Around Here | June 2015

Around here...

• Noah is officially addressing Brian and me as dad and mom. No more daddy and mommy.

• I'm overcooking pork again. Don't you hate it when you buy a huge chunk of meat from Costco and then cook it just a wee bit too long? Ugh. Wouldn't you know that during that same meal, I fried our instant read thermometer, too. I seriously think our kitchen gadgets get very, very scared when they see me enter the kitchen. I imagine they're thinking -- that is, if they weren't inanimate objects -- Oh no, she's back! Which one of us is she going to break this time? Ha!  

• Noah still loves to help with the dishes. 

• I'm seriously loving that Brian is cooking desserts like this amazing Pizookie in his dutch oven.

• Noah wants to know if there's a surprise for him every time a package is delivered to our home. Oftentimes, the answer is no, but last week, Noah got SO excited when a new ukuele arrived just for him. 

•  I'm experimenting with some new artists and music like: Chris Stapleton (traditional country), Passenger (love the tune, "Let Her Go"), Sam Smith (adore the song, "Stay With Me"), Rachel Platten (a big fan of her "Fight Song")

• Noah and I are listening to a Spanish CD in the car, and learning lots of new Spanish vocabulary as we cruise around town. (And I love that it's from the library!)

• Noah completed four private swim lessons (and loved everything about it -- especially teacher Natalie), and then proceeded to get his very first ear infection. Connection?  I think so.

• Brian completed the chicken's fenced yard, giving them 700+ square feet to run around and eat bugs and fly up into trees. (By the way, we discovered that we have 11 hens and one rooster. A rooster who loves to cock-a-doodle-doo at 6 o'clock every morning. Anyone want a free rooster?!)

• Noah is saying all kinds of cute and funny and silly things lately, so I've been busily jotting them down in his green quote journal. He's also asking, Why? A LOT, and Where does ______ come from? Insert: babies or cereal or paper or dogs or ...

• I'm so very, very excited that my youngest sister is going to be a mom at the end of November. (Congrats, Kate + Preston!)

• Brian and Noah fished at a kids derby and have been out on Brian's fishing boat twice now. (No fish yet, but lots of fun memories!)

• Noah is enjoying driving his John Deere motorized tractor around our front yard -- especially now that he's in the faster 2nd gear!

• Noah is dressing up as Jake and Santa and Buzz Lightyear and a monkey and a pilot. Our dog, Rudy, is not so sure about dress up. Ha!

• We're planting veggies in our side yard, and dreaming of ripe zucchini, tomatoes, and bell peppers fresh from our garden later this summer. (We're trying out liquid fence this year to keep the deer away; I'll let you know how it goes.) 

• We're reading stories and poems in High Five magazine over and over again. It's a seriously great magazine for toddlers. We keep a bucket of issues on the dining room table, so they are easily accessible before and after mealtimes. 

• Brian and I are preparing to sell our rental home. Roof repairs are happening this week and we hope to list it this weekend.

• Reading All the Light We Cannot See (thanks for the recommendation, Gina!), and loving that I've already come across two BIG words that I had to look up in a dictionary. I'm such a logophile!

 

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Preparing for Day in the Life 2015

This coming Tuesday, I'll be capturing a day in my life as part of Ali Edwards' Day in the Life documentation project.

It's a fun way to not only document your everyday life, but also to reflect on how you spend your time, what you love about your life and what you might like to change in the near future. 

Nearly every time I document a day in my life, I carve out a few minutes prior to the actual day and brainstorm things I'd like to record in photos and words. For inspiration, I often look at photos and words from past years. (Here's a look at a day in my life in 2013 and a day in my life in 2014. And below, you'll see I've included some older photos.)

Here's what I'm thinking about documenting this year:

1 | MY TIME: I'm planning to track my time in 15 minute increments from the time I get up in the morning until I go to bed. I got this idea from Jessica Turner, the author of The Fringe Hours, and I think it will be a great way to really see where I'm spending my time.

2 | BRIAN'S DAY: Brian will be working overtime at the fire station, so I'm going to ask him to send me a few photos from his day and include those as well.


3 | MUSIC TOGETHER: Noah and I will be attending music class in the morning, and I'm going to bring my phone along with me to capture some of the singing and dancing and smiling and playing.

4 | OUR ANIMALS: It's likely that we'll visit the chickens during the day to check on their food supply and water, and I want to try to capture Noah interacting with them. We'll also feed the dogs in the morning and evening and give Lucy her insulin. Because the dogs are getting older (Lucy is 11 and Rudy is 9), I'd like to include them in as many shots as I can.


5 | CHRIS YOUNG: CY is supposed to release a new song on Tuesday, and if he does, you can bet I'll be buying it and taking an iTunes screenshot on my iPhone. #IMCOMINOVER

6 | NOAH AT 3: I'd like to take some shots that show which toys Noah loves right now, what he's wearing, what he's reading and what he's watching. I'm also going to jot down a few things that he says. Lastly, I think capturing his shoe size (compared to mine or Brian's) would be fun.

