As You Wish

Since taking so many portrait shots for my photography class, it has become increasingly more important to me to have some record of my adorable parents.

Since my youngest brother, Grant, was born ten years ago, my mom hasn't agreed to pose for photos.

Which is silly, because she is gorgeous.

My dad approached me and asked if I would do a couple shoot for the two of them, because he really wanted photos to capture their relationship.

Which was incredibly sweet.

Thus began the project of convincing Mom.

However, in the end I put on the famous Rachel "game face" and steam rolled her with having everything set up and arranged in advance.  

I find it best to just be bossy with her sometimes.

It turned out beautifully.

She and Dad were their silly, flirty selves, and Mom really seemed to relax when I spoke to her about the poses I had in mind for the two of them.

The trick was looking back at photos of the pair that Mom liked from when they were first married.

I loved this project--it was my favorite kind: a challenge to capture people's personalties, digging through road blocks and arriving at a natural, genuine, and successful finish.  

Story: this past Christmas, my dad surprised my mom with different monster finger puppets.

They were like a silly advent calendar.

Since Christmas, the puppets have accompanied my Dad into surgery, made their way all around the house with love notes and small conquests on neighboring knick knacks, and have even been stuffed down vases when the love birds got into an argument.

I really wanted to remember this time with my parents, when all of our relationships with one another are at their very strongest.  

Fairy Door at the Bottom of the Stairs

This, I realized, will most likely be my penultimate Christmas at home, and I wanted to engage my family in some sort of fun game or tradition that would draw us close together.

So, three nights ago, a little door appeared on the side of our stair case with a note left from our newest Neighbor, "Mr. E."  

We have now corresponded with Mr. E three times and have found him to be a grumpy, crotchety, yet nice little fellow, whom Grant, after considerable internet research, has decided must be a fairy.  

His letters always arrive on his door mat in tiny scrolls tied with ribbon, and Grant has been replying on post-it notes.  

After the rather harassed response we received from Mr. E this morning, Grant had decided to give him a day or two to cool off before pestering him with anymore questions, and has also resolved not to knock on the side of the stairs or attempt to prize his little door from the wall again.  

If you want to try this yourself, simply search for dollhouse supplies on amazon, and paint them any color you like.  

Two More and Out the Door

My little brother, Fletcher, is turning 16 next week.  

As usual, my gifts are artistic favors. 

This year I made him a hip invite that is totally reflective of his noisy retro style.  

A Green Guest

 This evening my parents called us away from The Rescuers Down Under to show us the little hummingbird who was trapped and fluttering frantically in our garage.  We opened both doors, but Mom finally had to climb up and save him.  She brought him inside to feed him some sugar water so that he wouldn't go back out exhausted.  

I love his green coloring.  

All Out Of

All Out Of

Grabbed this pad for my mom's birthday earlier this month along with the Pocket Posh notebooks.  Such a great gift for a mom, this pad has a magnet on the back so you can keep it on the fridge and mark off depleted items as you go through the week.  

The company makes all sorts of snarky notepads and stickies.

See more here. 

Hostage!

As is our wont, we forgot things at Aunt Marion's.  

My mother received this disturbing ransom note and hostage photo this evening:

If you ever want to see your little friend again, you will assemble Rachel's pictures on a disc and send it to me.  Otherwise Perry gets cement shoes and sleeps with the fishes.  

Marion

♣

That's definitely a fake tattoo and cash stuffed into my youngest cousin's chest-baring blazer.
I love my family.

Peach Pit Stop

In South Carolina we stopped at Abbott Farm's Stand to pick up some fireworks and peaches.

I was so happy that we were buying local, and the peaches were great!

These were super-duper long sparklers, which are some of my favorites.

Snap n' Poppers are a Siegfried Specialty.

The gentleman selling us fireworks was such a nice guy.  He threw in a free pack of rockets when we bought a jumbo pack, and offered plenty of advice.  

"No, you won't like those.  They just shoot in the air, no color or nothing.  You'd like these better, they spark and make noise."

The boys were thrilled.

I really wanted to grab some colored smoke bombs, they would have made some awesome photos.

This one made me laugh.

Mom treated us to fancy drinks.  I grabbed orange cream soda, Fletcher got Abbott Farms Peach and Grant drank Diet Cheerwine.  We each got a different flavor so that we could sample each other's. 

They were all delicious.

Final Evening in PA

Gifts to take home.

These dill caterpillars started out a week ago the length of my fingernail.  Now look at them!

Sweet onion and three cheese pizza.  (Goat, bleu, and something else.)

I finally got to try these! I sampled the grapefruit, citrus and blackberry.

Aunt Marion with new cousin Connor.

A Green Meal

Edamame w/ginger, lime and soy sauce

Cucumber Salad w/oninons

Goyza Dumplings

Snowball 

Trader Joe's Chocolate Ganache Torte.  We tried to hide it from the kids behind my laptop.  Our attempts were futile.

My mom had a migraine, so Aunt Marion carved a special message in the cake just for her.

Snowball always finds the nearest air vent and sits on it.

Fireworks in the driveway.  We ladies hung back at a reasonable distance and watched them burn themselves.

Morning's Pick of Elderberries

Yesterday morning was spent with grandmother visiting to help us pull elderberries from the stems.  Everyone's hands were stained purple.

I caught snowball nibbling thread from the craft closet.  

Pretty potatoes fresh picked from the garden.

Later that day we went to my cousin Amanda's play for drama camp: Free to Be You and Me.  A sweet show.