Project 365: Week 13

We're just taking it one day at a time.

Monday, March 22
Hanging out after dinner.


Tuesday, March 23
We watched "old" movie Tron, partly in anticipation of a new version coming out, but I think mostly because I said to Frank "What's Tron?"


Wednesday, March 24
Zach got into a fresh fruit phase. He surprised me by eating apple slices for the first time at playgroup, then we got groceries and in the course of three days he ate 4 oranges, 2 apples, and 2 pears.


Thursday, March 25
A couple of Zach's favorite characters: Action Chugger (the yellow one--he's a flying superhero train) from Chuggington, and Penelope the koala.


Friday, March 26
Adjusting Zach's new car seat.


Saturday, March 27
It isn't a cold making him crabby, Gabe is getting a tooth (or two)!


Sunday, March 28
I like French press coffee. Except for the fact that I have microwave the second cup to heat it back up, and then taking the whole thing apart and washing it. Other than that... But I got this press for free with an order from Starbucks, and it's just so pretty. And the coffee really is excellent.

With all the crabbiness lately

These are the moments we savor.

Here's that photo

I know some of you remember this photo of Zach, even though it was before I started blogging. Five-month-old peas in a pod. My littlest pea's got a cold now, and the big one is throwing extreme separation-anxiety tantrums. Wish me luck this week.

Project 365: Week 12

I'm really, really tired, especially of tantrums. But last week wasn't all bad. Frank and I did manage to get a little time to ourselves, and we caught up on shopping and dishes and laundry. And Zach has adopted "oh-tay" as his answer of choice. He's still never said "yes," but "oh-tay, Mommy," "oh-tay, Daddy" is pretty freakin' adorable. I'll try to get it on video.

Monday, March 15
An increasingly mobile guy, Gabe rolls all around, and I swear he almost got up on his knees. Where has the time gone?


Tuesday, March 16
He likes to point out whenever there are two of anything, so I figured memory would be a good first board game. When he's paying attention, Zach does really well finding the matches.


Wednesday, March 17
This photo of Gabe reminds me of a similar one of Zach...I'll see if I can find it and post it.


Thursday, March 18
Gabe really knows how to make friends and influence people. Well, babies, at least.


Friday, March 19
Highlight of the week: a friend came and watched the boys for a couple hours while Frank and I went to dinner. We chased Zach around the yard for a little while before we went. I kinda thought he might pose for a photo with me, but I guess I forgot who I was dealing with.


Saturday, March 20
The road to Chievres. I just like the trees.


Sunday, March 21
Gabe can sit up now, with a little help. Dinner was flank steak rolled up with spinach, bread crumbs, garlic, and pine nuts. Good, a little rare in the center for my taste, but good.

Project 365: Week 11

One day last week I read a blog post that reminded me to enjoy these little ones, and get over the minor annoyances, because I would really miss them if they weren't here. That, along with sunnier days and getting a bit more sleep, made last week seem a little easier that the weeks before. Last time we got groceries I bought fresh veggies and stuff for some recipes that I wanted to try, and I actually followed through with all of them. I think Zach is just about over his cold, and Gabe only woke up once last night during the 11.5 hours he slept.

Monday, March 8
We bought Zach a twin mattress a few weeks ago and it is working out nicely.


Tuesday, March 9
Made penne with broccoli and sausage. Very good, even without any kind of sauce.


Wednesday, March 10
We've made brisket in the crock pot lots of times, but I wanted to try these potato cakes I saw on Rachael Ray. Another good recipe. It was the first time I ever used my lemon zester, I think.


Thursday, March 11
Just documenting me and my hair that never comes out of a bun lately.


Friday, March 12
Gabriel is 5 months old. He's 19 lbs. and 26.5 inches. Today is probably the first time Zach has sat down with the intent to play with Gabe. I immediately grabbed the camera and caught his big smile. Then I had to put the camera down to stop Zach from kicking him...apparently that was the game he wanted to play. It wasn't too forceful, luckily, and of course Gabe thought it was hilarious. The past few days I'd been taking Gabe upstairs with me to put Zach down for his nap and reading to the both of them together on his bed. I took more than a few photos, with a variety of expressions, but I like this one--"I don't know if we can trust him, Mom..."


