kidnapped by suburbia

bring in da funk … take out the noise

February 1, 2012

Feeling kind of blah lately. I think I’m just in a funk with schedules. I use the term “schedules” lightly because we don’t really have a schedule at all, but I just feel like we do the same thing every day, day in and day out. I know this is a common issue, but it’s been weighing on me lately.

Wash laundry, feed kids, wipe table, dry laundry, load/unload dishes, wipe counters, fold laundry, feed kids, vacuum, clean toilets, feed kids, put away laundry, pick up toys, feed kids, pay bills, change diapers, feed kids.

And we’re also working through some napping issues … Lucy takes too many, and believe it or not, this is an issue. I KNOW! But it is creating some problems for all of us, and we’re gradually trying to transition her down to one long nap a day. We are also dealing with some typical 4-year old stuff with Emma, but it’s very very normal behavior that doesn’t need to be discussed.

I don’t want to complain, because I realize how very fortunate I am to be able to spend the entire day with my girls, but … I don’t know. I feel like we need to mix things up a bit. Do something different. Get out and explore other areas of interest. It’s really too bad I’m such a homebody.

Anyway, I finished one month of daily photos, and here are just a few of my favorites from January …

I noticed a common theme … eating. We do that a LOT around here, apparently.

Now, this is not a project 365. I didn’t even make it a month taking one photo a day, but I have been trying to post one photo a day, because many of the photos I take never make the front page of the blog if it doesn’t tie in with the current blog post. And clearly, I think I am ALL THAT and that you should see ALL of the pictures I take. Ha.

Also, if you’ve noticed my editing this year, I’ve tried to keep it a lot cleaner and less “vintage” or “cloudy” as it has been called before. Mostly because I printed out a lot of my photos from last year and wasn’t pleased with how they looked once I held them in my hands.

Yet another reason I’m glad I’m not a real photographer … I’ve changed my editing process a LOT just in the past couple of years, and I’d hate to see people paying for my experimentations. [Another reason to keep your edits clean and timeless.]

You might also notice that I’m having some soft/missed focus issues with my camera, and it’s driving me insane. I sent it in for repair last year after I dropped it in our driveway, but I don’t think it’ll ever be as clear as it once was. I don’t HAVE to have a new camera, so I’m just pushing this poor 50D as far as I can right now.

Okay, so this just turned into a post full of whining, but that wasn’t my intention. Things have just been a little meh around here lately, and that’s the honest truth. I am sure we will snap out of this funk very soon.

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oh so silly | I Heart Faces

January 31, 2012

in i heart faces

Share your silly image over at I Heart Faces this week.

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can I go outside? can I go outside? CANIPLEASEGOOUTSIDE?

January 30, 2012

in emma

It was 70 degrees last Wednesday, but our back yard was still a muddy mess, so I sent Emma off to the front porch for some painting.

It took me 30 minutes to find the paints and a brush [we used to have a bunch of brushes - now we have one straggly piece of junk brush that I may have used to dig something out of the garbage disposal], but she didn’t mind … and it was worth it.

Okay, okay. I guess I went a little overboard with the pictures, but she doesn’t get to paint very much with a curious sister who eats everything she touches.

Yeah … I’m talking to YOU, cutie pie.

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bananas

January 28, 2012

in pregnancy,pregnant thoughts

Okay, so the fruit analogies are weird because one week, the baby is totally round and the next week, he’s long and skinny. And peel’able.

And also? Lucy LOVES eating bananas. So that’s kind of creepy to think about.

This week was the week of kicks. The kind you can actually see from the outside. The kind that shakes your laptop when it’s sitting on your belly. Feels like we’ve got ourselves a little soccer player in there.

And my bladder is the ball.

Be right back … gotta go pee.

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lazy bentos | week 4

January 27, 2012

in lazy bentos

This was a pretty basic week for us, but I will introduce you to my worst bento picture ever.

Monday

It was pitch black outside due to rain, so I only had the light over our kitchen table, and let me just openly admit … I do NOT know how to edit photos taken in artificial light. I assure you, her string cheese is not orange plastic. Yikes.

Anyway … GoGo Squeez applesauce, half of a toasted bagel with cream cheese, goldfish crackers [outer space theme] and string mozarella/cheddar cheese packed in this box [in pink, which is no longer carried there]. She came home with one tiny piece of cheese, so it went over well even though it doesn’t look very appetizing in this photo.

Wednesday

strawberries, oyster crackers, leftover rotisserie chicken from previous night’s supper [not pictured: box of raisins] – her appetite hasn’t been that great lately, so I packed a smaller lunch than usual, but she still came home with almost everything uneaten. Typical preschooler behavior.

This lunch was packed in our new favorite two-tier bento box.

Friday

sliced salami and pepperoni, squirrel-shaped flatbread, organic honey graham sticks [under the squirrels], pretzels and grapes – packed in this adorable [and inexpensive!] little 2-tier box

I had a friend ask if the boxes are hard to open for kids, and I am pretty sure Emma can get them open – I need to ask her teacher. I’ve honestly never worried about it too much, because her teachers are always right there while they eat lunch. The blue and pink boxes that I posted here are so easy to open, I actually have to use a cute yellow strap to keep them closed.

I also had a couple of people ask me how I take these pictures, which is funny since I included SUCH a bad picture this week. But I typically do this setup when the weather is nice:

Super fancy! ;)

And last but not least, I have had a lot of comments and emails and facebook posts about how YOU started doing this and are having great results with your kids eating their lunches – THANK YOU for sharing!! I don’t know how it works or why it works or what it is about small food in cute boxes, but kids eat it. So please keep sharing your stories.

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