How Not to Photograph Children

I know some people actually take photographs of children for a living. I don't know why they choose that occupation. I can think of other jobs that pay better and are less challenging, like being a brain surgeon. I like to post cute photos of my kids but getting a good shot can be difficult to say the least. I'm so glad my children were born in the age of digital photography. For every one good picture you see, there are dozens, even hundreds, that just didn't make the cut. I had the bright idea last week to take the kids over to the Barn to feed the ducks and snap some adorable pictures. We accomplished one of those tasks for which the ducks were very grateful. Here are the results of our other endeavor.

"We find the pavement more exciting than Mom."

"We call this the poor little orphans pose. If Mom sepia tones this we'll look like we just stepped off the boat at Ellis Island."

"I think Mom is violating child labor laws by making us do this."

"Are we dooooooooone yet?

"Fine, we'll look at the stupid camera but we're not smiling."

I'm not the only one who has trouble getting a nice posed shot of the kids. Jeff took these two weeks ago.

Colin - "I have no intention of cooperating. How 'bout you sis?"

Riley - "Nope."

Colin - " I am staring down the camera. I think I'm winning."

Riley - "These rocks hurt my tuckus."

Riley - ???

Colin - "I just do what she does."

Hallelujah, a nice picture!

Colin - "Ok, you got your shot. I'm outta here."

I Ain't Climbing No Sunshine Mountain

Last week was VBS which is a mighty big production at our church. We have over 500 kids there so it takes a lot of organizing. I'm so thankful that childcare is provided for the children of workers. Riley and Colin both loved VBS this year. After the first day I asked Colin, who was wearing half a cookie's worth of frosting on his face, what he thought of VBS, and his response was, "FUN!" Riley was a bit grumpy the first couple days because her friends Ethan and Sydney weren't in her group, but she eventually got over it and declared that Arianna was her new friend by the end of the week. Both kids loved the skits performed by our resident thespians, Mr. Steve and Mr. Randy. Riley enjoyed recounting the trials they endured on stage like getting sprayed by a stinky skunk or being plastered with silly string. I missed out on a lot of the action as I was coordinating the nursery, but I got to peek in on the kids every so often when I was walking the halls with fussy babies or searching for more batteries to keep the swings running.

VBS ended with a program on Friday night where all the children, starting with the preschoolers, got to go up on stage and sing some of the songs they had been learning that week. You'd never know it from this video, but Riley loves to sing and dance. I guess she just wasn't feeling it that night. The video is a little grainy because I was seated pretty far back. You should be able to make out the little red head refusing to climb sunshine mountain. I wonder how she's going to feel when she discovers she's being signed up for children's choir in the fall. Perhaps I won't mention that for a while.

Jeff's Photolog & Gallery

Jeff put a new photolog and gallery up -- jstewart.smugmug.com.

Confessions of a Total Cheapskate

Hi, my name is Kelly, and I'm addicted to bargain shopping. (Hi, Kelly.) I come by it quite naturally. My parents have been bargain shoppers for as long as I can remember. As a young girl I used to go shopping with my mom, and the minute we returned home, we'd pull out our receipts to figure out how much money we'd saved. She taught me to not even look at a sales rack unless it advertised at least 50% off. When I was in the 7th grade my dad bought the world's ugliest sweater because "it was only 50 cents!" He then proceeded to actually wear it . . . in public . . . while dropping me off at the bus stop . . . in the car that always backfired. Becoming a bargain shopper was inevitable. It's in my blood.

In all seriousness, I really am a cheapskate. I just love to sniff out a good deal, and lately I've discovered a few blogs and web sites that help me better accomplish this. As a SAHM, saving money is a necessity. Should I ever become a millionaire though, I think I would still check out the sales fliers and hit the thrift store. Why pay full price when you don't have to? The following are some recent examples of my quest for thriftiness. 

The kids outgrow clothing continuously. I am fortunate to have a couple friends who pass along their boys' clothes for Colin so I have done little clothes shopping for him. Riley, on the other hand, requires a little more outfitting. I love checking out the sales racks a Children's Place and buying out of season clothing one size up for the following year. I generally pay $2 for shirts and $1 for skirts. I can often do better than that though when I scope out garage sales in neighborhoods of people who are willing to pay full price for expensive brands of children's clothing and subsequently purchase so much of it, their children hardly wear it causing it to be in nearly perfect condition. I have found clothing at garage sales with the tags still attached. The following picture shows some recent acquisitions for Riley's fall wardrobe. I paid $1.25 for them - not per piece, but $1.25 for ALL of them. 


