Jennifer Woodbury

2012 Photos | Week 14 | Apr 1-7

A few of Lucy's favorite sayings:

• "Ooooh, pwetty!" (She always notices when somebody is dressed up and/or wearing something new.)
• "I coming!" (Said as she is running in the opposite direction with absolutely no intention of coming.)
• "TOP IT!!" (As in, "STOP IT!!" She's always yelling at the top of her lungs for this one, of course.)
• "Mommy-ah" (Her pet name for me.)

Ella has decided it's finally time to learn how to ride a two-wheeler. A couple of weekends ago Matt took the training wheels off her bike and brought her to the school to practice on the grass field. She caught on really fast. On Tuesday after school I took her back to get in some more practice. I was so impressed with her determination. She fell down a few times (see the dirt on her elbow in the first picture?) but never gave up. By the end of the afternoon I told her I thought she was almost ready to try on the blacktop. Her response? "When we do, we should bring a whole box of Band-Aids!"

Something I love right now: the way Lucy reads sitting perfectly upright with a book on her lap and her legs sticking out straight in front of her.

Local Easter egg hunt. (Click through to this picture to see Ella and Claire at the same event - and on the same stone steps - two years ago.) Those scabs on and around Lucy's lips are from a tumble she took on our driveway this week. The poor thing managed to chip a small portion of her front tooth in the process; I'm just grateful it wasn't worse!

We spent Easter weekend in New Jersey and the girls (all 7 of them) spent most of their time outside on the hammock. Claire was too scared to actually get on the hammock so she ended up being the unofficial "hammock pusher" for most of the weekend instead.

Project Life: Giveaway!

I have a few Project Life layouts to share, but first something fun. Becky Higgins has generously offered to give away all of the following to one of my blog readers:

This is basically everything you need to start a Project Life album. I think this would be especially perfect for somebody who has been wanting to give Project Life a try. Almost every member of Becky's creative team is hosting a giveaway this week, so there are many chances to win. Check Becky's blog later today for a full list of all the giveaways. Here are the details if you want to enter:

1. First of all, since these products will be shipped directly from Amazon, the winner must be a U.S. resident.

2. To enter, leave a comment on this post.

3. I will close the comments at 3pm Eastern time on Thursday, April 12th and select a winner then.

And now, a few Project Life layouts. First up is the week of Valentine's Day (Week #7). As you can see, I devoted the entire left side of my layout to Valentine's Day. I really like the flexibility of my approach this year (week-at-a-glance instead of photo-a-day) to be able to focus on certain events like this without always having to add an extra insert. I won't do this every week because I really don't want to lose focus on recording everyday life, but in certain instances I'm finding it works really well.

Here's a closer view of the left side...

... and the right side.

The next week (Week #8) was the week of our February break. As I mentioned in my weekly photos post for this week, I didn't really take a whole lot of photos but I still felt like I had plenty of material to use.

I really liked using this Instagram-style layout (which I created in Photoshop) in one of my 4x6 pockets to fit several photos in a small space:

Finally, here is Week #9 (Feb 26 - Mar 3). I did include one 8.5x11 insert for this week. The front side of the insert is just an enlargement of a photo from the week that I loved.

Here you can see the back side of the insert and a more complete view of the right side of my layout. The back of the insert includes the final draft of the persuasive letter Ella wrote at school asking for a fish. As you can see by the date on the letter, she actually wrote this a couple of weeks earlier but it didn't come home until this particular week and since it coincided nicely with the fact that she actually did get a fish that week, I felt like it made the most sense to include it in Week #9.

Also, you can see that I used one of the 4x6 slots for journaling. I love doing this when I have too much journaling for one of the regular journaling slots, but not enough to warrant its own 6x12 insert.

(Note: Yes, I am still also creating digital layouts for each week, but I decided to just share physical layouts this time around.)

Products used:

InLinkz.com

2012 Photos | Week 13 | Mar 25-31

After looking through my pictures for this week I noticed a disproportionate amount of photos of Claire. Sometimes this happens - when I focus on one child more than the others during a certain time period - and when it does I try not to worry about it too much. I generally find that it all tends to even out in subsequent days and weeks. When I do notice a disparity, it's a good reminder to make a conscious effort to focus on capturing more diverse moments that include the other girls (and me and Matt too). It also makes me really grateful for Ella's teacher, who shared some photos this week of Ella in the classroom during "Bear Days" that I plan on using in my Project Life layout for the week. 

