life documentation

I might have mentioned that I'm loving the atmosphere, community, and conversations on Twitter. Since I can update status from my phone wherever I'm at, I can make sure that I'm documenting an event while it's in progress.

As an example, here are the tweets just before, during, and after our vacation in June. That was such a precious gift of family time for us. I'm looking forward to documenting it in a scrapbook. These tweets will certainly help me remember the important moments from that trip.

And yes, I hear what you're thinking... "why not just keep a journal and write it down?" That's a good idea, too. And for many trips I have done just that. But on this trip, it was easier to capture the moment in 140 characters or less and upload it to a server for later viewing.

There is a lot less pressure in a 140 letter tweet than 40 lined pages of literary opportunity.


Vacation Tweets:

JT climbed all the way to the top of the stairs tonight when we got home (with me following close behind). I'm not ready for this yet. 11:27 PM June 21, 2008 from BeTwittered
#grateful for safe travels and wonderful family and friends. Vacation was good... only a little glad to be home. 10:21 PM June 21, 2008 from web
JT speaks loudly into his toy phone, just like grandpa. 04:01 PM June 20, 2008 from txt
Tears at departure. All hyped up on Bo Jangles sweet tea for the ride. 02:21 PM June 20, 2008 from txt
Pitching pistachios at squirrels in the rain. 04:32 PM June 19, 2008 from txt
Last day on beach. JT getting tan. Parents getting sad for vacation to end. 02:40 PM June 19, 2008 from txt
We are just gonna stay here. John & I figure we can make friends with new campers every week so we always have lodging. 10:05 PM June 18, 2008 from txt
Chasing kitties and making vacation videos. 08:36 AM June 18, 2008 from txt
Saw dolphins today. Caught sand fleas. JT petted a sand shark then cried when we turned it loose. 11:47 AM June 17, 2008 from txt
Stuffed from another of aunt joan's home cooked meals. 07:02 PM June 16, 2008 from txt
JT & I swam with stingrays and jellyfish today. It was freaky, but cool. 02:57 PM June 16, 2008 from txt
Heading to the beach 09:34 AM June 16, 2008 from txt
Introduced JT to gators tonight. He doesn't think they are as cuddly as bunnies. 09:19 PM June 15, 2008 from txt
JT loves the ocean! Squeals with delight. Tried to drink saltwater from the bucket. 04:25 PM June 15, 2008 from txt @pwhyte lol! 04:21 PM June 15, 2008 from txt in reply to pwhyte JT napping. Gators sunbathing in marsh. Squirrels scavenging deserted campsites. 11:03 AM June 15, 2008 from txt @pwhyte already been to piggly wiggly 10:20 AM June 15, 2008 from txt in reply to pwhyte Arrived South Carolina 0530. 08:55 AM June 15, 2008 from txt Rolling in our rented Chrysler 300, JT sleeping. 08:33 PM June 14, 2008 from txt Household chores are getting done one at a time. 08:00 PM June 13, 2008 from BeTwittered #grateful for vacation. Next week's tweets from the beach! 05:33 PM June 13, 2008 from BeTwittered

first year, completed

Oh, remember I promised to show you the completed First Year project? Well, here it is....



I have to admit, sometimes I would sit down and backfill a month or more at a time. Thank goodness for the blog, emails to Nana, iPhoto, and the daycare notebook.



A year in the life that is as low commitment as 2 or 3 words per day would be a great project for any person at any age. I love this project... the colors, the handwriting that makes it so personal, the ability to spread out the whole set, the visual chronology of photos, and 365 good and bad memories of JT's first year ever.

vote!

It's election season! Ok, while it is presidential election season, that's not what I'm talking about. What I care about is the annual calendar contest at my work. I've made it every year for the past 5 years or so. It's kind of a big thing for me.

Here is where you come in. I can submit 2 photos for consideration. I have selected a handful of my favorites from the past year and put them in a flickr set. View the set and comment on the photos you like best. I'll use your votes to help decide what to submit.

I have to submit by Tuesday... I'll let you know which photos I enter and if I make it!

tag crowd

A tag crowd of the most used words on my blog. I love this view of what I've written. I would love to use a TagCrowd or Wordle image in a scrapbook layout. I'll let you know when I get that accomplished, of course. Happy weekend!

ago baby book chair class creating creative cupcakes envelope family fun getting idea inspiration journaling jt kathy kick labels later layout learned life love making means months night page park photos pool practicing process really scrapbook signs sketch stacy start study summer swimming title truck walk water weekend work year

created at TagCrowd.com

cupcakes!

A couple Saturdays ago, my friend Kathy asked me to help her learn to take better photos of the cakes and cupcakes she is baking. She has been taking classes and making some gorgeous creations. She is quite talented.

