Tag Archives: pictures

Life, Monthly List, Parenting, Photo Journal

21 Month Photo Session + Happy 8th Anniversary to Us!

08/17/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

I interrupt the expected continued stories of our Colorado vacation to say Happy 8th Wedding Anniversary to my wife, Kelley aka Going Mom! Note: the font color is the official html code for Bronze, the traditional 8 year wedding anniversary material.

We don’t have anything special planned for the day. After just getting back from our family trip and frantically trying to restore order back home by grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, getting new smartphones (Wow, the Samsung Galaxy S6 is cool!), and picking up our neighbor’s cool play house with swing set, I don’t know how we’d fit anything in anyway.

Don’t worry, we have a fun camping trip planned for October with just the two of us while G-Ma stays at our house with Avery. I still need to get sleeping bags and several other camping essentials first. Any pointers/suggestions?

Oh yeah, and we had to make sure a get 21 month pics of Avery on the 15th to carry on tradition. Same chair, same bear, and same, but constantly changing/growing, little girl.

Just wake me when you're done. — Just wake me when you’re done.

My belly? Of course I know where it is.... — My belly? Of course I know where it is….

See? It's right here! — See? It’s right here!

Oh, I know what you just did, good trick. Well, here you go, you win a smile from me!

We only have so much time before she just gets irritated that we’re making her sit in the chair. We consider it a win if we get one smiling pic, so, YAY! #Winning

Although we have a future anniversary celebration trip planned, I always have to find something traditional to give. Since bronze is the traditional material for 8 years, I found a really cool compass which fits in perfectly for our first of many camping trips together.

On the outside of the box, I made a quote saying:

No matter where life takes us,

may we always go together.

I didn’t get it from somewhere else, otherwise I’d give credit where credit is due, so please let me know if it’s been used before. I also gave a 30 pound kettlebell. It’s not bronze, but she’s been wanting something heavier than the 25 pound she currently uses. Plus I left a cool handmade note I put together with glue and construction paper; go me!

Aside from the personal note on the homemade card, I wrote a quick poem in true corny dad/husband style..

7 is done, wasn’t it fun?

Now we’re at 8, ain’t that great?

Next up is 9, I’m so glad you’re mine!

And then shared 8 (because 8 years, duh) quotes about marriage I felt were appropriate.

·       Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight. ~Phyllis Diller, Phyllis Diller’s Housekeeping Hints, 1966

·       It’s so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life. ~Rita Rudner

·       A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. ~Mignon McLaughlin

·       True love stories never have endings. ~Richard Bach

·       We’re all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness – and call it love – true love. ~Robert Fulghum, True Love

·       A happy marriage is a long conversation that always seems too short. ~Andre Maurois

·       We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person. ~W. Somerset Maugham

·       More marriages might survive if the partners realized that sometimes the better comes after the worse. ~Doug Larson

That’s about it for today. I’ll get back to sharing our trip soon, but I have a play house I need to figure out how to get level in our slanted back yard first. I’m open to your thoughts. Oh yeah, and I haven’t forgotten about my monthly memories post, but still need to find 21 things…hmmmm.

Do you enjoy keeping with traditional items for wedding anniversaries?

Any cool anniversary gifts of your own you’d like share?

Life, Parenting, Photo Journal

Daddy-Daughter Photo Book: Birth to 19 Months

06/24/2015 R.C. Liley 4 Comments

For my first Father’s Day, Going Mom made a Dad and Avery photo book that means the world to me. It’s not just something anyone can buy, and she put some obvious love and quality time into making it.

This year, for my second Father’s Day, she slipped the book from it’s spot on our bookshelf (or tried, because I noticed it was missing) to add to it with more daddy-daughter photos. In my last post, Kelley was in the process of putting it together as I wrote (all hail nap time!), and after seeing the final product, my heart turned from mush to pure liquid. Kinda sounds bad, but trust me, it’s a good kind of mush-to-liquid.