Onto the photos for Week 13:

Reading together before bedtime. I just happened to capture the moment right after Lucy scooted over and laid her head on Claire's shoulder.

Afternoon itinerary according to Claire: "First we will read two books. I will read them to you and then you will read them to me. Then we will color."

It's been a while since I captured a picture of Claire sleeping. They never get old. In this case I walked out of the room for two minutes and saw this when I came back. Like father like daughter... Matt falls asleep on the couch like this just about every night!

"Mom, when you love your blanket, it gets holes in it."

Springtime blossoms.

A couple of iPhone snaps: (1) Claire at her 4 year well check. Few people could pull off a Cat in the Hat gown like she can. She is growing perfectly and weighing in at 35.5 pounds (50th percentile) and 41 inches tall (75th percentile). She took her shots like a champ, redeeming herself for the breakdown she had over her flu shot last fall. (2) I have developed a minor Pinkberry addiction (my drug of choice is Original with strawberries, mangoes, dark chocolate crisps, and honey). The kids think Matt and I are the coolest parents ever because we keep taking them there, but what they don't realize is that these outings are completely selfish on our parts. We just can't get enough.

2012 Photos | Week 12 | Mar 18-24

After our unusually mild winter, we could not have had a more glorious start to spring. The weather was warm and almost summer-like this week. I cannot believe the forsythia is already in bloom. I normally associate these yellow flowers with Ella's birthday, not Claire's!

Claire playing with the new American Girl doll, McKenna, that she got for her birthday. Aside from the doll, one of the only other things she asked for was a crown.

On the actual day of Claire's birthday, I took her out on a special mommy/daughter date. We got our nails done and then went out for lunch, just the two of us.

Lucy absolutely loves dogs. She always sleeps with this stuffed dog tucked under one arm, she will kiss pictures of dogs that she sees in books, and if she sees a real dog? Forget about it. Our babysitter Diana took her to a pet shop this week where they let Lucy play with one of their puppies. She was in heaven.

Fun at the playground. I absolutely love Lucy's face when she laughs.

Some of the work Ella brings home from school is priceless, like this particular word study sentence (#6). For the record, Matt does not have an ear wax problem. She was just trying to figure out how to incorporate her spelling word into a sentence, and it just so happens that she likes to use Dad at the beginning of the majority of her sentences (6 out of 10 on this sheet).

Claire At 4

I just have a few things I want to say about Claire before her 4th birthday is eclipsed by the next birthday on the calendar (spring is birthday season in our house). I think I say this every year, but in some ways I feel like she has already been four years old for months. And then in some ways I can't believe she's not "Baby Claire" anymore. Many of the friendships I formed after we moved here happened right around the time Claire was a baby and so for them - and in turn for me - she is frozen in time as a round-faced, big-eyed baby.

But there is no doubt she is growing up and starting to come into her own. Some may call her the more reserved sister; the one who will stay snuggled up on the couch while her older and younger sisters put on a dance show for the rest of the family. But lately I've been catching glimpses of her coming out of her shell. Like on the day before her birthday when she took off the dress she was wearing (but left on the striped tights), and came out of her room wearing her new leotard, a crown, and a wooden bead necklace. Normally she is shy in front of the camera, but this time when I asked if I could take a picture of her in her ensemble, she did this:

She was giggling. Swaying her hips. She was working it. (And then she asked if I would please print out copies of all these photos for her to have.) I love seeing this unexpected side of her.

Claire is such a perfect combination of smart and independent beyond her years, yet still so very sweetly innocent. I think a great illustration of this is my favorite little quirk of hers. She has always been extremely verbal with an expansive vocabulary, yet she has a knack for always mispronouncing certain words by just one letter or sound. For example, the Muppets movie we watched last Friday night was called The "Muffets." The other day she told me she was brushing her hair to try to get all the "nuts" out of it. And she will ask me how to "smell" a word instead of how to spell it. (No, she's not writing novels. I think she just likes to pretend to do homework like Ella.) The examples are endless, and it makes me smile each time I hear one.

