wordless wednesday

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Mamatography/ week 29: volcanos in the sand

Okay, slowly uploading photos from this year long project. Meanwhile, Nica has started out at a mommy-and-me playschool (2hrs a week – with me there) and guess what my ‘job’ is, there – it is a co-op so we all have to pitch in? Yep, you got it, class photographer and year book co-editor. Of course I LOVE this job! It completely plays to my passion and, I hope, talent but… it makes me even a bit slower in giving my attention to this my Mamatography project. I am now about 3 months behind in editing and posting them. But I keep snapping – at least one photo a day. These are from the end of July (just before we went to the UK for my friend’s wedding :)

Day 203

day 204

I didn’t take a photo this day, but thankfully NinjaDad did. He loves to take nature photos, mostly birds, insects and arachnids, as it turns out. Here is Mr. Cricket as Nica calls him:

day 205

Another day, a rainy day when I forgot/couldn’t be asked to take a proper photo. So here it is, proof that my hubby very, very occasionally drinks:

day 206

Another day with our outdoor/toddler trekking group. This fun packed day (which Nica still asks me to tell her about, as a bed time story – and remember I am posting this THREE months after the actual event) included making vulcanos in the sand. All you need to do this is Baking Soda and White Vinegar, food colouring is optional and we used little cups to hold the mixture. Fill with baking powder and then pour the vinegar over for great fun :)

But here is the bit that she really enjoyed:

day 208

Our co-sleeping nest… me feeling tired and slouchy; Nica feeling sprightly and cheeky (as usual) and wearing tie-dye (as usual):

day 209

And, as a perfect follow up to the previous picture (where you see the truth: me tired, house a mess), I want one of these machines to help me tidy faster so the whole house can be sparkly, spacious and lovely all the time:

***

Are you up for a challenge? One that will take something from you every day, but give a whole lot back too? How about joining me for the photography challenge in 2012 then? A photo a day of whatever your day involved. You can jump in any time through the year!

If you’d still like to join us, you can start at any time, just sign up here and our host will email you further information.

Without further ado, here is the current list of all participants for Mamatography 2012 so far!

Mamatography/ week 28: Shout!

I am back (from the UK where we went to a wedding – photos of that to come, in time) and I am picking up where I left off in processing and uploading these fun photos of our days. Here is mid July :)

day 196

NinjaDad spent ages lining these up perfectly then I swooped in and took a shot. This did not please him as, unbeknownst to me, that is why he was setting them up, to take a good photo. Ooops!

Day 197
new breakfast bowl – got to eat it all to find the giraffe:

day 199

mommy-and-me joint creation:

day 200

picnic AND a story?! :D

making airplane sounds – prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr:

day 201

she insisted on wearing her kitty top, despite its unseasonality  :p

day 202

‘Come and ride the horsey with me, mommy!’ [taken by grammy – via skype!!]

and this is my horse-riding hat/helmet:

***

Are you up for a challenge? One that will take something from you every day, but give a whole lot back too? How about joining me for the photography challenge in 2012 then? A photo a day of whatever your day involved. You can jump in any time through the year!

If you’d still like to join us, you can start at any time, just sign up here and our host will email you further information.

Without further ado, here is the current list of all participants for Mamatography 2012 so far!

Mamatography/ week 22: playing shop… and good friends

Okay, this was a great week with lots of fun times with friends thrown in.

Meanwhile, I am doing a big push to try and catch up with my photo processing. If you have been following a long you know that I am behind (by about a month) in post-processing and uploading photos here on my blog, of my 365 project (a photo-a-day for a year). Time is scarce, as a full-time mom (I bet you know that feeling!) but still, I am going to prioritise getting this done for a week or two, see if I can push this through. Wish me luck!

day 153

Nica has been really into playing shop, for the last few weeks. She pays with ‘beads’ for items she wants to buy – in this case here, books – typically sold to her by me or her dad :) You can also see her yellow shopping bag in her hand, there.

Plus, notice the big (cardboard) box making another special appearance.

uh… and I feel the need to explain that big hunk of plastic in the background. First: well, we all have our comfortable level of inconsistency, right? Nobody can (or should, in my view) adhere to any philosophy so tightly that they are no longer following their feelings as they arise, spontaneously. So, yeah, we are into our own version of simplicity parenting but… we like to have fun, too. And Nica just loved this plane that was handed down to us from some friends. Me being me, I took out the batteries immediately as I couldn’t stand and see no value in the high pitch tones, half-tunes and flashy lights they use to power but we kept the plane. Nica didn’t have any other ride-on toys at the time and she really took a shine to it.

