Monkey see, monkey do

It appears that Sammy is picking up some habits from yours truly; yesterday afternoon, he decided to turn the tables and take some "pictures" of me with his vintage Fisher Price camera.  I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, especially as I've been shoving a camera in this kid's face since birth.

Sammy took a quick break to enjoy a snack of some carrots (another thing he appears to have picked up from me recently--up until yesterday, he wouldn't touch a raw carrot with a ten foot pole) and then he was back to taking shots of me and the play room.  I hope this means that he might actually grow up to enjoy photography--after all, my love for the medium was ignited by my mom's ever-present camera when I was a kid.

I think I've got myself a junior shutterbug in the making.

Texture Thursday: Sweet

I attended my very first FRG meeting last night (Family Readiness Group for those of you military-acronym-challenged, like myself), which was going to be a family-style potluck affair.  Being that this was going to be the first time that many of the soldiers and spouses of Captain Husband's battery were meeting me, I definitely didn't want to show up empty-handed.

CH insisted that I didn't have to make anything, but I didn't need much excuse to make my current go-to favorite dessert--strawberry cream cake (you may recall that I made this a few weeks back, but here's a link to the recipe again because seriously, it's awesome.  You should make one immediately if not sooner; you'll thank me.)

The cake turned out fabulously and apparently CH's battery thought it was pretty tasty, too--only one piece was left by the time the meeting came to a close.  Yeah, I totally called dibs on that last piece--it was in my belly about two hours after we got home last night.  Do you have a go-to dessert?

Texture Thursday: Texas sage

Our rental house in El Paso happens to have a seven-foot-tall Texas sage plant in the front yard--one of the only plants that doesn't look half-dead or completely haggard.  Thanks to all of the rain we received here last week, the plant has recently erupted in a multitude of tiny, purple blooms, giving me the perfect subject matter for this week's Texture Thursday.  I hope that the blooms stick around for awhile as I really love the unexpected pop of color that I get to see every time I go out.

Texture Thursday: Rub-a-dub-dub, two cousins in the tub

It's been so nice watching the relationship between Sammy and Henry grow with each passing day; it's progressed from Sammy being a bit too rough for Henry's liking (turns out babies don't enjoy bear hugs, complete with growling) to Sammy taking an active interest in Henry's emotional well-being.  The two boys are sharing a room (it's excellent practice for when baby #2 is here), so when Sammy awoke Tuesday morning and discovered Henry fast asleep in his former crib, Sammy frantically informed us all that the "baby" was "stuck" because Henry wasn't able to get up and leave the room on his own accord.  The biggest surprise to all of us, though, is just how nicely Sammy has been sharing with Henry--he's been letting Henry sit in his high chair, use his old crib, be held by HIS mommy, and play with his toys.  Sammy's even started taking toys over to Henry and saying "share" while handing him the toy in question.  I think Sammy's going to be a pretty awesome big brother thanks to all of the practice he's been getting with his little cousin.

Texture Thursday: On the rack

My shot for Texture Thursday is a bit of a stretch, but  this is what happens when I stay up too late having a blast with some of my girlfriends.  My good friend, Suzy, came in from California to host an in-home fashion trunk show so I invited some of my friends over for an evening of cute clothes, good food and fun conversation last night.  It's a little hard shopping for clothing when you're entering the third trimester, but even I was pleasantly surprised to find a few things that could double as maternity and post-maternity wear.  If I keep this up, I may just find myself turning into a stylish mama one of these days.

Texture Thursday: Pins and needles

I've been spending a lot of time in my guest room/craft room these days; between the little projects that I'm trying to complete around the house, I also have two baby showers coming up soon.  To that end, I decided that I was going to make all, if not most, of my gifts for my expectant friends.  Clearly the heat wave that we in El Paso are experiencing has completely fried my brain.  (It was 98 degrees yesterday...yeah, yeah, there's no humidity to speak of, but that's still pretty freakin' hot for APRIL.)  I haven't been able to post any photos of the things I've been working on because they both read my blog and I'd like for them to be somewhat surprised, but if you follow me on Instagram (I'm @bicyclebandit), I've been posting photos here and there of the work in progress.  So what have you been working on lately?

