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Blueberry Picking

One great memory I have from my childhood is going to visit my Grandma in northwestern Ontario and going blueberry picking. Of course we just picked from wild blueberry bushes, and I remember running through hills in a forest (although my Dad would call it "the bush") with buckets. Then we'd come home and eat a bowl of blueberries with cream and sugar, and freeze the rest for pies, muffins, and other treats. I knew it was blueberry season here in Texas while my parents were here and thought it would be fun to do with them since I remember doing it with my Grandma. We picked 16 lbs of blueberries, so we'll be eating plenty of blueberry muffins over the next few months, which will keep Mike happy for a while! :)

Erin didn't need a bucket - all the blueberries she picked went straight into her mouth (thank goodness at this place you can eat as you pick!), and the ones she occasionally put in a bucket, she eventually took back out and put in her mouth. For the most part, she just carried around an empty bucket and a well-fed tummy. I don't even want to know how many pounds of blueberries she ate on her own!

And when hers was empty, she went picking in someone else's bucket!

Erin is mastering the duck face

This is to prove that Mike really was there too...he just seemed to spend most of the time poking me with a stick. Who knew that blueberry picking wasn't his thing!??

And of course, eating them is the best part....





Sharing snow cones at the end of the day:

Lots of Swimming!

The kids have practically lived in their swimsuits this summer which means I seem to spend all my time lathering on the sunscreen and washing towels. We've been having a lot of fun in the water this summer though, so it is all worth it. During the time my parents were here we went swimming twice, we went to the beach one day, and we played at the splash pad twice.

My parents arrived late one night and spent that night in Houston (they have some friends from Saudi who retired a couple months ago and now live in Houston). We met them early the next morning and spent the day at Galveston beach together (pictures to come). Then we stayed with them at Don and Lynne's house that night. It was nice to meet some of their friends from Saudi, and the kids loved swimming in their pool and jumping off the diving board the next day:

Erin keeps herself afloat with a pool noodle and won't let anyone touch her. She's all over the pool on that thing! She's come a long way since the beginning of summer when she would cling to me for dear life!

My Mom and the girls

Erin and Nana

Love those blue eyes!

Mixing up some sort of concoction

Elaina and Nana

Erin and Grandpa

Jumping in!

Erin, chillin at the pool

Elaina on the diving board

Erin was brave too!

Our Family Photos: A Photo Blog

While taking family pictures, and now thinking about the chaotic events of that day, I can't help but chuckle a bit when I think of this quote from Elder Ballard's talk in General Conference two years ago:

"First, recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction.

Author Anna Quindlen reminds us not to rush past the fleeting moments. She said: “The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. … I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less” (Loud and Clear [2004], 10–11).

So allow me to leave a detailed account of the actual events of the day....in case I ever look at the serene photographs of my family on the wall and somehow forget that the day did not go down flawlessly.

This is how the morning started - everyone looked great....except me; I couldn't open my eyes...

I suppose I thought that if I had only one eye open it might be ok?....
Then....Elaina was stung by a wasp. She actually asked my Mom to please take a picture of it...
Understandably, it was pretty traumatic for her. She was pretty distraught after she was stung. Luckily we had some topical Benadryl and Hydrocortosone cream on hand.

This is what you call family support! Except I love that Mike looks ready to get this day over with, and Erin is more interested in the ants crawling on the back of the bench...

Now Elaina has Erin's undivided attention. She is willing to share her sorrowing experience with anyone that shows interest throughout the day. Everyone but Erin knows better than to remind her about it. For this reason, Erin was her best audience that day and Elaina turned up the drama for added effect. By the way, I love the expressions on both of their faces (it's worth zooming in to see it better). Um, can we say over dramatic?....

Oh, I love these girls. I felt so sorry for Elaina, even with the fake tears that lasted long after the real pain had subsided. Erin is such a sweetheart and loves her big sister, fake tears and all...

After consoling Elaina, she was feeling better, so we resumed the picture taking. She pouted most of the time...
As badly as I felt for her, this is a genuine fake-pout...
Occasionally she would cry out in pain. At this point, I'm not sure if it was real, or if she was trying to generate some sympathy...
In the end, I think this picture sums up the day:
Daddy: is annoyed, fed up, and bothered
Mommy: is just trying to keep the peace and keep everyone happy an smiling throughout the whole ordeal (inside, she is silently trying to hold it all together)
Elaina: feels sorry for herself
Erin: just wants to play

Family Photos

Taking family pictures is a nightmare. But somehow it is one of those routine obligations for any family: having a photo on the wall of the happy family (and forgetting about the frustrations, tears, whining & nagging that actually dominated the day of the photo shoot).

We were in desperate need of updated photos for the frames in our living room (Erin is no longer 18 months old!), so I somehow convinced my Mom be our photographer. She's been learning photography for a few years, but her interest is more related to their travels than family photo shoots, so this was a first time experience for her.

So we set out one hot June morning in the lovely Texas heat. We had previously scouted out a location; I coordinated wardrobes for the four of us; I only bought 1 new article of clothing for the occasion; I ironed; I curled hair; I put together a bag of gimmicks to make the kids laugh; my Dad was on had as the family jester; I brought non-messy snacks (and a good assortment of it); I brought drinks. As the photographer, my Mom had a complicated list of things to consider:

*sunlight/shadows
*composition of individuals
*need a nice looking background
*both girls are in skirts - try not to get any underwear showing
*hair needs to be out of their eyes
*how to get them both looking at the camera at the same time (impossible, I believe!)
*and with really high expectations, how to get them both to SMILE at the camera...at the SAME time (beyond impossible!)....but not a fake "cheesy" smile

The morning of the shoot this ordeal became even more complicated when every possible thing that could go wrong, went wrong:

*I suffered from extreme light sensitivity that morning and could not open my eyes. Seriously, my eyes were closed for the majority of the pictures. I could not get them to open no matter how hard I tried.
*It was 100 degrees outside, so we were hot, sweaty, and tired. But we spent the whole time trying to convince the girls that they were not hot, sweaty, and tired.
*Within the first 15 minutes Elaina was stung by a wasp. Twice. On her forehead and on her arm. After some TLC, she was feeling ok so we proceeded to take pictures. However she was so distraught over what had happened to her that she didn't want to smile and would occasionally burst into tears just thinking about it. I don't blame her for being so sad about it, but having spent 3+ hours preparing for this, it was going to take a lot more than 2 wasp stings to get this Mom to quit the photoshoot early! So.... we instead tried to concentrate our efforts on getting Elaina to forget that it ever happened. We weren't too successful since she was either frowning or wallowing in her sorrows in most of the pictures. Poor girl. I really did feel badly :(

So....despite the wasp sting, the hot & humid weather, my eyes that would not stay open, and all the normal challenges that family pictures with young kids entail....I am happy to say that 529 photos later, we ended up with several good ones! My Mom was a saint and is very talented. Considering all the above complications, and the fact that she is an amateur photographer and has never done family portraits, the fact that we even got one good picture is incredible. We actually ended up with several good ones in each pose, and after a bit of Photoshop touch-up (to lighten up one picture, and fix wild hair in another), they will look great on the wall! The morning was a huge nightmare, and a huge success!