3/31/15 - Day 90 - 39 Years Young

Happy Birthday to me!  It's Spring Break and Rich took off work today, so he gave me the option to do whatever I want for my birthday. My pick?  I have always wanted to take a trip out to the tide pools, and in almost 12 yrs in Los Angeles, we still hadn't done that. So, today was the day.

It was the most fun ever!

3/30/15 - Day 89 - Energetic

This kid has a seemingly endless quantity of energy. He has just finished 1.5 hrs of gymnastics and gets out side and feels the need to run!  Fast as he can!  Does he never get tired?

3/29/15 - Day 88 - BUBBLES!

The kids frequently spend time on the back patio playing with bubbles. 

3/28/15 - Day 87 - Travel Town

James is a bit train obsessed, so we decided to head with some friends to Travel Town today.  James was so excited he could hardly contain himself. He just kept shouting "Look! There's a train!" as loud as he possibly could and was just too adorable for words. 

Look!  A TRAIN!!!!

Protecting his fragile ears as he joyfully rides the train.

3/27/15 - Day 86 - Rosie

This photo was taken at 11:15.  Probably right before I went up to bed. Yup. That's pretty much how this year's gonna go.

3/26/15 - Day 85 - Each Calorie Counts

Counting calories is getting old. Here's my modest after dinner desert. I try to slowly savor every bit as I attempt to unwind from the long, exhausting day after the boys have finally settled down in bed.

Ah, luxurious decadence.

3/25/15 - Day 84 - Strange Kitty Bed

Rosie has this strange habit of resting in the sink in our bathroom. I suppose it's just a perfect fit. James just adores Rosie, though she's becoming increasingly wary of him. He gently (this time) kisses her in the ear.

3/24/15 - Day 83 - Pointillism

It's another art lesson day. Today's lesson, Pointillism. How fun! This was one of my favorite ways of making art as a kid...and I still just love pointillism and impressionism in general as an adult.  I showed Nathan some of Seurut's works on line before getting to work on our own images. Pointillism might require a bit more patience than Nathan has right now...but it's still a very good lesson.

My tree: Obviously not pointillism...I just went with some basic impressionism after I couldn't get the materials to properly make little dots.

3/23/15 - Day 82 - Pickup

I've been wanting to try to capture this for a while. This picture isn't the greatest...but here is Nathan at pickup from his school.

3/22/15 - Day 81 - Wallowing

I don't remember why Nathan is sad here, but there are a few things I can tell you from looking at the the photos and videos next to it. I took Nathan and James out in the parking lot behind our house to ride scooters. Nathan spent a lot of that time running as fast as he can and jumping up onto the stone wall dividing the complex from the busy street. They were having LOADS of fun doing this. 

So, why is Nathan so grumpy?  That's an excellent question.  This is a common problem with Nathan. He gets himself into these states...usually set off by something really little that didn't happen quite the way he wanted.  Maybe he was trying to get James to do something, or maybe he didn't run quite as fast as he wanted, or maybe he bumped his finger on the wall. It's impossible to tell.  The thing is, it doesn't matter what it was, Nathan is determined to let that small thing ruin the rest of his day. Here is Nathan sporting his wallowing face. It's still so very beautiful.

3/21/15 - Day 80 - Boy at Play

It was the circular pattern that I saw in the toys James seemed to haphazardly throw about the room that made me grab the camera today. This is pretty much what the entire house looks like all the time these days.

3/20/15 - Day 79 - Friday Night Traffic

Yup, at it again. Needing a photo.  Grabbing the phone. Snapping something quickly. This one isn't quite as special as yesterday's last minute shot. Just some blurry brake lights as I travel to Front Row Friday night rehearsal.

3/19/15 - Day 78 - Full Heart

Sitting here in late December, looking back at all the photos from the year, I quickly and easily recognize that the photo for today was done last minute, after forgetting about the project until the end of the day. I clearly just grabbed my phone for a quick photo...likely not having the energy or the inclination to go get the "real" camera. But I adore this shot.

This is a shot of the winding down time before bed. The scene here is pretty typical. James ends up playing with the phone most nights at this time...he's too rambunctious to manage otherwise. Rich is reclined with the boys...and Nathan is in heaven with his Daddy.  Next to this photo in Lightroom is a delightful video of Rich speaking in silly voices and Nathan laughing so very hard...the kind of laughter that might make one have an accident. Oh, how I love these people....and this photo which captured this magical time, not only of the night, but of our lives.

3/18/15 - Day 77 - All Boy

James loves playing outside. Today he found the runoff from the sprinklers.  The puddles were almost dry, but James couldn't resist jumping in them and trying to splash as much as possible. Other photos I took today were his dirty knees and hands. James is turning into one active little boy.

3/17/15 - Day 76 - Like a Christmas Tree

Nathan has been having bad allergy symptoms for a few years now. I finally decided that we should have him tested to see if he has asthma (he frequently has bad wheezing with a cold) and what his specific allergies are. Well, take a look at that back. From the looks of it, there's not much Nathan's not allergic to!  These are mostly trees.  Poor kiddo! His back was so itchy....it was driving him nuts. Nathan's such a trooper though.

