May is my favorite month of all, so this was a fun day to capture. Head over to No Monsters in My Bed and Not-So-SAHM to see what their days were like!




8:00 AM: Morning play dough and coffee.




8:30 AM: "Take a picture of my outfit, Mom. It's an ENSEMBLE." (Thanks Fancy Nancy.)



9:30 AM: Part of my mother's day present from Anouk: a wind chime made at school and watermelon plants for our garden (how apropos)



11:00 AM: Playdate at friend M.'s house! The moms work on various sewing projects and the kids practice yoga?




1:30 PM: A. and I spend so much of our time fighting over our new hammock. Today she won.




2:00 PM: After lunch snack.



3:30 PM: My mom watches Anouk while I take Hank cat to the vet. He does NOT like shots.



5:00 PM: The best part about doing laundry: finding the random things Anouk has stashed in the pockets.



7:00 PM: family walk/bike ride before bed. Don't you wish you had someone to carry you across the street?



7:15 PM: 97% of the dandelions in the neighborhood are directly the result of Anouk. Sorry, neighbors.

My amazingly talented photographer friend George told me a while ago that he was starting work on a super-exciting project and now it's done! And it's awesome, AND for a good cause, so even though it is not exactly standard WTWG fare, I really wanted to share. The Virginia Beach Lifesaving Service has recently released their 2015 Sons of Summer calendar calendar, featuring Virginia Beach lifeguards off duty and looking pretty amazing themselves.

A portion of the proceeds of each calendar go to benefit the Virginia Beach Lifeguard Association, a nonprofit that works to prevent drownings and promote beach safety, a mission I think all parents can support. Now that I have Anne, I find myself even more grateful for the lifeguards who watch over us when we're at the beach, and glad they're trained to help us if we need it. Besides the lifeguards, the calendar features water safety tips, history of the VBLS, and beautiful Virginia Beach scenery, some of the best.


The Sons of Summer calendar is a great souvenir to take home if you're visiting the area or a fun gift for local friends. You can buy your copy at the Old Coast Guard Station (they have a fab story time, btw) or online here.

Read more about VBLS here, and see more of George's work here. He was also on the news talking about the project last week. You did great, George!

I've never hidden the fact that our little family love love loved going to the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk together (you can see some of our previous outings here, here, and here). The day it closed its doors in 2012 was a sad one. (Just so you can get a scale of things, that photo up top was taken only a few months before the museum closed! Look how small Anoukie was! There's nothing like a baby growing up to help you mark time).

Well, after a lot of work by a lot of dedicated people, the Chrysler Museum is set to reopen in May even bigger and better than before and we can't wait. For the Friday Five today, I thought I'd let you all know the main reasons why we're so excited about the new Chrysler Museum.

1. There's going to be a giant inflatable rubber duck floating in the Hague. Seriously: giant. The 40-foot (yacht-sized) sculpture by Florentijn Hofman will be bobbing through downtown Norfolk from  May 17 to 26 to celebrate the Chrysler's reopening.

2. There will be an extended sculpture garden outside the museum, featuring some pretty amazing geometric mirrored sculptures by Danish artist Jeppe Hein. I know we parents are always looking for an outdoor space where our kids can run free and still reap some cultural benefits, and this looks like just the spot.

3. One of the exhibits we have to look forward to when the museum reopens is Worn to Be Wild, a history of the leather jacket that shows this quintessentially American item of clothing's "journey from function to freedom to fashion." The exhibit, which is on loan from the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, will open in October and I can't wait.

4. As an amateur photographer and longtime lover of all things photography (the smell of a good old film darkroom is still one of my all time faves), I'm really looking forward to the Frank Photography Galleries, which will document the various forms of photography across two centuries. It promises some pretty amazing history and good looks at old-fashioned photo equiment and techniques.

5. In honor of the re-opening, the Chrysler is offering a new membership level, according to AltDaily.com: the $40 young professional membership. This will get you into some exclusive events at the museum and its glass studio AND the members-only reopening party.

...so are you excited yet? Let us know how much in the comments.

P.S.: This week I wrote a guest post for MyActiveChild.com about the Hermitage Museum's Stories and Songs program. I also started pinning to the HRVA Bloggers Pinterest account -- check it out to find posts by some of the area's best bloggers all in one place! Finally, stop by the Friday link party at Virginia Bloggers to leave yours!

Happy weekend!

You might have noticed that last month's 12 in 12 didn't happen -- I was busy being a bridesmaid in my friend K.'s wedding and felt like I had enough to concentrate on without adding a blog project into it. This month we're glad to be back! Last Tuesday the 12th was a pretty ordinary day for us meaning: lots of painting, potty training, and more unpacking but some bright spots (in a very cold day) in between. Be sure to pop over to Darcy and Rebecca's blogs to see what they did on 11-12-13.



8:30 AM: Dutch babies for breakfast. We have these all the time because they are so quick to make and so delicious. Today's was topped with blueberry, lemon juice, and a drizzle of honey.



9:15 AM: Our house is still covered in boxes but of course I spent Anouk's TV time trying out different ways of styling my mantel instead of dealing with them, because priorities.





10:00 AM: A quick walk around the neighborhood takes twice as long now that there are all of these fallen leaves to play in.



11:00 AM: Ordering our Thanksgiving ham and treating ourselves to fresh ham rolls for Elevensies.





12:15 PM: Our daily trip to Lowes. We've been here so often in the past few months that Anouk knows where everything is and the names to half the colors of the carpet samples.



3:00 PM: Books from Grandma arrived today! After a nap, Anouk reads them while I prep dinner (turkey burgers and red beans and rice).







5:45 PM: Helping Daddy put together our kitchen table. This table has now officially been with us through five moves and has survived without a scratch. I'm glad to have a functioning dining room but I'll be a little sad to no longer have excuses for eating dinner on the couch, in front of the laptop. Bad mommy, but I have to admit I enjoyed them.



8:00 PM: Testing out a new cookie recipe for the blog. It was delicious flavor-wise, but a bit of a bust when it came to texture. Back to the drawing board.



9:15 PM: Ending the day with a little trim painting and listening to Ali Brosh's Fresh Air interview. Tired, paint-covered, but happy. :)

This month's 12 in 12 (on the 12th) project found us running all over, from sunup to sundown. Usually when we have a busy day like this I feel wrung out by the end of it, but this day, our travels all over town really came together to highlight to me how much our city has to offer. I feel like this post is a love letter to Norfolk just as much as it is a recording of our ordinary run-of-the-mill day.

Dear Norfolk -- we love living in you. And dear readers, don't forget to pop over and check out Darcy's and Rebecca's 12 in 12 projects at No Monsters in My Bed and Not-So-SAHM.


7:30 AM: Mornings make me feel like this too.



10:00 AM: Anouk and I venture down to Ghent for a couple of hours to run errands. We have a lot of presents to buy, as pretty much everyone we know had a baby or a birthday (or both!) in September. We bought one of the baby gifts, for my friend A.'s little girl, from Kitsch, which is such an awesome store full of handmade goodies. If you live in the area, you should definitely stop in.




11:30 AM: Coffee break at Fair Grounds. Anouk sings along to the Beatles Let it Be album and I read a poetry zine put out by high school students while I finish my drink. Why wasn't I this awesome in high school??



12:00 PM: High noon on Colley Ave.


12:30 PM: We stop by Lafayette Park on the way home to run off some steam before lunch. I just adore the gnarly old live oaks that grow there; they might be my all-time favorite trees.




2:00 PM: Naptime.



5:30 PM: Aunt Kristen is in town for the day on her way to a friend's wedding. Anouk is SO happy to see her and I think the feeling might be mutual.





6:00 PM: We walk down Granby Street to visit our favorite of the Norfolk mermaids (Miss Definitely Downtown) before Aunt Bonne's birthday dinner at Hokkaido. Happy birthday, Bon-Bon! P.S.: I swear sometimes we really do eat meals at home.



8:45 PM: A quick bath before bed.

How was your day?

I was supposed to take photos for the July 12 in 12 challenge on Friday the 12th, but my camera was in the shop for its yearly tune up. Ergo, these photos are actually from Monday, July 15th. It was a pretty average day -- not a whole lot going on -- but a good one all the same. Don't forget to check out Darcy and Rebecca's 12 in 12 projects this month and to let us know if you want us to link up to you for next month's 12 in 12!

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8:30 AM: Anouk wakes up before me and greets me with vibrant purple marker outlining her eyes. "Mommy, I pretty!" I alternate between being horrified that the ink might be toxic (it isn't) and impressed with her steady hand.





9:45 AM: Now that Anouk has finally (mostly) left the putting-everything-in-her-mouth stage, I feel like I can break out my favorite dangly-beaded summer sandals, which have been in storage since May 2011. Welcome back, friends!



10:30 AM: A trip to the garden reveals that a half-dozen tomatoes have started to turn red overnight. We pick them and put them in our window, lest the squirrels eat them before we can.



11:15 AM: Playdate at Adalae and Zeke's house.


12:00 PM: A. helps me and Miss Molly get ready for Kid's Clothes Week.






12:45 PM: Temper tantrum.



3 PM: After lunch, nap, and a trip to the store, I ask A. to help me clean her room.



24 minutes (and many entreaties, threats, and finally bribes) later, the room looks like this:



These photos are probably the best representation of how I spend my days.

5:30 PM: It's James's night to make dinner (venison burgers, grilled squash, and gazpacho). Since we're off dinner duty, A. and I head outside to for some sprinkler action. The weather is perfect for this, just a balmy 97 or so degrees.





8:30 PM: Anne is finally in bed and so it's down to the sweltering garage for a workout. A month or so ago, I mentioned wanting to get stronger and J. volunteered to train me in our home gym. He is a very strict trainer and our sessions usually end with me yelling at him but it seems to be working.

How was your day?