To Combat the Dreariness

The weather here today is cold, wet, wet, and cold. Add to that my current project: organizing four years' worth of personal and business files on five different hard drives. (While I have multiple copies of everything and while the business end of things is fairly tidy, my growth -- in a technological sense -- has been somewhat ad hoc and my systems reflect that. Ask me to put my fingers on, say, photos from when Noah was a baby and I'll likely get a glassy look and start rummaging around for an open bottle of wine.)

So as I sort and weed and occasionally bang my head against the desk, I'm going to take little breaks to look at photos like these from last weekend. Our good friends from Santa Cruz had come down to the cabin for a sleepover, and in the morning light the girls were all a-giggle while catching some air together.

Worth the Wait

During our recent weekend away, we hit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We do this every time we're in town, which is many times a year, so we have annual passes and have explored most parts of the facility dozens of times. As a result, we'll sometimes pop in for just a half-hour or so. Other times, our visit consists primarily of lunch in the cafe. Since we've seen most of it before, none of us feels like we're missing out on anything.

Which is why this time, I allowed myself to be talked into the face painting line. I figured that if we killed a half-hour in the line waiting for a design on her face, who cared? It wasn't going to be my only chance to see the sea otters this year. (Or her dad's. He waited for awhile, too.)

Except that it wasn't a half-hour. It was more than 90 minutes. See, the cluster of six or seven kids ahead of us in line was quite deceiving. Apparently, there are many families who thought nothing of bringing in other kids -- plus extended family members and perhaps even friends they'd made during their visit -- to rotate through the face-painting lady's chair during "their turn." I was floored by the number of adults who plopped down in the chair, mere feet from my daughter and other little kids who'd been standing and waiting patiently for ungodly amounts of time.

But in the end, it was that patience that won me over. She didn't complain once, and in fact she thanked me profusely as she finally got close to the front of the line. And her excitement about the shark that was feasting on her eyeball was just too sweet.

In the end, it was worth the wait.

My Fruit Loops

We Clausens just spent a relaxing and restorative long weekend in Carmel, our favorite family getaway spot. The entire experience would've been top-notch, if it hadn't been for the constant worry about our dear friend Justin, who had to make an emergency helicopter ride to Stanford on Saturday night. Fortunately, he's on his way home now, and it sounds like he's going to be okay. We'll continue to keep him foremost in our thoughts, though, until we know that there's no further reason to worry about his cute, sweet self.

Anyway, I had some valentine-y photos that I intended to share from Carmel but I forgot to take along the cord that links my camera to my laptop. Ah, well. More time to relax at the cabin and catch up on some other computer-related to-dos.

I'm turning to the unpacking end of things now, but I'll leave you with this goofy shot of my little fruit loops, who saw these at the candy store and thought they looked downright awesome.

A Glimpse at the Minis

Here's a very quick look at a few of the images from last week's minis. This just scratches the surface, but it's better than no peek, right?

Right.



Now I must attempt to hem -- with a broken sewing machine -- a table runner for Friday's second grade tea party. Watch out, Martha Stewart. ;)

And Now, the B Family...

Whew. What a week. I am reeeally close to wrapping up all of the mini-sessions and valentines. I am therefore very close to getting a solid night's sleep and maybe even a run in somewhere in the next couple of days. Light at the end of the tunnel!

Before I hit the sack tonight, however, I want to share the preview from Saturday's session with the B family. They are lovely, and so are these images.



I love that this guy has a smile at exactly the same stage as my own first grader's. There's nothing quite like a first-grade smile, and I'm glad we captured this one.









And with that, I sleep. Probably quite soundly!

Because It's Driving Me Crazy...

... that I haven't posted anything in more than a week. And I have soooo much to share. Last week's mini-sessions were so very fun, and there are many, many darling images that resulted from all the effort. Plus, I had a full session on Saturday with a beautiful family and those images beg to be shared as well.

But I have much to wrap up. There are a couple more valentines to be ordered. So for tonight, at least, I am only able to toss up a couple of images from the last mini-session I did.

They might not even be the best of the lot. I don't think that they are. But I really, really love them.