Here's a little interview with the birthday girl at 4:

My favorite fruit is: strawberries.
My favorite TV show is: Max & Ruby.
My favorite thing to eat for lunch is: a bagel & cream cheese.
My favorite outfit is: my rainbow dress & silver shoes.
My favorite drink is: lemonade, of course. (This was her verbatim answer; I would have guessed milk.)
The toy I love to play with most is: Hello Kitty.
Something that makes me scared is: monsters.
My favorite animal is: a pig.
My best subject in school is: painting.
The thing I do the most awesomely is: clean things up at school.
If I could go anywhere in the world, I’d go to: Disneyworld.
My favorite color is: pink.
My favorite thing to do on the weekend is: read books.
The snack I could live on is: gummy fruit snacks.
My best friend is: Hope.
If I had one wish it would be: to stay with my family.
When I grow up, I’m going to become a: mommy.

2012 Photos | Week 11 | Mar 11-17

Ella attempts to teach Lucy how to write. She takes her big sister role very seriously. On another ocassion she exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, it's hard work teaching a baby to count!"

The one snack we always have on hand. Goldfish crackers were one of my favorite snacks as a kid too.

Claire & Lucy's kitchen fort. My favorite part is the collection of knick knacks lined up in the corner of the wrapping paper "room": Pez dispensers, colorful rocks, a plastic doughnut, and a Hello Kitty figure, among other things.

A few iPhone shots: 1) My rainbow cake helper. 2) On Thursdays Ella has her Mad Science program after school, so Claire, Lucy, and I pick her up afterward and we all walk home together. 3) Elementary school bingo night. I *may* have gotten just a little overly competitive. Thankfully Ella is still too young to be embarrassed by me. And besides, that competitive spirit managed to win her a prize!

Our week was capped off by Claire's birthday celebration.

Ella helped Matt put together the rainbow fruit skewers.

I was just trying to get a picture of Claire with her balloons, but Lucy saw the camera and immediately came over and put her arm around Claire so she could be included too.

Blowing out the candles. (Note that I am usually never in "blowing out candles" birthday photos with my kids beause I am always the one behind the camera, but this time I purposefully turned the camera over to Matt.) I especially love the photo on the bottom right. Even after everybody else was done with their cake, Claire just sat quietly at the table by herself and kept on eating her giant piece of cake. I honestly don't know how she fit all the cake into her little body, but I'm just happy she enjoyed it so much.

Claire and her party guests. (Note the outfit change into her new "princess" leotard.)

I can't believe she's turning 4!

Anatomy of a Rainbow Cake

When Ella turned 4, she had her first big party (a million preschoolers running around Kids U). So to be fair, I asked Claire if she wanted to have a party somewhere for her 4th birthday. "No," she said. "I just want a party at home with my cousins." For the record, that's all she wanted for her birthday last year too. Sometimes I wonder if she is for real, or if this whole sweet and innocent thing is just an extremely convincing and highly effective act?

Since Claire's birthday requests are so simple, I always feel like I have to do a little something extra to make her day special. This year, since she loves drawing (or having me draw) rainbows and her little party just happened to be planned for St. Patrick's Day, I decided to have a rainbow theme. Nothing too fancy, just rainbow balloons, a rainbow candy jar, rainbow fruit skewers (thank you Pinterest), rainbow party hats, and the crown jewel... a rainbow cake.

If you happen to follow me on any form of social media, you probably saw (and probably got sick of) all my Instagram photos of the cake-making process. Now, I know the last thing the world needs is another rainbow cake tutorial (there are already about a thousand and one online), but here are my novice cake-maker steps for making a foolproof rainbow cake. Mostly I'm just documenting this because I can't believe I managed to make this without any major mishaps like the overflowing cake pan incident of 2010.

First, take two boxes of white cake mix (I used Betty Crocker SuperMoist Vanilla) and mix according to the directions. Of course, you can go the Martha Stewart route if you want and make your cake from scratch, but my primary goal was to have the cake look good, and I wanted to accomplish that in the easiest possible way. Thank you Betty Crocker.

Second, divide the cake batter evenly among six bowls (I just used six cereal bowls and they were the perfect size). I used a measuring cup to divide the batter and there ended up being about 1 1/2 cups of batter per bowl.

Third, add gel food coloring to each bowl. I used a toothpick to take a glob of gel out of the container and add it to the batter in the bowl. These were the colors I used:

and this is what it looked like when I was done mixing all the colors. Obviously, if you have an aversion to food coloring this is not the cake for you.

