day 55: herbs

day 55: lately poor Herbie has not gotten nearly as much blog love as he used to pre-babies. He also is quite stressed these days... I think being chased by crazy toddlers is making him loco. He also looks tired. Probably because I woke him up by taking pictures of him. Oops.

day 54: almost done-ish

day 54: we moved into our new place how long ago? Almost 6 months? And we still had boxes that hadn't been unpacked? Yep. We did. We got 99.99% of the unpacking done within the first 2 weeks of moving in - just in time for our family portrait session. And then whatever we didn't unpack at that point just remained in its box until today. How very sad. The saddest part is that two of the boxes were just on the floor of our bedroom - staring me down every time I walked by them. Not anymore. I realize our room still needs help (like a headboard, maybe some curtains? a coat of paint?) but at least for now it's not swimming with boxes. And that is a major improvement. Pardon the crummy light

day 53: another monday

day 53: another packed day with a boring late at night photo - sorry. Why do I always feel like I need a vacation after the weekends?

day 52: the beantown

day 52: and the little man

day 51: moberries

day 51: a cute picture of the lovely lady

day 50: lookie what I made

day 50: I've been in a bit of a creative rut - looking at and wanting to do a lot of cool projects I've found online, but not having a space to do them in and getting frustrated. Our place definitely doesn't have a "craft room" and I hate to leave a huge mess on the dining room table (which Paul can now easily reach up and grab things off of). So my solution for today was a super quick mini-project. Sorry for the terrible pictures. I'll take a better one tomorrow. In around an hour I made a shirt I really didn't like (and was going to throw away) into one I that I like much much better. I'm quite pleased.

day 49: camera monster

day 49: I sometimes wonder what I look like to my kids when I'm coming towards them to take a picture. Apparently the answer is a big scary camera monster.

day 48: big book readin' boy

day 48: most of the time I spend with the kids is reading them books. We actually put all of the downstairs books where they couldn't reach them so that they would play with some other toys because if it was up to them that is all they would do. Today we were home for a long time in the afternoon so I pulled out the downstairs books. And we spent a LOT of time reading them. Paul was very perturbed that I wanted to take a picture of him reading instead of helping him read - "but MOM... read me the BOOK". So I put down the camera after this picture.

day 47: new shoes

day 47: since it's been so hot I thought it would be appropriate to go on a quest for new summery sandals (seriously... what is up with the roasting weather?) This is what I came up with. Kind of ridiculous but I like them... a metallic garden party on my feet. I think I'll wear them with dresses this spring. Or now. Whichever.

day 46: february summer

day 46: apparently summer starts in February in southern California. I had thought that the reason it was so warm this weekend was that we were in Palm Springs. But I was mistaken. It was 80 degrees here today as well. Time to break out the shorts and t-shirts, although most of them are much too small. We also got the kids their first pair of big kid sandals... they look huge to me wearing those shoes. And as a special "you've been good shopping" treat they got to have some fruit smoothie with dinner. Paul looks disgruntled because they had to take turns drinking the smoothie. "MOM... when is it going to be MY turn to drink the smoothie?!"

day 45: desert zoo

day 45: on Sunday we attempted to go to the Living Desert - which seems pretty awesome if you can either a) go in the morning while it's still cool or b) withstand ridiculous heat. The babies were wilted and unimpressed (even though they normally love the zoo, it was just too hot) so we left after only around an hour. Maybe I have a weird sense of humor but this is my favorite shot. All of the spectators checking out the giraffes.

day 44: roasted babies

day 44: we spent the weekend in Palm Springs and even though it was only 85 degrees it was a bit much for our little mild climate babies. They were getting such a kick out of running around in the back yard (oh the luxury... a YARD!) and turned beet red and sweaty.. I guess it's partly my fault for misreading the weather forecast and not realizing they should have been wearing shorts. I love this picture because you can see Amelia's crazy low rider pants (too big, oops) and Herbie in the front demonstrating how hot out it was.

day 43: daddy pile

day 43: what better way to be greeted upon returning home from work than in a big pile of squealing excited babies? Ones that are yelling "dada!" and grinning ear to ear. Sounds pretty great to me.

day 42: macaroni faux hawk

day 42: what's better than eating macaroni and cheese for dinner? Wearing it, of course. At least that's what Paul thinks. I went in the kitchen to cut up some grapes and came back to this... a pile of macaroni on his head and a cheese sauce faux hawk. Nice.

