Photos Archives - Page 11 of 63

Easter in the Mud

April 3, 2013/1 Comment/in Family, Fun, Happiness, Photos /by Megan

I know I’m a few days late, but I wanted to share a few photos from our family Easter at the farm. We had such an incredible time, mostly due to the fact that it finally felt like SPRING! After all the snow we’ve had the past few months, it was so lovely to be out in the sunshine for two entire days. We worked on Lucy’s tree fort, dug in the mud for worms, ran around in circles until we were dizzy, laid in the grass watching the clouds and stomped around the lake shore in our rainboots. In fact, we spent most of the weekend in our boots, since along with the snow melt, we had a glorious thunderstorm on Friday night. I am in constant awe that my children are growing up with memories of this beautiful place and watching them live out their childhoods at the farm is so magical. I hope you had as much fun during your holiday and ate approximately 300 jellybeans (like I did, whoops!).

Spring Break : The Omaha Zoo

March 20, 2013/3 Comments/in Fun, Photos /by Megan

Hello friends! I’m checking in quickly in the midst of our “at home” spring break. This year I decided to try and make our lame, no beach spring break a bit more fun, so I enlisted my mother-in-law on a road trip. She had no idea what she was in for…but a few hours north (and a few episodes of Jake and the Neverland Pirates too many…yo ho ho my butt) we arrived in Omaha, Nebraska, where we spent two nights. We stayed in the Old Market area of downtown and LOVED it. We can’t wait to go back in the summer when it’s a bit warmer and there is more time to explore.

Our main reason for visiting was to see the Omaha Zoo, and although it was cold, we had a great time. I only ended up with photos of the aquarium and the cat complex, mostly due to a certain two-year-old in our midst. He loved the aquarium, so that was easy…then he fell asleep right before the cat complex, so that worked out too. Other than these photos below, you’ll have to follow our trip through the lens of the iPhone on Instagram, under the hashtag #springbreakin. It’s much easier to whip out an iPhone when you’re wrangling a cranky toddler through an indoor rainforest than it is a giant DSLR. The more you know…

We adored the zoo, and the kids are still talking about our trip. Lu can’t stop talking about the penguins and the baby lions (photo below…they were so cute, walking around like drunk, lion toddlers!) and Tate keeps talking about the hippos and monkeys. I was a huge fan of the tigers, as you can see below. And the gorillas were incredible! One baby gorilla and her mama spent about 15 minutes trying to communicate with Lu through the glass. It was such a surreal and incredible experience. It was cold, but many of the zoo’s exhibits move indoors for the winter months, so there was still a lot to see. Trent’s mom (Grammy) went with us and not only slept on a hotel couch-bed, but also took Lucy swimming in a questionable hotel pool while I napped with Tate. We are so lucky to have her in our lives.

I hope you are all enjoying your spring break, and hopefully it’s a bit more springy where you are! I’ll have some more updates on the rest of our break later in the week, including our inaugural trip to the Great Wolf Lodge Indoor Water Park and Hotel. Ack!

My Go Mighty Challenge | The Conclusion

March 15, 2013/5 Comments/in history, Photos /by Megan

(If you have no idea what Go Mighty is or what I’m talking about, please click here to read about the beginning of this journey.)

I wrote a little wrap up post over at Go Mighty about completing my goal of photographing 15 mothers and capturing the essence of motherhood. I hope you’ll go read it. You can find it by clicking here.

In that final post, I wrote how thankful I am for the mothers in my life, especially the ones who volunteered for this project. I feel so honored that they participated and allowed me to come into their lives and document their motherhoods. They all have incredible stories to tell, and I hope you go check them out.

I also talk quite a bit about how Olay sponsored my goal by giving me $500 to donate to a women-focused charity of my choosing. I chose to donate the money to the Willow Domestic Violence Center, a shelter for women and children escaping domestic violence in Lawrence, Kansas. I volunteered at this shelter as a Women’s and Children’s Advocate in college, and the experience was life changing. You can read more about the shelter on its website. You can also make a donation, if you feel so inclined. For more on my experience at Willow, please click here.

Writing this conclusion was so cathartic for me in many ways. I poured my heart and soul into this project, working toward a deadline I wasn’t sure I’d ever make. I wanted so very much to be able to donate this money to the Willow Center, it pushed me when I was discouraged and sure I’d never make it. But it’s done now. The check is in the mail and I can cross this off my “to-do” list. Somehow, I’m not ready. I want this project to continue…maybe through a gallery display to raise more money for the Willow Center? Maybe I’ll continue taking photos of moms and sharing their stories here on Crazybananas? I really don’t know. But I do know this is not the end, it’s just another beginning.

