Capture the Everday: Assignment 3

Another blogger has posted this photo challenge. Sounded like fun.  I need to catch up on assignments though . . . 
 
Capture the Everyday is about getting you to capture those everyday moments in your life! Each Thursday, I’ll issue a simple challenge to capture something that’s a part of your daily life. You can post just a picture or add some words to go along with it. You’ll have a week to get it done and then I’ll issue another. It’s a quick, easy way to start capturing those little parts of life we sometimes take for granted.

- Feel free to write about what you captured. A funny story about it. A history on it. How you’ll remember it. What will you want to remember about that picture 20, 30, 40 years from now?

- Just a picture and a caption are fine too.

Assignment 3: What are your kid’s favorite toys?

For Jack this was super easy -- big machines of any shape size or color. He can name them all: front loader, dump truck, backhoe, bulldozer, exa-bay-tor (his pronunciation), and Daddy and my favorite: combine harvester. He knows all the parts and loves looking for them wherever we go. He even sleeps with a fleet. See picture below:

 This is a picture of the train table that Grandma and Grandpa Williams just got for the boys. It has a construction site and train/car areas.

 Will was a little more difficult. Most of the time he just wants to army crawl or roll to the nearest piece of furniture until he gets stuck.  He does love his time in the bouncer though . . .

 It is pretty hard to get a good picture of him these days. Even harder to get a picture of his other favorite toy, an old remote. He likes to push the buttons and chew on it.

Jack and Will both like to listen to books and play in the bathtub too. Maybe I will do a favorite toys part 2 someday.

Erin Go Bragh

Most of you know that every holiday is celebrated with much vigor in our family. Blame it on my mom. From the time we were little she put in so much time and effort to make the little things very special for us. I am not sure why - maybe she is making up for the unexciting childhood she had or maybe she wanted us to appreciate and celebrate all walks of life. My guess is she thinks doing all these things is fun and wanted to instill that same enjoyment of life into me and Chris.

Job well done. We are firmly ingrained with much holiday craziness. Why do I do it? It's tradition, it's fun -- absolutely. Celebrating throughout the year gives me opportunities to show my family I love them. Not that I need the holiday, but it sure helps me come up with ideas.  My friend Chrissie sent Jack a Halloween card for his first Halloween that said: "Enjoy festive holidays sweet boy! Your mom will make every holiday outstanding for you - even the most obscure of holidays."  She couldn't have given me a greater compliment. 

Saint Patrick's Day is one of my favorites. Green and orange are my favorite colors and I love the Irish lore. There is a great parade each year. I like eating corn beef and cabbage. Flogging Molly rocks. It is a chance to party during Lent. It isn't like Christmas or Easter where there are all these obligations and stress. What more can a girl ask for?

Today the boys are dressed their green outfits. We went to get doughnuts for breakfast (although they were out of green sprinkle doughnuts, seriously Lamar's?). We delivered doughnuts to the teachers at the Little Gym and to our friends the Wilsons and the Harms-Crails like leprechauns leaving pots of gold.

 Before nap we read the story of Micheal O'Finnegan. We made Guinness and chocolate mint cupcakes. Later we will head to Grandma's for corned beef and cabbage. Then mom and I get to go to see the Colorado Symphony's Saint Patrick's day show. Good stuff.

Wishing you a rainbow
For sunlight after showers—
Miles and miles of Irish smiles
For golden happy hours—
Shamrocks at your doorway
For luck and laughter too,
And a host of friends that never ends
Each day your whole life through!

To blog or not to blog, that is the question?

So I have a bit of an obsession. I love reading blogs. I think they appeal my natural propensity to observe. I love people watching and I am probably a bit of a busybody. For me blogs are like a written form of reality TV, without so much craziness. A more "real" reality if that makes sense.  I am inspired by the bloggers that I have been reading and I feel a bit of a calling to share my life with others too. I started off reading a couple of blogs by people I actually know, but have moved on to the "mommy blog" scene. I am impressed with people's ability to share in such a creative and eloquent way.

That being said, I have  been struggling with the decision to do this. Do I really want to open my life up to others? Does any one care what we are up to? Will it be worth the time and energy? I think the answer is yes. I would like an outlet for our family and friends to be more a part of our life without the awkward catch up phrases that permeate our conversations. I feel like I am shortchanging our existence when I sum up the question: "How are the boys?" or "How is Craig?" with answers like: "Doing good, growing like a weed." or "Liking his job so far." when there are so many antidotes, pictures and videos that show how they REALLY are.


My vision for this site is to be a journal for myself and a log of the boys day to day life. I want to capture the "inbetweens" - the things that happen between holidays and special trips -- more than just a facebook post. I want to portray a more authentic look at our life. I feel like when we visit or see people far away we are so overcome by the craziness of travel or guests that often we don't get to be our best selves. My hope is to show not just our best selves as a family, our true selves. I want to try to become a better photographer and writer. As I write I picture myself talking to you while we drink coffee chatting about life. Just a quick conversation.

So, my hope is you will follow my blog. Comment or not. Tell me when my grammar sucks or when you think I am being particularly insightful. Give me ideas. Technology is such an amazing thing, posts can be delivered to your email (I confess Craig had to show me how to do it, but now I can help others) or you can bookmark this page. Pass the link to others you think would interested. I know you all lead busy lives, please don't feel obliged -- this may be an exercise in futility and selfishness that only I care about. I am okay with that.

To get started, here are a couple of pictures from the last few weeks . . .

 Jack learning about Daddy's nemesis, the woodpecker at the Lookout Mtn Nature Center. (Sorry so blurry some other woodpecker kid drew the focus from my camera.)

 Will's 7 month picture. Big boy sits up by himself now.

 Celebrating Saint Patrick's at K of C.

Jack spending the night at Grandma's on his new fold out bed.