day 41: hearts

day 41: on Wednesday I made a lot of hearts. A LOT of hearts. For a super top secret project that Ben doesn't think should be revealed on blogs until the weekend. So you just get to see this one

day 40: more rain

day 40: we got more rain today. A lot more rain. ENOUGH ALREADY. I don't have anything against the rain in theory. I love the noise on the roof and it's fun to watch through the window. It does, however, pose a problem for me getting my kids out of the house since we are without a garage. How am I supposed to carry two children and a diaper bag out to a car that is parked on the street and get everyone in and settled and ready to go WITHOUT GETTING SOAKED? It's not possible. So I think I'll take a rain-check on the rain. Haha.

day 39: monday

day 39: yesterday was a Monday. That about sums it up. It was not a great one.

day 38: Sunset Sunday

day 38: I love this picture. The light. The time of day. I love the mom in the back pushing the kid on the swings. I love sunset and Sundays. It makes me happy.

day 37: more fish

day 37: today was another rainy day so we decided it was a good day for an indoor activity. Ben hadn't been to the aquarium yet and we have a membership so it made the decision pretty simple - more fish for the Mofish! Just an FYI (and maybe this goes without saying, but just in case) the aquarium is much more pleasant and less crowded during the week. It was kind of a zoo (no pun intended) today.

day 36: they brush and brush and brush their teeth

day 36: each day after bath time we each take one baby and help them brush their teeth while wearing their hooded towels before they get their jammies on. It is one of the cutest times of day. My favorite part of this picture is the blurry ear of Paul's towel in the upper left hand corner of the frame.

day 35: I'm not sad, promise

day 35: Ben thought that the last picture I posted of myself looked really sad. I'm not sad. I was just tired. In any case I thought maybe since it's late and I don't have anything better to take a picture of I should just take another (less sad) picture of myself. I also never showed off my new fab haircut that I got this weekend. I love having short hair!

day 34: a visit from grandpa

day 34: what a week for the babies, first a visit from grandma and then a visit from grandpa in the same week?! Fabulous :) We all went out to a nice lunch in Marina del Rey where the babies enjoyed (very much so) the view of the marina and of course the dogs walking by. Amelia was showing something very important to grandpa I'm sure!

day 33: lost

day 33: we just finished watching the season premiere of Lost. It was very long. Now it's late. And I'm tired. So I'm going to go to bed. Oh, yeah, and I'm also confused.

day 32: aquarium

day 32: today my mom came to visit and she wanted to take the babies somewhere fun. I've been meaning to take them to the aquarium so that's what we decided to do. I have this debate with myself every day about whether or not the photo of the day is going to be the most technically perfect and impressive to photography enthusiasts OR if it's going to be the one that most completely shows what I DID that day. What I always come back to is that this is sort of a daily journal, and at the end of the year when I make it into a book I'm really going to want to look at it to remember what that year of my life was like, not which were the best pictures I took... SO... without further ado... here is a slightly underexposed picture of Amelia looking at some fish. I love the expression on her face

day 31: deja vu

day 31: today I experienced a bit of deja vu... remember this post about a Korean first birthday party? well that little lady is the big sister to this little guy. And today was his first birthday. And since that old post was from 2007 that would make the little lady in that photo 3 years old! Can you believe it?! Man, oh man, time does fly! The little man's party was just as lively and wonderful as his sister's. And of course he was just as cute!

day 30: muffin hound

day 30: this morning I went and donated blood. I brought my camera with me to take a picture of something (I don't really know what I was going to take a picture of... certainly not the bag of blood... maybe the outside of the building?) but it turned into such a debacle (two hours!) that I forgot and just went home afterward (slightly grumpy but at least I was successful). Luckily for me, when we went out in the afternoon for our daily sortie Amelia decided to be extra cute and volunteered to show off just how much she LOVES muffins for my camera and all of my photo-rific viewers :)

day 29: happy to report

day 29: I am happy to report that today was indeed a much better day. There was no pooping in the house (unless you count the babies, but that was only in their diapers and to be expected). We went out near the end of the day to get some of the extra links taken out of my watch and the afternoon sunlight was just gorgeous. Amelia was really enjoying it. Paul was too, but he was too busy studying the cars in the parking lot to smile for a photo.

day 28: this picture is bad

day 28: this picture is bad and I know it. So rest easy, you don't have to sit there wondering if my judgment is getting iffy. It's just been a rough day. It's nearing 11pm and I am really honestly just too tired to come up with something better. I really hope that my dog does not decide that he needs to poop in the house (twice in one day) two days in a row. I have no idea where he got the idea that it was ok. If he does it again I'll be sure to direct you all to the craigslist ad where I post our dog for sale. He is pretty cute and you might want to buy him.

day 27: happy 16 months!

day 26: yesterday my sweet lovely babies turned 16 months old. We have a tradition of taking one a photo of them on their birthday each and every month in this same chair. The are getting so big! (sniff, sniff)

day 26: hooray! it's here!