Thanks for reading and supporting me through this journey, all. It is much, much appreciated.

Life Lately…

March 11, 2013/3 Comments/in Photos, Uncategorized /by Megan

I had big plans for this week…like BIG ones. But as life has tended to do lately, it threw us a curve ball in the form of one very sick little boy. Tate’s been fighting an uber-virus that stared out looking like a weird allergy. Now we are in full on flu mode, with a sad boy who can’t seem to do much other than lay on me and moan. And watch Mickey Mouse clubhouse.

So in lieu of a real post, here are a bunch of Instagram photos from the last few weeks. I stopped sharing these on here because I felt like most of you were following me on Instagram anyway so it was a bit redundant. But there’s nothing like redundancy when you have puke on your PJs and you need to get a post up, right?!

(Oh, and if you’re not following me on Instagram, I wish you would! It’s become my go-to social media outlet and I love posting there. You can find me @crazy_bananas.)

Trent snapped this tonight of my sick babe...he never snuggles so this isn't a great sign :(

Rain + daylight saving = coffee and wellies

George's Secret Key to the Universe by Lucy & Stephen #Hawking, read by Lucy Peters

We had a challenging week, so I decided it was takeout and ice cream cake for dinner!

Working on a DIY for the next issue of @sweetlemonmag tonight! #Gatsby

Tate left me a gift on my nightstand... #boys #thomas #theyreeverywhere

First Daddy-Daughter Dance...oy my heart. #love

Getting the sillies out of our systems before we are buried in snow and stuck at home.

Go Mighty Update : I DID IT!

March 4, 2013/3 Comments/in Finding My Path, Photos /by Megan

Last week, right under the wire, I completed my Go Mighty goal of photographing 15 mothers and capturing the essence of motherhood. I’m so happy and excited to share this with all of you! It’s hard to put into words how much work this goal ended up being, especially considering the time crunch, but I’m so glad I did it. Early on in this process I decided I wanted the 15th photo to be a self portrait, and I’m especially pleased with how it turned out.

If you think this photo looks idyllic or transcendent…you might want to head over to Go Mighty and read the real story behind it. Things are not always what they seem. A little excerpt…

Yesterday, after four snow days and a blizzard in my city, I realized I had to take the photo if I wanted to complete my goal on time. I set up the tripod in my closet and while I was getting my daughter from the other room, my son climbed under the tripod and knocked it over, almost destroying my expensive DSLR camera and busting my favorite lens. Then, as I put the kids on the bed, my son kicked my daughter in the face and almost broke her nose.

It was not a pretty scene.

I tell you this because I donâ€™t want to sugarcoat what motherhood is. This picture turned out beautiful, but it is literally a millisecond in time, captured at the perfect moment when we were all looking happy and at peace. We donâ€™t look perfect (this was at 1 in the afternoon and yes, we are still in our PJs, plus I am drenched in sweat from shoveling a driveway full of snow right before we took the photo), but motherhood isnâ€™t perfect. Itâ€™s hard. Sometimes you get kicked in the face by your toddler and you want to scream. Sometimes youâ€™d like a minute to pee without an audience. Sometimes your kid climbs out of their car seat while youâ€™re driving and wonâ€™t get back in it and you have to pull over and put them in time out on a curb, while drivers stare as they pass you by. Sometimes your kid comes home crying about a mean girl at school and you have to figure out how to help without breaking down in tears yourself.

But the sum of all the partsâ€¦all these momentsâ€¦good and bad, happy and sad, terrifying and joyful, all add up to a perfect human experience.

I encourage you to head over to Go Mighty and learn about my story of motherhood. And the stories of a few more mom’s I haven’t shared yet, like Beth…

…and Lane…

…and Yaschicka…

…and Rita…

…and Ruth…

These are all women with wisdom to share. I hope you click over and read all about them. In the next few days I’m going to share some more awesome news regarding this project…I’m so excited, I can hardly speak!

And also, thanks to you for indulging me as I completed this daunting goal. I know I’ve been half here and half there lately (snow days + big goals + real jobs + daily life almost swallowed me), but I promise, things will be back to normal soon. Whatever that means!

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