Texture Thursday: By any other name

Captain Husband and I were so thrilled by the appearance of roses in our backyard that we went out to Lowes two weeks ago and picked up some mulch and rose food and have been diligently watering the bushes every other day in the hopes that some more buds would make an appearance.  I was unloading the dishwasher yesterday morning and looked out the kitchen window and was very pleasantly surprised to see that the smaller of the two rose bushes was now boasting a rather lovely bloom on its uppermost branch.

Like many of my photographer friends, I've been mourning the impending loss of one of my favorite online editing sites, Picnik; I've been using Picnik for nearly all of my photo editing and design work for the past year and a half and, well, I'm kind of freaking out a little bit over here at the prospect of no longer having it around.  But fear not--the creative minds behind Picnik have come together to create a new editing site--PicMonkey.  It's still in the initial design phase, but it has many of Picnik's awesome features as well as a bunch of new ones.  I played around with some of its texture overlays and frames and came up with the photo you see above.  I'm pretty excited to see what else PicMonkey can do, especially since it's so similar to the Picnik setup that I know and love.  Do yourself a favor and check it out!

Texture Thursday: Busy bees

“How doth the little busy bee Improve each shining hour, And gather honey all the day From every opening flower.”  Isaac Watts

“Listen! O, listen! Here come the hum the golden bees Underneath full blossomed trees, At once with glowing fruit and flowers crowned.”  James Russell Lowell

Spring is in full bloom in our backyard; this is the greenest our yard has looked in a long time!  I have no idea what kind of plant this is, but it's now blooming like crazy and bringing all of the bees out (I also have a sneaking suspicion that it's probably the cause of Sammy's ever-present runny nose).

Texture Thursday: Thrift-store goodies

I'm totally phoning it in today--Sammy is having some stomach issues and he was kind enough to pass them off to me.  So to tide you over while we both recover, here are some of the fabulous fabrics I've found at the local thrift stores recently.  I've got some ideas brewing for them, like making Sammy some new sheets for his big boy bed and some curtains for the master bathroom, but those projects are going to have to wait until Sammy and I are back and operating at full speed.

The Queen of the Missions

Our next stop along the Mission Trail was the San Jose Mission; completed in 1782, this magnificent complex was the largest of the missions of the area.  This self-contained community was home to approximately three hundred and fifty Native Americans at its height and was sustained by extensive fields and herds of livestock.

The architectural carvings of the San Jose Mission were unlike any that I had seen in San Antonio and were truly works of art.  I think Fr. Juan Agustin Morfi summed it up when he said in 1778, "In a word, no one could have imagined that there were such good artists in so desolate a place."  Above is the famous Rose Window of the San Jose Mission Church, which is a masterpiece of colonial Baroque artistry--even Oscar Wilde was impressed when he visited the Mission in the summer of 1882: "Those old Spanish churches, with their picturesque remains and dome and their handsome carved stonework, standing amide the verdure and sunshine of a Texas prairie, gave me a thrill of strange pleasure."

The Mission fell into disuse and disrepair over the years until it was restored in the 1930s by the San Antonio Conservation Society and the Works Progress Administration.  One of the buildings that was restored at that time was the large granary, which now houses a miniature-scale model of the Mission compound as it would have appeared in the eighteenth century.

The gorgeous barrel-vaulted granary also retained remnants of colorful trompe l'oeil frescoes of architectural elements, such as columns and chair-rail moldings.  It was also a good fifteen degrees cooler in there, which made it a nice place to stop and linger while soaking up the history.

Walking around the Mission, it was easy to see why it was known as the Queen of the Missions--beautiful details popped up in the most unexpected of places, like this carved downspout along one of the walls of the church, or the somber putto framing the rear entrance into the chapel pictured below.  I easily could have spent several more hours exploring the Mission, but the three of us were getting a bit peckish so it was time to head back to the hotel and figure out what to do for dinner.  I know if I ever happen to find myself in San Antonio again, I'll definitely be setting aside a full day to explore all four of the Missions in great detail.

