Santa Claus Came to Town!

You may remember our recent post about the difficulty in taking our Halloween photos in the pumpkin patch. Well, today we had pictures made with Santa and this time it went much more smoothly.

Surprisingly, Santa had taken time out of his busy schedule at the North Pole to visit the Westfarms Mall in Farmington. Westfarms made Santa at home here in Connecticut with a beautiful Ice Palace and plush throne they had set up for him in the center of the mall. Since we arrived pretty much as soon as the mall opened, we didn't have to wait in line too long, but even if we had, it wouldn't have been too bad. The line curved through a nice activity area for the kids where they could view video footage of polar bears, penguins, arctic foxes, and seals. They even had a snow machine in the middle of the Ice Palace that dropped a light dusting of snow on all the children below.

Ellie wasn't too sure of Santa last year and not much had changed in her opinion of him this year either. So, we put Grayson on his lap first, then Ellie. Not wanting to torment Ellie for too long, we had his helpers snap a couple of photos and then quickly retrieved her. We knew we again would not have any "perfect" smiley photos, so we were very pleased to see we at least got a photo with them BOTH looking at the camera.  Grayson didn't seem to mind the whole ordeal and Ellie recovered pretty quickly, actually she really was only a little upset sitting on his lap.  Score one this time for Mommy and Daddy!

Important Call

I love all things Shabby Chic. I love the vintage 1950s look; it is "MY" era. So when I am presented with an opportunity to photograph my sweet daughter in vintage form, I jump. And, until I ran across it tonight, I had almost forgotten about this darling photo I took of Ellie over the summer.

Ellie has a fascination–no obsession–with the telephone. It started when she was around nine months old. She just picked up one of her toy phones and started talking. I don't fancy myself as a phone person. I'm sure many of my friends and long distance family would say I don't call nearly enough, but for some reason my daughter developed the gift of gab on this electronic device, albeit not from me. She's since developed a true affinity for the "real" phone while ignoring her toy phones if given the choice between the two. She knows the difference. She knows that the cute little dog face and simple tones on one of her many toy phones is not the real thing. She isn't fooled and gets quite upset when I am on the phone and I don't give her an opportunity to say "Hello." It's cute when it's Daddy or any other family calling; not so much when it's a customer or complete stranger.

Over the summer, we visited the children's museum Kidcity in Middleton. Kidcity is unique in that it is not a traditional museum, but rather a place for young children to explore and participate in creative/imaginative play. Ellie seemed to enjoy all of the different play areas–dinosaurs, the Tibetan slide, under sea adventures, and apple orchard–but her definite favorite was the 1950s kitchen/farm stand.

The exhibit was neat. It featured a roadside farm stand with play carrots shoved in rows of cloth dirt. You pick the play carrots, weigh them on the scale, and wash and prepare them in the adjacent vintage kitchen. Ellie, however, was not amused until she saw the telephone hanging on the wall. She picked up the handset, propped her hand up on the wall and proceeded to have a very in-depth conversation with who knows who. She laughed, she cried, she showed concern, and listened intently. It was an intense and long conversation. I couldn't resist capturing the moment.

I'm sure one day we will be annoyed with her phone use, maybe even angry when we receive that first high overage cell phone bill, but, for now, we'll enjoy her unidentifiable toddler speak as she talks on the phone and takes her important calls. And heck, maybe I'll even catch a few of her calls on camera.

~Sarah E. Rose~

How NOT to Take Fall Photos

Sunday we visited Lyman’s Orchard with the express purpose of taking some darling fall photos of the family in the pumpkin patch. I had envisioned it well – the children would be happy, Ellie would frolic around the grounds, we would enjoy some apple cider donuts, etc. I don't know what I was thinking, but my utopia couldn't have been any farther from reality.

Ellie hadn't had her nap yet and had started to doze during the short 25 minute drive to the orchard. Mistake No. 1: Never wake a dozing toddler or allow her to skip her nap. We got everyone out of the minivan and the kids into the stroller and headed straight toward the pumpkin patch; I would waste no time in obtaining these "perfect" pictures of my happy family. Mistake No. 2: Once you have abruptly wakened said toddler, do not expect her to be stating, “Mr. DeMille, I am ready for my close-up.” We toddled on over to the pumpkin patch, got the kids out and proceeded to start the photo session. Now lately, Ellie has been on this kick of holding her fingers near her nose when we take pictures or say the word “cheese.” See, in our house, “cheese” does not mean some yummy pasteurized dairy product – no, no, no, “cheese” means camera. Mistake No. 3: Allowing said toddler to continue to think that “cheese” means shove your fingers up near your nose and pretend to take a picture as opposed to simply smiling and looking pretty for the camera. So with my hopes still high, I continued to make the best of the situation; however, it was soon clear that Ellie was too distracted by all of the people walking around to pay attention to boring Mommy and the “cheese.” Mistake No. 4: Expecting said toddler to have an attention span of greater than 30 seconds to focus on the task at hand. By this time I had started to get frustrated and decided that Ellie would be less distracted if Daddy had the camera and Mommy sat on the ground with the kids. Mistake No. 5: Crouching down on the ground while holding two children only five short weeks post c-section. It didn’t work.

Mommy’s Plan B was to now give Ellie time to wake up before regrouping and trying again, so we went inside the store and picked up some apple cider, apple cider donuts, and some cracked corn to feed the ducks. There it was. That was the ticket, I thought. Mommy had redeemed herself from forcing everyone to take pictures by getting food for the ducks. Ellie and Daddy went down to the pond; however, we soon discovered that well fed ducks aren’t hungry ducks. Mistake No. 6: Not taking note that Lyman’s Orchard has several hundred people visiting over the course of the weekend and probably sells an overpriced sack of cracked corn to every family that makes a purchase in the store. So the ducks and other water fowl were not that interested in the food we had for them, but Ellie still had great fun helping Daddy throw the corn into the water (okay, so her little throws didn’t quite make it off of the shore).

By this time I had decided to give it one last shot so we headed back over to the pumpkin patch. Mistake No. 7: Taking said toddler back to the place where she previously just had a tantrum only allows for an even bigger tantrum the second time around. I snapped a couple more photos and another couple with a young child also took some family photos for us as well. They must have understood. We packed up and left and, on our way home, drove past another pumpkin patch. I knew I still didn’t have the perfect picture I was seeking, so I drug the whole family out of the minivan... again. Mistake No. 8: Thinking that I can apply all of the same techniques just previously used and expect a different result.

I never did get my “perfect” family photo, but the ones I did get tell an interesting tale. Just another reminder that the “mother” I want to be is very much unrealistic and far from my current reality. Oh well, this mom of two under two is starting to realize that my utopia is simply that, a utopia. The Stepford Wife in me has been hushed... at least until next fall rolls around.

~Sarah E. Rose~

Grayson James Rose

So it's been a while since our last post. Things have been busy for us with a toddler in the house, but even busier now that we have a newborn again. That's right, the couple who was told so many years ago that they'd never have children just had their third baby on Friday, September 9, 2011!! Our son, Grayson James, was born at 2:15pm weighing 8 pounds and 11 ounces and 21 inches long. We are elated, albeit a bit tired, and are so thankful for God's blessing of another child. Maybe we should send a letter to that fertility clinic we visited so many years ago and tell them about the power of prayer.