Does the same happen at your house? Are there some glaring inconsistencies among the toys you keep? Or are you more laid back and find that the toy-box is a free-fall, anything-goes area?

day 154

Nica had to take her bear (complete with his blankey) out with us, this day.

day 155

Summer fair fun:

If by any chance you are wondering why Nica is always wearing a variation of this outfit, the reason is… as ever: Andy Z and the need to wear tie-dye to look just like him!

Biker chic:

“I love trains… but am too young to ride without mommy, so…”

day 156

Here, it is Nica who is the shop keeper:

day 157

Day at the farm:

and playing in the creek is always the best part, right?

day 158

Some good friends L & D chilling at the park:

day 159

Nica and her close friend E. (some quick shots taken with my phone when we bumped into E. and his family out and about!)

***

Are you up for a challenge? One that will take something from you every day, but give a whole lot back too? How about joining me for the photography challenge in 2012 then? A photo a day of whatever your day involved. You can jump in any time through the year!

If you’d still like to join us, you can start at any time, just sign up here and our host will email you further information.

Without further ado, here is the current list of all participants for Mamatography 2012 so far!

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Mamatography/week 18: dreamy in glasses

This is week 18 of my year long photography project, in photos. They are actually photos from the start of May. That is how far behind I am in this. Today, to hurry things along a bit, I did very little processing. Thankfully there were a lot of quite good ones and a lot of ones that were beyond saving anyway (no amount of editing was going to do much for them – hah).

So, here, my photo-a-day for a year project continues (haltingly) – see below for details to join in with your own photo-project :)

Day 123

day 124

‘watcha doin’ Nica?’

‘just chillin’ in ma box, readin’ a book’

day 125

some days are just more inspiring than others…

and this, right here, is how I get into my box (click on image for bigger view):

day 126

‘cos I love drummin’

day 127

re-usable stickers, kitty style. I love that they are mostly in the ‘right’ place (kitty and friends on the beach; hat on head; ice cream in mouth; fish in sea; helicopter and bird in sky; etc.)… and then she decided some kitties were swimming and others were flying!! :)

day 128

day 129

***

Are you up for a challenge? One that will take something from you every day, but give a whole lot back too? How about joining me for the photography challenge in 2012 then? A photo a day of whatever your day involved. You can jump in any time through the year!

If you’d still like to join us, you can start at any time, just sign up here and our host will email you further information.

Without further ado, here is the current list of all participants for Mamatography 2012 so far!

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Mamatography/week 17: Taking out the trash (and other stalker-like activities)


This is my week in photos. Which is part of collecting my year in photos – yep, one photo a day for the whole of 2012!!! I am doing super at taking all the shots, so far… but I am very behind on the processing and uploading which is leaving me a little stressed :(  But trying to remember that I am doing this for me, because it is fun… and it is! And I am learning so much, as this project continues to push me to see more, see deeper, see differently…

Here is week 17

Day 116

My lovely new duds, sent over from auntie Izzy who bought them especially in India :D

The beautiful baby-E making another guest appearance:

day 117

This photo so does not do justice to this lovely mother-daughter pair of fun friends:

day 118

taking out the trash. Finally mommy lets me do some big girl chores!

day 119

practicing my kung fu moves at the dojo. She doesn’t actually do martial arts but her daddy does so any chance she can she likes to play ninja, too!

day 120

flying:

‘… and then the teddy took a rocket and flew to the moon… or was it a really big crane?’

That rare thing, a mother-daughter portrait. So rare indeed that I am totally willing to overlook the fish -I’m-in-the-middle-of-talking face I’ve got going on here. It is still cute. This was at a lovely picnic with some lovely friends :)

Day 121

Through the leaves:

Day 122

Pooped and ready for a nap.

I’ve started keeping a record of some of my fave Nica quotes to add into these photo-posts. This day she said: “I want to go to Andy Z’s house and knock on his door and say ‘surprise’ ” [Andy Z is a local children’s musician who Nica loves and has been ‘chanelling’/prettending to be for several weeks now – since she stopped being Old MacDonald. The transition was seemless]. I calmly explained that we couldn’t do that. That is called ‘stalking’.

***

Are you up for a challenge? One that will take something from you every day, but give a whole lot back too? How about joining me for the photography challenge in 2012 then? A photo a day of whatever your day involved. You can jump in any time through the year!

