Shooting a wedding
BJ| August 28, 2008 12:17 pmThis week in the Atchley home 08/18 - 08/24
Heather| August 25, 2008 11:07 pmBJ and I took wedding announcement photos for his cousin Cindy. We went to the location where they met and we were able to get some amazing shots. I had fun picking the locations and posing them while BJ set up lighting and his umbrellas. We were a really good team, and I even grabbed the camera a few times and took some awesome pictures. BJ was impressed. We have also been asked to photograph the wedding! Blake and Cindy were so pleased with the photos they found it almost impossible to pick just one. So Blake had the wonderful idea of using multiple shots for different invitations. That allowed them to use 6 shots. Here is a sample of some of the photos used.
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I did something a little out of the ordinary this week. On one of the days working for my mom I had to go to the post office to mail a 25lb box. It was 2pm and I had not eaten lunch and was starving and feeling sick. My plan had been to go get lunch after the mail, and I knew I needed to hurry back to Granny’s to a hungry little Sophia. So, I am hot, hungry, tired, in a rush and there is a long line at the post office and only one person working. Another lady was kind of coming in and out but not helping yet. This man walks in after me, clearly physically and mentally handicapped. His mouth is hanging open and he is drooling on himself. After what seems like forever I get called on by a 2nd worker that finally came out and the man gets called by the lady next to me. He is speaking through an open mouth and is almost impossible to understand. The employee is clearly not understanding him and doesn’t seem to want to try. I can sort of tell by what he had on the counter what he wants so I just butt right in and tell her what I think he wants, he acknowledges that I am correct. I had to write 2 addresses down, get his ID card to get his return address, and figure out the spelling he had someone else write on a piece of paper. I surprisingly understood his grunts and attempts at letters. (Hindsight: I realized it wasn’t luck that I understood him. I have a 2 and 1 year old at home! I can understand all sorts of random chatter and noise!) The postwoman was so thankful and I am sure a lot of frustration and stress was alleviated by my interference. I was also hoping that an example of kindness helped the others in line, that were clearly agitated at the wait, soften a little and calm down.
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So you might be thinking, “What happened to Heather’s forehead?!” I actually chose to do this to myself. I had a burst capillary on my forehead since I was a teenager that caused red splotchy mark. I remember my sister, Tiffany, teasing me that it looked like a pimple. I always covered it with makeup but I got real tired of that and couldn’t see doing that for the rest of my life. I had it lasered away but it left this nasty purple bruise. BJ told me it looked like a big mole. Other friends have teased that they wondered if I was changing cultures/religion. I’ll just be glad when the bruising goes away and I don’t have a red mark to look at!
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Sophia has started enjoying being naked, well, at least a diaper on. I will find her at our house or Granny’s suddenly without a shirt or pants or both. I am pretty much okay with it until we were at a store recently and she took her shirt off when my back was turned. I hope this unclothed phase will pass soon.
Phoebe is definitely down to only one nap a day. I am kind of sad the 2 nap a day life is over because only having one child conscious is a lot easier. However, it has allowed for me to go out more and do stuff knowing she won’t have to take a nap until later in the afternoon. Sophia, is becoming hit and miss in the nap department as well. She had 3 days in a row with no nap but it caught up with her! I am not ready for her to have no naps yet!!!! I will have to see how this progresses.
Sophia got invited to a birthday party this week and Phoebe got to tag along with us. We enjoyed making visors and playing with friends and toys. Phoebe was just happy to be there with so many other kids and new toys. This gives me more hope she will transition to nursery at Church fairly easily. Sophia got a goody bag to take home. In it were Disney Princess stampers with an ink pad. I discovered the first go around that the ink was not kid friendly and would not come off her fingers. No big deal, so I let her play with it the next day. I walk out of the room for 5 minutes and come back to this. It was on her face for almost 3 days.
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Sophia has also taken to cutting paper. She has these kid safe scissors in an art set Granny gave her. She spends lots of time just sitting there cutting the edges of the pages of her coloring books.
BJ and I got a children’s plastic table from Ikea for the girls. I got rid of her highchair at the table so she can eat, paint, color, whatever at this table and I can care less if it gets stained or scratched. Both girls have fallen in love with it and Phoebe really enjoys sitting with her big sister sharing snacks and watching her color.
