happy birthday! {angry bird style.}

Happy Birthday to Superman! He turned another year older (and wiser and cuter) this week in trendy style with some Angry Bird cupcakes made by yours truly. I got the idea from a bunch of different blogs. Theirs looked SO much better than mine, but I think those people have their own bakeries. I'm pretty sure that makes a difference.

I made them using marshmallow fondant (minimallows, powdered sugar, water & shortening) and food gel coloring. It took a while, but fondant always does for me. Too bad it tastes disgusting to me...

Superman started playing Angry Birds on his phone a long time ago. (Maybe not THAT long ago, but it sure seems like a long time ago. I know it was well before Christmas...) I think someone mentioned the game app to him or something. He started playing it and one day told me about it. He said it was a very silly game, but it was very addicting. He started explaining the game, and I thought he had officially gone crazy. You sling shot birds into pigs? What? Why?

He had me try it. I got hooked. Then he put it on his iPad. The kids got hooked. I would take the iPad away from them and then start playing it myself. Just one more level....(but then I got stuck on this one level where a pig was underneath a wooden board, and I could not for the life of me kill that pig. I stopped playing. It was too maddening).

#3-child-of-mine (who is 3 years old) had the game mastered. We never explained to him what to do; he would pick up the iPad, get himself to that game app and start playing. He'd even enlarge the screen to see exactly where the pigs are. Then he'd shrink the screen, angle the birds, and let them fly. He'd kill all the pigs. Now he's obsessed with "the mighty eagle."

But thanks to those mean green pigs stealing the bird's eggs, we had a party theme. And some fond & funny memories of a computer game.

fond.

I can appreciate being fond of something.

fond: affectionate, adoring, having a strong preference or liking for.

I adore this face.
I strongly prefer her happy personality.
I really love it when her chubby hands are touching my neck as I hold her close.
I try my darnedest to keep tears from swelling up in those big eyes.

You could say I am fond of my baby girl.

i will remember today.

Today was a day that I will remember. There was nothing of significance to note; just a regular run-of-the-mill day:

The baby woke me up at 4am & I wasn't able to fall back to sleep {although she slumbered nicely for another 4 hours}.
I did 2 loads of laundry but didn't fold them. {Typical.}
I wouldn't let the kids have toaster waffles, a breakfast they are absolutely obsessed with at the moment, because they had already disobeyed and broke 2 rules by 7am. (Those rules would be no tv in the morning, and the boys' room was STILL a disaster when it should have been cleaned last night.)
I thought it would be a great idea to ride our bikes to the park and have an impromptu soccer practice with #1 & #2 after lunch. {#1 threw a minor tantrum about doing such a thing before we left, & #2 threw a tantrum during a juggling drill because it was too hard. }
OtterPops when we got home. No sad faces here!
#2 & I had a mini piano lesson and focused on softly holding a bubble to curve his fingers right.
#3 destroyed his closet that had been cleaned this morning looking for his Baby Jaguar costume. {It was in my room under a pile of clean clothes.}
#1 & #3 played with the next door neighbor girl {she always makes me laugh!} while #2 watched a Spiderman cartoon and I tried to take a nap on the couch {insert "yeah-right" laughter here}. #4 was sleeping.
#2 had baseball practice. #1, #3, #4 & I sat in the car reviewing addition, subtraction, and ABC's. I fed #4 her chicken noodle dinner & mixed garden veggies.
I took the kids to the new ice cream shop {Simply Ice Cream} for dinner. We ate....ice cream. The kids were beside themselves with excitement, which quickly turned into sheer confusion. There was legitimate worry from #1 (who is 8) concerning the ratio of healthy foods to ice cream in her stomach. With a puzzling look on my face, I assured her she could have a healthy sandwich, some chicken and some veggies when we got home. She was very satisfied with that answer and continued to gobble down her 2 scoops in a waffle cone.
Meanwhile, #3 was still in his Baby Jaguar costume.
We ran home & did showers & baths for #1-4.
Time for a bottle at#4's request {and routine}.
BEDTIME.

A regular run-of-the-mill day, but heaven knows I'll forget these regular days and the sights and sounds that come too.

blinking summer lights.

When I was little, I loved catching fireflies (lightning bugs, as I called them). We lived outside of Atlanta, where the trees were thick and the lightning bugs were plentiful. One spot I was particularly fond of was near my mom's softball practice field. Lining the field was a thick grove of trees, and as the sun would set, streams of light would peak through. Once the sun was gone, little lights would begin to blink against the dark tree trunks.

~Blink~

The other children and myself would exchange excited whispers and point to each visible spot of light.

~Blink~

We would quietly approach the bugs, watching each "blink" carefully so we could follow & anticipate their flight path. The older kids were always able to catch multiple lightning bugs, which would frustrate me as I struggled with being able to see them when they weren't blinking. But one particular day I saw one right next to me, mid-air.

~Blink~

The magical moment finally arrived when inside my cupped hands, there was a lightning bug. I watched it crawl around on my hand, screamed, and dropped it.

moments of change.

Life is made up of changing moments. There are times when changing moments invite excitement, happiness, & a thrill. Other changing moments bring on a degree of heartache, loss, or despair. Some changing moments are so small they barely alter one's original course, while others can also move one's course onto an entirely new field.

*Sigh*

I've decided (for a few reasons which shall remain nameless) I need to stop the biz aspect of photography for an indefinite time frame, and it's both exciting and heartbreaking all at once. I've purposefully been slowing it down for some time with the hopes that slowing things down would be my answer, that this would be what worked.

But it's not.

*Sigh*

At this very moment my heart is breaking.

What is it about making a fleeting moment tangible? Or making an image appear as though it was in a dream but now on paper? I've loved photography since I was 14. And by love, I mean adore, be inspired by, can't-live-without, drool over, need-to-master-the-art type of love. I vividly remember my first "shoot" at 14. It included my 2 year old sister, her friend (we were babysitting him), a tree, some flowers and my first roll of black and white film. I shot all 12 exposures and ran (literally) to the SavOn right down the street and around the corner. I could not wait for those prints to come back 3-5 days later. I still have them, and they're terrible! But I love them.

I don't think I could ever stop capturing images, especially those images that are so precious and meaningful. Well, maybe if I lost all 10 fingers, but I'm sure I'd find a way to still take a photo.

Big or small, all changing moments open new doors to new paths. Here's to hoping that new path is weed-free. ;)