sort of shrugged it off as a normal second pregnancy symptom. A couple weeks later she texted with news that she was expecting twins!
Thursday, July 9, 2015
I'm celebrating.
Two years ago, I gave birth to Penelope. After my body recovered from the birth, I was fifteen pounds heavier than I was when I got married. For the last two years, I've been slowly, gently trying to get myself back to my wedding weight.
This is the fifth and last time I will go through this process. I will never again be able to call extra weight "baby weight". In the future it will have to be called soda weight or chocolate and marshmallow weight or salt and vinegar chip weight.
When we were on our trip, we were hiking daily and sharing meals at restaurants to save money. I lost those last two pounds somewhere between the Devil's Tower and the Grand Canyon.
I've been telling myself for awhile that when I hit my mark, I would pull out my wedding dress that was lovingly smashed at the bottom of my hope chest. I would put it on for the first time in twelve years and celebrate.
D'arcy came up to help me focus the camera. She asked why I was in my dress, and I told her. She said, "Well, you are down to your wedding weight, but you still have stretch marks underneath there."
I'm celebrating those, too.
This is the fifth and last time I will go through this process. I will never again be able to call extra weight "baby weight". In the future it will have to be called soda weight or chocolate and marshmallow weight or salt and vinegar chip weight.
When we were on our trip, we were hiking daily and sharing meals at restaurants to save money. I lost those last two pounds somewhere between the Devil's Tower and the Grand Canyon.
I've been telling myself for awhile that when I hit my mark, I would pull out my wedding dress that was lovingly smashed at the bottom of my hope chest. I would put it on for the first time in twelve years and celebrate.
D'arcy came up to help me focus the camera. She asked why I was in my dress, and I told her. She said, "Well, you are down to your wedding weight, but you still have stretch marks underneath there."
I'm celebrating those, too.
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