When it's too cold to walk, catch a ride on Dad's shoulders... It has yet to snow here, but occasionally the frost teases us by enveloping the world in crystal white blanket.

Trying to get into the tub without Mom's help. The light shines bright and harsh through this window like this once a day, but it feel more like once a month because bright sunny days are rare here in the winter.

After being cooped up the last few days with the sickies you were craving some fresh air and adventure. You led me to the thicket next to our house, and while it is normally too overgrown to walk through all of it in the summer, we discovered has perfect toddler sized trails, natural forts and openings in the winter. You led me confidently through the thick brush and I smiled at your Alice-like sense of adventure. I occasionally had to get on all fours to follow you and I half wondered if we too would fall down a magical rabbit hole.

Watery eyes, runny nose, fever and scrapes... Taking a moment to capture the stamina, beauty, and strength I see in her while my little miss overcomes all these persistent sickies and setbacks.

Starting a new self-portrait project, inspired by Wherever I am With You. Every month I'm going to make the effort to get behind the frame with my daughter. For her birthday party a few days ago I strung up a collage of photos of her from the year. A friend, after looking at them said, "You don't get many photos of you do you?" I re-looked at the collage and Alexa and her Dad littered most of the photos. Many of the photos of her and her Dad are my absolute favorite, but that doesn't mean I should be "absent" from Alexa's growing childhood. With Scott deployed, I feel it's more important than ever to make more of an effort to get behind the frame. So this is me, making the effort to show Alexa that I was there too. Getting in front of the camera is not easy, and taking a creative self portrait with an energetic wee one isn't either! But it's an exciting challenge. I think it will really stretch me creatively and years down the road, I'm sure I'll be grateful I made the effort.
At Wherever I am With You, is a website where a group of photographers monthly post their efforts to get in the frame with their children, but you don't have to be a professional to take this challenge. Does this sounds like something you want to do? Write me in the comments and join me! I'm all for the buddy system. :)

 
―Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are

Today we explored the neighboring hills around our village and had a picnic. Alexa and I are so frequently on the move when we're outside, traveling and what not, that it was nice to just take it slower and enjoy nature together.

Alexa and I after a long day at the Plub pool in Pirmasens. I don't have any photos of the park itself unfortunately, but it is awesome! A huge outdoor pool with a wide slide, a tall yellow slide, kitty pool, and a variety of indoor pools and wading areas.  All for 5 euro per person too! We easily spent 3-4 hours there and will definitely plan on going back! Especially once I find the accurate address for the chocolate factory!

Today, Alexa's "first" tooth/teeth popped out! The two bottom ones are barely poking out and they popped through as I was feeding her lunch. Above are pictures of her facial expressions as it dawned on her that she has teeth. I can only interpret them as confusion, wonder at these odd new thinkings in her mouth, to complete frustration!

It was pretty adorable and sad.

Today was a slow and rather hot day, so we made a makeshift swimming pool and went for a little dip in the back yard the creative way.

Today we decided to buy a yellow watermelon at Kaufland and try it out for lunch! I think I might have picked a bad one, so it's hard to say if it's tastier than a red watermelon, but Alexa sure loved it!

Baby girl got her first pair of tennis shoes the other day, so we decided to go try them out on our walk to the park.

I didn't manage to take a photo today... however, I've been surrounded by more images and photo shoots than I know what to do with! Speaking of which, here are a few sneak peaks of what I've been consuming my evening with today! My sister's wedding and little miss Ember.

She just learned to crawl and now she thinks it's time to walk.

Today Alexa couldn't sleep and the sky looked like this... so we went on a walk. And it was awesome.