I was really nervous this week because (a) photographing food is not my forte and (b) I don't cook breakfast. I told a friend of mine that my kids were lucky to get some peanut butter slapped on a piece of toast. I'm pretty sure that, when she laughed, she thought I was joking. I wasn't.
If you're new to my blog I'll mention something that I've mentioned several dozen times here before. I love to bake but don't love to cook even though I do cook every night for my family because it's important to me that they get home-cooked whole food from scratch. But our breakfasts, lunches and snacks are much simpler - usually some sort of bread with some sort of protein and some sort of fruit and/or veggie. And when they do get treats they both know they need to eat the healthy stuff first. :)
Anyway... this friend suggested maybe I could just whip up some breakfast on the weekend. We needed to leave the house fairly early on both Saturday and Sunday this past weekend but I'm an early riser so I rose to the challenge.
I had seen a recipe for cinnamon brown butter breakfast puffs that looked really good but I had imagined more as a special snack than a breakfast being as they're really more cake than anything. But what the heck, if my family was actually going to get a hot breakfast, I might as well go all out. I slipped down the stairs, quietly closing doors along the way and not putting on my slippers until I got downstairs lest that extra bit of noise wake up the kids.
And as I started to get ingredients together, I realized there was no way they would sleep through the sound of the mixer. So I did what any mamma who cherishes her quiet time in the morning would do...
I carried the mixer down into the laundry room so I could mix away without waking anyone. Of course the time I'm trying to be quiet is the time I drop the teaspoons on the floor, crash the muffin tins together as I'm looking for the one I want and somehow topple over everything in the drawer I keep my mixer paddle in.
And, this is the result when you give your child a glorified doughnut for breakfast. At least I made them eat some apples along with them.....
We've added another name or two to the linked 52 project. Please check out their links to see what 'breakfast' looks like at their house.
Michelle, Heather, Tracey, Stacey, Andrea, Jessica, Kristin, Amanda, Amanda, Sara, Janet, Carla, Lena, Rose, Naomi, Tracy, Rhonda
Let me know if you're playing along and we'll add you to our list for next week.
17 comments so far
A note to my clients: Valentine's cards can be ordered up until the end of the month. Any clients from last year who would like to order Valentine's cards with one of your session images, email me for info.
Aren't they cute? They're little flat 2.5"x3" double-sided cards. We're going to tape a lollipop to the yellow polka-dotted side with some washi tape and Angelo can write each of his classmate's names on the back.
And while we were taking the photograph to use for his Valentine's day card, I think I took two of my favourite photographs ever of my two amazing little people.
5 comments so far
Did you use a backdrop of do you happen to have access to a perfect wall!? Love these!
Love those photos! What a gift you have, Jenn!
Adorable photos! Angelo looks like he's so old! And I love Grace's face!
oh my, that valentine is SO stinkin' cute! and those photos of your 2 are absolutely amazing.
i'm curious about the background too because it looks perfect.
Join me as I take one photo a week for the next year, each one capturing a specific aspect of our family life and my kid's childhood that I want remembered. You can read the introduction post here, an FAQ post here and all related posts here.
In the third week of each month I'm photographing part of our daily routine.
Assignment 29: Photograph your mealtime.I chose a weekend lunch so we were all eating together and the light was pretty. :)
I've been looking forward to this one for a while because I've always thought it's funny that we don't sit all across from each other.
Jim and I sit closest to the kitchen so we can run back and forth throughout the meal for whatever we need. Angelo sits on the other side of the table so he can see everything that's going on, otherwise he spends the whole meal turned around trying to see whoever is in the kitchen and inevitably ends up knocking something over. Gracie sits in her highchair at the end of the table because we keep her highchair in that little corner between the french doors and the kitchen so we just push her over to that spot so we can all see each other while we're eating.
So here I was thinking it's funny that we don't sit two facing two at the table, when my friend Heather posted a photograph of her family eating last week and they sit the exact same way.
And now I'm curious. How do you all sit for your meals? If you're playing along comment below with your link or send me an email.
8 comments so far
You guys are so efficient. We have an oval table that seats 6. It drives me crazy because we are a family of 4. My husband used to try to take an end seat but it drove me bananas because then the sides of the table were unbalanced.