7 | ME: I'm rarely ever in any photos because I'm behind the lens. I definitely want to use the self-timers on my iPhone and DSLR, so I can get in one or two of the shots. (Or maybe I need to invest in a selfie stick? Just kidding.)

8 | CREATIVE CAPTURES: I'm a big fan of reflections (shooting into water or mirrors or metal caps or car doors--you get the idea), and I'd love to snap a few shots like that during the day.  I also love shooting from different angles--getting up high (standing up on a step stool or bucket) or getting down low on the ground and shooting up.







9 | GORGEOUS LIGHT: I'm a total sucker for beautiful light, especially during the magic hour (one hour before sunset), and I'm hopeful I'll be able to sneak outside then to take some shots. 

Beyond that, I want to just live the day with a camera nearby (either my iPhone 5S or Canon 5D Mark III) and see what happens. Sometimes, the best shots are, of course, the spontaneous ones. The ones I never could have imagined or planned ahead of time. 

Also, on Tuesday, I'll be posting a few photos to my Instagram feed (@jharless) in case you want to see pictures in real time. I'll share the rest of the images and words later on next week.

Who wants to join me?! Charge up the batteries in your camera, grab a notebook and a pen, and let's do this.

December Daily Album 2014

  
December Daily has become one of my favorite holiday traditions. I love documenting the special and ordinary moments each Christmas season. (Here are my past albums: 2013, 2012, 2010.)

Sometimes, though, pulling it all together--the words + photos + papers + embellishments--into an album takes time.

For me, it rarely happens in January, much less the end of December. And this year, it was Valentine's Day before I completed my album. But hey, it's finally done...and I'm pleased with it!

Before I share photos + snippets from my album, let me tell you a little bit about the products I used.

I fell in love with Simple Stories in the fall of 2014, so it's probably no surprise that I used a Simple Stories album and the Cozy Christmas paper line, also by Simple Stories. (I bought the album at Michael's--with a 40% off coupon--and I purchased the supplies online here.)

In addition to using a whole new product line, I also tried something totally different (and completely out-of-character for me): I didn't fuss about the dates.

Now, I realize it's kind of odd to call it a daily album and not see any evidence of dates--that is except December 25th. But as I was flipping through my past December Daily albums in late November, I noticed something: It didn't matter to me whether we went to the library on Dec 6th or Dec 12th. It didn't matter whether we attended Polar Express earlier in the month or later in the month.

In the same vein, it didn't matter whether I told one or two or five different stories each day. It didn't matter whether I took one photo or ten.


What mattered most to me was the whole: A record (in photos + words) of our everyday activities, our holiday traditions, the funny things Noah said, the adorable things Noah did, and the people we spent time with. 

There's no way I could share the whole album here--it's over 25 pages long--but here are some of my favorite features:


1 | "Around Here"
Basically, I just sat down during the fourth week of December, grabbed a piece of card stock, and listed out whatever I could think of that was going on in or around our home. As you can see, it's a smattering of everyday moments like frolicking at the park, painting with watercolors, playing at BusyKidz, and jumping in puddles--as well as special holiday moments and memories like drinking eggnog, opening up another door on the Advent calendar, decorating the top half of our tree with ornaments, and enjoying the lights with friends.


2 | "Counting Down"  
Here, I went into more detail about how we counted down the days until Christmas, and mentioned the outdoor decorations. 



3 | "Funny Moments"
I made a point to capture some funny moments with my iPhone or DSLR--like when I discovered that Noah had taken some of the lights off our tree (see photo above--bottom of the right page).
 
Photo caption: "Busted! I walked into the family room and there was Noah, lying on the floor, playing with the lights he had taken off the tree."


4 | "Overheard"
On this page, I wrote down anything funny or insightful or interesting that Noah uttered in the month of December. (Many of these were taken from an iPhone note I kept adding to during the month.)


5 | A Note to Noah
Dear Noah, 
One morning, as I was standing in the kitchen by the sink, I looked up to see you flipping through my December Daily album from last year. I sneaked over with my iPhone and snapped this photo of you. 
 Why? Because I was so excited to see you looking at the photos. This is why I take so many pics, why I journal, why I scrapbook. So you and Daddy and I can remember all the wonderful times we've shared together. 
Love, 
Mama
 

6 | Favorite Stories

A. "The Stockings"

When I look at this photo, I don't just see three stockings. I see three stockings, which I bought with a gift card and two coupons at Pottery Barn. Stockings that I waited to buy until we had a child. Stockings that all match and look oh-so-grown-up. Stockings that have our names embroidered on them, just like my family did growing up. I also see a fourth hook with no stocking hanging from it. One day, there will be another stocking--a matching one--with a baby girl's name on it, hanging there. I just know it. That's what I see when I look at this image.


