and they were all yellow...

these yellow walls
have surrounded me
for exactly a week,
minus the two hours
i managed to steal for myself
on saturday
to buy the kids
some national geographic mags
at an estate sale
and some clothes for myself.
my kiddos were/are sick...
kai had sore throat and fever last wed,
a few hours later, tea had a fever,
then the next day tea had pus oozing from her eye,
and kai was not far behind.
nights of no sleep for anyone.
earaches, coughing, eyes glued shut,
noses stuffed up.
everyone desperate for sleep.
mama couldn't escape the illness either.
surrounded by these walls,
we cuddled a lot,
blew our noses a lot,
drank cups of hot tea,
and watched lots of
dvd's ( curious george and blue planet).
i think we're almost better now...

Grinch and his dog, drawn by Kai

Grinch and his dog, drawn by Kai
Originally uploaded by Papillon Sky

Another great drawing. I think this kid's going to be a cartoonist someday...

by Kai

by Kai
Originally uploaded by Papillon Sky

This drawing blew me away. I love how he captured that picture perfectly.

One way to get rid of the January blahs...

Yes we can!!!!
Originally uploaded by Papillon Sky

...rejoice that we have a new President. It felt like this day would never come. I'm so happy it did!!!

perfect little snowflake

1/16/09
Originally uploaded by Papillon Sky

I totally set up this shot. It was snowing out so I threw this red sweater out to catch the snowflakes. Check out this sweet little flake in the middle. Click on the picture to see it larger!

she's had enough of the princess costume

she's had enough of the princess costume
Originally uploaded by Papillon Sky

warm sun on my sleeping hubby

warm sun on my sleeping hubby
Originally uploaded by Papillon Sky

We like to play musical beds in our house. the kids come into our bed and often one of the adults ends up in the kids' beds alone because it was too crowded! I found Jevon here in Tea's room the other morning...

Originally uploaded by Papillon Sky

This picture was also another one that really touched someone. I babysat this sweet little boy earlier this week and as he was standing at the craft table drawing, I couldn't help but grab my camera. His eyes and hair looked so beautiful in the soft morning light of that north window.

I gave this photo and others to his mom when she picked him up and she absolutely loved them. So much, in fact, that she stopped at Walgreens on the way home and printed all of them and enlarged and framed them!!

She felt this photo captured her son perfectly and I do too! He's adorable. (I must admit that the lens I'm using does a really nice job of capturing people and showing their true beauty!)

A picture's worth a thousand words

Yes, it's cliche, but it's true. I took this picture for my sister last summer. She had been seeing dragonflies after her mother died and found them to be symbolic. I finally sent her the photo this Christmas and it had more of an impact on her than I could have imagined. Here's a little of what she said:

THANK YOU again for the dragonfly photo, it is such a treasure to me! It has helped me follow through with all of this, and inspired me [...] to do something that will give me more time with/energy for my family and for things I fell more passionate about! I made a color copy of the dragonfly and put her in my office at work and the original is in my bedroom, I see it every time I get in or out of bed. I really can't tell you how special it is and how much it means to me that you took that photo for me.

I just love knowing that doing such a small thing for her had such a big impact. This only reinforces the idea that photography is what I was always meant to do. It just took me a really long time to figure that out! I had pursued thoughts of being an artist and a writer but now I believe I can do both through the art of photography...

patience and trust

I taught my husband to knit last night. He hadn't slept more than 2 hours the night before because of stress and wanted a way to chill out. I don't think knitting did it but it was the only thing I could think of since he couldn't go out and jog.

Teaching him to knit seemed so symbolic. For one, I had to be incredibly patient (which I wasn't) and let him do it (instead of grabbing the needles, which I tried to do). And he had to trust me that it would work out even when it looked like a tangled mess as he slid each stitch on the needle. "I don't think I'm doing it right," he said. But eventually, after a few rows, the pattern was clear and he had knitted a tiny patch of thick purple yarn, which he promptly tore out as soon as he completed it and started it again.

(He didn't sleep last night either. I am happy to say that after watching the movie Office Space tonight, he fell fast asleep! Whew!!)

this is a scarf I started the other day
and I ended up tearing the purple off after I knitted it
because it was too thick.
Jevon used that same yarn to knit with last night.

