Uncooperative...

'Tis the season for recitals, n'est-ce pas?

This evening, I dolled Sadie up for her most UNCOOPERATIVE photo shoot ever. I was the worst-mom-of-the-year and forgot to sign Sadie up for her studio recital photos, so I decided to snap this afternoon until I got an excellent posed shot with a natural smile that we could put in a frame. HA! Sadie was better at posing for photos when she was 18 months old than she was today. Alas, here are a few of the better ones (and by "better," I mean "didn't turn out blurry because she was running off camera" or "wasn't totally faking a smile so that I would leave her alone").

First shot of the day...she likes to reel you in before thoroughly acting like a little turkey :)

Sketchers and tutus

I have no idea...

Pulling the grass up from the roots and playing with it (while I'm yelling, "Sadie - don't you want AWESOME pictures for your grandparents??!?!?! Put that thing down and smile at me!")

Smile...with hands and arms everywhere

Climbing the fence...

Doing "ballet" around the yard

Plucking needles off of a pine tree

More ballet...

Pouting because I'm making her stand still

Running away from me...that's more fun than standing still apparently.

Overexposed (how does that happen on a digital camera?) but I like this one:

No smiles, but couldn't you just eat up those cheeks? You should be jealous that I get to smooch them as much as I want.

And, here it is, folks...the ONLY full costume shot of the day.

{sigh}

Fingers crossed for some good frameable shots the day of the recital :)

Shutterbug Baby

Do I voluntarily give my 4 year old my camera worth hundreds of dollars? Why the heck not. You only live once, right? These photos were all surprises to me when I did my most recent uploads. Some of them turned out really cute!

TV console:

Pillow:

Rug:

"Daddy's Homeworks"

Daddy:

Kitchen:

Glue Gun and Sadie Toes:

Fraction of a Mirror:

Oven closeup:

Rhinestone "S" (pretty proud of this shot):

Pony with hair barrettes:

Dance Bag:

Daddy's shoes and Sadie toes (LOVE those toes):

Canvas:

Daddy:

Mommy and Daddy:

Mirror shot (see - she's getting no help at all...she's got this camera thing figured out):

Horse and Froggy Rocker:

TV (love the reflection in this one):

Rhinestone Letter Project

Sadie and I knocked this one out in less than an hour - very quick and easy! You want one, right?

(Photo by Sadie - She's gettin' as snap happy as her mama!)

Materials:

Canvas

Paint/brushes

Elmer's Glue

Rhinestones

Step 1: Paint the canvas:

We were pretty sure we wanted this one to be yellow.

Step 2: Draw out your letter

I just free-handed it and erased when I screwed up (one of the millions of awesome things about acrylic paint...it lets you erase!)

Step 3: Bling it up!

Paint on two inches of Elmer's glue at a time, and then adhere stones:

Sadie did most of the blinging all by herself :)

Step 4: Re-paint the canvas because yellow isn't the right color:

And that's it!

Sadie's bling-tastic "S" is now hung proudly in her play area. I think you could do this with anything...it doesn't have to be a rhinestone letter. Maybe buttons, feathers, fabric scraps, scrapbook paper?

Go forth and bling something.

Fun Day Out!

We're staycationing this weekend for the Memorial Day holiday...I really don't like that word, but it's so appropriate, and nothing else really conveys the message.

So anyway.

Today, we had a super awesome family day. We went to the Chestnut Hill Farmers Market (where I got some fabulous tabouli salad), we went to a cool little restaurant for lunch called "Cake," went and played at an awesome playground, we got a nap (!!!) , and then this afternoon, we took the train to center city Philadelphia to have a play date with some friends of ours!

Here are the highlights of our fun afternoon with the "B" family...

Sadie and Evan playing soccer at Rittenhouse Square in downtown Philadelphia:

(Are you proud, Auntie Heather?)

Evan's beautiful mommy and adorable baby L giggling at bubbles:

The AWESOME "Super Sadie" cape that Evan and his mom made for Sadie for her birthday:

Sadie LOVES it!

The kiddos at the park:

And, of course, what is a downtown play date without a chocolate stop at Max Brenner?

lol!

FYI: On the last photo, Sadie goes, "Mommy - can you take our picture?" and then she leaned in cheek to cheek with Evan. THEN, she successfully mortified me on the way back to the train station by asking me if Evan could sleep over. Four years old is a lot more forward these days, huh?

I love days like this...