Now I forbid people from sititng on the end. We sit girls on one side facing the boys. I face my husband. HE is closer to the kitchen than me which shows my brilliance. ;)
Love the shot. Can't believe how tidy your house is.
Such pretty light. I am amazed that your small children sit during mealtimes. Mine never did or would. I am looking forward to getting to this one, mealtimes are such an important part of family bonding. Nice capture. Your children's expressions are priceless. Looks like they are loving the attention:)
I keep looking at this photo and all I can think is that you have a really beautiful dining room! I am so impressed. And that light is so lovely too.
I can't get over how clean your house is! Man, I'm jealous.
Love seeing how other people sit at their tables too. I sit on the end so I'm closest to the kitchen too. But we have one person on either side of Silas or else it would be impossible to get him to sit and eat - wait a minute, it's nearly impossible as it is. ;)
Such a great idea for a photo. I totally want to take one of us in the middle of the day - will have to wait until the weekend to do it.
wow Jenn, everything looks so calm at your house during mealtime. I will have to see if I can capture our typical mealtime. Thanks again for the challenges, it's lots of fun, even thinking about what to capture.
What great light you get in that room. So pretty. And I echo what Heather said, you're kids actually sit for meals? Max is constantly getting up and running off to get something and then sitting back down and getting up...and oh it drives me batty!
we totally sit facing either other with lots of kids in between so that each of us can reach at least one kid.
Do you think when Grace is out of the high chair she'll sit across from Jim? I love the way she's looking at him. Is she a daddy's girl? Same with the way Angelo is looking at you. :)
This week we all photographed 'cold'. Angelo was on a sleepover at grandma's house so Gracie and I had a bit of girl time. We went to the lake to visit the ducks and ended up staying for hours. Gracie could watch them for hours.
She turned to tell me what the ducks were doing and the sight of her cold little red nose made me smile. And mumble under my breath about how she won't keep her hat on for more than five minutes but that's another story.
The group of photographers participating in linked 52 has grown! Please check out their links to see what 'cold' looks like to them.
Michelle, Heather, Tracey, Stacey, Andrea, Jessica, Kristin, Amanda, Amanda, Sara, Janet
If you'd like to play along with our Linked 52 project, please comment below and we'll be sure to link up with you next week. Next Friday's theme is 'breakfast'. I am so excited to see my friend Heather's photograph for next week - she is hands down the most talented food photographer I know (and she makes her family pretty great breakfasts).
12 comments so far
oooohhh what a little sweetheart. i love her expression in the photo on the right.
one on one time with our little munchkins is so wonderful.
what a special day you got to spend with her.
Ok. She is too flipppin' cute! Look at her litte Stay Puff Marshmello Man jacket and her little legs and her little boots. I want to reach in there and pick her up and hug her. Oh, and her little clip in her hair...adorable.
these photos are SO cute. she is adorable. and i'm cracking up at your comment of about not keeping a hat on - we have a one of those in our house too. love your interpretation of this theme.
and you are so stinkin' nice to me. that little shout-out made my day. :)
She is such a doll. That close up paired with the fence shot is just perfect. I LOVE this. Love how you applied cold to Gracie. :) So adorable. I could watch ducks for hours too. I laid on the dock next to our sailboat this summer and lured the ducks with potato chips. Eventually I had them eating out of my hand. Gracie is my kind of girl. :) p.s. I LOVE her scarf.
She is really really cute, especially all bundled up in her bright pink. Super sweet.
Cute cute cute. How old is she? 2ish? I love that age. She is adorable. And my littlest NEVER wants to keep on his hat! What is it with that?? You'd think they would be freezing without it!
She is a doll. And I love the scarf! Perfect for those chilly days.
I love the rosy cheeks and noses on little kids.
She's so cute!
Makes me a little sad mine are big.
Love the crop on the first one! What a doll! And HEATHER....No pressure for next week or anything!
I am so in love with those lips---perfect! Love the pink poof and serious...."I am cold" look--makes this shot.
But on the other hand, as I mentioned last week, I just love the start of the new year. It feels so fresh and full of so many possibilities. I love the feeling of newness and all the potential of the year to come.
So with that said, I don't necessarily have resolutions for the new year, more I have intentions.
