For Cory's birthday I surprised him with a family portrait session by a local photographer, Katherine Scheele. The setting for our photos was our beloved downtown Zionsville, the time a gorgeous October afternoon.

I agonized over our outfit choices, worried about the weather, fretted about David's mood and willingness to have his picture taken.

The results were nothing less than amazing. Katherine is an artist. We couldn't be happier.

I'll let the images speak for themselves...

Swoon.

She captured our family so perfectly. I will treasure these forever.

Dear David,

"Dah" was one of your first words. When you see a dog, it brings instant joy and curiosity, an eagerness to get a bit closer. It's how we lure you away from the playground, to point out a dog and follow it right out of the park. It's the only way, really, that we avoid hauling you away kicking and screaming, engaged in a full-scale tantrum, reluctant to leave. You are always eager to follow that puppy, see where it's going, what it's doing. Big ones, little ones, mean ones, nice ones, you don't care. Any dog is your instant friend, at least from your point of view.

When we're outside, you plop down on the property line and watch the neighbor's yard in hopes that one of their puppies might appear. When they do, you are elated. You point them out on TV, in books. You throw your puppy blanket over our heads and demand that we "woof". And we do, every time.

Although the loss of our beloved Sammy and Casper still seems like yesterday to us, it was ages ago on your scale of development. When they were still around, you were barely mobile. You didn't say much, and seemed only mildly aware of their presence, having yet to do that jig of excitement that the sight of a dog brings on these days. Sure, you were anxious to get at them (much to their dismay), but at that time you were into just about anything and everything anyway. You didn't appreciate the fact that you had such treasured objects, the future objects of your passionate affection, in your very own home. That makes me a little sad.

We'd give you just about anything, we really would. But we've got to draw the line somewhere. Time is so precious. We want to enjoy YOU and OUR LIVES and still have a little time to breathe. And I'll be honest, I want a clean house, at least as clean as your toddler self will allow. A puppy just doesn't fit into that plan, at least right now.

Maybe by the time you can read this we will be ready to bite the bullet. Until then, the plastic dog at Old Navy will just have to do. By the looks of this picture, that might just be enough to keep you happy.

Love, Mom

Instagram Love

Got an iPhone yesterday when Cory changed cellular services for his business. Having limited technological savvy, I was only a recent convert to an Android even though it seems everyone else has been using "smart" phones for ages. And I admit there was only one real reason that I was willing to yet again learn a new device, a little gem of an app that my many online scrapbook acquaintances have been raving about.  Instagram.

Instagram takes seemingly mundane, everyday camera phone photos and transforms them into little works of art with a few simple clicks. Just check out this picture I snapped of David at the mall today and you'll see what I mean. Sweet.

Here's another photo, taken by Dad while we were visiting in Perry County a few weeks back, transformed by one of Instagram's photo filters:



If you have an iPhone, download this free app and "follow" me. You'll see the pics I plan on uploading frequently now that I have the ability.

Technology continues to amaze me.

Lesson learned.

We had planned to head to Columbus, OH this weekend to peruse an antiques fair and explore the reknowned Columbus Zoo. We scrapped our plans after incurring an expensive car repair a few weeks back, so we found ourselves with a "free" weekend here at home. What to do, what to do?

Yesterday morning, after completing the typical morning routine, we sat around and debated the many possibilities before us. Fountain Square antiquing, Irish Fest, Country Fair at Connor Prairie, a jaunt about downtown Zionsville, a hike at Eagle Creek.... all of these came up as possibilities. What should we do to make our weekend great? Exhausted by our choices, we gave up and decided to simply take a walk, stopping at the little park behind the elementary school.

And the ideal thing-to-do pretty much fell into our laps. Who knew a seemingly mundane playground would provide us with such entertainment.

He absolutely loved the tunnel slide. Went down by himself many times, laughing all the way.

Cory even took him down a twisting tunnel slide on the bigger kids.  The above photo looks disturbing but trust me, they are both laughing. And VERY static-y.  Ha!

Who says a major outing is necessary to make a weekend great?  Lesson learned.

Using a spoon?

I caught David "using" a spoon the other morning. And whereas I'm sure you would enjoy this video thoroughly even without my annotation, there are a few interesting things to note:

• Please forgive the first few dizzying seconds. I use my Android to tape him now (so handy), so I have to approach him with stealth or else he will stop what he's doing. I start the taping out of his earshot (it beeps) and walk toward him acting like I'm using my phone for something else. It fools him. For now.
• He is eating cantaloupe. A current favorite.
• Note the bagel-sniffing. It was blueberry, and was rejected as you will see. Not sure what was so offensive about it. I'm afraid he's become somewhat of a picky eater.
• Even though the clip is quite short, this process went on for the entire meal.
• I have shown this to everyone who will watch it at work, so now it's your turn:

Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. Bon appetit!

He's got wheels...

In recent weeks, I've watched David attempt, multiple times, to get behind the wheel of a plastic army Jeep he got from his Uncle Ian.  Mind you, this toy was designed for Barbie-sized GI Joe dolls, not 27ish pound toddler bodies.  Needless to say, the few times he was actually successful perching on the little thing it didn't last long (he inevitably always tipped over, oops!), and he wasn't able to really go anywhere.  Pretty funny to watch, though.

So when I saw the Cozy Coupe at Toys 'r' Us yesterday, I had to let him take it for a test drive.  He was instantly smitten.  He grinned as he climbed behind the wheel, honked the little horn, and scooted around the store, Fred Flintstone style.  This trial, however, was not well thought out by me.  Since actually leaving the store in the car was not an option, I had to remove an emotionally labile, tormented by teething, very grumpy 17-month-old from a coveted toy, and I had no way of explaining that we were buying the silly thing.  Nope.  So, he threw a giant fit, attracting the stares and craning necks of our fellow shoppers.  We got out of there pretty fast, red-faced, with our very own Cozy Coupe.  Before the giant fit we had already decided to buy it, I swear.

Once home, Cory slaved to assemble it as David (very impatiently) waited for him to finish. Once it was together, we took it outside for a test drive.  OK, as you can see by these pictures, he was not willing to wait until we got outside, but we eventually did make it out there as well.

I don't know what it is about this thing, but I think its about the cutest thing ever.  And the Cozy Coupe's pretty cute, too.  ;)

Trying something new...

I've been so busy living life lately, I haven't been blogging it.  And where that's not necessarily a bad thing, I'm sure I will come to regret it in the future, especially when life slows down a little. And it inevitably will.

So this marks my first Android-powered blog post.  We'll see how it turns out before I make any proclamations regarding more to come...

We'd planned on visiting the splash park today, but due to the heat (again), we thought an indoor pursuit might be more comfortable.  Plus, isn't it every 16 month old's dream to spend a Sunday afternoon antiquing?  At least it was the dream if this newly-minted 37 year old. So that's what we did.

We ventured to Noblesville, hoping for another find like my WWI nursing recruitment poster I got there several years ago.  No luck there, so we had root beer floats on the square. Deeee-liscious.

Then on to a children's store called The Wild, where we got David his first puzzle.  Had fun looking around there.  Love buying from independent merchants.  They are a dying breed.

Like a junkie, I just HAD to find a treasure, so we stopped at Westfield Antique Mall.  There, I hit the jackpot.  Got a glass citrus juicer, a Fire King measuring cup, a set of three flower frogs, and a coveted locker basket.  Found so many other treasures too but had to leave something behind for the next guy.

I can't believe how good of a sport David is on these types of excursions, we are truly lucky.