Category: Pictures

Since Liam was born I haven’t been able to really work with clay in the way I would love to do.  So much of working with clay is timing and children have a knack for having their own timing.  As a result I’ve been looking (for three years!) for a creative outlet that would fulfill my need to, well, to create.  I like things that have practical and aesthetic value at the same time.  I needed something that I could do in fits and starts.  I searched and searched and searched.

Then I had a girl.

Finding girl’s clothing that I like (and that’s affordable) was much harder than I thought it would be.  Then my mom asked if I would like a used sewing machine and when I said yes, she gave it to me for Christmas.  It took me a while to get things set up, but when I did it just felt right.

I’ve just gotten started, but I feel creatively alive again for the first time in years.  I started small by working with my mom on some (very) large bibs we made from re-purposed flannel receiving blankets for our messy girl.  I could tell immediately that my juices were flowing again and I was immediately off to the races!

My first big project was a small quilt for my friend Courtney’s baby girl, due very soon.  It’s not perfect by any stretch, but I was pretty pleased with the result:

Next I moved on to the simplest dress pattern out there: the pillowcase dress.  It certainly isn’t perfect either, but I learned a lot for the next time.  I love the style and I can’t wait to try it out with some modifications and fantastic fabric from my (rapidly growing) stash.  She’s all set for the 4th of July next year!

Next I moved on to a shirring method that uses elastic thread and has the potential for so many applications that it keeps me up at night!  I started with a tutorial and (as I am wont to do) moved on to my own modifications.  Again, not perfect, but I learned a ton with this as well and I think it’s pretty cute.  I can’t wait to make more very soon!

I’m so excited to keep going and going and going!  I’ll post more pictures as I finish more projects.  Hooray!

After PJ and Sylvie left yesterday I just kept on snapping pictures.  Here’s some of what I got.

Liam thought when I said “sit up and hold your sister” what I meant was “put your arms around your sister’s waist and throw yourself backwards.”  I was not amused.  Paige was another story, however…

HUG

Wow.  Just?  Wow.

Snack:

Adorable.

Next I got up close and personal:

Paige is super hard to catch these days but I’ve got to try to remember how much I love taking pictures of these two and get back to it more often!

Our girl has been making some uh-MAZE-ing faces as of late.  Her favorite place to expand her repertoire is at the table.  This morning she was in rare form.  Enjoy!

Liam’s gonna need to up his game:

He knows when he’s been beat, but that doesn’t mean he has to like it.

Relishing her new position as Connolly Chief of Faces:

Plotting her takeover:

Dancing a seated, celebratory jig:

“Ta Da!”

Liam throws in another submission in the race for the crown:

Paige trumps it with dimples.  Unfair genetic advantage, but trumped nonetheless.

Taking a break for a little horse-lip action:

The ultimate scrunch-face:

“Score!”

Acceptance looks good on you, Liam.

Just because Paige has the crown doesn’t mean she won’t continue to strive for greatness:

Planning her next submission:

Hit it, Maestro!

She’s nothing if not enthusiastic!

“Fin!”

Soaking up the adulation:

What can I say?

The kid’s a star!

PJ and Sylvie came by for a visit yesterday.  I’m still searching for those mythical pictures of the girls, but for now I’ll settle for funny.  Here goes.

Apparently I’ll also settle for wildly inappropriate…I’m sure neither of these children will be completely mortified to know that this picture exists…

This is a little more like it:

The Three Musketeers:

The Three Amigos:

The Three Stooges:

Sylvie is clearly plotting her revenge on either me or her mother for involving her in this nuttiness…

I wanna hold your hand(s).

The Very Hungry Sylvie:

Checking each other out:

Ummm, yes.  She actually IS this adorable.

Apparently she IS also a bit of a bully.

Sharing toys.

N.U.T.

Again with the adorable…

I can’t wait for our next visit!

I’ve been wanting to get some good pictures of Paige during a bath for a while now.  There have been several obstacles to overcome.

Number One: When Paige bathes in her baby tub she kicks buckets of water onto the floor and whoever has the misfortune of bathing her that day.  My camera isn’t waterproof.

Number Two: Having both parents in the bathroom at the same time is necessary due to the fact that there must be a wrangler within arm’s reach of her at all times as she tries to flip over and (you guessed it) climb the side of the tub.  Drowning isn’t cool.

Number Three:  We have two children.  One of these children may or may not do such things as completely unwrap sticks of butter, take bites out of them, and put them back in the fridge when left unsupervised for more than 30 seconds.  Allegedly.

