The Birdies 29/52

Posted on July 14, 2014 by BeSquirrely

A portrait of my birdies, once a week, every week, in 2014.

Where did the week go? Zoom! We were in the midst of Cherry Festival here in Traverse City and now we are enjoying a quieter summer again. Aaaahh.

Wren and I had fun visiting a new place in Traverse City – the laundromat near Tom’s 14th street. Loved the mural and the chairs. Wren enjoyed looking at everyone’s clothes going round and round. “Oh look, they’ve got a pink shirt too!” It’s easy to forget that simple things can be so novel and exciting. Reason #743 why it’s so great to have children in my life.

Wren is now 2/3 of a hay bale high. We’ve been driving by hay bales quite a bit lately and we got to wondering how big they actually were, or how little we actually are… So we got out and had to check them out for ourselves.

We spent one evening at the Cherry Festival and finally found a ride that tiny Phoebe could go on! Speed racer! They spent all their lemonade stand money on a ride and a sno cone. It’s our new Cherry Festival tradition!

The Birdies. 24/52 – 27/52

Posted on July 10, 2014 by BeSquirrely

A portrait of my birdies, once a week, every week, in 2014.

I’ve been taking pictures, but haven’t posted them. Again! Such.is.life.

So here is a catch-up post of photos from a few weeks. Early summer! Enjoy.

Nothing quite like sitting on a pile of books.

Summer is.

Our fairy.

Return to Sand Mountain! Big Hill, little birdie.

The Cherry Queen escaped from Cherry Festival.

We can’t keep up with the strawberries in our garden. A good problem to have!

I think Phoebe Jane might be living off of popsicles this summer?

The summer of the fairy. Porch living!

Phoebe Jane’s first haircut! She did great. Very poised.

And we returned to one of our favorite Traverse City gems – Sixth Street’s Secret Garden.

Thanks, early summer.

The Birdies. 19/52

Posted on May 12, 2014 by BeSquirrely

A portrait of my birdies, once a week, every week, in 2014.

Phoebe Jane in the sunlight. Yes, we’ve been seeing the sun. Amazing! Spun sugar hair.

Phoebe Jane on Mother’s Day. My sweet baby girl.

Wren had a big week. She went to kindergarten round-up and blew the roof off the place. She is VERY excited for kindergarten.

She also had a dental exam. I’m not sure how much longer her excitement in visiting the dentist will last, but it’s been going strong for the past two years. She says, “I just love the dentist. I get to watch tv and zone out in the chair.” Funny girl.

And, well, I know I’m breaking the rules of the 52 Project, but just one more of Wren. The dancers got their costumes last week for the recital. Here is Wren in her ballet costume with her best friend, Maddie, whom Wren “fell in love with two years ago.” I love to see their friendship grow.

Have a great week! xo

The birdies. 18/52

Posted on May 5, 2014 by BeSquirrely

The week almost slipped away from me. Again!

A portrait of my birdies, once a week, every week, in 2014.

Chris took this beautiful photo of our sweet and wonderful Phoebe Jane. I love the contrast between little Phoebe and big Maple.

This is a different tree and a very different birdie. Wren and the Catalpa in our yard.

The birdies 13/52-17/52

Posted on April 29, 2014 by BeSquirrely

Oh my, am I remiss in my weekly portrait posts. I’ll try to catch up in one hodge podge of a post. The blog has taken a back seat to life in the real world. That’s how it goes sometimes, eh?

So here goes, lots of portraits in one post – and not even in chronological order. As you’ll see I’ve been using my phone’s camera feature more too so the quality isn’t the best. But I guess I’ve seen worse, so I’ll just leave it at that and move on! Onward.

Easter 2014. Chris took the girls Easter dress shopping this year for the first time. Don’t they look smashing?!

So Phoebe isn’t a big fan of the camera right now…

Both birdies at Triple Falls again.

Kid in the candy store.

Soda fountain. Wren’s watchful eye.

