Perspective project

I've had a crazy idea lingering in my head the last year or so: what would it look like if I collected pictures taken by kids under the age of 4? We started letting Madeleine walk around with our camera about 8 months ago and since then she's taken a variety of pictures. Most of them aren't very good but they give me a little picture into what the world looks like from her perspective. Here's a sampling of her "work."

I'm wondering if there's anyone else out there who'd be interested in letting their kids take control of the camera and then share with me what they see. Let me know if you're brave...I mean interested :)

Growing together

I had some fun this weekend watching the kids interact. Parker is growing up too fast... He's already up on his knees bouncing and trying to pull himself up to his feet. When I stand him up and hold his hands he even tries to take small steps occasionally! The bond between Parker and Madeleine continues to grow which is especially sweet for me to watch as I never experienced a sibling relationship. I hope they grow to love and respect one another as adults but for now, I'll just keep enjoying their shared giggles and squeals of delight.

Here they are in the double jogger I bought off Craigslist almost 2 months ago. We've used it a lot; mainly on trips to the blue slide but I've gotten a jog or two accomplished as well. One of my favorite parts of having them sit together is that I'll often catch Madeleine putting her hand on Parker. Sometimes she'll rub his head if he's sleepy or if he's not she'll reach over and keep a hand on his leg. Of course she'll often tattle and let me know he's taken his hat off or is about to throw his pacifier out of the stroller too but I find the voluntary touches very sweet.

I think Parker looks slightly annoyed and embarrassed in this shot. But I don't know who he's annoyed/embarrassed by more: the mom who keeps stopping them to take pictures or the crazy looking kid sitting next to him who insists on dragging the dog's leash and whose smile looks more like a snarl. They are quite the pair :)

Nothing to post

I've just erased my third attempt at typing an interesting post. The first one was about me finding a $20 bill. The second was about our tire drama with the Jeep. The third was going to be pictures of Justin's day fishing last Friday. But all of them were way too long and not interesting enough so I decided to tell you that I'm trying but I just don't have anything good to say. And it's a shame because the kids are both sleeping (Parker is going on 4 hours and Madeleine 1) and I know life will be crazy again when they wake up. At least you know I wish I had something to share. Hopefully something fun will happen this weekend that I can post about later. Have a happy Friday and weekend!

The boys

Justin has been enjoying Parker's latest antic of pretending to want to go to bed and then fussing about 15 minutes after we lay him down. He eagerly gets Parker back up while I'm putting Madeleine to bed. I usually come out of her room to discover them laughing together with Parker either trying to stand up using Justin as a prop or smacking Daddy in the face. Because he's at work while they're the most awake, I know Justin delights in one-on-one father/son moments like this.

One year ago

Happy 4th of July, albeit a few days late. I found these picture from this time last year and am amazed at how quickly kids change.

Grass update update

He mowed. Of course we ended up borrowing Bill's mower (our retired neighbor) because it had a bagger and would prevent us from killing the little grass we do have. We also planted the strawberries (finally) and put netting over them to prevent the deer from having an evening snack. In addition, I found a wasp nest, put up a wasp trap, sprayed myself with the wasp attractant that you put in the wasp trap, ran like crazy into the house praying the wasps I had awoken by moving their nest wouldn't smell me, and washed myself in dawn detergent soap. You should have been there; I'm sure I looked ridiculous, especially since I still had to go back outside and turn off the sprinkler which I had forgotten about in my insane run back inside.

Grass update

The neighbor (retired and in his late 70s) on our other side offered to let us use his mower after helpfully commenting, "I couldn't help but notice how long your grass is." If Parker can stay awake long enough this evening, hopefully we can get it done tonight. I'm guessing if we go much longer the same neighbor listed above might offer to do it for us with his riding lawn mower. Maybe we'll wait after all...