3/16/15 - Day 75 - Lost Tooth

This tooth was loose forever! It came out when Nathan was watching tv.  He was so excited to lose it at last!

3/15/15 - Day 74 - “You are the Star”

This image was actually taken on March 28th, but as I either missed or misplaced the March 15th photo I thought I'd put this one in its place.  It easily could have been taken on this day as Sunday is the day I most frequently have access to this view.

I snapped this shot right after a headshot session Hollywood on the corner of Hollywood Blvd. and Wilcolx. There is a little cubby in the wall right next to this mural that I use every time I shoot here...but I've never taken a photo of this cool mural in all the times I've been here. I just love this...it's so very Hollywood. 

Apparently this mural is titled “You are the Star”and was the first ever mural painted by Thomas Suriya. Painted in 1983. 

3/14/15 - Day 73 - Newborn Goodness

I love newborns. This session had to be put off for a week due to a cold that just wouldn't go away. I actually ended up wearing a mask for this one only to find out the next day that I didn't have a cold at all. I guess I have allergies.

Anyway...look at this little one. There are few things more enjoyable, and more difficult, than posing a little newborn. If I'm not going to have any more of my own, at least from time to time I get to play with other people's babies.

3/13/15 - Day 72 - Geology is Delicious

Rock candy's done!!!!  The wait was worth it. science is tasty.

3/12/15 - Day 71 - Avacado Phone?

James is so silly.  For some reason he picked up the avocado I was eating at dinner and decided it would make a great toy phone. My James's crazy.

3/11/15 - Day 70 - Dentist!

It's dentist time.  This is I think the 3rd dentist visit Nathan has ever had. He's not yet gone enough times to be a pro at it, but he did great. 

3/10/15 - Day 69 - Marbling Art

Still making time for Tuesday's art class.  Today was paper marbling. This is such a fun, and simple art project.  We made so many interesting works of art. Nathan and I played a bit, just the two of us, after he got home from school before picking up James.  Then we let James have some fun with it when he got home. 

3/9 - Day 68 - Rock Candy

Nathan is really interested in crystals, gems, and rocks right now, so I figured...what better time to try making rock candy.  Now, I was more than a little hesitant because the last time we tried to make rock candy in this house we were attacked by ants. Luckily, no ants this time around.

3/8/15 - Day 67 - James, Driving Fool

I have to be honest, I don't remember, but I think I didn't take this picture. I think Rich did...but I can't be sure. Boy, I wish I had kept up with this thing during the time.  I can tell from the photo that it's a picture of James most likely pretending to play Mario Kart.  Or, it's his first time trying to play. I can't tell. Sigh...lesson learned. In any event, he sure is cute.

3/7/15 - Day 66 - Blossoming

I took the camera out today with the intention of capturing the pink flowers blossoming and perhaps the bees buzzing around them as I like to every March.  But, Nathan's face is too irresistible to not take a snap or two of him.

3/6/15 - Day 65 - Finding My Marbles

For some reason, we have been finding lots of marbles here and there in our favorite scootering spot in our complex. Here's today's surprise find.

3-5-15 - Day 64 - Missing Picture

Because I'm actually writing this on December 28th, I have no idea what happened on this day.  I don't know if somehow I took the photo with a strange camera and just don't remember it....or what. So, for now...here's a placeholder blog entry in case a photo shows up.

3/4/15 - Day 63 - Clarified Butter

Rich is still on this crazy Whole 30 diet, which means that though I mock him for it I also want to support him in it and try to make things as easy as possible for him.  So, because dairy is completely out of the question, traditional butter is not allowed.  This can make things a bit boring.  However, though butter is off limits, if you remove the milk solids from the butter and use just the fat, you're good to go.  I'd been wanting to try to make clarified butter for quite some time, so Rich's ridiculous and arbitrary dietary restrictions of this month have given me the push I needed to give it a shot. I'm so glad it did. Making clarified butter is fun, and easy, and cooking with clarified butter is amazing!

And because a picture of clarified butter cooling isn't very exciting, I give you my cooking partner, ever by my side and probably pulling on my pants leg each step of the way is James.  King of..."I wanna see!". 

3/3/15 - Day 62 - Rotator Painter

Today's art class was so fun! We pulled out the rotator painter and had so much fun experimenting with different ways to apply the paint. We ended up with some pretty fun prints!

3/2/15 - Day 61 - Puppets

The boys playing with puppets these days.  I bought this little pink monster puppet for my school, but the kids love him so much (well, the character Daddy created for him) that he never made it to work.  The boys spend a fun morning playing with the puppets with their Daddy.

3/1/15 - Day 60 - Harp

I was looking for inexpensive dulcimers for my classroom recently and harps kept popping up in my search.  I got it in my head that I wanted to have a harp.  Well, harps are really expensive, at least good harps are, but I did manage to find that there are some really inexpensively made harps on the market.  Now, pretty much all harpists will tell you they are garbage, and they're probably correct, but it has allowed me to own and fiddle around with a little lap harp.  This little guy is only 12 strings, but it's fun to play.  I've quickly learned that there's not much you can do with a 12 string harp, but I still like it.