I have pretty specific tastes when it come to home decor (colonial and federal style but not of the upper classes, more of what you would have found in a farm house in Lancaster County, PA,) so it can be challenging to find just what I'm looking for. Occasionally I do manage to hit the jackpot. I found these pewter tavern mugs at a garage sale a few weeks ago. I tried not to grin too large as I talked the previous owner of these little beauties down to $4 for the set. Wooohooo, or should I say huzzah! New, these would have cost me at least $25 each.I do like some vintage items as well as my antique and reproduction pieces. For someone who loves pewter and wrought iron, it's a little ironic that I also like milk glass. The candy dish in the middle belonged to my grandmother so technically it was free. I remember her serving nuts in it at Christmas. The small mixing bowl was purchased last year at a yard sale for $2. I had recently seen a blog where a table was set with milk glass goblets. I decided they looked so nice I'd keep an eye out for some. Low and behold, I was in Goodwill later that same week and found seven goblets identical to the ones I'd seen in the blog. At only 25 cents a piece, felt I could justify them taking up a little more cupboard space. I'm now on the lookout for at least one more to complete my set. I found someone who has some on e-bay, but he wants $10 a glass. Ha ha and another ha. I'll keep looking at garage sales and thrift stores.I want to preface this by saying this is not a great picture of me but it was the best I could do with the camera sitting on the dining room table. You should have seen the ones my four-year-old tried to take. Here is an example of thrifty adult clothing. The pants were brand new from Kohls and are the most expensive item I'm wearing at $8. The cute striped shirt was a Goodwill find for $3.50. The big ole honkin' mama purse (large enough to hold diapers, wipes, two sippy cups and snacks)  is a Liz Claiborne and was found at a garage sale for $2. The previous owner apparently never used it as it is in perfect condition or at least was until I made several outings with it and the kids. It still looks nice and gets the job done. If you're keeping track, that $13.50 for the whole outfit. Stacy London, eat your heart out.

I've been thrifty with home improvement as well. I love to watch HGTV but the downside to that is I see little projects I'd like to complete all around my house. Not desiring to return to work anytime soon, I've opted for some creative makeovers of existing items (Riley's bed for example.) I've never liked the light in our bathroom. It was white with white frosted froo-froo shades. I was able to fix that with a can of black spray paint and some new shades from Lowe's. OK, I did buy the shades brand new and not on sale, but I still spent a lot less than if I would have purchased a whole new light fixture. 

Finally, my buddy Becky introduced me to a blog that taught me how to make the most of my CVS card. The body wash and face wash were both free from CVS after extra care bucks (used like cash  for subsequent CVS purchases.) All I had to do was watch the fliers for the deals. The shampoo and conditioner was another great deal. The cost of shampoo really drives me nuts. Why pay $5 a bottle or more for something at sits on your head a minute  before you wash it down the drain? These bottles of Tresemme were on sale at CVS for 3 for $10. Not too bad of a deal - a little better than the usual Wal-mart price. I decided to buy 6 bottles bringing my total to $20. I already had $15 in extra care bucks, so I only paid $5 out of pocket. But wait . . . there's more! I also got $10 in extra care bucks. Basically CVS paid me $5 to take 6 bottles of shampoo off their hands. (Cue the hero music.) The giant tub-o-Dial wasn't a CVS deal but I did save a lot. I bought this gallon of hand soap for $7 at Big Lots. If I would have purchased the equivalent amount of hand soap in those little containers they're usually sold in, it would have cost me $44.

There you have it. I'm a total cheapskate - and proud of it. I know it's generally considered impolite to tell how much one paid for an item, but I believe that allowances can be made when one is illustrating frugality. Besides, that rule was meant to discourage people from boasting about how much they paid for an item, not how little. I hope this post encourages all my SAHM friends. If you have other ideas on being cheap . . .a-hem, I mean thrifty, please let me know. 

Our Crew at the Zoo

As the weather started to warm up, I was looking for some ideas of what to do to keep the kids occupied this summer. Back in March, my sister-in-law organized a zoo trip for the whole family, and we decided to get season zoo passes. Being the frugal person (read that cheapskate) that I am, I'm making sure we get our money's worth. So far, we have made four trips to the zoo. 

The kids and I love our little outings. Everyone's favorite exhibit is the penguins. They are so doggone cute and friendly. The kids love it when the penguins swim right up to the glass. The Akron zoo is really nice because it is set up for children. It's not terribly large so little legs don't get too tired walking around. It also has lots of little areas for the kids to play, so we look at some animals and then stop to play for a little bit. Here are some photos from a few of our trips.

Riley enjoys the rock climbing wall by the jelly fish exhibit. She doesn't make it very far, but she has fun trying.

The kids would ride the train all day if I would let them. I'm thinking of setting up a chore chart and some allowance to let them earn their rides. 

"Dude, I gotta get me one of these!"

"Cheers!" On this particular day, it was cold and rainy. We doubled the attendance when we showed up. It was really nice to practically have the place to ourselves. This area of the zoo has two cabins with play utensils. I had to drag the kids away from here after some extended play time.