B. "The Balloon"

"Brian and Noah went to the market one afternoon. While they were waiting in the checkout line, N spotted this "Somebody Loves You!" balloon. He asked Brian if he could have it and B said, "No."
Seconds later, N said, "For Mommy?" Of course, Brian caved and bought the balloon. 
When N presented me with the balloon, I was so touched. I gave him a big hug and said, "Thank you!" Later on, Brian told me the back story and I was laughing so hard. Apparently, N really wanted that balloon!"

7 | Noah's Wish List
One morning, I nonchalantly asked Noah what he wanted for Christmas and then quickly jotted down his response on a pad of paper in the kitchen. Later on, I transferred the three items (a train, a tunnel, a track) to a cute tag and included it in my album.


8 | Letter from Santa
I found a Santa spiral-bound notebook at a rummage sale last fall and thought it would work perfectly for notes to Santa and notes from Santa. Since Noah is only three, I wrote the note to Santa (with help from Noah) on Christmas Eve, and on Christmas morning, we were delighted to read Santa's response. The notebook is now packed away with all of our Christmas gear, but rest assured, it will make another appearance on Christmas Eve 2015.

The majority of the photos above were taken with my iPhone 5S, while a handful were shot with my Canon 5D Mark III and edited in Lightroom and Photoshop. 

Your turn: Did you make a 2014 December Daily album? What gems did you collect? Please leave a link in the comments, so I can see what you created!

P.S. Want to learn more about December Daily? Check out Ali Edwards' website.

Road Trip to Oregon

This past summer, Brian, Noah, Zoey and I traveled to Bandon, Oregon to spend a few days with Brian's family. 

It was a fun trip, filled with laughter and beach play and picnics and animal park adventures and deep breaths and hugs and jelly beadz and fresh seafood and warm sand and boat rides and more deep breaths and bubbles and chats about traveling in France, essential oils, and the joys and challenges of raising young kiddos.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from the trip. (All photos were taken with my Canon 5D Mark III.)

Riding on a seesaw for the first time

Noah liked it.

And so did Zoey.

The merry-go-round was also a hit.

But it's way more fun when cousins jump aboard.

This is, perhaps, my favorite shot. Zoey's reaction is priceless!

Playing with depth-of-field. (Thanks for being a very patient model, Hailey!)

Brian and his sister, Lori

Brian and his mom

Visiting the West Coast Game Park Safari

A total hands-on experience, unlike any other animal park we've visited.

 
Thanks for looking!

Bodega Bay Camping Trip | May 2014

In mid-May, Brian, Noah and I took our trailer out for one final camping trip--the last hurrah! (As much as we loved the trailer, we decided it was best to sell it and place the money in our adoption fund.)

We stayed at Bodega Dunes Campground, the same place we camped last fall. I love the campground's location--it is close to several beaches, but far enough from the ocean that I don't fret about Noah getting anywhere near the water.

See, our boy LOVES water.  It doesn't matter the temperature.  He wants to go in...and NOW!

See that photo above?  Noah is literally pulling Brian into the water.

I can only imagine Noah was thinking, Let's go, Daddy!  In the ocean, Daddy! 


The cold water didn't faze him one bit. He even sat down in the water at one point. It's hard to tell in this photo, but both his shirt and shorts are soaked!

As you can see, he ADORED running through the water. He LOVED watching the tide come in and go out.  He GIGGLED when the sand under his feet was pulled out to sea.

Back at the campground, Noah rode his bike around the paved loop, just like Brian did as a kid. 

And then it was off to tackle the rocky path through the sand dunes. (It happened to be the "magic hour," that time right before sunset, and the light was so beautiful.)

It was much tougher to traverse the rocky road, so Noah "flew" through some of the most difficult sections with help from his daddy.

The following day, we drove over to Doran Beach. Doran Park has a 2-mile stretch of sandy beach and tons of wind--the perfect combination for flying kites. Brian flew a pirate ship for 20 minutes. In the photo above, it looks like Noah is flying the kite, but the truth was Brian was standing a few feet away from me controlling it. 

 

This hawk kite never did take flight because it had a broken wing, but Noah grew quite fond of it, toting it around with him during the trip. I accidentally called it an "eagle" kite and then made up a voice for it (yes, I'm silly like that). From then on out, all we heard from Noah was "talk eagle, talk eagle." Smile. 


I'm super grateful for the time we had with this trailer and for all the fun memories. Hope its new family is enjoying it just as much as we did.

All photos were taken with my Nikon D700 and either the Nikon 24-70 mm f/2.8 or the Nikon 70-200 mm f/2.8.

Please note: This post contains affiliate links.  What does that mean?  Simply put, if you click on a link in this post and make a purchase, I earn a small commission, which helps to support my blog.