Whenever Sophia has hurt herself or fallen we immediately ask her if she is okay. She will respond with either “I’m fine, “I’m okay”, or “yeah.” That has all been bypassed now. Before we even have a chance to open our mouths she is saying “I’m okay” when she gets injured or falls. We find this very sweet and funny.
She has also taken to having little conversations with herself. If we don’t say your welcome after she tells us thank you she will say it for us. Or other times she will ask questions or make comments about something and then answer with a follow up. It amazes me how much her talking and conversation skills have come along in just about 2 weeks!
Wonderful progress with potty training! Nana and Poppy recommended giving her an M&M treat every time she sat on the potty regardless of any result. She has gone in the potty more times this week than she ever has before. She even told me a couple times beforehand that she had to go. We bought our last box of diapers for her and our next trip to Costco we will be coming back with training pants!
I have a ton of Braum’s paper bags in the house. I decided to cut out some holes for Sophia’s arms and head and make her a ‘robot’. She was so thrilled with it, and I have made more paper bag robots this week than I care to think about.
In the middle of sacrament meeting Sophia, somewhat loudly, asks me to “draw boobies” on the Dora I had just sketched on her magnadoodle.
Phoebe is really trying with her vocabulary. At times she sounds like she is almost repeating things we are saying like “that” and “yes”.
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Phoebe has started a naughty little habit of pinching. She has made many small injuries to her parents’ faces and arms to pinching. She has a much stronger grip than one would think by looking at her. She also grabs her own cheeks too. Not sure what that is all about other than her cheeks are quite chunky and pinchable!
BJ had sharing time at church this week. For those of our friends not sure of what that is, it is basically a 15 minute interactive lesson to a group of about 30 kids ages 7 to 11. He has a great lesson planned on baptism. Halfway through it an older boy commented to BJ that his “older brother wanted to get baptized in a swimming pool so afterwards he could swim in his sins.” BJ almost died laughing, I think, and the sharing time was quite hard to finish because he and some other teachers couldn’t compose themselves.
The girls are really impressing me. Sophia is showing more patience with Phoebe and a willingness to interact. She actually will try and call Phoebe over to her to play with her or tell her what to play with and what to do with it. They hold hands in the car between the car seats and Sophia gets worried when Phoebe drops her blanket in the car too. I find a reason every day to smile at their blossoming relationship.
This week in the Atchley home 8/11 - 8/17
Heather| August 17, 2008 11:42 pmThe Olympics have started!!! BJ and I have been up until midnight or so every night glued to the TV to watch the competitions. I don’t think I can keep it up, but we also can’t stand not watching. I hate to say we have even been neglecting and ignoring Sophia some because we are so into it. Sophia has enjoyed watching the gymnastic with us with exclaimations of “whoa” and “wow” to the flips and flying through the air. She jumped in the air and clapped for the female divers as well.
***Alicia Sacramone got robbed on the individual vault finals!!!!!!***
I have finished at least 2 of my projects that I started the couple weeks before. I finished cleaning and re-organizing the master bathroom and finished painting and decorating Phoebe’s letters for her name board. It will be a couple months before I put the letters together with the material and board and will post pics then. Now onto finishing the master bedroom!
I went to Enrichment Night where we made a pillow, which the pattern and color happened to go wonderfully with my couches, and a tote bag, which I was unable to finish due to time. Once I finish the tote I will post a picture of it too. I have done little sewing projects in the past before, but after this week I think I want to get more serious about sewing. I went ahead and joined the sewing group in my church and can’t wait to sew more items.
Sophia LOVES ketchup and will eat it over any food she is having with it. I turned around for a few minutes to do dishes and I turn around to see she has smeared ketchup all over her face!! It was as if she was giving herself a ketchup facial. I hate that I didn’t get a picture of it because it was quite the sight!
If she loves ketchup, no surprise she loves tomatoes! I had about 15 grape tomatoes stored in one of her bowls on the counter. She comes to me in the living room with a line of tomato seeds down her shirt. I ask BJ if he gave her tomatoes for dinner. He has no idea what I am talking about and we discover what happened. She grabbed the bowl on her own and sat at the kitchen table and ate all those tomatoes one after the other. Needless to say we did not feed her anything else for dinner that night, her tummy looked so big!