In 2012 the kids and I are going to get outside more. We spend pretty much the entire late spring, summer and early fall outside. But in the winter, when it's cold and rainy, we huddle up in our cozy home. I recently picked up 15 minutes outside: 365 ways to get out of the house and connect with your kids and since I'm a sucker for starting (ahem.) any sort of daily project, the subtitle appealed to me in a huge way. I love the little prompts to get us outside in the rain on days we might otherwise not venture outdoors (and have entirely too much pent up energy by 3PM). And I especially love the way the February chapter starts: resist hibernating on even the darkest days.
In 2012 I intend to write more. I am a voracious reader and have always loved books, but I've always said I'm not a writer. I think it's one of my biggest weaknesses. But I'm pretty sure I do myself a disservice by saying I'm not a writer, because that means I don't even have to try. This year I'm going to start, I've already started. I'm playing around with 750 words and I'm working way through Writing Motherhood but if you have any great writing tips for me, I'd love to hear them.
In 2012 I want to be a more intentional friend, wife, mother, sister, daughter, etc. I intend to be kinder. I intend to serve more. With those I'm closest to I fall back on being sarcastic. And lately, I've been lazy and tend only to reach out with a phone call (or more likely a text or an email) if there's an invitation that needs to be made or a question that needs to be asked. I've been reading about being a Proverbs 31 woman and that's been rolling around in my mind lately too.
And at the same time, all my talk of more makes we tired. Because it's not like I'm sitting around for hours on end wondering what I'm going to do with all my 'extra' time. I just started reading Praying for Strangers and the first chapter starts with this about New Year's resolutions.
"Every year I see them as a way to complete myself, to make up for all those things I haven't accomplished in a lifetime but can now master in a year."
So to this list I add being more gentle - with our house, with the kids, with my husband and especially, with myself.
What about you? What do you intend for 2012?
4 comments so far
First off, I am totally with you on the resolution comments. That's why I don't make them. :-)
I love your wish to be more intentional. This was a goal that I strived for last year and have made it a continual thing. It takes practice!
Also love your goal for writing. I love to write, although I feel like I am not very eloquent or poetic in my words. What I've found is that if I just start....if I just start typing....the words come. They might not be poetic, but they are real. And I guess that's what I'm going for. :-)
Oh boy! I'm hear you on this entire thing!!!
Last year, I made myself go outside every single day. (didn't always, but that was my goal) because I found that I would hunker down and then oddly end up unhappy. Outside is good for us.
I am with you on the being a better friend, too. Oh how I wish you lived close to me. I'd bring you a loaf of homemade banana bread and we could talk about all these fabulous books you're reading. Sigh.
I've got intentions or goals as I also like to call them. But they are balanced by grace. I've learned not to quit if I miss a day (or 12). But to embrace the shift in momentum and celebrate what can be celebrated as I make the changes.
I love your blog. :)
I'm with you about getting my kids outside as much as possible. I find that making intentions is good, but it's when I put it in my schedule that my intentions actually happen. So I am putting "outdoors" as one of my daily routines with the kids-- whether it's a park or the woods or the beach or just a walk. Your photo is beautiful.
i love your list of intentions, jenn. and something i always remind myself of every year is that i don't have to be perfect, i just have to try and i think making goals/resolutions/intentions is a great place to start. plus trying is better than not trying at all.
i'm excited that writing is on your list. that makes me happy because i love learning more about you.
i love that you added being more gentle. i should add that one to mine too.
Join me as I take one photo a week for the next year, each one capturing a specific aspect of our family life and my kid's childhood that I want remembered. You can read the introduction post here, an FAQ post here and all related posts here.
The second week of every month I'm photographing the relationships in our life.
Assignment 28: Take a group shot of your immediate family (again).Now that we're halfway through the year, there are two weeks that we're going to repeat. No, I didn't run out of things I wanted to photograph. But I did want to capture a similar photograph to see what changes six months can bring.
We were hiking up the mountain behind our house and I saw a log that I could rest my camera on. The log wasn't quite level and we're on a mountain which is why we're tilting a bit to the left but that just makes it perfectly imperfect in my books.
Angelo looks so much older now. He's four in both the photographs but now he looks so much more school-aged than he did in the summer. He is so excited about going to kindergarten in September. We have a running joke where I tell him there's no way he's going to kindergarten because he's growing up too fast and I'll miss him too much. And then he asks if I'm going to cry when he's gone because I'll miss him so much. Yup. And then it's not so much of a joke anymore.
