Stretch!

Babies have no sense of personal space

In fact, their curiosity often leads them right up into your face.

Livingston Park Grand Opening

We have been anxiously awaiting the newly upgraded and expanded Livingston Park since the project was first proposed in 2007. We are so thankful to the Tot Lot Committee members (Jennifer Bill, Brian Duarte, Karen Zieba, Dick Gaylord, Kerrie Aley, Steve Kraemer, Stefanie Yates, Lori Stuart, Harry Saltzgaver, and Mike DuRee) for all of their hard work. For more details about the park, the renovation and the grand opening, visit the Tot Lot Committee's website.

2008 in Pictures

Kartoula, 14, a refugee from Sudan's western Darfur region, enters a distribution centre to receive monthly food rations at Djabal camp near Gos Beida in eastern Chad, June 5, 2008
Photograph by Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters

The Big Picture is one of my favorite sites for viewing photojournalism online. Below are links to their look back at the past year in pictures. As Alan Taylor, the editor of The Big Picture, points out "it is difficult to sum up the thousands of stories in just a handful of photographs. It's not the story of 2008, it's certainly not all stories, but as a collection it does show a good portion of what life has been like over the past 12 months."
Part One
Part Two
Part Three

Caution: Some images are graphic in nature and are not appropriate for all ages.

Let it snow!

Books are a big part of our family's holiday tradition. We pack up most of our Christmas and winter books at the end of the season so that we can rediscover them the next year. I have always been a big fan of pop up books. With the turn of each page a new three dimensional world comes into being.

If you have ever seen Robert Sabuda's intricate pop-up books, you know that they are wonders of engineering and creativity. In addition to several books with Christmas and winter themes, he has created pop up books based on such literary classics as Narnia, Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, Mother Goose. He also has a line of boxed gift cards. If you are looking for a last minute gift, I would definitely recommend checking out Sabuda's books.


If you are feeling crafty and want to make your own pop up cards or books, Sabuda's extensive website provides detailed instructions (including photographs of each step) on how to create your own. There are over forty designs including, seasonal holidays, animals, Star Wars characters and more.

Let it snow!

"Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others. Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated., When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind."
Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley, 1925

In my 10-plus years of photographing children, I see similarities to Bentley's passion for photographing snowflakes and mine for photographing children. Children, like snowflakes are each entirely unique and beautiful. Now as a parent of two, I see even more clearly how this beauty is ever changing and melting into new complex and fascinating works of art.

Snowflake Bentley tells the true story of a farm boy who was so fascinated by snowflakes that he made photographing them his life work. Wilson A. Bentley's passion for snowflakes led him to spend 50 years pioneering the scientific study of ice crystals, and developing a technique of microphotography that allowed him to capture the integrate details of snowflakes for others to see. Mary Azarian's beautiful woodcut illustrations for the book won the Caldecott Medal in 1999.

If you want to see some examples of "Snowflake" Bentley's work, Snow Crystals contains more than 2,000 black and white microphotographs of snowflakes by Bentley, graphically demonstrating that each snowflake has its own unique beauty.

Let it snow!

Cutting paper snowflakes is an annual tradition in my family. Hanging favorites from over the years is one of the ways we mark the season change here in Southern California.

The trick to great snowflakes is proper folding .

Happy Thanksgiving!

Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, New York, 1941
Photographed by John Phillips

From the archives of LIFE magazine.

Thanksgiving Day Art Projects

One of my favorite Thanksgiving activities as a kid was to sample all of the delicious foods that were being prepared. Of course, I was constantly being shooed out of the kitchen by the cooks. Here are a few projects to keep your young ones busy this holiday. Click the links for instructions and have a Happy Thanksgiving!


Photo-Realistic Paper Turkeys


Cereal Box Turkeys


Fingerprint Turkeys


Pine Cone Turkeys using feathers.
Pine Cone Turkeys using pipe cleaners.

Visiting the White House

Barack and Michelle Obama's recent visit to the White House reminded me about Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out,
a new anthology of White House history, in the form of illustrations, nonfiction writing, short stories, poetry, texts of actual speeches, transcripts of television interviews, and "illustration essays." It includes an amazing collection of work from over 100 award winning children's authors and illustrators, as well as, historians and former White House employees and residents. It is a great place to help our kids dig deeper into the history of our country during this historic election year.

Also, check out the official website.