Sophia got a cowgirl hat! She put it on right away and was so proud of herself. She got right on her bounce horse and jumped saying “I’m a cowgirl! Yeehaw!”
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Sophia has started a very girly habit…..twirling her hair.
Sophia hurt her finger pretty bad this week. She stuck her finger in a hole in BJ’s weight bench. I couldn’t get it out so I desperately called BJ in to help. With a lot of pulling he got it out. However, the INSIDE of the hole is rough and it pulled skin off in a pattern that makes it look as though she were bit on her finger. She freaks out if she doesn’t have a Dora band aid on her finger, but it also doesn’t allow her skin to breath and therefore not to scab over. We have had quite the band aid battle in our house this week.
Sophia has been obsessed with Blue’s Clues the last several weeks. Sophia has started to talk like Blue and will walk around the house going “bowbabow.” Silly, silly girl.
Wow, a lot about Sophia this week. What can I say about Phoebe? She is small, cute, and fun to kiss on! By observing the girls and their interactions we have come to the conclusion (the small fights and stealing toys aside) that Phoebe enjoys Sophia’s presence and friendship more than Sophia does right now. I know once Phoebe can talk more and have more structured play things will only get better for these sisters.
I managed to get Phoebe’s hair in pigtails! She was so adorable. She surprisingly didn’t seem irritated by them either. I can’t wait for her hair to get longer and do even more pigtails, but there sure is something sweet about tiny, 1 inch piggies!
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Phoebe has really taken to copying her big sister. Noises, gestures, things she does with her toys, etc. At times it is very sweet and endearing, and other times just darn annoying. It has really nailed into my mind what an example an older sibling is and needs to be to younger siblings. Now I just have to be sure Sophia does what is right.
Old Haircut, New Haircut
BJ| August 16, 2008 1:59 pmOld Haircut
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New Haircut
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The last 2 weeks in the Atchley Home 7/28 - 8/10
Heather| August 11, 2008 10:48 pmAs BJ said I have been very busy. Been working hard at my mom’s since she is (mostly) out of commission due to surgery. She is doing better and when she is in the office I realize 2 are definitely better than 1 for the job! I have also started to rearrange things in the master bedroom and organizing things better. I also put up new curtains and the room is coming together nicely, but I still have lots of work to do. Spring cleaning the master bath, re-organizing, and packing away old baby clothes. I have also been working on Phoebe’s wooden name board. I love crafts and really liked the idea of having decorative name boards for the girls. Phoebe’s is not quite done yet but I can’t wait to post a picture of it. I feel like I have started all these projects and have only accomplished half the work. I had done a 1 year hand print and photo frame for Phoebe these past 2 weeks as well, but that actually got finished. It has also been on my mind to finally paint the hallway too. I just can’t seem to sit still. Plus we had birthday week and we hosted the party at our house. We celebrated BJ’s 29th, Michael’s 19th, Cindy’s 29th, Jeff and Sherry’s 3rd anniversary of turning 25! Lot o’ birthdays!! I am not like my other wonderful family and friends by posting a sweet birthday note to my hubby. I am lucky to get this post done right now! BJ knows I love him and will take care of him in his old age! ;P
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As BJ mentioned in another post he went to OK this past weekend. I was tempted to go but didn’t want to put the girls out too much. However, I felt like I was going to lose my mind this weekend dealing with the girls fighting and almost constant care and attention. Add a little exhaustion and I was VERY ready for him to come home.
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What Phoebe has been up to:
She has become such a copycat. Any noise or sound (or screech) that she can mimic she will. Some of it is really cute and some of it definitely not so much. She has added “wow”, “whoah”, “no”, “ball” and “oh” to her vocabulary and uses them almost constantly throughout the day. She has also increased the amount of pointing she does and points at almost everything and exclaims her new words in the process.
