a magical forest

“Stop looking for the magic. You are in it.”

Whether you’re a little girl in the foggy woods, I mean, a “magical forest”, in Minnesota on a 47 degree November day, or the mommy to that little girl, take a look around — stop looking for the magic, because you are in it! Not every day with a toddler seems magical, especially the days when she tugs at your leg every minute and wants “uppia”, but only if you are standing, or when she fights a diaper change for ten minutes right before you were walking out the door in the morning for work, or when she demands “fishies” the entire 30 minute car ride, but you don’t have any left and can’t make her understand that. Just when you think you are at your wit’s end, you are overwhelmed with happiness when you go into her room in the morning and she greets you with a smile and sweetly says “in! in!” until you get into her crib with her for two minutes until “all done!” and she kicks you out, or when she points to the card on the fridge with a fox on the front and proudly blurts out her newly-learned word, except it doesn’t exactly sound like “fox”, but sounds more like the F-bomb, or when she answers with “Owwh-kayyyyy” (in a British accent) instead of “yes”, and what may be the sweetest thing to every mommy’s ears; hearing her say “lah-youuu, mommy” and puckering up her sweet little toddler lips for a kiss!

That is the magic.

This “forest” was pretty magical too, but I think that’s because she was in it… ❤

national geographic | please vote!

Today my photo was selected as one of National Geographic’s Daily Dozen and the photo with the most votes (by midnight) may be published in an edition of National Geographic! I would love your support and if you would vote for my photo!! Thank you thank you thank you!! 🙂 Just click the photo to be taken to the site to vote..

“there’s no place like home”

This year for Halloween, my little lady dressed as the sweetest-ever-in-the-whole-wide-world, Dorothy, with her sidekick as the cowardly lion. As a photographer, it is completely necessary and required (by me) to do a photo shoot to document it. Our photo shoot took place at the pumpkin patch where we bought our “punkins” (as Finley and every other toddler in the world calls them). My favorite is the one that Lucy looks like a real-life ferocious lion protecting her cub (in this case, Dorothy). But, don’t be alarmed, she’s not really growling.. I just caught the exact hundredth of a second after a big, gentle vizsla yawn!

We had a Dorothy wig for Finley but trying to force a toddler to wear wig is next to impossible. Instead, a pretty blue ribbon in her hair kept her happy. The adorable dress was made by my talented, seamstress mom, the ruby slippers are from Babies ‘r Us, and the lion mane is from eBay. 🙂

watercolor

“There’s nothing like a nice fat brush laden with paint and a plain sheet of paper.”

adventures of finley & lucy | days 1-15

Fifteen days ago I started a 30-day photo series on instagram, featuring my two favorite babies – finley & lucy. It has been so much fun! So much, in fact, that I am considering continuing it… and I’ve had a lot of requests to do so. 🙂 Since I am half way through the original 30-day series, I thought I’d do a quick blog post recap of the first 15 days! To see the next 15 days as I post them, follow me on instagram! Enjoy…

“party in da crib”

“follow the leader”

“skinnydipping”

 

“nice puppy”

“graham cracker snack break under the table”

“bubble bath buddies”

 

“peek-a-boo”

 

“come on, luce!”

 

“nice to meet you” #tbt

 

“america”

 

“popsicle break”

 

“finley & lucy”

 

“dressing up lucy in girly headbands”

“ponies”

 

“front porch conversations”

adventures of finley & lucy | starting soon!

Hello, friends! I’ve got a little something in the works that I’m excited about… a 30-day photo series that will feature two very important things in my life — my baby and my first baby. As Finley gets bigger, their friendship gets stronger. She loves to give Lucy kisses and pet her while saying “Niiiiiice, puppy!”. And every time I ask her to say “Grandma” or “Grandpa”, among other words, she reponds, “Puppy!?”. #meltmyheart

So stayed tuned and be sure to follow me on instagram where I will be featuring glimpses of their friendship one photo at a time..

xo.
ami

20 minutes in the life of a (busy) 15 month old

Those of you who have children understand how busy they are. Their attention span is short and they move from one thing to another within seconds. (Sounds sorta like myself… haha) I followed Finley around with my camera for awhile after we got home from work+daycare the other day. Despite her business, she was such a well-behaved, sweet little girl as she played nicely by herself all evening. As I watched her, I reminded myself how lucky and fortunate I am to be blessed with a daughter like her…

Her “zebra” blanky and nuk are her go-to items.

If the baby gate isn’t up, she beelines for the steps. And then Lucy runs ahead of her and thinks it’s playtime!

Once she gets to the landing, she giggles and crawls super fast to the next flight. (still has the blanky in hand…)

Silly faces as always. And a sure tell sign of a 15 month old at the end of the day—dirty clothes!

Peeking around the corner.. I think she thought daddy was home!

Once she’s to the top, she peeks around to make sure I’m still following her..

Digging for toys.. (blanky in hand)

And then straight to our bedroom to see if the bathroom door is open so she can explore in there! WHY do babies always want to go to the grossest areas of a house?!

Got distracted when she saw the laundry room door was open so went in there instead. And then in true baby fashion, had to close the door! (*don’t mind the disaster of clothes everywhere!) And, still has the blanky..

Peeking out.. 🙂

Then I put her up on our bed for a few photos..

And she got kisses from Lucy!

Stripped down to her diaper to get ready for dinner and in the meantime, got her hands on a water bottle…

So much more fun than REAL toys!

Keeping the water bottle close by..

A silly face that looks like a face of frustration..

Forgot about the water bottle and moved on to a plastic easter egg. (please pay no attention to the dog-nose-and-baby-hand-smeared, nasty-looking window!)

And then realized the Bose stereo was on the window sill.

Finally made her way to her toy corner to play with real toys!

Scooting into the smallest space she can find. 🙂

And coming out with her glowworm baby!

Trying to make it light up and play music..

Finally, time for a cruise on her princess car next to her sidekick..

mommy {grapefruit} margarita

Ok, fellow mommies… who need an alcoholic beverage after dealing with a teething baby or perhaps a crappy winter, or both. If you like margaritas, you may want to join me in making this your official summer drink of 2014! This is no regular margarita.. it’s a grapefruit margarita! Made entirely with freshly squeezed fruits. Well, that, and liquor. It’s been such a hellish winter here in Minnesnowta, that I decided it was time for a margarita in hopes of feeling one step closer to hot summer evenings, grilling on the deck and sipping an icy cold drink. Since making it, I think we’ve had like seventeen more snowstorms and temps in the 20s.

But it’s Friday and it’s suppose to be 60°… So this is totally necessary tonight.

Check out Pretty Plain Janes blog for the recipe! Happy Weekend!

infographic giveaway!

The day has arrived, lovelies! Head on over to my POPPY blog to enter for a chance to win a custom designed infographic for your bambino!

infographic giveaway [happening soon]!

Hey, all you lovely mommies with adorable babies, I’m doing a giveaway of one of my custom designed infographics! It will start this Friday, March 28 and run for one week, until a winner is chosen on Friday, April 4! Be sure to check back here on Friday to find out how to enter. You can see a sample of what the infographic looks like here or here. Don’t miss out on your chance to snag one of these for free!