Fourth, add batter from one bowl to a 9-inch round cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Repeat for all the remaining colors. I only have two round cake pans, so I could only bake two colors at a time. Now, here is my secret weapon. Instead of greasing and flouring your cake pans, use this:

I have no idea what is in this, but it's magical. The directions say to use a pastry brush to spread it but somehow I have managed to reach 32 years of age without owning a pastry brush. I just used a paper towel and it seemed to work just as well.

Fifth, allow the cakes to cool. Then wrap each layer individually and put them all in the freezer for a while. I left mine in there for a couple of hours, but you probably don't need to keep them in there for that long. I'm not sure if this step is really necessary, but it didn't seem to hurt and I think it helped a bit with the assembly. When you are ready to assemble, take each layer out of the freezer (starting with purple) and carefully cut off the domed top of each layer with a serrated knife so that the top becomes flat. Then spread a layer of white frosting on top (I used Betty Crocker Whipped Fluffly White Frosting) and repeat for all the remaining layers.

Finally, you are ready to frost the outside. I did one thin layer first (a "crumb layer" - look at me getting fancy and using official cake baking terms like I actually know what I'm doing), and then added a final layer on top. I used an angled spatula like this one and it was really helpful in spreading the frosting. By the time I was finished, I ended up using four tubs of frosting. It was a lot. If I ever do this again I may consider making my own frosting. Maybe.

When it was all said and done, the cake ended up looking like this. Claire had been talking about this rainbow cake for weeks and the final result did not disappoint. She asked if I would make her a rainbow cake for every birthday, which I believe means that I can officially call the whole experience a success. And for the record, I told her I would make her a rainbow cake every single year - even when she is a grown up if that is what she wants - and I think that pretty much blew her mind (but I totally meant it).

P.S. If you happen to borrow a cake stand from a friend for this project, make sure the stand doesn't have a lip around the edge. Because if it does, you might realize mid-assembly that this lip will prevent you from cutting and serving the cake so that the inside stays perfectly intact (and of course, the whole point of a rainbow cake is the presentation when it's served). And then you might have a minor panic attack and send your husband to the mall at 8pm on a Thursday night to buy you a new cake stand. Just a little public service announcement. You can thank me later.

2012 Photos | Week 10 | Mar 4-10

Newport Beach, CA

The big story of this week for me was my trip to Southern California for a girls' reunion weekend with friends from college.

Did I ever tell you that I thought I would never make friends in college? I lived in the same place growing up (as opposed to Matt who moved all over the Northeast and lived in 5 different states before he graduated from high school), so for me many of the kids I went to first grade with were the same kids I graduated with. Of course, friendships changed along the way and I had to meet new people when several elementary schools merged into the junior high school, but I never really had the experience of knowing nobody and having to make friends "from scratch" until I went to college. When I didn't make friends immediately (as in, on the first day) I assumed it would never happen and basically told myself "well, at least I will have a lot of time to study." Of course within about a week I found my dear friends Mandy and Lindsey who lived with me on the same floor of Hinckley Hall, and from there my circle of friends expanded to a fabulous group of girls that I still keep up with thanks to the dual miracles of blogging and Facebook. Still, it had been almost 10 years since I had seen many of them in person so it was great to have an opportunity to catch up with them this weekend.

 

2006 was the last time I set foot on a plane without a small child in tow. I thoroughly enjoyed my six hours of doing absolutely nothing on the plane except for watching TV, drifting in and out of sleep, and browsing magazines. I even had time to get bored, which is really saying something.

The weekend revolved mostly around food, as all good weekends rightly should. From frozen bananas and Balboa Bars on Balboa Island, to frozen yogurt at Pinkberry, to great restaurants thanks to the Zagat app and resident foodie Lindsey, we definitely ate well. We filled the time between meals with shopping, getting our nails done, visiting the beach, and staying up late catching up on life in the hotel room.  

The one thing that put a damper on the weekend was that my dear friend Mandy - the person who basically initiated the whole reunion and helped plan it - wasn't able to be there. Her baby girl Lauren was diagnosed with RSV and spent the two weeks leading up to our trip in the hospital. Thankfully Lauren is home and healthy now, and although I was fairly devastated that Mandy couldn't make it at least it gives us a good incentive to plan the next reunion sooner rather than later (New York anyone?!).