The girl hardly EVER naps. Except on long road trips after some light reading.

Spring has sprung. Ice cream season is here!

This kid. She loves her naps. And her “owl penguin.”

One of the highlights of our trip was the time we spent at the Belle Isle Conservatory in Detroit with my Mom. A beautiful place and newly reopened. It felt so great.

Wren. Flower arranging.

Phoebe Jane on the loose.

Phoebe and Wren at the Belle Isle Nature Center (now called the zoo).

As soon as it hit 70, the girls were in their swimsuits in North Carolina. Funny kids.

I’ll try to get back on the regular weekly posting wagon, but I’m not going to make any promises… Any links to your portraits that you’d like to share?! I’d love to see them.

The birdies. 12/52

Posted on March 23, 2014 by BeSquirrely

Portraits of Wren and Phoebe each week, every week of the year.

As it turns out, I’m not very good at editing. A couple pics of each girl, plus a couple of them together.

Chris knew I didn’t quite get enough winter, so he got us out of the house today for a glorious return to the ice caves. The sun felt so great on our cheeks even though the thermometer didn’t get above twenty. Kind of strange when 20 feels warm enough to take your coat and mittens off… it was so quiet and still. No wind at all. We all needed some fresh air and had an unforgettable time playing around. We love you, winter! More pics later this week. Just a sneak peek now…

Phoebe loved to sit and eat the fresh powder. Um, hello, this is a once-in-a-lifetime (um, now twice) experience!

Watching out for polar bears.

Wren was putting on an ice show for us. Bummed we didn’t bring her skates!

Wren is peeking her head over the top. Gives it a good sense of scale…

And a couple more pics of our time on icy West Bay earlier in the week before the recent snowfall. Sisters:

Don’t worry about the cracks, lovelies. The ice is at least 18 inches thick. Yes, it’s been that cold. We’re going to be swimming here in three months?!

The birdies. 11/52

Posted on March 16, 2014 by BeSquirrely

Portraits of Wren and Phoebe each week of the year.

This week’s captures:

Wren plays outside in a sundress. Still mountains of snow in the back yard, but it hit the mid 50s that day! Today? Back to single digits. We know this dance well, don’t we?

Some indoor bowling fun! Of course she chose the pink ball. Pink everything these days for Wrennie Pie. She wanted to look “really pretty” for celebrate her best friend, Maddie.

Phoebe Jane reading a Maisy Mouse book. She LOVES Maisy as did Wren at this age. It was too quiet in there so I went to check on her. I’m thinking she’s either drawing on the walls or pooping on the floor because you guys, these things happen as you know. THIS kid…

And one more of Phoebe. My napping angel.

take a picture of this

Posted on March 7, 2014 by BeSquirrely

Wren’s into the camera now. She loves to set up a scene and direct me to “take a picture of THIS.” Here’s one of her recent scenes. She orchestrated the entire happening, including the arrangement of all the items, wardrobe and getting Phoebe to do exactly what she wanted her to do. This is no easy feat.

Voila.

Wren was very pleased with the outcome as you can see in her proud face. Phoebe? I’m not quite sure. But she’s getting used to playing with her sister. No worries; although she’s tiny, she’s very assertive…

Another way we’ve been keeping ourselves busy this winter. You?

The Birdies. 9/52

Posted on March 1, 2014 by BeSquirrely

Weekly portraits of Wren and Phoebe. Every week of 2014.

Phoebe Jane playing with the train.

Wren Sabina with her “twin.”

The Birdies. 7/52

Posted on February 17, 2014 by BeSquirrely

Portraits of my lovely birdies, Wren and Phoebe. Once a week, every week of the year.

I couldn’t choose just two photos this week. So many great ones, says the biased Mama. Both birdies were sick last week and Chris was out of town so we hunkered down in our nest. We had about enough of that by the weekend so we headed to our downtown WinterFest. Just what we needed.

First up, the big sister.