antics from the end of 2011

Siblings, boxes, pajamas, and party hats.

birthdays and feast days

Earlier this month, Ruth hit her fourth birthday. We held a party after the celebration for the feast of Saint Lucia at Holy Resurrection. Ruth helped teach her daddy to dance, bake a cake with me, and then blew out the candles surrounded by a ton of friends!

My little girl gets bigger every day.

pumpkin adventures and work slows down

October was a crazy month, and a good one: I traveled three out of four weekends, photographed four weddings, attended a conference, and carpooled to Ruth’s program at the Natick Community Organic Farm on a weekly basis.

It also marked our first foray into making real pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake. Steve and the kids took great pleasure in the carving, smelling, baking and making, although I hear tell that the pumpkin cheesecake was a little complicated for everyone’s taste.

A freak snowstorm in the last weekend of October led Ruth into a little confusion. It’s a little tough to explain what a “month” is to a three-year-old, and she’s excited about turning four. We’ve been telling her that her birthday comes “after the snow comes down,” thinking Mother Nature would behave herself and give us some snow around Thanksgiving or so. NOT so! Quite a white blanket draped all over the Northeast, and Ruth turned to her dad excitedly, “My BIRTHDAY is going to be TOMORROW!”

All this talk of birthdays has led to many requests, too. “Can I have icing at my birthday?” Ruth asks. “Can I have a red birthday?” says Lucas. HE has to plan his birthday TOO, after all.

My camera has been a little dormant around the family this past month; playing catch-up after all my wedding work (and a few squeezed in portraits) leaves little mental room for picking up the beast on an everyday level. But I’ve recently acquired a new purse which also doubles as a nice camera bag. The camera makes it a tad heavy, but I’m hoping that by carrying it with me everywhere, I’ll be more open to whipping it out and documenting the ever-changing lives of the kids.

I’ve noticed that I’m much less inclined to make photographs inside my apartment because I feel it’s rather dark and ugly. A ground floor apartment surrounded by trees, we don’t get much natural light, and must leave lights on all day long or feel as though we live in a cave. I know the winter won’t get much better, so I’d better make photographs anyway. These kids are growing up too fast!

apple picking at Honey Pot Hill Farm in Stow

Today we went apple picking with several of our friends from a school co-op, and from around campus.

Ruth and Adeline race to see who can get to the trees first, bags wafting like mini parachutes.

Steve juggles to entertain and perplex the kids.

Lucas gets a pumpkin-head.

After toting all those apples home, we made fresh apple crisp with vanilla ice cream–heavenly.

our lovely trip to Balmer

It’s been over a week since we returned from our visit to Baltimore, and already that place full of people and memories feels far away. We had quite a packed adventure; not only did I have three scheduled sessions, but we managed to see quite a few of our friends and family (though definitely not everyone we wanted to see.

The ride to and from was uneventful, with the exception that our return trip was blessed with a fixed-up A/C system, which was broken the whole ride down in pretty hot weather. By now the in-laws have a system down pat for having us as guests–the dining room turns into the kid’s bedroom, and we take over the blue room. It’s all pretty ingenious (thanks to Frederica, really), and makes things super easy to do.

I think back fondly on lunch with Sig and Mel before they went to see Harry Potter’s opening, a delicious sushi dinner with Steph and Joe, visiting my friend Lily and my goddaughter Zenaida, seeing a beautiful weeping icon visiting from Hawaii, photographing at Artscape, meeting a lovely newborn (and taking his portrait!), and watching a couple I’ve known for awhile now finally tie the knot.

And who can forget Steve’s first foray into pulled-pork barbeque with his dad? Ruth had sewing lessons with Mamou–she can never get enough Mamou time. Lucas? Well, he just kept on learning new words, really, and making messes. He’s good at that.

All in all, a quite eventful and a lovely trip, even if some of it was work. At the end of it, it didn’t really feel like work. That’s how I hear life’s supposed to feel when things are good.

Outdoor excursion recap: a camping trip & anniversary hike

June and July were months filled to the brim with outdoor activity.

June was our very first camping adventure as a family. We drove out mid-week to Nickerson State Park out on the Cape; it was nearly empty, beautifully quiet, and we had near-perfect weather. The kids were fascinated by setting up tents, cooking with our stove, and making our first fire. After the sun set, bedtime in the tent went smoothly, and everyone fit nicely into a family-size tent we borrowed from a friend.

