mommyapolis

I know that packing a lunch can cause a bit of an eye roll for most moms out there… I also know that school lunches can cause an even bigger eye bulge.  Here is snapshot of a website a friend shared with me that might help!  There is a link on the site to “lunch ideas” that is fabulous.  It shows pictures of creative & healthy alternatives for packed lunches…  There are all sorts of fun links on this site, check it out! www.easylunchboxes.com

As you may or may not know, my husband is a professional photographer (as a side gig)…  I take care of much of the administrative side of booking his shoots etc…  I have noticed that a lot of people are trying to squeeze in family photos, senior photos, photos of their children, etc.. all before school starts and time becomes thin… All before they forget and get taken away by the craziness of fall…  All so they make sure they have their picture taken before it’s time to order holiday cards…  Even with a photographer in the family, we feel these same stresses.  We have very few family pictures together because my hubby is always behind the camera.  We don’t even really have that many pictures of our kids because, to be honest, we forget the camera most times!  Well, this past week we had an “impromptu” photo shoot… So impromptu in fact that our boys are wearing their grubbies…  I guess it just goes to show, it’s not about what you are wearing (which I do get asked all the time, what should we wear???) it’s really about catching a glimpse into our hearts… I love these pictures because they capture the essence of who my boys are… You can see their JOY ring out… That is, in my opinion, what makes a picture OUTSTANDING… Being able to see your true selves in them…

Photos by Ben Dodds

www.bendodds.com

The family and I were headed to the lake one morning when off in the distance we could see this ball of various colors floating slowly upwards in the sky…  My boys immediately asked, WHAT IS THAT?  We told them that it was a HOT AIR BALLOON and they were utterly confused… My husband, being the spontaneous man that he is, decided to take a detour and headed straight for the balloon which was popping in and out of our vision.  We finally caught up to the vessel as the suspense in the car thickened…  Much to our surprise we were able to talk with one of the owners who was following the balloon as it prepared to land.  My photog hubby snapped some awesome pics of the balloon and we got to see it descend right in front of us, pretty cool… As you can imagine, two small boys found this AMAZING so we decided to make our own H.A.B at home…  Here you go…

For the Balloon you will need;  1 inch squares of tissue paper, white construction paper, spray bottle with water, string or ribbon, black construction paper, white crayon

DIRECTIONS

1.  Cut out a balloon shape from white construction paper

2.  Cut out 1 inch squares of various colors of tissue paper…

3.  Have the artist (my 3 & 4 year olds) place the squares of tissue on top of the construction paper trying to cover all of the white… It’s OK if the tissue paper overlaps.

4.  Fill a spray bottle with water…  Have the artist spray the tissue paper/construction paper with the squirter..  THIS WAS FUN!  Try to have them hold the bottle 6 or more inches from the tissue so that the tissue doesn’t slide around on you…

5.  Let the tissue dry and then it will just fall right off and you will have a beautiful balloon (I think butterflies, flowers etc.. would be fun to do this way, as well)

6.  Cut out a “basket” and decorate it as you see fit… The balloon was the fun part for us so I just let them do what ever with the basket.  I added ribbon and now they hang proudly on our wall of art!