Ok, let me back up just a second. One of the first times I ever talked with Kathy was at a scrapbooking night at our church. She did the make-n-take I demonstrated, proclaiming all the while that she is not creative at all. Let's just say I was suspicious of that statement when she took my scrapbook layout idea and turned it into a work of art.

So now, about two years later, Kathy has apparently discovered her creative side.

When I arrived, one of the books she had as a reference for the kind of photos she wanted to learn how to take was Cupcakes! by Elinor Klivans. Woman after my own heart... this book is DELICIOUS. I have no idea what the recipes are like, but the photos are sweet and dreamy.

I showed Kathy some basics about taking good photos and how to manage the light and shadows with the camera and tools she has. I'm looking forward to seeing more pictures of her gorgeous cakes. And hopefully we can get together sometime when she's baking so I can take pictures of her in the kitchen and we can try to shoot some photos like the the ones in the book.

It was such a fun time collaborating with someone else on a creative endeavor. It's something that I don't do nearly often enough. She completely loaded me up on inspiration. Now, to find some time to act on the inspiration...

(Note... the treat shown here was from Kroger, as all Kathy's cakes had already been delivered the day we did the shoot.)

the chair

My dad returned from Wisconsin today. This time he's back for a while... we are very excited to be seeing more of him! He showed up with this toddler-sized rocking chair for JT.


We tried to encourage JT to try it out. He doesn't really like to be encouraged. Must have something to do with his 14-month old independence streak.


Later, when we weren't expecting it, he tried out the chair. At first, he needed some help getting in it. It tends to scoot away as he backs into it.


He has the rocking motion down perfectly. And he has worked on getting into the chair more gracefully and has a near-perfect dismount every time.

The chair is just perfect for reading. He spent much of the afternoon discussing this book of planes, trains, and trucks with Nana and Grandpa.

He can get folks really pumped up for trucks.

like a fish out of water

Tonight was JT's first swimming lesson. We were by the pool, ready and waiting, about ten minutes early. It was all I could do to keep JT from running and jumping in. He soooo loves the water.

There were about 10-12 babies in the "Shrimp" class. This is the first class where babies are merely introduced to the water. I had to coax him to sit at the side of the pool while I got in. He could just barely sit still this long. He was squealing with excitement. As soon as I got in, he wanted in... all the way in. He was going crazy. All the other babies were quiet. Apprehensive. Watching. Most of them were casting sideways, nervous glances at my baby.

We sang some songs that included splashing. JT tolerated those. Let's get to the fun part, people. (Personally, I liked the songs... Ring Around the Rosy, Wheels on the Bus, etc.) The instructors showed us how to blow bubbles in the water. JT thought this was hilarious. He watched me do it, squealed, then drank some pool attempting to do it himself.

He had some trouble taking instruction on doggie paddling with his arms and trying to kick his legs. We'll have to keep working on those motions in between lessons. He was too interested in doing his own kind of play in the water. (And maybe I'm not so good at making him pay attention.)

We also learned to jump in and swim back to the edge. Ok, well, I held him and did all the work for this, but the idea was that he learned how to get in the pool and get back to dry land. We did this exercise quite a few times. I also kept repeating "kick, kick, kick" and moving his legs. Hopefully in time he'll start figuring out what that means.

Swimming lessons were a bit more of an exercise for me that I expected it to be. And it makes for a tiring evening rushing there after work, getting both of us changed, and then practicing our strokes for 30 minutes. Pretty sure those squeals make it worthwhile, though!

fall starts

We spent labor day weekend at my brother and sister-in-law's house in Wooster, OH. Mom went with us. We had a great time. I loved getting up on Saturday and walking to the market. We had breakfast outdoors at a little Hungarian pastry shop. JT loves being outside and watching people, so it was a great event for him.

Aunt Joan, Uncle Wayne, and Jessica came over for dinner on Saturday night. We walked downtown again to eat at Broken Rock bakery and cafe - more deliciousness. On Sunday morning, John and I took JT on a walk to the playground at Christmas run park with nephew-dog, Bailey. That park was soooo fun! JT loved all the slides and climbing.

Sunday afternoon we visited my Aunt Karen, Uncle David, Katie, and Kyle. They live by a lake. JT swam for a couple hours. He LOVES the water. He loves it a little too much, I'm afraid. He made a dash for the lake every chance he got. Those swimming lessons cannot start soon enough.

We have lots of stories to tell... I'll try to get more photos posted this week. For today, I will leave you with some pics of JT chasing rainbows this morning. Sometimes it's the little things, you know? Theresa had a crystal hanging in the window that was making rainbows all over the living room. JT tried to catch them.

That's just one little example of his sense of discovery that I love.

So that was the last weekend of summer? Really? Please no, don't go... I love summer!