little red riding hood and the big bad wolf

so, i had really big plans for halloween this year. great handmade decorations, a big party with lots of sweet m.'s friends and our friends, games, cookie decorating, magic tricks...yea, i get a little too crazy. i guess we'll have to save the big party for next year.
this year what i really wanted to do was take some pictures of the kids outside by some trees in their costumes. i did get that done, but not without some troubles: it was raining on and off, little c. had just woken up from his nap and was terribly crabby, and sweet m. wouldn't hold still. so this is what i ended up with and put into polaroid version, for the non-polaroids, check my flickr stream (if you want.)

just a preview...

i took some pictures of sweet m. in her costume today before she left for school. for some reason they don't have school tomorrow so the big halloween celebration is today. i'm hoping to take some even better ones tomorrow, with her little brother, the big bad wolf. also in the evening light tomorrow, i'm thinking it'd be cool to get some spooky shots. or of them by some trees, you know...in the woods on their way to grandmother's house.

kinda exciting

remember how i've been raving about poladroid lately? (i've been told the link isn't working so here is the url: http://www.poladroid.net.)
anyway, i put up some of my poladroid creations on my flickr stream, and this one was put on the poladroid website as the poladroid of the day! (it was put up yesterday but is still up today.)
i usually don't take screen shots, but i just had to of this one!
hooray!

just can't get enough...

sorry.
more polaroids. :)

pola love

ok, so i love polaroids. but the film is expensive and is going (or has gone) out of production. so that's why i was beyond thrilled when i found out about this site that takes your regular pics and turns them into lovely, amazing polaroids! it's photography heaven! you can even shake the polas while they're developing! it's lovely.
it's called poladroid



found via a cup of jo via swissmiss

letters to a young poet, lesson 1

i'm truly sorry if i have been inundating this blog with pictures that i've taken lately. believe me when i say that it's not because i think i'm wonderful at taking pictures, or even that i've become proficient at it. it's actually got a lot to do with this guy and some things he wrote to a young poet who asked him for advice.
man, this little book is full of great things to think about if you're a creative type, or if you're like me and you're trying to expand your creative horizons. he's really changed my way of looking at a lot of things.
for instance: i have been guilty (many times) of thinking: if i lived somewhere cool then i'd have lots of things to take pictures of. or, if my life was more exciting i'd have a lot of stuff to write about. and then i read what rilke says on the subject: "if your everyday life seems poor to you, do not accuse it; accuse yourself, tell yourself you are not poet enough to summon up its riches; since for the creator there is no poverty and no poor or unimportant place."
so that's why i decided yesterday to drive around my town and look for things i found beautiful. i only had time to take shots and one place because i left the kids at home and plus the light was fading, but here is what i saw:




this last one has a cross-processed effect that i thought was kind of cool.

my own face inside the autumn trees

i took my camera out for some practice shots tonight while the kids were playing in the yard. the air was slightly chilly but not quite enough to need a jacket, and i loved it. i just can't get enough of this kind of weather...

more photos here (and they look a little better)

different but the same

chin up, originally uploaded by jowrites365.

as she gets older, there's an increasing amount of time that i don't spend with sweet m. she goes to kindergarten, she goes to church classes and activities, she plays outside with her friends on her own. today i've been thinking about how i've been seeing her in different ways lately.
when she was little i only ever saw her from up close because i was always right next to her; holding her or only a few feet away while she played on the floor. now i see her inside a school bus while i watch inside the house. today i saw her standing at the pulpit in front of hundreds of people at church.
it's so strange and wonderful to look at her in these different ways.

father and child reunion

embrace, originally uploaded by jowrites365.

daddy gets to come home for lunch most days, and when little c. is awake and millie has not yet boarded the bus, this is a cause for celebration. these kids love their daddy.
almost every time little c. sees big daddy, he runs up and gives him a big embrace like this one. it warms my heart every time, but sometimes, i must admit, it also makes me a little jealous.