And Gracie, she's finally getting hair. As the mama to two babes who were almost completely bald for the first year, I love that we're inching closer to the day I can finally put pigtails in her hair.
If you're playing along I'd love to see your family photograph - and that means you in the photo! Send me an email or link below with your photographs.
8 comments so far
Lovely photo of a lovely family! Glad I found your blog and looking forward to reading more. :)
Beautiful! Both are treasures for sure. I am in love with this project.
I love seeing pix of blogging buddies! I need more family photos. What a great goal of yours.
And can I have your green carpet and couch?! :)
love. love. love.
Hello Jen, Just checking out your blog after being directed from a good friend of mine Melinda and after following Rhonda Steed's blog. I'm very interested in your challenge to take a picture each week. I'm just a little confused on what week we are on and if the theme is a family shot or the theme newness. Is there something I'm missing?
Hi Shelley,
I came up with all the prompts last June just before I started. I set up the project basically like this:
the first week of the month: the rooms of our home
the second week of the month: relationships
the third week of the month: seasonal or time of day
the fourth week of the month: details
Sometimes I swap them around a bit if I want week 3 (the seasonal) one to fall on a specific holiday.
If that's still confusing, let me know and I'll try to explain better. :)
I love my Our Year in Photos project which has been challenging me to capture specific aspects of our family life and preserve them for my family.
But I was still searching for something that pushes me as an artist. And that's when my friend asked me to join herself and four other women in photographing one theme per week for the entire year.
This week's theme? Newness.
As much as the word newness for me conjures up visions of a beautiful glowing sunrise, a seedling bursting through the soil or a soft, beautiful newborn, for me today newness looks a little different. On this dreary rainy first week of January, when little #1 is just back at preschool and little #2 is upstairs napping, newness to me looks like some quiet time with my latte, a few books I've been storing up for just this time, a pen and a fresh white sheet of paper. It's a newness reminiscent of the first day of school with the smell of new school supplies, the excitement of a new teacher and the promise of a year spent with new and old friends.
And that's what today is. A day of excitement for the year to come, the promise of connecting with old friends and reaching out to new ones and the excitement of setting out intentions for me and my family - writing more, getting outside more, serving more. The newness of a year ripe with possibilities.
I'll post more next week about what I'm intending for my family in 2012 but in the meantime, please check out these amazing women and what newness looks like to them.
Michelle
Heather
Tracey
Stacey
Andrea
6 comments so far
I adore this shot! Really. It's been a time of laying out goals and list making here and the blank page just screams possibility to me.
Fantastic. Can't wait to hear what your intentions are next week.
Love you, Artist Friend.
I loved your words and your thoughts and the picture to match them. I love me a good quiet time and the thought of you sitting there with your two kids occupied elsewhere makes me sigh. :) So fun to meet you Jenn!
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This photo just looks new and clean and fresh! That sheet of paper just waiting to be filled with new thoughts and ideas for a new year. And your tie-in to the first day of school - I just loved getting all of the new supplies! Especially a new box of crayons. I'll be excited to hear more about what your plans are for the new year with your family. :) Happy Friday! (Oh, and I was going to say, I live really close to that "other" Vancouver. I actually live in Camas, just east of Vancouver. But we just tell people Vancouver because no one knows where Camas is. :) )
this is awesome. love the possibilities that lay ahead on the blank sheet and the mug with the word joy in red just makes this shot. looking forward to hearing more about what intentions you have for your year.
Love the simplicity of this shot, Jenn. Clean and lovely. Makes me want to make a list, and I am SO not a list person. Can't wait to hear more about your goals and see more of your beautiful photos!
Join me as I take one photo a week for the next year, each one capturing a specific aspect of our family life and my kid's childhood that I want remembered. You can read the introduction post here, an FAQ post here and all related posts here.
In the first week of every month I photograph a room in our home. This week's "room" may not technically be in our home but it's certainly somewhere we spend a lot of time together.
Assignment 27: Photograph your littles in the car.
I know my mother is looking at this photograph thinking "can't she just take one of those kids looking at the camera?" (hi mom!). And I do, take photos of them looking at the camera, I mean. But let me tell you why this one pulls at my heartstrings.Seconds before I took the photograph above, I took this one.
