Hello! I'm Joanna, author of this photo journal. My husband, Mark, and I are professional photographers in Asheville, North Carolina. The name of our company, Tuesday's Frog, is based on an almost-wordless children's book about mischievous frogs that go flying on lily pads one night. We love this book because the illustrations are truly the heart of the story. Speaking of mischievous, Cole & Harper are our children, and frequent, though not always willing, photography subjects. Here you'll find not only the stories of our everyday lives, but of those we've photographed in our capacity as professional photographers as well. Please feel free to browse the links above, check out the archives at the bottom of the journal for more photo stories, or subscribe and receive email updates of all our antics. Enjoy!
After a beautiful sunrise service at church we headed over to the Biltmore Estate to participate in the Easter Egg Hunt. After registering the kids for the hunt we had plenty of time to enjoy the gardens & grounds...
Cole was just a little excited, I think!
I really loved the colors of the tulips this year...
...they matched Harper's dress perfectly!
Sometimes they are so sweet to each other...
...and sometimes (ha!) they are not! Love the hand-over-the-mouth-kiss!
Finally, 11am arrived and it was time for the hunt. The kids both enjoyed it, despite the fact that they were divided by age into different sections of the lawn. Everybody was nice and there were plenty of eggs to go around...which made it quite enjoyable compared to hunts (not at the Biltmore) that we've been at in the past. After the hunt they each turned in their eggs for a nice treat bag of goodies.
After lunch we headed down to the bass pond & waterfall for a little more time outdoors in the beautiful weather. (Goal: to wear the kids out.)
Hmmm...something tells me we accomplished our goal! It was such a beautiful, enjoyable day!
Our neighbor has the most gorgeous weeping cherry tree in her front yard. So after meeting Cole at the bus stop we wandered over for a little photo study.
Cole took the photo above, and he also directed this shot. He said, "I'm looking this way, Mommy, and I'm holding the shovel like this." (Diego kids' gardening gloves from Lowe's - $4...Harper has the Dora pair...and, just in case you were wondering, my gloves match my shoes, too.)
Personally, I love this photo by Harper. Completely out of focus but don't I look tall? Love that! Speaking of tall, the mound of mulch still needs some attention...day 3...back to work...maybe I should take fewer photos.
The weather this past weekend was WONDERFUL! Friday evening I took the kids over to the river for our very first outdoor picnic of the year (in winter we normally have "car picnics" - picnics in the car because I am a germ-o-phobe and won't take the kids inside a fast-food joint with a play area...also because of this incident if you need more explanation...) After eating we headed over to our favorite spot, the crooked bench.
See? I told you it was crooked. You can really only lean on it for a short while. There we greeted our visitors...
...who pretty much just ignored us. Notice how stealthy Harper is, hiding behind the bush?
Yay for happy, grubby faces!
This one was taken facing the opposite direction. I think the sun was too low in the sky by this point to warm it up...brr, hurry up, springtime!
Ahhh, that's better...sunshine warming up the rocks, right before we headed home.
On the way home Cole discovered that he has not just one but TWO loose teeth! Which merits a photo, of course...and Harper just wanted you to know that she has teeth, too.
We made our annual trek to the strawberry patch today. Officially it was "picked out" already this morning but I'd spoken with the owner ahead of time and he'd suggested that we arrive late to avoid the crowds, if we weren't really that interested in getting baskets full of berries but rather just having fun.
So that's what we did, and though the berries were indeed a little smaller and harder to find, we still enjoyed ourselves immensely.
True to form, it didn't take Harper long to rekindle her love for fresh strawberries...
Except maybe for these green ones...we'll just leave those for Daddy.
Unfortunately, mama bird thought that the top of our natural gas cylinder in the backyard would be a great spot to build a nest. And it is, in that it's sheltered from the elements and hidden from view, except for the fact that we usually get the gas tank refilled each month. So we've put in a call to the gas company to have our refills postponed for the time being. After all, we don't want to fumigate any poor baby birds or give the gas man a heart attack like Mark received yesterday when he opened up the top to check the levels, only to have mama bird came flying out directly at him. We'll just try and keep those little eggs safe and sound for now.