I love it so much and every time I flip through the pages beginning from the first day Avery was born to just a few weeks ago, I am still amazed at how much she has already grown. I figured I’d share the entire book in a post for everyone to appreciate Kelley’s lovely crafting skills and pictures we will hold dear for eternity.

I’d like to note, the pictures of me wearing Avery in a Baby Bjorn are before we learned of the dangers of wearing babies in “crotch danglers” for impeding their hip development among other issues. Plus, having them face outward is also not the best. Not judging, I’ve obviously been there too, but I stopped right after learning of this and hope any babywearing parents will consider the same.

Okay, I’m done with the thought of the day. I can’t express my gratitude to Kelley enough for making this book of memories, and wish I was at least a quarter as crafty as her so I could do the same. Makes my photo coffee mug I got her pale in comparison.

I’ve said it already, but THANK YOU, Kelley, for being such an amazing wife/mother and for the best gift ever. Oh, and the beer of the month club is just stevia sweetened icing on our homemade chocolate cake! 🙂

Do you love sentimental gifts like these or prefer getting gifts from retail stores instead?

What would be your favorite personalized gift to receive? A photo book, jewelry, framed picture, kitchenware, etc.?

Life, Parenting, Photo Journal

Midyear Photo Timeline & An Apology to My Neighbors

06/10/2015 R.C. Liley 4 Comments

Can you believe half of 2015 is already over? Where does the time go? I know everyone asks this as a rhetorical question, but I’d seriously like some answers! And, if possible, maybe how to get some of that time back…….even if we don’t have a flux capacitor, or DeLorean.

Speaking of time travel, I would start by going back to when I wrote my post from yesterday. Yeah, I’m an ~~idiot~~ ~~dummy~~ supreme asshole for referring to something about many of my kind and undeserving neighbors. I have since removed it and there’s no need to bring it up again, but just know I’m basically king asshole in asshole land and wish I could take it all back.

It only took one of my neighbors to call me out about it and as I reread the post, I developed that dreaded lump in the throat feeling of major shame. And my wife is on their side, she let me know how much of an ass I am too. Sometimes, we need others to let us know when we’ve done wrong, and this is one of those times for me.

So, to all of my neighbors, I truly and deeply am sorry for my words and ask that you please forgive me. I love our close-knit community and would hate to be shunned from hanging out with you. I’ll say it again, I am sorry and if there anything I can do to make it up to you, please tell me. Even if it’s some sort of public humiliation, I’ll do it…….to an extent. Hell, I bet Kelley would even bring the camera to post it all over social media. Whatever it takes, I just want to keep our friends!

I can’t shake this guilty conscience and it’s weighing heavy on my mind. Times like these I find solace in looking at the countless pictures of Avery from the past to present. I started wayyyy back to a year ago, but it’s crazy how much she’s changed since just the beginning of 2015.

Yeah yeah, kids grow, blah blah, I know, but it never ceases to amaze me just how much and how fast. So I went through each month of 2015 thus far and found a pic to share. Enjoy!

600 photos from January and I wanted to post them all, so I just pointed my mouse on one and clicked.

Only a little over 400 pics this month, but figured I’d keep with the chair theme.

No chair this time, but we did go back up to 500+ pictures. Her curls are starting to appear this month.

We put my childhood boots on her and caught a few good pics. We need to do this again soon. 470 pics this month.

We really slacked last month with only 315 pics. Geez, are we bad parents or what?

Only 61 pics so far, but we have plenty of days left in the month. Her eyes are so beautiful and they just really stand out here.

I can’t imagine what another 6 months will do for her growth, but I’m not rushing anything. Of course, it would be nice if she’d just tell us when she poops!

One more time. Neighbors, I apologize and hope you’ll still greet me with a smile and wave when we see each other. Please, if anything, let me know how to earn your forgiveness.

Have you ever said something you immediately wished you could take back? How did you handle it if so?

Do you look back at pictures month-by-month to see how much your little one or ones has grown?