day 26: I got a beautiful watch from Ben for Christmas. He really wanted to get it engraved but didn't have time to do it before he gave it to me. It was actually a little too big as well and we figured that as long as we were taking it in to get some links taken out we should get it engraved at the same time. Which would have been a good idea, except for some reason the engraving seriously discolored the face of the watch that we had engraved (big time boo to that). Luckily the store took the watch back so I could get a new one. We had to order it since they don't sell it in the store anymore and my new one came today. Almost the same as the original... just a little sparklier :) I love it!

day 25: hooray for grandma

day 25: today we got a visit from my mom. It was a real treat for the babies since they haven't seen her in two weeks. Amelia squealed for joy when she saw her walk in the door, which I'm pretty sure made my mom's day. I somehow always forget to take out the camera when my parents are around, or maybe it's just that we're having too much fun. Who knows. This is one of only three pictures I got of my mom and Amelia today, and I didn't get any of her with Paul. Next time, I suppose.

day 24: what a day

day 24: my computer has not been cooperating today. I think it needs a good healthy dose of maintenance, some hard drive cleaning and maybe while I'm at it a kick in the pants. Seriously frustrating how long it took me to get the wedding I was finishing up editing today done. I should not be waiting on my computer. I listened to a lot of This American Life while working.

day 23: access medical

day 23: on Saturday I did a photo shoot with the fine folks at Access Medical in Carlsbad. They wanted some images of their employees to fancy up the website. We had a lot of fun and they are such a great group of people! Here's one of the whole group. A handsome bunch, wouldn't you say?

day 22: this is what I have lying around

day 22: today I was trying to help explain to some friends the difference between different focal lengths and lenses, and what effect crop vs. full frame sensor has on the final images that your camera produces. I just quickly picked up whatever was closest to use as a subject for a bunch of pictures... and this was it. So this is my life... the most abundant inanimate objects in my home are toys. And highchairs :) At least Mr. Potato Head was cooperative.

day 21: crazy bean

day 21: This week has been quite an adventure. First there's been the whole taking care of kids while sick bit (not fun). Add to that the five days straight of rain (come on people, I live in southern California... who has ever heard of five days straight of rain here?!) AND the cherry on top? For some reason I decided that this of all weeks would be a good one to transition the kids from two naps to one. Which means they've been nuts all week. Cranky, crazy, and generally miserable. Yesterday I decided that maybe just because they occasionally skip one of their naps doesn't mean they're ready to drop it every day. So today we went back to two naps and they actually slept well at both naps. Everyone was much happier (me included) and I'm convinced that we made the right decision in going back to our old schedule. The final proof for me was when Ben came home from work and both kids were in ridiculously good moods instead of being overtired and worn out. Paul was running around like the crazy little bean he is. How can you not love this face? Especially if it's a well rested one!

day 20: I made a dress!

day 20: I have been compiling a list of "must do" craft projects in my head for months... since probably this summer... and one of the top of the list items was to make a "refashioned" dress for Amelia. Basically take some item of clothing and remake it into something for her. I get a lot of the ideas for things like this from blogs, I particularly like this one, but I wanted to sort of just try my own ideas for this project so I didn't use a tutorial. I used a shirt that I got at Old Navy the other day for a whopping $1.50 so I knew if I screwed up it wasn't with major consequences. I didn't follow any pattern for this dress, I just kind of copied the shape and style of one she got for Christmas. It's not quite perfect (it kind of gives her football player shoulders) BUT it took less than an hour and I know where I'd do things differently next time so for a first attempt I'm pleased :)

day 19: I'm going to be sick FOREVER

day 19: so I was NOT better yesterday. Far from it. I was so much worse, in fact, that Ben had to take the day off of work and watch the kids while I spent the day feeling miserable in bed. Not cool. Very not cool.

day 18: score!

day 18: today I ventured out to brave the hoards of bargain hunters at Old Navy for their amazing 50% off clearance sale. Since everything that WAS on clearance (for like $3-10) was 50% off of that price today it basically meant that the whole clearance section could be had for between $1.50 and $5. Score! I actually only got two things for myself (a pair of pants and a camisole) but got LOTS of cute stuff for the babies. It's kind of amazing how much clothing for little tiny people can cost, so getting it at $1.50 a piece is a refreshing change. All of this was only $30 AND there were also two pieces of jewelry for myself in that price that aren't in the picture. I came home feeling very thrifty.

day 17: birthday party!

