Photo By The Hour

Because I am a copycat…

Because all the cool girls are doing it….

Because yesterday was PJ’s birthday….

Because I now have a cheap camera I can keep in my pocket….

6:04 am

Normally SAG gets up first.  During the week PJ watches cartoons or looks at books while he showers and gets ready for the day.  I stay in bed with Little Dude who is turning into a night-owl (thank you).  However, usually one weekend day I hop out of bed when I hear PJ, letting SAG sleep in a bit.  Today was that day, so she and I are up at 6 am.

First order of the day, clean her glasses.

6:59 am

Enough cartoons, already!  I am filthy and PJ says she wants to shower with me.

7:59 am

PJ is dying to open her birthday presents.  I manage to put it off a few more minutes with our teeth brushing ritual.  Teeth brushing can be super fun. They love to dance while they brush.   Or it can be super stressful.   Little Dude usually tries to climb into the sink at least once.

8:22 am

We are waiting for Grandma to be able to join us by Skype.  In the meantime, the first birthday present we open is this custom piece of artwork that my friend Tammy made to match PJ’s new bedding.  PJ and Little Dude spend a few minutes matching the animals on the painting to the animals on her pillow.  This is an amazing gift.  I can’t wait to hang it in our new house.

8:56 am

Grandma’s on the computer joining in the fun.  PJ got the entire P1an T0ys farm.  Cheap mother triumph – I was able to buy each piece new for about 25% of normal retail.   We wanted to make sure the dolls we bought to go with it represented people of color.  In an interesting twist (probably a very sad commentary on our society – but one I was willing to take advantage of) we were able to buy the “asian” family and the “african-american” family on sale.  The farmers (pinkish) were also on sale.  For now we have 10 people living on one farm – I think it is what you would call a commune.

10:13 am

I tried to take a picture on the hour every hour.  So this Ansel Adams shot represents a LONG line we were standing in to enter our PBS Kids Day.  This is an awesome event, but the venue was WAY TOO SMALL this year.  The crowd was insane.  Parents were pushing and shoving in front of small children left and right.  But, in general, I saw very few meltdowns from the kids.  I think the environment was so intense that the kids were afraid to misbehave.

11:04 am

My previous career (public relations and management of non-profit humane societies) collides with my current career (stay-at-home-mother) when we visit the humane society booth.  There was a cute puppy sleeping in the pen.  I had no desire to adopt it.  Neither of my kids knew that was a possibility.  So it was a quick, pleasant visit with no whining (and no waiting in a huge line with rude adults).

11:19 am

Little Dude is afraid of the characters – even his favorite, Sid.  But, as a rule, we all love Sid.  Sid is the first cartoon I have been able to tolerate watching since I was a child.  Normally I hate anything animated, but Sid… trans-racial family, loves science, I have a crush on his teacher Suzi and on the way to school he sings, “I love my Mom.  She’s really cool.  But now it’s time for having fun in school.”

12:09 pm

Home from the event, Little Dude releases his balloon and watches it float to the ceiling.  I am starting to “prepare” lunch.  I made smoothies but we didn’t have bananas, so they tasted awful and were rejected by both of my over-stimulated children.

1:09 pm

We were not just out of bananas, but also the crucial soy milk that eases the kids into nap-time.  SAG drove and I hopped out of the car and ran into our grocery store to get the milk and some locally baked olive bread so I could make our lunch.  PJ fell asleep in the car right after I took this photo.  Once home, she never took a nap.

2:01 pm

Trying to get the kitchen cleaned up a little while listening to PJ NOT sleep.  This should be relaxing but feels like a race against the clock.  Little Dude is napping, SAG is out running an errand and I want to make us yummy olive bread, tomato, avocado, mozzarella melt sandwiches before either of the kids get up.

3:04 pm

Both kids are up.  PJ never slept but managed to stay in her room until she heard Little Dude get up.  They wanted a snack right away which is unusual.  PJ insisted that I “make circles” with the strawberries.

3:59 pm

Despite the cool temperatures, the kids and I have been out driving the gator… “Me Drive” is Little Dude’s favorite sentence.  When we came back to the house, SAG was changing the oil in his truck.

5:02 pm

Back inside the house, we spend some time playing with the new toys.

5:57 pm

Back to the grocery store.  This time it is just the girls and PJ gets to push the green cart.  We went for tofu.  I am not sure how the pretzels got into the cart. Oh well, I guess I will have to buy them and some dip as well.

7:12 pm

A slightly rough dinner time.  Neither SAG or I are paying enough attention to the kids so Little Dude decorates his hair with the “cheese” from his Mac and Cheese.

8:11 pm

We are behind schedule on bedtime.  Here we are in a “puppy-pile” reading bedtime stories in PJ’s room.

9:12 pm

Both kids are asleep.  SAG is cooking tofu burritos.  I am reading important literature, while cleaning the house and practicing classical music on my violin.

10:24 pm

Despite making great progress on my goal to read 43 books before my birthday, I decided reaching that goal was not worth sacrificing other important objectives such as exercising and moving to our new house.  Plus, we now have streaming netflix.  I  decided that watching documentaries is a little like reading books and takes significantly less time.  Tonight’s choice, “God Grew Tired of Us.”  Interestingly, I gained some insight into my new friend Sahmel who spent time in a refugee camp before coming here.

11:18 pm

Uploading photos for this post.  Everything takes longer on my laptop but I am getting used to it.  Plus SAG updated its software today so I thankfully don’t have to learn anything new!  Lazy? perhaps.  But I am on such a parenting learning curve every single day, I just don’t want to add learning new computer software to my list of daily frustrating experiences.

12:10 am

Still working on uploading, I am joined by our cat, Tinkerbell.  Honestly, I didn’t notice her until I went to take this picture.  I am impressed with her stealthness (is that a word?) since she is normally an in-your-face kind of cat.  A funny but offensive comedian is on the television in the background and SAG is sitting across the room doing something on his laptop.  I really need to go to bed.