The Alamo

One of the highlights of our trip to San Antonio was getting to see the historic Alamo in person; I remember learning about the Battle of the Alamo back in elementary school and being so taken by the sacrifices made by the men who had bravely fought there for Texan independence.

I was a little surprised by the small size of the monument--for a place that looms so large in American history, I was expecting something much more grandiose.  But the time-worn and battle-scarred eighteenth-century facade did not disappoint, especially since one could walk right up to it and examine all of its architectural details up close.

We had hoped to take the tour of the chapel but long lines and an increasingly cranky Sammy (who was long overdue for a nap) kind of put a damper on those plans, although we did enjoy walking around the grounds and checking out the Long Barracks and other structures on the site.  We'll definitely make sure to take the tour the next time we find ourselves in San Antonio.

Texture Thursday: Ladybug, ladybug

Another all-natural texture shot for Texture Thursday thanks to the desert landscape of El Paso.  I took this photo when Sammy and I were checking out the poppies over the weekend and managed to capture a tiny little ladybug going about its business near some of the poppies.  It's funny--I had found myself wondering not too long ago about whether or not there were any ladybugs out here in the southwest, but it looks like there are at least a few.

Texture Thursday: Soft kitty

This week's texture is all natural thanks to Sandy Cat's cuddly fuzziness.  I'm still having a bit of creative block when it comes to photography--sometimes it just seems like such a hassle to bring my DSLR with me everywhere, especially when I'm already lugging a diaper bag and attempting to corral a toddler.  As a result I've been relying more and more on things like Instagram especially since I almost always have my iPhone on me at all times.  If you're interested, you can find me on there under the profile name, "bicyclebandit."  And if you happen to be a fellow Instagram addict, let me know in a comment--I'd love to see what you're photographing!

Texture Thursday: Mister Clean

Presented without commentary because I am simply too tuckered out to type anything that makes even the slightest lick of sense.  I'll try and muster up some brain power tomorrow, but in the meantime I'm just going to sit on the couch and watch some Blue's Clues with my bubble boy.

The artist at work

I had a bit of a draining morning yesterday (and I mean that literally--I had some twelve vials of blood drawn), so I needed a nice, laid-back activity that would keep Sammy happy and wouldn't have me running all over the place.  I remembered that I had some sidewalk chalk stashed away somewhere in the house, so I searched it out, put some shoes on Sammy and headed outdoors.

Sammy didn't take much prodding and eagerly dumped all of the chalk out on the ground and started doodling all over the patio.  I drew a few shapes for Sammy to identify (and hopefully copy) and then sat back and relaxed while I watched my little artist at work. 

The reef of the desert

My brother, John, returned to Pennsylvania yesterday, but we managed to fit in one last long road trip on Tuesday because we're crazy like that.  We packed some snacks and loaded up the diaper bag (plus a spare tote bag of extra clothing--we learned that the hard way when we went to White Sands last week).  We were heading to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico--some three and a half hours away--but we had a pit stop scheduled at the mid-way point before we crossed the Texas border.

The Guadalupe Mountains National Park is breathtaking in its scenery, and from what I understand, we only saw a tiny little fraction of the varied beauty that the park has to offer.  I really wish we had more time to spend there, but we had a timeline to stick to if we wanted to make it into the caves before Sammy's nap time.

The mountains are actually the remnants of what was once a great coral reef several hundred millions of years ago, when most of what is now western Texas and southeastern New Mexico was covered by the Delaware Sea.   It's kind of crazy when you think about the fact that the most well-preserved fossil reef in the world is out in the middle of the Chihuahuan desert.

While we couldn't stay long, we were able to stretch our legs a bit on the Pinery Trail, a short 3/4 mile path that winds its way through the desert towards the ruins of the old Pinery Station, once a stop on the Butterfield Overland Mail Route.  Sammy had a great time running around, pointing out the different kinds of trees and gathering rocks to play with in the car.

Although it was a short visit, it left an indelible impression on me and I'm really looking forward to the next time we make our way to the park; you could definitely spend all day (and more) taking advantage of all the Guadalupe Mountains National Park has to offer.