++This week's assignment++

We've had a few assignments that have been less than interesting for the masses to look at (although full of good learning for me). But this week's assignment was about taking photos in full noontime sun. Funny because we don't get that a lot here in Seattle. I found it quite stressful to have to watch for the sun. Yesterday, it appeared that the sky was clearing so at 10a in the cold we walked in the rain as a family to take pictures toting a white sheet, foam core and a little red stool. Gotta wonder what the neighbors think of us.

The skies cleared and between clouds (which in most cases are actually preferred for photos) I got a few fun shots:
Gotta love the hat--Grandma made it for her.

This one was in full sun without the help of my other tools. She's a little shadowy but I had to show off how cute (and proud) she is with her walking. She's fast too. I had to keep backing up because she kept catching up to me.

I hade to bribe Wyatt with a new toy to get him to sit still for my photos. He declined candy, my first bribe. I don't get serious smiles and cooperation but in this case his arm did a nice job shading the sun from his face...mission accomplished...accidentally!

I screwed this one up in photoshop somehow and am too lazy to fix it now. He isn't fake tan, I promise. The silly face was all his though.

I did learn my lesson. If you really want to do well--don't use a three-year-old and a one-year-old as your subjects. I wish I had a ten-year-old aspiring model who will sit still for hours.

++In progress++

We've got quite a mess in progress around these parts. This is the biggest project we've ever undertaken. I must admit that on one hand it's kind of fun to make your house a little bit more just how you would want it. On the other hand, it's a total pain. It's all going on right in the middle of our house so it's like having some new friends in the house with us...all...day...long... Naps have been an adventure as well. Thank goodness they did all the framing and plumbing while we were gone on vacation. Since then we've only had a handful of noisy days.

Here was a shot of the dining room before. It's hard to capture in photos. Basically it was open all the way up to the second floor, just like the foyer.

Here was our laundry room before (on a particularly messy day). Very narrow passage and hard to operate our front-loaders.

And ta-dah! Here is the new room. They put the flooring in this week but we are still waiting for cabinets. The shop vac is sitting where the treadmill will rest.

We picked Marmoleum for the floor. It's green, you know. We mainly picked it because it is softer under foot and more noise absorbing than tile and but also water-safe. It also looks pretty cool! We also thought it would help us fit in in Seattle. Just kidding.

So our new hall, which used to have railings on both sides, now looks like this. It's funny, I almost forgot what it used to look like until I pulled up these photos.

The new dining room ceiling now looks like this. No worries, the beams will be painted.

And the former laundry room now looks like this. It's hard to see much but now it's empty with a new tile floor, awaiting "lockers" and cubbies and some other cabinets. I chose this tile because unless I want to, I don't think I will ever have to clean it. Note to visitors: don't eat off the mudroom floor. The blue tape measure was an accessory added by one of my two acessorizers.

Here is the new living room paint. It really shows up green in the pictures. It's a little more gray/taupe than that. We haven't quite gotten around to organizing and filling the bookcases yet.

As much as I am excited to be done with all this, I think Wyatt is going to be heartbroken to say goodbye to his buddy Don and the painter Ron and the other helpers who have been through the house. I still haven't decided if the feeling will be mutual or not.

++In Style++

We did our best to celebrate in style for the little one's big Day. I must admit it was tough for me but we made the call to keep it family. With the construction mess we just didn't feel up to having a big bash. We made it a special day for her anyway.

I have no idea if Claire actually likes ducks but she says "duh" and points out "duhs" and so we went with it and threw her a little duck party. I even made invites. We mailed three.

Wyatt was so surprised to find ducks in the flowers. "Who put those there?"
Aunt Susan made yummy cupcakes. The benefit of a spring birthday is that Easter is approaching and Williams-Sonoma was selling duck marshmallows. (As an aside they taste the same as the white ones from the store and cost about 10x as much. They looked cute though!)

You'd never know from her haul that the party consisted of Grandma and Grandpa and the Buchholz family.

Does this girl look ready to party or what? (note the paper on the floor...the sawdust doesn't show up in the photos.)

This one sure is!

Opening the loot.

Claire was sent a piggy bank from Busha. What a treasure it will be. Wyatt LOVES his that Busha gave him.

Grandpa made Claire a cradle and Grandma made the bedding. Is she a lucky girl or what?

How do you take the party hat that big brother wore on his first birthday and make look a little girly? Duh...you add a pink bow! She can't wear them in her hair so we have to figure out something to do with them! The hat came off at one point and she demanded we put it back on. (note the tired eyes...naptime is near)

I think she was looking for more frosting.

We meant to get a family photo but the day got away from us. We'll have to settle for this shot. Love that girl...