It's January and my brain is frozen...

two cherry blossoms brewing
Originally uploaded by Papillon Sky

What is it about January? I think my brain is frozen! I can't think of much to post about. Not that life is terrible--well, there are days... But it's just a quiet time to stay indoors and observe. Jevon set up this shot for me. We made some cherry blossom tea in a clear glass jar and he said I should take a picture. I had to set it up and put a pink silk around it to make it look prettier.

My last post was about what I was loving. Not be negative but there are some things I'm not loving right now like cold weather and the fact that my almost six-year-old is a very stubborn person. For example, he will not wipe himself (or even attempt). So he screams bloody murder for me to come in the bathroom and wipe him, and I will only agree after he's tried to wipe himself first (not unreasonable, right?). And he won't. In fact, one day he threw the toilet paper on the floor so he couldn't wipe himself. He waited 1.5 hours in there for me to wipe him. It was a showdown of sorts. On one end, a mama just wanting her son to attempt to wipe, since he is of kindergarten age and if in kindergarten, he would be wiping himself there. And on the other end, a son very determined not to do anything his mama wants him too.

I'm sure his stubbornness will come in handy when he's some sort of human rights activist and won't back down from his cause, but now--well, it's hard some days.

Luckily, today is not one of those days. It's pretty laid back. Jack Johnson is playing in the background and my kids are playing together nicely. So, maybe I shouldn't complain so much!!

What I'm loving...

What I'm Loving...
Originally uploaded by Papillon Sky

(Click on the picture to see a bigger version. )
1. Pepe and the Bottle Blondes.
A very Pink Martini-esqe sort of band with a Latino, jazzy, swing music flare. Sure to beat those winter blues and you won't be able to stop your feet from tapping. The kids beg me to turn it up!
2. Homemade Yahtzee and our newly established game night. Got the idea from Chris. Jevon made the dice and my mom sent a few Yahtzee score cards for us to copy.
3. The book Any Room for Me? and accompanying wooden animals made by Chris, painted, sanded, and finished with beeswax polish by my kids, and mitten made by me...
4. My camera and my new lenses and the new world I am finding through my new eyes...
5. Girlie things, even though I fought so hard to make sure my children would have equal opportunity to all kinds of toys and clothes, regardless of their sex, both children have taught me a lesson by being very much a stereotype of their own gender. Kai is very, very boy and Tea is very, very girl and loves princesses, even though we have never read a princess book and she has never seen a Disney princess movie. I'm just letting go and letting them love what they love (although I'm still not going to show them a Disney movie or go too crazy in that direction).
6. The idea of starting my own photography business. Stay tuned! You could win a free photo session!
7. Serendipity--finding old friends from high school and even here and finding out they are photographers too.
8. Drumming class. I took another workshop with Pam Fleenor and loved it.
9. Pottery. We missed a few classes in December due to weather. We had our first class of the semester last night and we were all hugging each other--we were so happy to be back! What a great group of people. I am not the best potter but I do enjoy the class!
10. A few new things since we rarely buy new (bedspread, and gifted pasta maker).
And more things like sunshine, and good friends, an assortment of beautiful handmade Christmas gifts, and playing at the park on a cold, cold day. See the mosiac I made above...

One hat, one kid, three years later

One hat, one kid, three years later
Originally uploaded by Papillon Sky

one coat, two kids, and three years in between

one coat, two kids, and three years in between
Originally uploaded by Papillon Sky

Anniversaries

Changes
Originally uploaded by Papillon Sky

Today is the five year anniversary of moving into our house and it's also a couple days after my "blogaversary." I stared this blog one year ago with a post about our New Year's celebration. I've been thinking a lot about the passage of time and have created these diptychs of the kids at different ages.

Thank god we have photos to capture these fleeting moments. Time goes by too quickly.

Save Handmade Toys!

In case you haven't heard, there is some crazy legislation out there, meant to protect children from lead in toys. However, it is going to make it impossible for those natural toy makers to make you nice wooden toys that actually are safe because they won't be able to afford the required testing for each toy. My good friend Chris, who makes beautiful toys would no longer be able to sell on Etsy! It's insane. Vote for this important cause and read more about it here: