Even More Tales from Passover

After our delightful zoo trip, we went rented a car for a few hours (LOVE Zipcar), and drove out to Staten Island for a trip to Fort Wadsworth and High Rock Park. A day with some military history and nature ensures that all Deutsches are happy. And this time, I brought my camera and memory card, which is a great combination. My white balance was on the wrong setting, but now I know how to use the WB setting on my camera, so we'll chalk that up to a learning experience.

 From that day, I have two layouts, though I still have more brewing in my head. It was tempting to write about where we went and what a great time we all had, but instead I focused on little details from that day.

When we told Max and Sam where we were going for the day, Sam's response was, "Will there be a place for me to climb?" Because that kid really likes to climb. See?

It even says so in the title:

I've been wanting to make a layout with an (almost) full page photo for a while. When I saw this picture, I knew it was time to try. It also means that it was time to try Persnickety Prints, so that I could get a 12x12 size. Loved it. I got my pictures within a couple of days. And I  love all the sizes available for prints.

In this trio of shots, I captured Sam kicking Max. Luckily it wasn't one of those mean, nasty, angry fights. Just a "siblings are always egging each other on and bickering, but it's still all in good fun, even though it's kind of annoying" moments.

The journaling says: There Sam was all set to indulge me with some poses. Naturally that was Max's cue to interfere. So naturally, Sam kicked him. Precious moments.

I know we scrapbookers are prone to capture all the sweet moments, but I like to get some of the other stuff too. How about you?

The Bronx Zoo; More tales from Passover; and a trip down scrapbooking memory lane

If you can't tell from the title-we went to the Bronx Zoo. I didn't really think that we could still get away with going to the zoo as a way to keep a 10 and 13 year old busy, but they were both happy to go. And my mom, who grew up in Brooklyn, never went to the Bronx Zoo before. 

I was very excited to be outdoors for hours with my camera, and family, and non-human subjects to photograph as well. Imagine my surprise (and dismay) when I discovered I left my memory card safely tucked away in my computer drive. So sad. All those other zoo visitors were mocking me as I heard their cameras zooming and clicking away. I sighed a bit, and then some more, and then resigned myself to iphone photos. Everyone else loves them, and they take perfectly wonderful photos. And I had it with me, unlike my memory card.

I'm not sure at what point I remembered that we had a similar trip to the zoo on Pesach in 2005. I remember the day well, because it was one of those moments when you realize you have no more babies. We went to the zoo with nary a diaper bag, stroller, or sippy cup in sight. I loved it, and I loved having two big kids who could talk, ask questions, and think about the animals they saw. 

2005 was also when I first started scrapbooking. I still had never made a 12x12 page. When I first started paper crafting, I had a hard time making actual scrapbook pages. Confronted with a large page, I just froze up. So at first I just made lots of cards. And then at some point I received this book as a gift:

Since it was small (6x6), it was less scary. I basically just used photos with a few bits of cardstock or patterned paper. It was like just dipping my feet into the pool until I was ready to jump in.

So these are pictures from the zoo on that day in 2005 when I realized that neither of my children were babies anymore. I'm pretty sure that space on the right  page is where I was planning to write about that discovery. But, clearly, I never did. 

Anyway, I remembered this early scrapbook page, and this early trip to the zoo, and at some point I realized that Max was looking through the same telescope as in 2005. 

The end.

What did your early scrapbook pages look like?

And finally some more layouts

I've had a bunch of layouts that I've been wanting to share for a while, but I had trouble photographing some of them. I'm not quite sure why, but it's all in the past now. So let's move on.

These two layouts are Erev Pesach, which literally means the "Eve of Passover," but generally refers to the day Passover begins. That was a busy day, indeed, in the Deutsch home, as we cooked and cleaned and prepared for the Seders. This year, erev Pesach was slightly less busy since my parents were visiting. My mother helped with some of the cleaning, and it's amazing how much easier that made everything else. First of all, I was able to got bed the night before Pesach, at about 11. That is the first time in my adult years that I can remember being in bed before 1 am. It also meant that I could slow down enough to document some of the little details that make up this holiday.

Since my kids have been in preschool, almost every year they have come home with some Pesach crafts and  a haggadah (the book read at the Seder, with prayers, songs, the four questions, etc.)  Every year, I take out their old haggadahs, and Max and Sam look through them. Some of them have photographs in them from preschool. In this picture, they were comparing their haggadahs from first grade, and seeing if they were the same.

I kind of love this layout. It's the first one in a while where I'm really pleased with the results. 

This next guy, has a picture of our Seder table just before Pesach officially began. We don't take pictures after the holiday begins, so I can't take pictures of the Seder itself. But, I did record in words the image of this table and my kitchen after the Seder. Trust me, four cups of wine, and lots of pieces of Matzah later, it's not as pretty (hence the plastic tablecloth). But those little bits of mess are all part of the holiday tradition as well. The Seder is a long and messy meal, that often runs late into the night, so in addition to crumbs and spills and dirty dishes, there are people sprawled on the couch or stumbling to bed at the Seder's end.

With these two layouts, I was able to start digging in to some new scrapbook supplies, including some from Simple Stories, Jenni Bowlin, Prima, and My Mind's Eye, and of course, my Cocoa Daisy kits. Love.

I'll be back again with some Pesach activities and their layouts.

April Take Twelve Layout

With so many photos involved, I tend to keep it pretty simple. But, I guess I usually keep it pretty simple anyway. I just edited this post, printed it up, and voila! Journaling.

You have until midnight Wednesday, April 18th, to link your photos to this post on the Ella Publishing Co. blog for a chance to win a Muvazi Skin Care Renewal Set!

And check out what the rest of the Take Twelve Team has created this month:

Elizabeth Dillow

Van Nguyen

Margie Scarpignato

Janette Kincaid

Monica Bradford

Jennie McGarvey

Lisa Day

Valerie Bishop

Amy Prior

Stephanie Medley-Rath

Angela Gutshall

Lisa Ottoson

Strength in Numbers

April 12: On the one hand it was a slow moving, lazy day. After three days of going places and doing things, we were indoors,  getting ready for the last part of Passover. There was lots of cooking and cleaning involved. My thoughts were that while it might not be that interesting visually,  it would be nice to capture this aspect of our lives--Passover, and some of its preparations. So, I snapped away. When I finally sat down to look at my pictures, I was a bit disappointed at first. Like I said, they are all indoors, not that visually interesting, and quite frankly, not that good, in my opinion.

But, when I put them all together in my collage, I remembered my intention behind each picture, and the story that the pictures tell all together, overpowers the quality of each particular photo. At least, to me. Just another little plus of the Take Twelve process.

So let's go from left to right here:

1. Each day begins with coffee always. But there's more here; Since it's Passover, our regular dishes are away, including my beloved coffee maker. (Keshet gives some nice explanations of the holiday here and here.) On Passover I use this filter and these mugs  that I got as a wedding gift, but never really liked, so they only get used eight days a year. When I think back to the Passover dishes from my childhood, I have such strong images of the mismatched set that was taken out when the holiday began, and  so many memories come flooding back of what the holiday looked like when I was a kid. So I thought about all that in this picture, and tried to include some of those details from our life right now.
2. Like I said, a slow moving day, with lots of sitting on the couch ,
3. and cooking,
4. and playing (duct tape and light sabers. Two of Sam's passions together in one.)
5. and more sitting around.
6. I'm just trying to remember to include myself.
7. A shopping list, and more light sabers,
8. and some more light sabers.
9. Dave and Max decided what DVD to get next from Netflix. Sam joined them in the decision making process, too. And what's that Max is holding? Oh, it's a light saber.
10 and 11. Max and Sam helped with some of the baking.
12. They got really into it. If you look very closely, you'll see Sam covered in chocolate, and Max holding a...wait for it... light saber.

The other story that emerged here is about Star Wars. I think I will devote a whole post to that at some point. I'll just summarize briefly here. Star Wars was a big part of Max's early years-so much of his earliest imaginative and cooperative play involved Star Wars. Then it went away for a long time. With the re-release of The Phantom Menace, it has returned. The abandoned light sabers have come out of the closet ( Just literally, not figuratively. Not that there's anything wrong with it.). Some of Max's excitement has returned, but being in the early teen years, I think he's not quite sure if he wants to be totally into it, or maybe be too cool for it. Sam is clearly happy to embrace Star Wars and all it's marketing glory.

So there it is, Take Twelve April. Remember to link your photos here, for a chance to win Muvazi Renewal Skin Care Set.

It's Take Twelve Today

Yep, it's the 12th again. I've been snapping away today. This week we've been out and about (pictures, layouts, and stories to follow), but today we are all home. Tonight begins the last two days of Passover. It will be two days where "work" will be prohibited. ( Work as defined by Jewish law, not the amount of effort put in. So, we don't travel by car or train, no TV, computer, or any electronics, no shopping, or writing or cutting, and various other tasks). Which means today is a busy, holiday preparation day; Cooking, cleaning, and, of course, taking pictures. I even got some scrapping done today. This also means my Take Twelve photos will stop at sundown, and I won't be able to post them till Saturday night. You can, however. So, remember to link up your photos or layout at the end of this post for a chance to win a Muvazi Skin Care Renewal Set.

And as long as you're here, here's a recap of Passover 2012 at Chez Deutsch. Or, perhaps more appropriately, at Deutschhaus (I have no idea if that should be one word or not.)

First, the Seder. Once Passover begins, I can't take anymore photos, so no pictures of the actual Seder or the aftermath (layout on this is in progress.)

After the first two days, there is what is known as "Chol Hamoed Pesach," or the intermediary days. All the prohibited stuff mentioned above, is allowed again. So we went to the zoo: (Two layouts about that done, but not photographed.)

We got a car for a few hours, and went to Staten Island to visit Forth Wadsworth, 

and High Rock Park. Nature!!!

Max and Sam also worked on making a stop motion animation video, a la Ali Edwards. I think they were pleasantly surprised at the satisfaction of working on a project that wasn't easy, but still worked out in the end. I'll post that at a later time too.

With that, it's back to the cooking and cleaning, and I'll be back online in a couple of days.

A Little Treat

IT's been busy. First I had parent-teacher conferences at work, which take lots of time and preparation. And then Passover is this week. So not a lot of time for scrapping. But, when all my parent teacher conference preparations were done, and before I began my Passover preparations, I gave myself a little reward. One night to work on a layout. I had to keep it light and quick, so that I wouldn't dwell too long on it.

I've written before about the fact that having a mother who likes to take lots of pictures of you or other random bits of your day, is not always fun. So I'm told. In response to this critique, I wrote a little letter to my children:

Dear Max and Sam,

I know you think I'm crazy for taking millions of pictures of "random" and "pointless" things (your words). But if you only knew of the things I see that I don't photograph, you'd be amazed at my self control.

And also, It's only because I see so much beauty in the world.Perhaps one day you will see that as a good thing about your crazy, old mother.

Love,

Mom