Cole's been on Spring Break this week from school. Unfortunately, it wasn't a good time for Mark to take a vacation, as he's spent most of this week at work prepping for a big convention next week in Las Vegas. So, instead, the three of us have just been taking it easy (sorry, Mark!) We've mixed in a few "scheduled" days with the low-key ones, however, and today we had a busy morning.
They said, "Mommy, loooooook! A castle!"
And then they were off...
...to my surprise they wanted to check out the inside of the house first. So up and down we went, covering all 4 floors plus the basement (though Cole really wanted to go on a rooftop tour.) Thankfully, Biltmore takes care of their kids, and we had a "treasure map" that we followed to make it fun for them as we walked (breezed) through the rooms. Cole's favorite was the Halloween Room in the basement of the house, whereas Harper really preferred the fountain. Outside.
They had such fun checking it all out, and I had fun photographing them...as well as other things...
The Festival of Flowers starts at the end of next week (I think) so there weren't many tulips in bloom yet. We made due with the vibrant forsythia & daffodils, though.
More random photos...
Look -- they even indulged me with a photo! (And they're both looking at the camera in this shot - remarkable! It probably had more to do with the promise of scooby snacks, though...)
I really think that they both had a great time. Neither of them has been to the Biltmore since they were babies so I think this is a visit they'll actually remember. I was so proud of them, too, as they were really well-behaved, even during lunch at the Stable Cafe. The crayons & coloring books were a big hit.
Finally, since I was parched by the time we left the Estate (not to mention the fact it was 66 degrees by this time) we capped off our trip with a stop at Starbucks for some Double Chocolate Chip Creme Frappuccinos.
The other good part about a productive morning? LOoooooong naps. ; )
Happy May Day!! We're off to deliver some May baskets to our neighbors. Here's a simple tutorial on making your own baskets. Enjoy the first of May (it's the best month, you know!)
How was your Easter? As you can see, the snow melted! Two of our neighbors volunteered to be the Easter Bunny, which I thought was really sweet, and hid eggs in plain sight on Saturday evening so the kids could wake up to them on Sunday morning. Cole had the best time hunting for eggs and Harper really got into it as well, which surprised me. Here's Miss H in her Easter dress and sparkly shoes (she really only wanted to wear the shoes.) She actually came down with a bad cold on Saturday so I only dressed her up for the Easter Hunt (okay, really so I could take pictures) and then she spent the afternoon napping. The fabulous scalloped frames are from Jen Wilson Designs (the frame is part of the Lime Cordial Accessories pack and the tape is from the "Hold it Downs" kit).
I can show you countless photos of Cole at Easter egg hunts the day before Easter wearing shorts, a short-sleeved shirt, and a hat to protect his face from the sun. But this?
I thought I was prepared this year. I bought the PAAS box a year ago on clearance at Target for something like .25 (must do that again this year.) But then on Sunday when I accompanied Mark to the grocery store (he hates when I go with him, because we always end up spending more money) I forgot to buy extra eggs in my haste to introduce the kids to Easy Cheese. So I made sure to purchase eggs yesterday in preparation for today. But today, when I pulled out the jar of vinegar, I realized that there was only enough in it for one dye. Ugh... thankfully, the PAAS box also lists lemon juice as a suitable "fizzer", and, oddly enough, we happened to have a whole jar of juice, so our morning was saved. (Really, the point of all this babble is just to say that the trouble was well worth it, because this year's egg-dying process was just plain fun.)
Someone was extremely proud to be given her own egg, even if the lemon juice did sting a bit.
Of course, this guy's a pro by now (see March 2005 and April 2006entries for his previous experiences.)
And here are our eggs (Harper's is the one of the far left.) Happy Easter!!
I love flowers! Especially love the variety of flowers that springtime brings... the dogwoods are in full bloom i've spotted some azaleas can't get enough of the colorful tulips the scent of lilies transports me back to when Mark and I were dating. (It's the first flower he gave me, right before our first date on April 9th ummm.....7 years ago? let me think....) I noticed some purple lilacs on our drive around town the other day...love the smell of those, too! the aphids have descended upon the wild rose bush in our backyard the strawberry plants are flowering join me in my random springtime meanderings What's your favorite flower? favorite part of the season?
I was going to post a photo of our neighbors' tulips but then the most delightful bouquet arrived on our doorstep Friday afternoon from a friend. Thank you, dear friend!