Cute, right? The hint of a smile, Angelo laughing in his carseat, her too-long bangs in her eyes, her legs all curled up because she's out of room facing backwards, and you can just make out her boots that she loves so much and asks for every time we leave the house.
But right after I captured this one, Angelo called her name. And she turned and looked, of course, because she adores him and that's what she always does the second her brother says something. Any day now we're going to turn her carseat around. She may be safer facing backwards until she's two but the head injury she's going to get from me bumping her into the side of the car when I try to get her into her backward-facing carseat is not doing her a world of good either. So these are our last few days of the two of them facing each other in their carseats.
I know they'll still be talking and singing and passing things back and forth to each other, but somehow it just won't be the same as when they're looking at each other.
So it's the first one I posted above that makes me want to remember this moment in time and it's the first one that will find a place in our album.
3 comments so far
Your sentance about bumping her head into the side of the car totally made me laugh. :) I love the bunched up knees in the second shot.
ha! i'm laughing at your head bumping comment too. i still do that to Silas and he's forward facing. He's getting too tall but is such a nut about going in his seat on his own. I took a photo of the kids in the van at the beginning of December for my photo-a-day thinking it would be neat to have - SO crazy that you posted this challenge this week.
The head bumping comment made me chuckle. I remember those days. And I think my heart melted a bit when you described him calling her name, and how she adores him. So sweet. Made me wonder if I was like that with my older brother... It's a special moment to hold tight to. :)
Love it :) And love that you carried the mixer downstairs!
LOVE it! I'm just like you-- I don't eat breakfast and I fail every time I try to photograph food. Those puffs look amazing-- I think you done good, mama!!
Hahaha, I can just imagine the noise, while trying to be quiet.
Good job with breakfast.
i hear ya on the love to bake, hate to cook front....
and on the simple breakfasts and lunches....
and on the let's keep the kids sleeping as long as possible attempt!!!
i am totally going to make my family glorified doughnuts too :)
i love this. everything about it. you rock for getting up earlier!, for mixing in the laundry room (I often grind my flax in the basement for the same reason), for taking photos of this and for making your kids such a yummy breakfast! i bet they were thrilled. A sure looks happy eating them. :)
Ha! I can't believe you carried your mixer to the laundry room! The picture in my head of you making a ruckus totally cracks me up. Well done on the fancy donuts!! :)
"I love to bake but don't love to cook even though I do cook every night for my family because it's important to me that they get home-cooked whole food from scratch." Yep! Can soooooo relate. Though I am trying to improve upon the "wanting to cook" part. :)
Laughed at you bringing the mixer into the laundry room! And I am that mom that brings apple slices to McDonalds so I understand the need to put the apples with the sugared muffins. It's about balance right???
those look delicious!!
I love that you took your mixer to the laundry room. Lol! I know all too well about keeping quiet so as to not wake the kids. This sound like a yummy breakfast treat. I sometimes do the peanut butter on toast thing. Today it was cinnamon toast. :)
That is funny. The things we do to get quiet time. Looks like Angelo approves. Love his sleepy eyes:)
So funny you brought the mixer in the laundry room! I would too. like you, I LOVE to bake and dislike cooking. I have such a sweet tooth! Hence, the bars. :) Ill give you the recipe! Where would you like me to email it?!
I love this post! I so get the "cooking" thing. In fact, my last post was about that. I'm not a morning person so breakfast is a challenge at my house, too.
Okay, so this is kindof weirding me out. We had the same (ikea?) cup in our post. And we have the same mixer. Not to mention (as previously discussed) the same kitchen. Maybe you are my long lost twin? :-)
Love this post. Love that you wanted to do something special for your family. I don't cook breakfast either, I leave that up to my hubby. :-)
Love the photos. I can picture you downstairs mixing away while the kiddies sleep. Angelo appears to love the end product. You can see it in his eyes!
Good morning, I am the late poster for this week. I am also new to the link. These look pretty good. Might have to try them. Have a great weekend.
I am new to this project thanks to my friend Kristin. I look forward to this and lucky to associate with all of you talented photographers. I am VERY amateur!
And I think I need to try this recipe!
Those look so yummy! I love the smile on Angelo's face while he's eating them. :)