a portrait a week

I've missed a few weeks but as a friend said to me 

"it's better to do something imperfectly than nothing perfectly". 

I love the dreaminess in my children's faces in these photos. It's not often that you see this quality in an adult's face. After the events this week in Boston I was looking at my kids and wondering at what age they would first learn about the twisted nature of some individuals. I was thinking about my friends with older children and curious about how they are talking about this situation with them, as well as about Sandy Hook. 

Have you had to talk to children, or other friends, about these recent events and how have to handled it? 

What do you want for your children to know in the midst of tragedies?

This is part of the portrait of your children once a week for a year over at Che & Fidel.

6 year old in the house

My little boy turned six this past week. After a month of family sickness (strep, flu) we were all (almost) healthy and able to celebrate with a small party and  cupcakes at school. When my parents came for the following weekend we went for a warm wander through the conservatory in Garfield Park. It was a welcome warming of the bones during a brutally cold March.

The new 6 year old took off in great joy through the green moss and winding paths shouting "we're in the jungle, we're in the jungle". I only wish we were. This March has been particularly cold and windy. I don't even remember the month of his birth in 2007 being quite so awful. I love reading blogs in Australia, like Che and Fidel, or my two sister's blogs in the UK - Playdohandpoo and spooninginthekitchen, as it reminds me of other seasons and temperatures!

My in-laws in Mississippi have seen daffodils come and go already, and we are still waiting for their green heads to break through the earth here. What signs of spring have you seen near you?

These are part of a portrait a week series on Che and Fidel.

a photo a week

Action shots. Well, these are aren't all that action-filled, but for sick kids climbing on a sofa and jumping on a trampoline constitute action. I love M's tongue sticking out. It's her cheeky sweet self.

This is a funny one of R as he's coming down from a big bounce and he has some serious trampolining concentration on his face. RIght now he's refusing to have his hair cut. I have been trying all sorts of bribery just to get a tiny trim, but he's having none of it and can smell a bribe from a mile off.

This post is linked to Che and Fidel's lovely project 52. A Portrait of my kids once a week for a year.

2.16 portrait of sibling love

These two are seriously best buds. They play, fight, love, play, sleep, laugh, cry, play, eat, sleep, read and poop together every day. It makes my heart sing to see the love between them.

portrait of my kids once a week for 2013

My children are mad about dressing up. It's probably the thing I have to clean up the most around out house. There will be Princess Leia dresses, knight armor and fairy wings distributed in a wave across our dining room as they make costume changes. Here they are a cat and a fairy. I love their twinkling mischievious eyes.

Family

I don't normally post about things that happened more than a month ago, but I stumbled upon these photos this morning and they made me laugh so hard I feel I have to share them.

These shots were taken in October 2010 by a friend of ours, David Sampson. He's faithfully documented our kids as they grow and we try to support him by sporadically going to hear his amazing band, Cains and Abels play. It's hard to go to shows now as they are so late (I feel pitifully old saying that)!

I remember that this day in October wasn't particularly cold and so we went outside. I think we gathered as many fallen leaves as we could for the kids to play in and laid out a plaid wool blanket for us to sit on. As many events  with kids go it started out organized, fun and under control. Within 10 minutes we had reached disorder, hair pulling and gleeful screaming!

vacation in space

I'm joining (albeit very late) in this lovely idea of "A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013" started by Che and Fidel. Her blog is so beautiful. How could it not be when she lives in Australia, is a writer and yoga teacher? 

So, here are my kiddos, R + M, doing what they do best together - - dressing up and inhabiting the characters. I think they were going on a 'vacation in space'. This photo was taken during the first week in January so I have some catching up to do!