Guest Blogger

Today I was lucky enough to have one of my projects (there are so many of them in various states around the house) featured on Make and Takes. Love the site and feel so honored to have my work seen there. A big huuuuuuuuge thank you to Marie for letting me be a part of it!

Car Wash

The boy loves a car wash. And since I park under a tree in which many birds seem to reside, I'm more than happy to oblige.

Cape Giveaway

We're giving away a superhero cape to one of our facebook fans today! You still have time to enter—so be a friend!

Lunch Time

This picture was snapped after lunch last week at one of our favorite neighborhood hangouts. Since it was spring break, it was a rare treat for all four of us to enjoy a lunch out together. Our kids are well seasoned restaurant diners. Dave attributes it to us always eating out. I say it's the atmosphere and all the people around that the kids enjoy. I do occasionally like to mix it up and serve dinner at home too. But I can't say I don't enjoy the fact that the servers at the places we frequent know who we are, what are kids like to drink and often stop to chit-chat with us. That and not having to wash all those dishes afterward.

Happy Easter

I found this essay by David Sedaris on a blog and laughed so hard it hurt (in that good kind of way). It's an Easter tale of multi-cultural and linguistic adventure. Or would it be misadventure? In any event it's hilarious and made me think of the Easter we spent in Belgium three years ago. In Belgium they do have Easter bunnies, except they weren't of the chocolate variety. They were large brioches and the ears were just as tasty.

Photographer

A year or so ago in Classic Play, I wrote about an idea I had for a playdate - a photo scavenger hunt. There's something amazing that happens when you put a camera in a kid's hands—you get their unique perspective.

I think one of the most fascinating illustrations of this was captured in the film Born Into Brothels where documentarians gave a group of children living in the red light district of Calcutta cameras, taught them how to use them, and followed their journey. The journey started with taking pictures on their neighborhood streets to some of the children showing their work in a gallery. If you haven't yet seen the movie, put it on your Netflix queue. It's a fascinating film.

Here in the US, digital cameras are as ubiquitous as cell phones (which often have their own camera) and photo editing programs are increasingly more user friendly. This all means photography as a means of self-expression has become available to an ever wider audience—including kids.

Now I'm not sure if it's having a daddy for a photographer or a natural love of capturing pictures of things they find interesting, but my two love to take pictures themselves. So today while we were waiting outside of a restaurant for a table to open up, I handed my camera to Ellie to help pass the time. Here's what she captured...






If you ask her, she'll tell you why she chose each picture and the corresponding filter. And I love that. I love the quiet confidence and I love the perspective. It's her world and she's sharing it with us. That to me, is beautiful.

A Rare Photo

Since we've had kids, Dave and I are rarely seen together in a picture. This picture is especially meaningful to me since Ellie is the one who snapped it.

Yoga

I've recently started practicing Yoga. I take a couple classes a week at the gym and while it's supposed to be grounding I find it rather challenging to do at home as I always seem to have an audience. The kids are apparently taking notes:

Be a Fan of Ellie Bellie Kids on Facebook

We created a new and improved Facebook fan page for Ellie Bellie Kids. It's more interactive and daily I'll share a link for something that has inspired us, photos of behind the scenes, ideas for you and your kids or maybe something I just think is pretty darn cool.

Also, I'll randomly select fans from time to time for free EBK gear! Now that's pretty awesome.

Sketches