After looking around for a product that might help keep Paige safe while bathing with Liam we settled on a ring that ties around the waist allowing for movement and easier cleaning than the stationary seats.  The reviews seemed to indicate that it worked well when bathing siblings.  It wasn’t an overwhelming success (i.e. one or both of our children will most certainly drown if we attempt to bathe them together again anytime soon) but we’ll try it again at a later date.  In the meantime it made for some seriously cute pictures.  Enjoy!

Paige wasn’t entirely sure about this arrangement…

“Hey!  Hey Liam!  Whatcha got there?”

“Hey!  Hey Liam!  Is that my octopus?”

“Yep.”

“I WILL EAT YOUR FACE OFF!”

“Take THAT, Brother!”

“Who’s got the octopus now!”

Take two (substitute helicopter for octopus and Voila!):

Soapy, squinty, smile:

Our very own drunken pirate:

L.O.V.E.

Liam’s new ‘do:

A great shot of baby’s first black eye (from, you guessed it again, attempting to climb the furniture…):

L.O.V.E. (2)

I tried again for some epic shots on a later date (minus Liam to minimize the safety threat) but it wasn’t in the cards…despite evidence to the contrary:

What is it about baby buns that are so unbearably cute?

I call this one: Exhausted Baby With Ball

Apparently not too exhausted to make faces, however…

Solidifying my earlier points:

If Daddy ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy…

Sneaky even when being toweled off…we are in so much trouble.

Daddy love:

Nom, nom, nom.

This face kills me!

Hopefully I’ll get another shot at bathtime pictures again very soon!

During the last storm we had a bit more excitement than we prefer at The Connolly Ranch.  Matt had just arrived home and Liam and I were downstairs working on the laundry.  All of a sudden Matt was yelling at me to stay downstairs and that he was coming down with Paige.  Somewhere in the middle of all of this our neighbor’s tree fell onto (and eventually through the middle of) her house.  Matt ran to the window to see if her car was there (he’d seen her leaving the house as he came in about 10 minutes earlier) he saw that she was gone and ran downstairs to be safe and call her on her cell phone.  The storm passed relatively quickly and thankfully our only casualty was the lawn bags I’d filled with the ex-forsythia and its roots.

This is a video Matt took shortly after the tree fell:

This was taken after the tree people worked (until 11 PM!) to remove it from the roof (our other next-door neighbor helps give a little perspective as to the size of the hole):

Here’s a shot of the back of the house with the base of the tree (after it was pushed back into the ground) more visible:

The rest of us stood around looking at the damage with our mouths open.  Paige was shockingly insensitive and completely lacked neighborly spirit (read: she grinned and shrieked and laughed the entire time we were out there):

She’s lucky she’s adorable…

Liam had a blast on Memorial Day Weekend.  On Sunday night he went to Gran and Granddaddy’s house, on Monday he went with Gran to the pool, and just before she came to pick him up we had “dinner” at the Frosty Caboose.  Is there anything more perfectly Liam than eating chocolate ice cream at the base of an authentic railway caboose?

Allow me to answer that for you…

No.  No there isn’t.

These two pictures, taken within seconds of each other, sum up what’s going on in this house right now (and the reason why posting here has become so sparse).

Exhibit A:  Paige spends the majority of her days either crawling towards one of Liam’s favorite toys, attempting to climb the furniture or the walls (quite literally), eating the furniture (or the walls, or the moldings, or anything else she can reach), or being removed from a dangerous/obnoxious/already-filled-with-too-much-child situation.  Here she is attempting to reach Liam’s Weeble Village while trying to climb his shelf only taking a break from simultaneously chewing the shelf she’s trying to climb for long enough to give me a guilty look (the removal from the situation came shortly thereafter).

Exhibit B:  Liam is a complete nutcase.

I learned another lesson today…are you ready?  This is very important.

IF YOU HEAR YOUR TODDLER GET UP FROM HIS NAP WHILE YOU ARE STILL DOWNSTAIRS DO NOT WAIT TO FIND OUT WHAT HE’S DOING.  GO GET HIM.  IMMEDIATELY.

Otherwise you could open the refrigerator and see this:

Followed by this:

And then this:

You could then have the following conversation:

Shannon:  Liam, what is this?

Liam:  That’s butter, Mama.

Shannon:  Why is it unwrapped?

Liam:  Because I had to take the wrapper off so I could have a snack.

Shannon:  You ate some of it?

Liam:  Yes.  I was hungry.  Now I’m starving.

—————————–

Just learn from my mistakes and go upstairs when you hear your child come out of his room.  Don’t make me tell you what happened to the butter that was all over his hands as a result of his little culinary exploration…