If you’d still like to join us, you can start at any time, just sign up here and our host will email you further information.

Without further ado, here is the current list of all participants for Mamatography 2012 so far!

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Mamatography/week 12: back in the USA (rainbows, blossoms and Bobby)

This is me still catching up on uploading all my photos from the fabulous, fun Mamatography Project. This is from the last week in March – our first week back from Portugal.

Day 82

Rainbow as seen from friend’s house – a full arch! (needed a different lens to capture it in its full glory). Nica was suprisingly non-plussed by it all… I thought it was AWESOME!

day 83

Straight back from Portugal and I decided it was time for an upgrade to Nica’s toys (yes, me, the ‘fewer toys is better‘ lady – I didn’t say ‘no toys’, right? ;) In particular I really wanted to get her a cloth doll because she has a fair few soft toys (like her monkey, pictured – still one of her faves) but no humanoid dolls she can dress, etc. She went through a phase of being really into changing monkey and bear’s diapers so I thought maybe she was ready for some more sophisticated doll play. I am very into the Steiner thing of having a doll with no/neutral expression so your child can project their emotions onto them (happy/sad/angry/etc) and role-play situations from their life with them. I have been dreaming of buying a real, beautiful, hand-made Waldorf doll via Etsy (like this one). Being one-of-a-kind and hand-made, they are naturally quite pricey, though (starting at around $130) and I had this nagging doubt about whether Nica was ready/would really want one, herself (not just another one of my crunchy grown-up ideas, like the balance bike LOL). So, then, after my 21hour trip back from Portugal, in a moment of impulse I decided to buy a ready-made cloth doll from Pottery Barn (what?! yeah, I said it my dear hippy friends, I went there, to corporate middle America!). But looks she is quite cute:

She does have a (feint) smile so she doesn’t really qualify as a true Waldorf doll but she is lovely soft, touch-me cloth, very sweet and more importantly cost me $20 rather than $200 (she was on sale). Nica maned her Bobby (surprisingly name-like for a title bestowed by a toddler. No idea where it came from!).

And, sadly, truth is she HASN’T played with her that much, at all. So, actually I am glad I didn’t go ahead and spend lots of money on a doll which I think is beautiful but which goes completely unused. Later, when she is ready, if she wants one we can revisit this dream and support a WAHM (work-at-home-mom :)

Anyway, that first photo for today is Nica at the mall before buying Bobby. The monkey is actually in her dolly-ergo but you can’t tell there.

day 85

playing with daddy!

Day 86

Spring is here.

Nica got sick with a grastro-intestinal bug of some kind. So we were under house-arrest for a week. It did actually get a bit scary as she got quite dehydrated :(  She couldn’t keep anything (food or drink) down for much of the time and when she did start eating we kept it super-simple with a BRAT diet. So, on the plus side she got to eat bananas. This is actually the first time Nica has eaten a whole banana, skin-on (‘like a monkey’)! We don’t give her bananas very much, normally, as they are known to be very acid forming and hence to aggravate eczema. But of course she loves them so it was a nice upside to eat lots of wheat and bananas and the like this week – of course her skin got much worse the week after, though :( but hey: BANANAS!

‘Expeliamus’! A silly game Nica and NinjaDad play with this pointer wand thingey…

[taken by NinjaDad]

day 87

NinjaDad’s magical music making machine :)

And having to stay indoors all week means not only lots of photos of random objects (as above) but also a push to be creative and do fun things indoors… like painting. Poor thing she was so weak at this point that she didn’t really get into it how she normally would (half that masterpiece is mine LOL) but still it was a distraction.

***

Are you up for a challenge? One that will take something from you every day, but give a whole lot back too? How about joining me for the photography challenge in 2012 then? A photo a day of whatever your day involved. You can jump in any time through the year!

If you’d still like to join us, you can start at any time, just sign up here and our host will email you further information.

Without further ado, here is the current list of all participants for Mamatography 2012 so far!

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Wordless Wednesday: Easter Bunny Hunt

I am breaking form (from the ‘Mamatography photo-a-day in a weekly post’ thing) and instead going for a more traditional ‘Wordless Wednesday’ format to capture the joy of Easter while it is still fresh and topical. So here is our wordless-ish Easter.

