Weekend Photos in Review

 (although I know she loves spaghetti, we certainly pay for it in clean up)

(apparently toys are no longer needed in our household; the box that Eli’s dog food came in will do just fine.)

I have a short list of things I worry about. Well, perhaps it’s not especially short, but that’s besides the point. Most of the things I worry about are things that I can’t control. Comes with the territory of being somewhat of a control freak, I guess. One of the things that weighs on my mind lately that I can control are pictures. I am usually the one behind the camera. I think it’s that way with a lot of moms.  It’s not just me.  Always grabbing for it and getting the shot. Documenting memories. And moments. Big ones. Small ones. And I worry that when I’m gone that my kids will look through albums and say, “Hey, where’s mom?” Not keep-me-up-at-night worry, just something that has started to nag at me a bit, particularly since I got separated. I also read a powerful blog post last year about Aleida’s Challenge, and that certainly spoke to what I worried about.  (You can see the Flickr group for it here, and scroll down to the bottom half of the page to read what it’s about.  It made me cry the first time {though commercials sometimes make me cry too}, so consider yourself forewarned.  So one of my goals this year was to make an effort to hand over the camera sometimes. To be in on the action in another way. So that being said, I handed over my camera today.

Although Madeline‘s birthday isn’t until Thursday, today begins “Birthday Week,” and we had a party with family. I seriously had to take a deep breath to really relinquish camera control, and I think I only took maybe 10 shots myself. The bulk of what’s below were taken by Nick, with a few from my sister and Payton as well.  A lot of pressure to hand over the camera for the first time at my daughter’s birthday party, but I did it. I gave Nick some general direction of what to make sure to take pictures of it, and I swear I only checked the camera a few thirteen or so times to make sure there were some good ones there.  When I got my camera back at the end of the day, there were 171 pictures on it, so I’m going to spare you the endless pictures of the dog … and Barbie dolls … and things that I can’t figure out what they’re pictures of, even though they’re in my house.

(I asked Nick what PM meant. “Princess Madeline.” But of course.)

(My sister has been putting potato chips in her sandwiches for as long as I can remember. Some things never change.)

(When planning the menu for today, I asked Maddie if she wanted cupcakes or cake. She chose cupcakes. And then went on to choose the color of both the cake and the frosting as well. “Yellyow” frosting and hot pink cupcakes it was. She done good.)

(I wasn’t going to get balloons for today, and was, instead, going to wait until her actual birthday. Nick was insistent that Maddie have balloons today, and even picked out the rainbow color theme. She is very lucky to have such an awesome big brother.)

 (I love her expression in this one.  so happy!)

Project 365
February 5, 2010, Photo #36

On Friday afternoon, I happened to be looking out at the window as huge swarms of black birds circled overhead and swooped and dove to the ground. There were so many, it seriously made me itchy. Growing up, I used to like Hitchcock movies, until I saw The Birds. Total heebie jeebies.

Project 365
February 6, 2010, Photo #37

The new thing with the kids over the past months have been these rubber bracelets that are in the shape of various things … dinosaurs, farm animals and more. I love that the “hot” item this year comes in packages of 12 for $2. The kids trade the different shapes at school, and this weekend I finally succumbed and bought Nick a few packages, which he dutifully shared with Maddie. They kind of remind me of the rubber bracelet phase with Madonna, but that might be dating myself a bit.

Project 365
February 7, 2010, Photo #37

(I know my Mom is going to be glad she left before this. She has this thing with balloons. Hates the sounds they make when people are messing with them. Madeline didn’t touch them all day, until we were getting ready for bed. Then she had her fun. No balloons or babies were harmed in the taking of this picture.  Swear.)

Tomorrow is going to be a Loose Ends (also known as All Over the Place) post … I have some links to share with you, and some recent questions that have popped up in comments or emails that I am behind in answering.  So if you have a burning question, now’s your big chance.  Just pop in a comment here.  Can’t promise I’ll answer them all, but I’ll do my best.