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A Bee’s-Eye View | Part 5: Love/Hate

Posted on January 31, 2010

Well, we’re in the home stretch. Swim season is almost over, and life will soon return to something resembling normal. The season is long, and takes up a lot of our time. But I still love it, and I’m so glad my kids are involved with such a great team. And as things wind down, I’ve been thinking about my love-hate relationship with swimming…

Love/Hate

I love our team.
I love our coaches.
I hate that our head coach is retiring this year.
I love the assistant coach who will be taking her place.
I love our other assistant, with his passion and enthusiasm.

I love the start of a new season.
I love seeing all of the old familiar faces again, and getting to chat and catch up on their lives.
I hate that it’s approximately 500 degrees in the bleacher area.
I love seeing the returning swimmers, and seeing how much they have grown.
I love seeing the new faces.
I hate trying to learn all of their names.

I love the predictable routine of the swim season.
I hate driving kids to the pool five days a week.
I love watching my boys practice.
I hate it when they don’t put in as much effort as I know they are capable of.
I love it when one of them finally figures out something that they have been struggling with.
I hate the fact that it doesn’t happen often enough.

I love the first meet of the season.
I love watching everyone getting used to competing again.
I love the pride they have in their team.
I love the way they all cheer for each other.
I hate that meets last forever.

I love cheering for my kids.
I love cheering for everyone else’s kids.
I love screaming so loud that I’m almost hoarse.
I love close races.
I hate it when our swimmer gets out-touched at the wall.

I love watching someone make states.
I love the joy on their face, and the pride on their parents’ faces.
I hate knowing that it’s going to be a long damn time before I ever get to experience that with my boys.
If ever.

I love the yellow personal best ribbons.
I love watching the improvement in their times.
I hate trying to figure out what to do with them all.

I love our annual banquet.
I love “Constant Motion” and “Peanut” and all of the other awards.
I love hearing all of the stats.
I love watching the DVD.
I hate that it means that everything is coming to a close.

I love that swim season is almost over.
I hate that swim season is almost over.

I love our team.

Mom 2.0

Posted on January 29, 2010

I saw this video posted on Facebook yesterday, and it really spoke to me. It expresses exactly how I feel as a mother. Especially this:

“…nurturing the good in this world is nothing short of a privilege.”

Yes, yes it is.

So now I will share this with all of you. All of my friends who are mothers, all of my mothers who are friends , and everyone who knows that motherhood is the best there is. Especially my friend Jen, who welcomed her first little baby into this world on Wednesday, and will soon get to discover how wonderful it all is.

(It also doesn’t hurt that the photography in this video is gorgeous!)

A Bee’s-Eye View | Part 4: Simple Pleasures

Posted on January 24, 2010

Today I really wanted to get the boys outside to play. We were all sick last weekend, then we had a busy week of school and activities, and yesterday we spent five hours in a car and a few more at a swim meet. Today was a day for them to just relax and be kids. After letting them hang out with the tv and their iPods this morning, I made them go outside after lunch. I had a bunch of work to do, so I was hoping for some uninterrupted peace and quiet. It was a perfect day for them to be out, too. Sunny, and warm enough to be out for a while without getting cold, but still cold enough to bundle up. Even so, I was skeptical that they would stay out very long. They have a tendancy to get bored easily, especially if their neighbor friend isn’t home (which she wasn’t). Usually they go out for ten minutes and then start fighting and asking me to come back in. So when I heard the door open a few minutes after they went out, I prepared myself for a battle. But it was just Grant, asking me if we had any sleds. We don’t. The boys have never really been into sledding. Grant had a semi-traumatic experience on a sled when he was a toddler, and the subject of sledding just really hasn’t come up since then. So there we were, sledless. And then I did what any cool mom would do – I gave him two of my baking sheets.

And they worked! They made perfect sleds for the little “hill” in the neighbor’s back yard (really just a small incline, but you take what you can get I guess). And the boys stayed out there for almost two hours! They had fun and I got my work done – a perfect afternoon. Who needs those expensive, high-tech sleds? Snow, boys, a little hill, and some baking sheets – the simple things in life are the best.

(This first picture is my official picture for the week, but I just had to share some others as well.)

A Bee’s-Eye View | Part 3: My Sweethearts

Posted on January 18, 2010

This week’s picture is a day late, and not at all what I had intended to show. This weekend a nasty stomach bug invaded our house, and the only one spared was Griffin. This picture is a tribute to my boys, who were such little sweeties and helped me get through this miserable weekend. Even when Grant was sick himself, he was asking me what he could do for me. And Griffin was there for all of us, helping in any way he could. (My husband was a big help too, and I would have liked to have had him in this shot, but he’s not much for being photographed.)

We are finally all feeling better, and this week’s theme is my sweethearts…

A Bee’s-Eye View | Part 2: Music

Posted on January 10, 2010

This thing finally has a name! My new photo project’s official title is… (drum roll please)

A Bee’s-Eye View: a thematic photo essay in fifty-two parts

But we’ll just stick with Bee’s-Eye View for short.

One of the theme suggestions that I have received is music. Well, around here the subject of music means just one thing: Griffin.