We don’t have a garden, so we ‘hid’ the eggs at a local park and let Anya have the adventure of finding them all:

The hat was crocheted by NinjaDad who not content with being an origami whiz has spread his craft domain to woolen goods :)

The eggs were of two kinds, the plastic kind which we put little gifts in (mostly some toys we already had kept back from the last batch from Nana – as they looked the right size to fit in eggs) and…

the (real, hard-boiled) eggs NinjaDad stayed up dying the night before (while I slept off a migraine) – bless him… but looks like he had fun!

Nica had fun lining them up (she loves things in straight lines – is your toddler the same?)

not a morsel of candy was had or missed, for that matter. LOTS of fun was had!

***

Did you have any celebration this weekend – Passover, a Christian Easter or a more pagan celebration of spring and fertility (like ours)? If so what did your celebration look like?

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Mamatography/week 12: last week in Portugal

The Mamatography (one photo-a-day for a year) adventure continues. Here is where our life was at in mid-March (still playing catch-up… while remembering to take a shot every day!!):

Day 75

Day 76

Visiting a good friend… with lots of TOYS!!

and good taste (demonstrated in a beautifully decorated home)

And here is my beautiful hostess:

Day 77

oggling at momma and grammy eating in the restaurant:

Day 78

As Nica plays in grammy’s garden, I snap a shot of some of her beauties :)

Then it is off to the beach for us. Nica and grammy play in the sand:

Vo-vo swears Nica can play doodle-jump. Hahaha!

Day 79

Visit to Lisbon’s fabulous Oceanarium. Nica found her own unique way to view it:

I have been trying to take the ‘perfect aquarium photo’ for a while now. Here is my latest attempt (blurry! but beautiful?):

[Some previous attempts here and probably my fave so far here.]

Anyway, this incredible, huge ‘oceanarium’ and the bit she liked most BY FAR was this buoy outside the building, in the shape of the bobbing head of its mascot, Vasco! She could not get enough of going to see this little dude. She wanted the Vasco plush toy, too, and truth be told I am a little sorry I didn’t get it. At the time I couldn’t see the point (one more random toy) and she didn’t seem that attached to him but I could have got him and let her show me how she would play with him. Ah, well… Here he is, floating, happily:

I have some awesome photos of Anya with her cousins (we couldn’t agree how many degrees removed – they are my cousins’ kids. Anybody know?) but keeping them private, for now, at least :)

Day 80

Travelling back home. Nica is ready with her bunny in her backpack (which doubles as an Ergo)

What else are you going to do on a flight… but put stickers on your face (and everywhere else):

And at the restaurant, make sure you set a place for bunny, too!

***

Are you up for a challenge? One that will take something from you every day, but give a whole lot back too? How about joining me for the photography challenge in 2012 then? A photo a day of whatever your day involved. You can jump in any time through the year!

If you’d still like to join us, you can start at any time, just sign up here and our host will email you further information.

Without further ado, here is the current list of all participants for Mamatography 2012 so far!

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Mamatography/week 11: travels in Portugal

Okay, this is week 11 (week 11, folks!!) of our photo-a-day for a year challenge we are playfully calling Mamatography. This week was a week of visiting old haunts and old friends across Portugal, my home-land.

I am about two weeks behind on uploads, alas – but as you can see, I have been keeping the snapping up.

day 68:

just me and Pipoca on our own in Belem, near Lisbon. I used to hang out there a lot, as a teenager. We took the tram there (which she looooooooves!) and then wondered round and chilled. It was a fun, relaxing day. Alas, because I was carrying her (in backpack) plus my bag I didn’t take the ‘good’ camera, so this is all point-and-shoot action:

while we were checking out the big fountain near the monastery, a huge group of students approached with megaphones. At first I assumed it was some kind of protest… then it transpired it was a mass hazing event:

they lined the new students up by the side of the fountain (while it was, mercifully, off) and what was coming next slowly becomes obvious!…

oh, yeah, baby! The older students ‘forced’ the new intake to jump in. This kind of (sometimes even aggressive) hazing is famous in Portugal. First year students know it is coming. I always dreaded it (and then avoided it all together by going to study in the UK instead) but I must say this event here was all done in a super jovial atmosphere with much giggling, singing and photo-taking (by the proud and smiling ‘hazees’). They really did all seem to be bonding and having fun!

day 69:

Road Trip: wooohooo! Grammy drives the wagon across the country:

Vo-vo sleeps in the car:

Mommy tries to look cool with Vo-vo’s oversized fashion glasses.

baby takes a nap, too :)

day 70:

Spring, lovely time to be in Portugal. We had arrived at our destination, here, Castelo de Vide, in time to see the almond trees in full bloom.