This was the first time I've left all the kids with Matt overnight. I knew he was more than capable, but I still wrote out this list (all the personal information/phone numbers/addresses have been erased) for him since there was so much going on that Friday that he is not used to dealing with. At the bottom of this list I wrote: "Please remember: 1) to brush the girls' hair every day, 2) to have Ella feed her fish every day, and 3) I love you!" Clearly he went above and beyond because when I got back from my trip, our babysitter Diana told me that when she got to the house on Friday, Matt had put bows in Lucy's hair. She said, "I went home and told my mom that he is just the best dad ever!" I tend to agree.

Here are a few other non-trip related photos from the week:

Sunday afternoon cookie baking.

Drawings by Claire. The picture on the left is from one of the little pieces of paper that she always brings home from school. She is really into rainbows right now. The picture on the right is of me and her together.

After school snack: cookies and milk.

Project Life: Extra Photos & Adding Inserts

2012 Project Life, Week 3

Like many who use Project Life, I love adding insert pages to my layouts when I have extra photos to share. Although I am actually trying to be a little more selective this year when adding extra pages so that my albums aren't quite as bulky (I ended up with 3 albums for 2011!), there are some events that just call for a page of their own. Above, you can see the front of an insert I created using photos from our one and only snowstorm this winter (a far cry from last winter). Below you can see the back of the insert:

I have had a few people ask how I plan to incorporate extra photos into my digital version of Project Life. The answer is: exactly the same way! In this case, I took the digital Design G template (the same as the Design G photo pocket page I used above) and created this:

Then I took the same template, flipped it horizontally (in Photoshop you do this by going to Image -> Image Rotation -> Flip Canvas Horizontal), and created the back side of the insert:

Put together, they look like this:

When I eventually print these digital layouts into a photo book, I plan to put these insert pages directly after the main Project Life layout for the week.

Before I go, here's one more layout from Week 5 that I haven't had a chance to share yet (as always, click to enlarge):

This week included a snapshot of our crazy warm winter weather, a rundown of Ella's favorite school lunches, and a discussion of my Downton Abbey obsession, among other things.

2012 Photos | Week 9 | Feb 26 - Mar 3

Ella earned her orange belt this week. She is still loving karate.

Dessert plates prepared and lined up by Lucy and Claire. I love all the whisks, spatulas, and wooden spoons as eating utensils.

Claire practices her writing... in a Cinderella dress. Notice the tiara lying on the table.

Following in Claire's footsteps.

I love how the relationship between these two is really starting to blossom. Lucy has been saying Mommy, Daddy, and Ella for months, but it's only been recently that she's finally started saying "Cyaire." Since it took so long for her to learn Claire's name, it is extra sweet to hear her say it all the time now. And it's also extra sweet to see them playing and laughing together so much. One of their favorite silly things to do together is to stand on the couch, hold onto each other, fall straight down into the couch cushions, and laugh their heads off. Sometimes I postpone Lucy's nap after lunch because I just can't bear to interrupt their playtime.

I was the mystery reader in Ella's class on Dr. Suess's birthday (March 2nd), so of course I had to read The Lorax since the movie came out on the very same day.

Meet Ben (not Benjamin!), the blue betta fish. Ella wrote a persuasive letter a couple of weeks ago asking for a goldfish, and this week she came home with her "official" persuasive letter from school (it even came in a formal envelope addressed to "Mom and Dad" complete with our home address). That letter included such gems as "I think they are cute" and "please consider getting one for me," which pushed Matt and I over the edge. We finally agreed that on Saturday we would take her to buy a fish. To say she was excited would be an understatement. She could hardly sleep. She came off the bus wearing a goldfish hat that she had created during indoor recess on a rainy day. She was psyched.

Saturday found us heading out to get Ella her very first pet. The agreement was that she would use her own money to buy the fish and Matt and I would purchase the rest. There was a bit of a breakdown when the PetSmart employee informed us that a single goldfish would need at least a 5 gallon tank with a filter because goldfish produce so much waste. That was not a commitment Matt and I were quite ready to make. Ella had her heart set on a goldfish and so a few tears were shed, but she eventually pulled herself together and agreed to a betta fish. I tried to point her towards betta fish that were orange like a goldfish, but she surprised us by deciding on a blue one. She handed over her $5 bill from the tooth fairy at the cash register, and $3.99 later ($4.24 with tax), Ben was all hers!