For dinner: Well-dressed salmon, which on the show was served with the potato cakes. Delicious.


Saturday, March 13
This crazy kid loves brushing his teeth even more than taking a bath.


Sunday, March 14
We've started giving Zach a little more freedom to walk around when we go out...here he is dancing around the (thankfully deserted) foodcourt at the army garrison.

Look at these...

...silly little boys! Happy weekend!

Project 365: Week 10

As I chose the photos to post today, I realized that our week in photos seems utterly lazy compared to how I remember it. I guess those were the moments that life was calm enough to actually take photos.

Monday, March 1
Great photos of Gabriel in what I like to refer to as my high-chair studio (AKA the kitchen where the light is good). Remember this photo from way back when? One of my favorites ever of Zach.


Tuesday, March 2
I gave up my running alone time to take everyone for a walk because I thought Zach would like to get out of the house, and I was rewarded with this adorable photo.


Wednesday, March 3
Gabe slept so soundly on the floor for over an hour, even with Zach watching TV and me shining light into his face with a reflector. Hey, when else do I have to practice this stuff?


Thursday, March 4
Zach's additions to the diaper bag. I didn't notice it until I went to pick it up on our way out the door and almost fell over laughing.


Friday, March 5
I'm still not sure how I got this to happen. They must have tired themselves out by being too much to deal with that morning.


Saturday, March 6, & Sunday, March 7
Beverages of choice for the weekend. The champagne was to celebrate, in addition to Frank's recent degree, the fact that we got the kids to go to sleep at the same time. Small victories, people.

Quick edits

So I had even less time than I thought I would this week, but I just added the "after" photos to the last post. There's not a radical difference between most of the photos. The changes were just a click or two to adjust the white balance or exposure, or take out scratches on Gabe's face. I used Lightroom "presets" on a few of them, which is literally one click for the program to auto adjust color and exposure levels. At the risk of sounding any geekier, I will just say that I am amazed at what is possible with cameras and computers. Check out the photos :)

Oh, and Jen, the last post was a success as far as moving photos around! Do I dare say I'm an expert at it now? Shame on Blogger for being so darned difficult!

Project 365: Week 9

While I could write about my mixed feelings about living with a two-year-old, I've decided to go in a different, more positive, direction.
I've spent my periodic free moments lately playing around with Adobe Lightroom, another piece of software dedicated to managing and "developing" digital photos. And I'm having fun and really liking it, though I'm sure it will take me some time to completely figure out all the possibilities. These are the "before," straight-out-of-camera photos, and I'll be back to post the "afters" after I have more time to mess with them.

Monday, February 22
It is inevitable that this will happen on days when Zach refuses to nap. I think this was like 6 or 6:30. Frank takes him up to bed, and I call it a well-deserved break before his typical 8pm bedtime.


Tuesday, February 23
It's hard to photograph a bright computer screen (ooh, I just realized that next time I should try dimming the screen first), but this was my big excitement for the day...sitting down with my computer and a glass of wine. Frank's big excitement for the day was submitting his final paper for his masters. Yay!! He is officially done with classes and has his degree. I am so proud of him.


Wednesday, February 24
Just random photo-taking. I have some other cute shots, but I like the funny look on Gabe's face :) And his really big eyes.


Thursday, February 25
When I look at this photo, I see a still-chubby boy. It's not until I look at, say, one of these photos, that he looks like such a grown-up boy in this one.


Friday, February 26
It was rainy pretty much the whole week.


Saturday, February 27
A birthday gift from Jen. I like this mug so much that I've hand-washed it and used it every single morning since I received it (like a week and a half at this point).


Sunday, February 28
I was surprised how much attention Zach paid to "Night at the Museum." It's probably the most he's watched a movie so far. He liked the parts with the jungle animals, especially--you guessed it--the monkey.