++One++

Our littlest one is one. I could list about fifteen cliches here and they would all be true. It does seem just like yesterday that we were in the hospital with our new little bundle and she is growing up too fast.
I was reflecting on the past year to Mark and one of the things that struck me the most was this. When Claire was born (and even before) we loved her. We loved her because she was our baby and part of our family. But now we still love her for that reason but even more, we love her because she is Claire. It has been so fun to watch her grow into her own little person with a big personality.
She's walking now and that has firmly cemented the belief that she can do ANYTHING her brother can. She walked the day before her birthday. Wyatt walked the day after. They must come out programmed with some sort of deadline.
She has eight teeth. Is full of smiles. Loves to joke. Hates it when she doesn't get her way. Has decided that sometimes she NEEDS to wear her hat at breakfast, or her jacket inside all day or her shoes all the time. She loves to play outside. We're still working on figuring out how that works. At least now that she's on her feet 75% of the time she stays a little cleaner and drier.
She makes a break for the stairs the instant she sees the gate open. She'll unroll a roll of toilet paper faster than you can say toilet paper. You can often find her pushing her "pusher" around with her lovey draped over the handles, Wyatt's dirty socks in her hands and a cup hanging out of her mouth. She likes to try to make her brother laugh. She comes up behind him and touches his back or pretends to give him something and yanks it away. If she encounters any type of vessel she will NEED to try to sit in it or on it. Her favorite these days is a rubbermaid under bed box, closely followed by the "mom nest" (the spot inside my legs while seated cross-legged). Her vocabulary now includes, duck, ball, dog, cracker and shoes. I think she grew up tenfold over the past month. Happy Birthday little girl!

++Ten on Tuesday++

1. Someone in our house is walking. Watch out world because here she comes!
2. This remodel thing is just too stressful for me. Too many decisions all at once. Knobs, lights, fans, flooring and paint colors...that is for sure going to drive me batty. As I've mentioned before I tend to over think even the smallest decisions, imagine what happens with this kind of stuff.
3. On that note our living room is now a new color that was supposed to be a beige/gray color but looks mighty green now that it's up. It's not a bad color, I'm just second guessing how it looks with everything we own. Wonderful.
4. Wyatt talks the ear off of our contractor and every sub-contractor who comes in our house. Our contractor is "Don" or "My buddy Don" if you ask Wyatt about him.
5. I caught Wyatt telling Claire that something was "not acceptable" today. Hmm...wonder where he got that?
6. In Wyatt's eyes Claire is frequently doing things that are "not acceptable". She is super into him and what he is doing. I feel bad for her because she just wants to play too, but I feel bad for him because he just wants to be left alone.
7. As a result of above behavior, Wyatt slammed Claire's finger in a drawer last night. Mark was out of town (go figure) and there was blood. We've avoided traumatic injuries to date so I wasn't ready for this. I always thought I would rally when I needed to. I didn't. It didn't end up being bad. Thank goodness.
8. Wyatt has Mater underwear (from Cars). There is a big Mater on his bum. I encouraged him to "shake his Mater" to get him excited about wearing underwear way back when. He still does it. He was talking about shaking his Mater tonight when he looked down at his Toy Story pull-up and asked "who's this?" to the cowboy on the front. I just couldn't tell him the guy's name was woody. I could see where it was going.
9. We've been enjoying the Olympics but what Einstein thought it would be a good idea to tape delay everything that's happening a few hours from here, and then broadcast it from 8-11:30? Needless to say we are never awake to see the finish of the night's big event. Clearly that Einstein doesn't have little kids.
10. We've got a lot riding on "when this remodel is done." We plan to have more free time, a cleaner house, a social life, and the list goes on and on. We'll see. One can always hope!

++A trip to the Zoo++

I put Zoo in caps because I didn't just mean any zoo. I meant the San Diego Zoo. It was cool. Just as we had hoped. The crew was ready to tackle it--we weren't sure what to expect but they rallied and we stayed all day.

I put my zoom lens on and took photos all day. I did all my shots in manual. Some worked out better than others. We waited in line to see the baby panda. So cute.

Wyatt's highlight: riding on the top of the double decker bus.

Wyatt's favorite animal: the giraffe. Funny because we had them in Memphis and have them here in Seattle.

We got a super-cute hand print turned into animal souvenir. Good thing I took this photo and wasn't there to wash Claire's hand right away because the brown paint is all over that dress and it didn't come off. But I got the photo so it's all good (or I keep telling myself that).

We learned we have a daredevil on our hands. Claire leaned out of the tram and waved and pointed the entire time. No fear.

The weather was great, the crowds were small. What a great way to spend a Monday!

++We didn't fall off the face of the earth...++

...we went on vacation!
More from sunny San Diego soon.