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Phoebe has developed a temper and attitude as well. It used to be if we heard Phoebe crying or fussing it was because Sophia did something to her. Now it is due to her not getting what she wants, not getting where she wants to go, Sophia taking a toy, or not playing with her, etc etc etc. Or if she wants something or wants somewhere she will scream and yell at us. We know exactly what she wants but apparently we don’t move fast enough! And obviously she has no other way to tell us what she wants, so yelling it is.
She is such a confident walker now and has tried to start running when she gets really excited.
Still only 2 teeth, but it doesn’t stop her from eating anything she wants.
Latest compliments from strangers besides her beautiful eyes is that she looks like the Gerber baby. We sure think so.
Phoebe has never hung out with us in our bed before. One morning was really rainy. The girls woke up around the same time (which rarely happens) so we piled into bed with blankies and sippy cups and watched morning cartoons for a bit from our comfy, warm bed. As you can see the girls enjoyed themselves very much, and Phoebe even looks like she still wants to sleep.
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What Sophia has been up to:
She has started this thing when she wants to identify something. She waves her arm in a circle and repeats “It’s, it’s, it’s it’s…..” and then I have to help. She has also started asking me “What’s next?”
Sophia again identifies mommy as a girl, daddy as a boy, and then BJ asks Sophia if she is a girl. She assuredly says “No.” BJ, shocked, then asks her what she is. She exclaims “I’m a cowgirl!”
I went shopping at Target one evening and come home with several bags. Sophia starts tearing into them saying each time “What’s this?!” Getting tired of that I quickly pull out the new shirt and shorts I found on the clearance rack (the shorts were 98 cents!) and tell her she can have them. She grabs them up in her arms, hugs them, and says “Oh! I love it!” Then immediately has to wear the new outfit. Her ‘before’ hair picture is of her in the new clothes.
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Nursery was missing the chorister for singing time one Sunday. Sophia started singing in the middle of doing her coloring activity and some of the other kids joined in. She then led the rest of ’singing time’ by picking the songs they would sing and singing the loudest.
Yep, we took her to get her hair cut. Don’t worry, her bangs weren’t touched, they clearly don’t need it. We wanted to even her hair out and get rid of the tangly, thin hair in the back. We were nervous about her first ‘major’ haircut and didn’t want to lose the curls, but it turned out very well and we can still do ponytails and pigtails. She looks a little more grown up too.
Sophia was jumping on her trampoline with Daddy watching when BJ comes in and tells me I have to come out and listen to what “my daughter” is singing. I go out and am greeted by the funniest thing. She is singing another random song that I sometimes sing around the house but that she has never repeated before. It is an Avril Lavigne song and she is jumping up and down singing “hey hey you you I don’t likeurgirlfiend no way no way.”
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Another wonderful Friday. We went to the Wiggly Play Center and met daddy for lunch where a little boy hit her a couple times within 10 minutes of being there thus crushing any excitement she had gained from being there. With lot’s of hugs from mama and reassurance she warmed up to the place. Phoebe had a blast and loved every minute of it. We ended the day with swimming where Sophia was just as independent as before with swimming by herself.
Trip to Oklahoma
BJ| 10:39 amI went to Jo Ellen’s reception and took some photos for them. Normally I would just leave them in the gallery but everyone who reads our blog knows who she is anyway. Here are some highlights and a hibiscus picture just for Adrian.
Portraits were taken with sb-600 and shoot through umbrella at camera left. Hibiscus pic was taken with Spencer hand holding the shoot through and flash high camera right.
Post processing was done in Adobe Lightroom, D2X Mode 2 color for all pics, then ran through noise ninja in PS CS3 and then sharpened with softlight high pass and converted to sRGB.
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King Triton does not approve of how we treat our kids
BJ| August 8, 2008 9:37 pmYou see, our children like being held upside down. They whine for it constantly. Nana decided to oblige, but king triton was shocked… SHOCKED that we would do such a thing.
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Heather is Late
BJ| August 7, 2008 11:53 amI just realized she hadn’t done the weekly post yet. She’s been busy though. With birthday weekend, dermatology appointments for our daughter, husband going to the dentist, church stuff, and her mother out of commission due to knee surgery, she has been quite busy. I really appreciate her.
I got a flash for my camera and have some lighting equipment coming in this week. I’ll get to try it all out at Jo Ellen’s reception.
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