"Anybody want some coffee?"

Here are the kids at the jellyfish exhibit. Look for Riley's "happy hands." She does this when she gets really excited. About halfway through the video you can hear Colin saying "Mom." He has a really distinct way of saying it so that I immediately know it's my child calling. 

I think our next zoo trip will be back up to the Cleveland Zoo. I want to take the kids there again midweek before school lets out so it won't be so crowded. Our last trip to the Akron Zoo was on a Friday, and it was packed with kids on field trips. At one of the play areas designed for little ones, the big kids were getting a little rough and "moving" the smaller kids out of the way. The chaperones were standing quite a ways away and not paying any attention. Lucky for my children, they have a mother who is also a teacher and therefore has no reservations about verbally reprimanding other people's kids. I'm sure this habit will humiliate them some day. At any rate, I'm looking forward to some more trips to the zoo.

Big Kid Beds

Riley has been asking about moving up to her big kid bed for a while now. This week I finally got my dad's old twin bed painted to match the woodwork in her room. She was so thrilled to join the ranks of kids who sleep more than twelve inches off the floor that she started asking to go to bed at around 5:00 her first night. I was a little apprehensive. I never thought of a twin bed as being that big, but with my little girl in it, it seemed to be six feet tall. I actually piled a few pillows on the floor just in case she rolled out, but she did just fine. The next day she happily announced to anyone who would listen that she slept in a "big boy bed." We tried to tell her that it was a big GIRL bed but she would have none of it. I'm guessing that because her buddy Ethan sleeps in a big boy bed, and it's the same size as hers, she must therefore have a big boy bed.I took Riley's toddler bed out of her room and put it in Colin's because there's more room in there and he's going to use it eventually. He took one look at it and assumed it was his to use now. Jeff and I have talked before about Colin moving out of the crib. We'd joked that we'd keep him in his crib until he was twelve because he'd never stay in a bed. When I took him upstairs for his afternoon nap, he ran to his toddler bed and made snoring noises. I thought, what the heck, why not give him a chance. I put him down in the toddler bed and gave him a little talk. It went something like, "Big boys stay in their big boy beds. Boys who get out of their beds have to go back to their baby beds. You don't want to sleep in a baby bed do you? No. You're a big boy." He looked at me very intently through this lecture, pointed at the crib and said very seriously, "Baby bed noooo." He stayed in his bed the whole time. We decided to try it that night again after repeating the little pep talk, and once again he stayed glued to the bed. It's been four nights, and he's still in the toddler bed. I'm pretty proud of him. I'm also pretty relieved because his crib has just been recalled. 

My little babies are growing up - sniff, sniff.

Birthday Bash

As usual, I've had no time to post, but I wanted to share some photos of the kids' birthdays from last month. Riley is now 4 and Colin is 2. Since their birthdays are five days apart, we really had a weeklong celebration. The festivities started with Colin's birthday. I had to work that night so I took the kids out for a special lunch. I let Colin choose the restaurant. When I asked him where he wanted to eat, I was certain he'd reply, "fence fies," meaning any fast food place with fried potatoes. Instead he requested Cici's pizza. I later realized this was because his sister was whispering it in his ear. Judging from the amount of food he consumed, he didn't seem to mind being put up to it. We later presented Colin with a trampoline. He really seems to like it, though we can't get him to pose for a photo on it. 

On Riley's birthday, she wanted to pick a special place to eat for lunch like Colin had. She told me she wanted to eat at Cici's again, but by the time we got to Wooster she'd changed her mind and wanted to eat at, "that place with chips on the table." This turned out to be the local Mexican restaurant. I don't think she ate much more than the chips and salsa, but Colin and I enjoyed some good food. We gave Riley a doctor kit and some play food which both kids like to play with (and fight over.) 

Here is Colin with Hobbes on his new trampoline. He is using Riley's new medical kits to give Hobbes a check up. Notice how he has placed the blood pressure cuff around the cat's neck. Hobbes seems to be taking this remarkably well.

We encourage both kids to jump on the trampoline as much as they want, especially if they seem a little too full of energy before bedtime. 

Riley and Colin had a joint party on the Saturday between their birthdays. Riley picked the theme - pirates. That's right, no Disney Princesses here. We enjoyed some great fellowship with friends and family and the kids had a lot of fun. Here are a few photos of the event.

The cake

The cupcakes

Blowing out the candles

Playing with some of the gifts

Colin loves his baby t-rex.

Riley and the big dog

Some of the grown-ups seeking refuge in the kitchen

The kids had fun whacking the pinata even if I did make it a little too indestructible.  Jeff had to break it open in the end.

"So you're saying I'm ALLOWED to hit this thing?"

"I feel kind of bad trying to break this when I watched Mom work on it for so long."

"HAHAHAHAHA, Show me the candy!"