day 17: yesterday we headed to my grandma's to celebrate my cousin Amanda's 6th birthday party. She was very excited that we came, super thrilled with her gifts AND extremely pleased to be photographed. As you can clearly see :)

day 16: still sick

day 16: I'm still not feeling well (what a way to spend a weekend, eh?) luckily for me Ben took over all baby duties and let me take several long naps today. I really hope I'm feeling significantly better tomorrow. We're supposed to go somewhere and I don't want to miss it. I am also really sick of being sick and taking crummy pictures in the house.

day 15: it's official....

day 15: it's official, I have the world's best husband. He not only came home a little early from work today so that he could feed the babies dinner (I am sick and WIPED out) but he also took care of getting our dinner AND when I said I really wanted sugar cookies for dessert, he made some. He's the best. And looking sheepish in this picture either because he just ate about 5 of them (man, they're good) OR because he just dropped one on the floor for Herbie. I'm not sure which.

day 14: I almost...

day 14: today was a day of almosts... I almost baked something (but I didn't). I almost cleaned the whole house (but I didn't clean our room). I almost exercised (but I cleaned instead). I almost brought my camera with me when I went out (but I didn't). So instead I'm taking a lame reflection in a mixing bowl self portrait. Because I really should be doing one self portrait a week on this blog... but I feel very blah today. Let's hope I can get it a little bit more together for tomorrow.

day 13: balloons!!!

day 13: this evening a very nice employee of Trader Joe's saw Amelia and thought she might like a balloon. Boy was she ever right. Not only did Amelia like her balloon, she LOVED her balloon. She squealed with delight at her balloon. She played with it the entire time we were in the store, the entire ride home in the car (maybe the first time ever there was not a single peep of protest upon entering the car) and even took it with her into her high chair for dinner. Paul thought the balloons were pretty great too. He was just more low key about it :)

day 12: a sliver of sky

day 12: I have realized that trying to do a photo-a-day blog without it being a photo-of-the-kids-a-day blog is a really tricky thing to do when you are with them all day every day during the daylight hours. It sort of seems like my two options are either to take a picture of them or take a picture after they go to sleep. And once they go to sleep it's dark so I end up just taking a picture of something inanimate in the house which is kind of lame. I suppose I could take a picture while I'm out with them as long as they were strapped in the stroller, but I generally already have enough things to wrangle when leaving the house with the kids. Adding my camera to the mix is literally adding the straw that broke the camel's (or mommy's) back. Even just the two kids together is close to 50 pounds so I definitely don't need another 10 pounds of camera gear. But I digress. Today's solution to that problem was to step onto our patio for a quick snap of the sunset. I can't wait for the day we have an actual YARD to step into in the evenings.

day 11: teething is the pits

day 11: My mom always talks about a shirt that my brother had as a baby that said "teething is the pits". Well now I know why they make that shirt. I thought that teething was rough when the babies were getting their front teeth. But that was nothing compared to what is going on now with Paul getting his first molars. He has two coming in at once and he has been the saddest man on the planet. Take a look at this poor little guy's face. Complete with a single tear. He was sad for almost the entire day, although he did perk up at a trip to Costco. I am really hoping that he starts feeling better once his teeth are all in.

day 10:

day 10: this evening I attended another wedding, only this time I was going as a guest. One of my good friends from junior high got married today and my mom and sister came up to watch the kids while we went out. I didn't want to bring a camera since I was "off duty" so I didn't take a single picture (can you believe it?) Instead I took this crummy one when I got home. And now I'm going to bed.

day 9: a gorgeous day for a wedding!

day 9: today was my first wedding of 2010, and what a GORGEOUS wedding it was! A beautiful day out in Malibu and an unbelievably sincere and beautiful couple. It was absolutely perfect, I couldn't ask for a better start to the year! One of my favorites -

day 8: you weren't worried, were you?

day 8: so I didn't get my day 7 photo put online yesterday. Well if there is one thing I learned by the end of my last successful 365 project it's that you have to cut yourself a little slack. And if once in a while your picture doesn't make it onto the blog on the very same day it was taken, that's ok. I'll still do my best to get them up in a timely manner, but it's not always possible. So without further ado, here's my photo from yesterday. Mr. Paul getting a kick out of his trucks. He loves absolutely ANYTHING with wheels.

day 7: my baby's baby

day 7: Amelia got a baby doll for Christmas and she LOVES it and she LOVES to feed her baby a bottle. I melt every time!

day 6: oops

day 6: all of my least favorite images from the first year of photo-rific are ones where I forgot to take a picture during the day and just took a picture right before bed of something on my desk. And here I go again doing the same thing. Oops. Tomorrow I'll make sure to bring my camera when I go out. It's tougher these days when I'm also carrying 47 pounds of baby around. Quite a workout!