Griffin loves music. It’s in his heart and in his soul. He plays the piano (and challenges his teacher to keep up with his progress), has a nice guitar that he fools around with and would like to learn to play, and occasionally breaks out the harmonica. He has composed his own music on the piano (I need to get him to write it all down for me). When he’s upset he’ll go to the piano and bang out some mad-sounding music. He’s trying to learn the Raiders of the Lost Ark theme song by ear. He’s a classic rock fan and loves anything with a good beat. He sings in the Children’s Choir in church, and loves to listen to the organ (our organist should watch his back – Griffin wants his job). Basically, if it has anything to do with music, you’ll find Griffin in the middle of it.

Here’s our little one-man band in action…

The Project Without a Name – Week One

Posted on January 3, 2010

I posted about my new photo project a couple of days ago. In case you missed it, this year I am attempting a slightly less abitious project than the 365. Instead of a daily photo, I will be doing a weekly one. Each week’s photo will involve a theme of some sort. I have requested that everyone I know (and even those people I don’t know) submit at least one theme for me to work with this year. After all, I’ll need fifty-two of them!

I’m also still looking for a name for this project. You can submit ideas for that as well. “Project 52″ has already been considered and dismissed. I have a couple other ideas kicking around in my head, but no perfect name has come to me yet.

I’ve spent the past few days trying to come up with an idea for this week’s theme. During that time, I have cleaned an excessive amount of leftovers out of my refrigerator; stepped over, around, and on an excessive number of new toys that have been left around our house by little boys; and removed an excessive amount of snow from my car.

Hmmmmm…I think there’s a theme in there somewhere.

So, in honor of the two feet or so of snow that we have received over the past couple of days, as well as the excessive nature of the holidays in general, I present you with Week One of the Project Without a Name…

Excess

This is my “Serenity Garden” area of our back yard. You can see that the snow has taken over my bench, a good bit of my magnolia tree, and is threatening my bird feeder. Not that I can get out there to fill it anyway!

Is it spring yet??

The Gift Registry is Here!!

Posted on January 3, 2010

I’ve had several people ask for one, and it’s finally here! The Jen Marriner Photography Gift Registry is the perfect way to let your family and friends know what you really want – beautiful portraits! It’s great for baby showers, birthdays, and holiday wish lists.

How does it work? It’s easy…

1) Contact me and let me know that you would like to set up a gift registry.
2) I’ll give you a set of simple, tasteful gift registry cards that you can hand out or put in your shower invitations (see sample below).
3) Your friends and family contact me to purchase gift certificates or registry credits in any amount.

That’s it! And the gift-giving couldn’t be any easier for your guests. When they contact me they will be able to choose how they would like to deliver their gift. I can provide them with a gift certificate that they can bring to your shower or party. If they will not be able to attend your event, I can mail your gift certificate directly to you on their behalf. Or if they would like a “greener” option, they can purchase a registry credit instead. Credits work just like gift certificates, but without the paper. Once a credit is purchased, I will send an email to you letting you know how much has been added to your account.

Let me know if you have any questions on the new gift registry. And contact me right away if you would like to set one up!

We have a little bit of snow today…

Posted on January 2, 2010

And it’s at times like these that I’m thankful for the traditional division of labor that Vance and I have. I take care of the inside of the house, he deals with the outside.

And in case you were wondering – yes, it’s still coming down.

My hubby

Posted on January 2, 2010

It’s a rare day when I’m allowed to point my camera in his direction. And rarer still when he allows me to share a picture. Actually, I hadn’t really gotten permission to take this one. He was wrestling around with the boys, and I snapped away. Despite the strange crop (a result of him trying to avoid the camera), I really like this picture. I think it’s the gleam in his eye.

Project…52??

Posted on January 1, 2010

Happy New Year all!

As I mentioned yesterday, I am not going to be doing the Project 365 thing again this year. It was just too much of a time committment last year, and too many times I looked at the clock, saw that it was after 11:00pm, realized that I hadn’t yet taken a picture for the day, and scrambled to see what I could find. It was just too stressful. So this year I’ve decided to try something a little different, and hopefully a whole lot more fun.

My plan is to do a weekly picture instead of a daily one. The picture will be posted each Sunday. And the subject of the pictures will be…

Well, that’s where you come in. I would like all of my friends, family members, clients, and blog readers to contribute at least one (but preferably several) ideas for photos. These ideas don’t have to be really specific (things like “Griffin underwater wearing a tutu while playing the drums” is not exactly what I’m going for). I’m looking for more general ideas. Things I can play with in my head, and maybe interpret a little differently than you had expected. You can suggest a setting (like Beaver Lake), an object (like a chair), a concept (sadness), or anything else you can think of. Get crazy! I may not be able to do all of your suggestions, but I will certainly try! And to get me through the year, I need 52 of these ideas. And I need at least a few of them soon, because my first photo will be posted this Sunday. That means I have only two days to complete my first assignment. So get crackin’ on those ideas! You can leave them in comments on this post, or you can email them to me.

One other thing – I need a name for this project! “Project 52″ just doesn’t do it for me. So as long as you have those thinking caps on, please give some thought to a fun, creative name for this whole thing. Thanks!