free rice!

ok, how cool is this website that lets you play trivia games and donates rice to the u.n. world food program for every right answer you get.
every right answer = 20 grains of rice, which might sound kind of small, but before you know it you've donated 3000 grains of rice, which sounds a lot more hefty!
there are lots of different subjects, like art, vocabulary, different languages, and i think even math and chemistry! i'm currently obsessed with identifying the artists of different paintings (trying to put my humanities degree to good use--it's been getting kind of rusty.)

via babyccino

pumpkin picking

pumpkin picking, originally uploaded by jowrites365.

tonight for family night we went to a pumpkin patch. it was freezing cold but the kids had a lot of fun. we got each of them a pumpkin and i got some small white pumpkins to decorate indoors with. they also had corn and watermelon and a small barn at this patch.
i wanted to take a lot more pictures but the sun was already setting, and i couldn't get any good light!

keep me hanging on

aren't little boys fun?

halloween ideas from down under

thank goodness for the internet. yes, halloween is celebrated down here, but it's not very big at all, and gets nowhere near the respect that it does in the states. in fact, i've even heard people trying to denigrate it as "an american holiday."

anyway, here are links to some cute halloween ideas for cupcakes and other recipes, plus some party tips thrown in:

the wilton website (cute cupcakes, cookies, and candies--all with halloween themes)

the hershey's halloween website

the food network halloween ideas

these are just a few, please feel free to share your ideas as well. we're trying to put together a fun little halloween kids party for our playgroup. any help is appreciated!

wonderwall

beginning of the plate wall, originally uploaded by jowrites365.

so we've been collecting these plates for a while now...and now we're starting our plate wall. there will be many many more when we're done!

p.s. someday our walls will be painted...i think a soft grey.

halloween bash, entry no. 1 (the tunes)

so we are throwing a small (but hopefully delightful) halloween party for sweet m. and some of her friends. in the coming days traveltwin and i will be posting some of our ideas about halloween parties.
tonight: MUSIC!
of course there are the classics that quickly come to mind when one thinks of halloween:
thriller- michael jackson (must have. if you can, learn the dance that goes with it :))
monster mash- bobby "boris" pickett
werewolves of london- warren zevon
spooky- (the version i have is by dennis yost (such a fun halloween-ish song)
witchcraft- frank sinatra
dead man's party- oingo boingo
the purple people eater- sheb wooley
i put a spell on you- screamin' jay hawkins
love potion no. 9- searchers
haunted house- jumpin' gene simmons
the munster's theme- jack marshall
out of limits- the marketts
twilight zone- neil norman

some from nene's playlist:
that old black magic- sammy davis, jr.
superstition- stevie wonder
the edison museum- they might be giants

some that aren't classics, but i think would work really well:
i want candy- bow wow wow
somebody's watching me- rockwell
people are strange- the doors
addam's groove- mc hammer
don't fear the reaper- (originally by blue oyster cult but the version i have is the caesars and i really like it)
weird science- oingo boingo
the ghost in you- the psychedelic furs
psycho killer- talking heads
black magic woman- fleetwood mac
lil' red riding rood- sam the sham and the pharaohs (esp. great if someone at the party is coming as lil' red)
it's halloween- the shaggs (kinda weird, but is says halloween a lot)

and finally, here are some that have nothing to do with halloween, but are great songs and either mention ghosts, monsters, vampires, or are creepy-sounding
is there a ghost- band of horses. love this band, love this song
walking with a ghost- tegan and sara. pretty good party music!
monsters- boy least likely to
vampire- antsy pants (from the juno soundtrack)
skin is my, and a nervous tic motion of the head to the left- both by andrew bird. he is a genius, and a lot of his music is kind of eery sounding. just brilliant.

"i am not my hair," says little c.

he says that because he has the misfortune of having his mommy for a barber. yikes. i'm not good (at all) at giving haircuts, especially to little boys, but i do think he looks a lot better with his hair quite short.