Why we hide from daylight

Glitter Graphics

Update: As mentioned in my comment below, all the sparklies shifted about a quarter-inch below where I had placed them. Also, you will not see sparklies if you are reading this in a feed reader, and then this post’s title won’t make sense.
2nd Update: It looks like adding that [...]

How could I not put this photo on my blog?

Lili and Rose, photographed by Spencer, Provo Canyon
On a different photo shoot, Lili and Spen discovered that if Lili pulled a face every few shots, the in-between shots looked more relaxed and natural. Like this one:

Or this one:

(Actually I think Rose still looks a little self-conscious–her typical photo expression.)

Art therapy

Mabel assures me that this drawing was not intended as leverage in her campaign to be a vampire for Halloween instead of being Little Red Riding Hood. (We’re considering how the Red Riding Hood cape might work as a vampire cape. Or she could just wear regular clothes and body glitter, but I’m not sure [...]

And I’m happy to say that that last one’s functioning well

Rose, after successfully reciting our phone number, says: “I have a lot of brains! I have a million brains.” She points to various locations on her forehead and cheeks as she lists all her brains: “My number brain, for remembering numbers, and my letters brain is here, and I have a colors [...]

Have a life? Have a blog?

Such a tough choice.
This was about to be one of those periodic posts in which I explain that I’m not going to be blogging for a while, since I’ll be trying to catch up on some real-life obligations. But then I remembered that I often follow those posts with a flurry of new posts, [...]

For that matter, when I was a kid I might have eaten the Jelly Bellies

When we bought couches a couple of years ago, I chose a leather one for practicality, and a fabric one because it was pretty.  I even had the idea, briefly, that I wouldn’t let the kids sit on the blue fabric couch at all, but eventually the kids wore me down on that rule, just [...]

Might come in handy in 64 years (give or take)

For my gravestone:
“Here lies Zina.  She liked to think she was witty and clever, but she couldn’t even come up with a good epitaph.”
(I bet you’ve never done a Google Image Search for “neglected tombstone.”)

Notes to self

1. Ages five and three, respectively, are too old for children to become converted to American-style processed cheese. Next time you’re offered the leftovers after a picnic, don’t accept them unless you are planning to throw them away.
2. Your three-year-old doesn’t eat sandwiches, peanut-butter-and-honey or otherwise. He didn’t yesterday, nor the day before [...]

What this child needs is for his mother to get off the computer and make him some lunch. Also he needs a nap (and so does his mother)

Henry comes to me, wailing, eyes squinched, tears rolling down his cheeks, mouth stretched into a wide, deep grimace. I put him on my lap, wipe his cheeks, and ask, “What’s the matter?”
“Rose say [chokes down a sob] ‘Stop kicking her.’”
“She says to stop kicking her?”
“[Wails.] Yeah!”
“So, maybe you should . . . stop [...]

Moving targets

I am so thankful for digital cameras.  (Yes, you whippersnappers, I do remember life before digital cameras.  It was a dark, sad time.)  Having a digital camera helps SO much when I am trying to photograph wild life–I just snap as many shots as I can and hope to get lucky.  I do have to [...]