Grammy and Vo-vo stroll into town for a coffee and a swing.

Grammy gives Pipoca a piggy back ride to the kiddy park:

and walking through Castelo de Vide:

[oh, this photo had so much potential… if only I could have come back at another time of the day AND if only my toddler would pose as I want her to AND… well you get the picture… :p]

day 71:

on to another destination, to spend a few days with some dear, lovely old friends (who declined to be made famous through exposure on this blog), but here is baby stylin’ in the car on the way over…

and then our friends took us for a picnic near this 7000+ year old stone circle in Alentejo, Portugal. I LOVE this stuff and literally talk to the stones… not so crazy, right? But here is the thing: I swear the stones talk back :)

day 72:

Pipoca playing at V’s house. This is the first time she ever asked me to take a photo of her, she said, ‘take a shot of this, mama’ (well… in Portuguese :)

day 73:

cute photo and… notice the ancient city walls in the background :)

One of the things that shocked me in Portugal was seeing little toddlers running around with sugary biscuits in their hands. I am used to being surrounded by hyper-health conscious, super-nutrition-educated California moms who often don’t give their kids sugar at all… much less by routine, everyday in the playground. Kind of weird to this ex-pat.

Nica was VERY happy with her apple :)

day 74:

ugh… and we were off on another adventure this time to another dear friend’s house. But I was only there for an afternoon and we were having so much fun catching up and letting our two littles hang out that I didn’t get much time to shoot. Bellow is a photo-fail of me trying to grab a shot of her jumping on the trampoline. You’ll have to auto-fill-in and imagine the action and giggles for yourself!

— — —

P.S. as you may have noticed, travelling to Europe has meant that I am, essentially, two weeks behind on posting!!! I am trying to catch up plus I have several (word) posts in the final stages of editing. Man I need more time… or a nanny!  :)

***

Are you up for a challenge? One that will take something from you every day, but give a whole lot back too? How about joining me for the photography challenge in 2012 then? A photo a day of whatever your day involved. You can jump in any time through the year!

If you’d still like to join us, you can start at any time, just sign up here and our host will email you further information.

Without further ado, here is the current list of all participants for Mamatography 2012 so far!

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Mamatography/week 10: surprise visit to grammy, in Portugal

Sooooooo, here at last is last weeks installment of our 366 adventure, now in Portugal. (Sorry it is so late, but you know/can imagine how it is with flying across an ocean with a two year old… on my own!) These are the photos of our first week here. If you remember, I flew to Lisbon to surprise my mother for her birthday. She loved her ‘present’ as we knocked on her door and waved a birthday card at her, saying ‘you just can’t trust the post these days, so we thought we’d deliver it ourselves!’ Alas, I failed to take the crucial ‘surprise face’ photo but I can reveal it looked much like this :O !!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, here’s what we got up to that week from packing to enjoying time with grandma and grandpa:

day 60

the day before our big adventure… here pictured chillin’ out and reading a good book, trying to create an oasis of calm energy in the midst of a sand-storm of activity and preparations for an 18 hour trip:

day 61

in the airport, with daddy (who drove us there and stayed to say bye-bye). We’ll miss you. See you in three weeks, daddy!!

riding the suitcases:

in the airplane, watching ‘toons (an exciting treat):

day 62

connecting with Grammy after the big surprise arrival!

[you can see I have been enjoying that (lazy) iPhone ap :p  ]

day 63

horrible self-portrait. hate it… but it is the best photo of a bad batch and I was having too much fun, catching up with my parents to slow down and think about photos. This was taken at a seafood restaurant we went to. Yumm!

 day 64

still getting over our jet lag and settling in, this was taken when we went shopping for some basic goods at the local ‘mall’. I think this is pipoca’s first ever coin-operated ride  :)

day 65

my little diva, singing her heart out at the breakfast table.

and later that day…

at a dinner party in celebration of grammy’s birthday!! (guess who ate the first bit – scooped right off with the fingers)

day 66

a day with old friends (who asked not to be shown :) but first, a tram ride (she loves it and enthusiastically calls it the ‘leletico’, instead of ‘electrico’ – sweet)

day 67

start the day with visit to cafe with grammy and friend (not shown)

then afternoon with vo-vo on the beach:

(yes, I am working a ‘theme’ with this one)