Steve and I were prepared for the event that we’d have to pull up stakes in the middle of the night and head home, but luckily that didn’t happen. The first morning dawned, and the kids showed no sign of homesickness or lagging interest (with the exception that we had forgotten Ruthie’s beloved blanket at home).

We prepared ourselves for the day, rented two bicycles and a buggy, and took a marvelous bike ride to the National Seashore for a picnic lunch. We stopped in Orleans for ice cream on the way home (SUPER exciting for the little ones), and even had time to hit a beach in the afternoon (the local beaches are open to all after 3pm!). After a hot meal back at the camp, the kids were pooped and fell asleep promptly after the last story was read.

The next day the weather was a bit more dicey, so we donned all our rain gear and set out for a hike around Cliff Pond. With two little ones and only a single child carrier, it took nearly all morning to complete the circuit. We made several pleasant stops to snack and explore and ate our lunch on a ridge overlooking the pond. Catching a glimpse of a map, Ruth discovered that there was a namesake pond for her not too far away. “Look look, it says ‘R-U-T-H’!” When we explained to her what it was on the map, she asked if we could go.

So we did, the very next day. Seeing Ruth Pond was quite a thrill for the kids; it was stocked with fish to look at. Steve and I enjoyed teaching the kids to (attempt to) skip stones. Ruth named an adjacent pond “Lucas Pond” so in a thoughtful moment of inclusion. After that, we headed to a seafood shack to get some requisite lobster, then headed homewards.

All in all, that family camping experience left us hankering for more of its kind, as well as more outdoor action.

So, although Steve was away in Albania for our actual anniversary date, we celebrated quite happily with a long hike through the Blue Hills. The terrain–so characteristic of New England–varied greatly, between even, fertile paths, and rugged, fast-rising, rock-scrambling trails. The heat (95 degrees F) made the trails even more challenging; we were glad we had stocked our water bottles with ice before leaving.

After our adventure, which left us dripping with sweat, we tidied ourselves up and headed downtown, parking by the Public Garden. Close by was a historic restaurant called the Red Hat Cafe (which has been in operation for over 100 years), that happened to offer 10 cent wings. We ate our fill (and boy, was it filling), walked around the garden as the sun set, and then headed home. Simply a lovely way to spend time remembering how fun it is to be around each other.

I’m amassing photographic proof of these events, to be posted later.

talking!

Lucas is definitely talking now. Some words:

• home / “haumm”
• banana / “banana” or “nana”
• bottle / “buhbuh”
• hold me / “up ee”
• please / “eeeees”
• thank you / “gnk gnk”
• binkie / “nee nee”
• blankie / “ahnk gnk”

The gutteral sounding things make more sense when you hear them in person. He seems to like to talk in the back of his throat, for whatever reason.

the only way to enjoy this much snow

The snow outside is too deep for my little ones to play in. One way around it is to go cross-country skiing and drag your kids behind you in pulks.

Lucas loved it; he sang most of the way, and slept in other parts. Ruth is at an in-between stage where she wants to participate, but isn’t quite big enough to do so. I think she vacillated between boredom and enjoyment, depending on how much she felt like she wanted to try skiing.

more homemade mini waldorf little people

I made quite a few more of the mini waldorf little people for Ruth, and she now has a crowd of about 7 to take with her everywhere. Her friends seemed interested in having some for themselves, so I took a little extra time to make some to share around.

Lucia got hers delivered in an embroidered bag I fashioned from an old t-shirt and some spare beads and other scraps I had lying around.

I’m insanely proud of it.

What with all the snow, I’d been wanting to make a homemade bird feeder too. This one is made from an old milk jug, some paper clips, and a pair of dowels I had stashed away. We’ll see if the birds can find it; it’s been about two weeks, and no sign of life at the feeder, but a few days of sprinkling seeds around nearby should change that.

nosebleed

The poor little guy.

Last night, as he crawled out of his pack-n-play, he fell and managed to give himself a nosebleed.

It’s a pretty sad sight to see an 18-month old with a bloody nose. Luckily, a warm bottle of milk & some cuddling in the rocking chair made it easy to fall back to sleep.