Archive | September 2017

Week 2 of Honest Photo Month

Welcome to the second week of my experiment… You can see the first week of photos HERE. Again, these are posted daily on Facebook and Instagram. And here we go…

DAY 820170908_102551

“It was minion’s choice. We took a family walk this morning… to the Catholic Church… to play Pokémon… all sorts of educational, right?! The girls found so many butterflies in the flowers and the boys took their bikes. We picked up some trash along the way too. Happy Friday all!!!”

Bonus image DAY 8.520170908_102023_HDR

“We have to get creative to take group shots. This was too planned out to be an HONEST PHOTO… But HONESTLY it is hard to get  a group shot.”

DAY 920170909_105522

“I assume we are great entertainment for the YMCA front desk staff. Ken has his spot where he sits… No one expects him to work out. And the twins either stay busy or get typical teenager bored. Today that degraded into some sort of slow motion tickled/wrestling match. Yup… We are the weirdos in the lobby waiting on mom to get done with her workout. Feel free to giggle.”

DAY 1020170910_103802

“We came, we saw, we headed home right after Sunday School. Funny thing… Hacking kids make for abbreviated church experience. Especially when the after service activity is creating meals for the food bank. But here you have it, photo proof that I CAN dress them up AND take them out… Sort of.”

DAY 11IMG_20170911_111904_131

“How do you do it? I couldn’t teach my kid! What do they do all day? It looks too hard… Well, it is hard. All rewarding things are. And how do I do it? Trial and error. With siding being done and sick kids we do what we can, and if that is just counting woodland creatures and colouring… Well that is a success!! Worksheet is thanks to Activity Village (link on right).”

DAY 1220170912_122237

“I debated waiting later in the day… But… They are only so carefree and young for so long. Sometimes school is taking a walk and looking for birds. In the process having a shadow puppet war… Trinity’s bunny vs something Emanuel said would nuke it… Bunny was victorious and our shadow creating skills powered up.”

DAY 1320170913_130536_HDR

“Science vs Craft… This is common with our one room classroom. On the left slightly grumpy teens who had to try and figure out the seed count of a kiwi because that was one of 3 fruit I could find with seeds for some basic science. On the right loud children helping mum fulfil her glitter craft challenge from her pen pal… Glitter slime!

Did I mention slime makes Zander want to vomit? His words…”

BONUS PICTURE20170913_130614

“Glitter!”

BONUS BONUS PICTUREIMG_20170913_140049_019

“Then this happened…”

DAY 1420170914_141627

“Welcome to my late afternoon/evening reality. Crochet, entertainment, school planning, letter writing… The kitchen table is often occupied and I do like to spread out, so the bed it is. Open door so the kids are constant, but I can leave it all out and work until I am ready to crawl into bed. Organized chaos… Ask Ken what happens when he touches something.”

And that is the second set of 7 days in a blog post! As always, suggestions welcome!

Styracosaurus

Another waaaaay back when resource post. Hopefully all live links and helpful to someone! Emanuel has been such a helpful push to make me research some very interesting creatures:

Back to the dinosaurs… this time a rather interesting herbivore called the Styracosaurus. Walking on 4 legs, this dinosaur had a series of spiked along its frill. It also had two spikes above its eyes. Hatched from an egg, this Cretaceous period dinosaur is believed to have roamed in herds. The Styracosaurus was found in North America and probably reacted to predators much like the current rhino. Not the smartest or the largest it definitely has an impressive skull and frill!

Now for our brief video… sadly my German is too rusty to make heads or tails of the facts they are sharing. But it is an interesting 3D rendition of our herbivore.

And now for our link list:

  • Dinosaurs.about.com HERE
  • Jurassic Park Wiki HERE
  • Kidsdinos.com HERE
  • Museum of Life + Science HERE
  • EnchantedLearning HERE
  • Wiki HERE
  • And our colouring page found on Dinosaur-coloring.com HERE

First Week of Honest Photos

Remember my proposed experiment using photography that I blogged about HERE? Well we have already reached the conclusion of the first week of images which I have posted to my Facebook and Instagram accounts. So now it is time to share the first 7 posts here on my blog. Enjoy!

DAY 1IMG_20170901_132846_372

“I wish I had a sound recording of the arguing and the directing of the stroller through the garbage containers. Last day of summer program, 5th day in a row of mornings at the YMCA… Careful carry to avoid potential tire puncture… Welcome to September.”

DAY 220170902_124205

“Once a year Ken and I go out for a day to cut loose at the Renaissance Festival. I usually take most of the photos and am critical of what is taken of me. Here is a quick one Ken took. This is the only time other than the pool that I bare my midriff post babies.”

DAY 320170903_104941

“Remember all those perfect little girl rooms out there? Yah… not my house. This was deemed ‘clean’ after church by the residents. I struggle with the idea of a super tidy room and the reality of 2 girls who are comfortable in the room as is. No magazine spreads here… Unless we are the ‘before’ picture lol.”

DAY 420170904_103252

“Anyone who follows me on Instagram is probably aware that I have committed myself to a minimum of 4 days of working out a week at the YMCA. I post my elliptical times to keep myself honest. But what you don’t see is my often day glow self booking along. Ken took this one for me today. It isn’t pretty but the results have been fantastic. And honestly I think I look ridiculously awkward and gawky.”

DAY 520170905_092202

“Day 5 photo comes early today… ‘Look up here and say cheese kids.” *click*… Among the smiles was coughs and yawns. We are not tidy or early morning learners. There always seems to be unfinished assignments and at least one ongoing argument between scholars at any given time. But… it is our room and our chaos. And tomorrow you may get to see the teacher 🙂 messy hair and all.

DAY 620170906_085157

“Day 6 photo is my most ‘naked’ too date I think… Meet the teacher. No make up, glasses, messy hair, sweater from my old university, yoga pants (you can’t see the Totoro on my socks). I roll out of bed and make myself some tea and the day begins. No glamour, no magic, just… me.

Photo credit goes to Trinity with her exquisite point and click skills (Zander tried and got fuzzy images but he had just woken up.”

DAY 7IMG_20170907_090852_050

“Day 7 and the last family member in our classroom. Every morning I clean out Neko-Chan’s cage. Scrape the dirty papers out, add hay, check food and water. On a perky morning I also spend half my time stopping her from eating my spoon and climbing out her door. To some she is just a rodent. To me she is a joy. I have not had a true pet in over 10 yrs. I didn’t even realize the true magnitude of the void until she came along fill it. Plus… SHE’S SO FLUFFY!!!!”

And there you have it, week one of my photo project up for all to see! I hope everyone is enjoying this candid peek into my life. Any suggestions of things you would like to see, moments, events… do share! And check back in 7 days for the next batch!!!

This entry was posted on 07/09/2017, in Uncategorized. 4 Comments