Christmas Claire-isms

While out Christmas Shopping….

“Dis is wha I want, Mommy!  Ooohhh, dis is wha I want!  Mommy, oh! dis is wha I want!”   In response to almost every single item in the toy aisle, when I was silly enough to ask “Claire, what do you want from Santa?” 

But then she very happily put every single toy back on the shelf and we went merrily on our way:)

Pretty much all day long last Friday… (and it cracked me up every single time!!!)

“Claire, what does Santa say?”

“Hohoho, Merry Kismass Tee!”   [hohoho, Merry Christmas Tree, ahhahhhaa]

 After meeting Santa for the first time….

“Claire, who was that?”

“Santa!!!” (very excited, not at all scared) but then, “Santa dint bing me any pwesants…?!”   Said in the cutest little confused two-year old voice, not terribly upset [yet], just genuinely confused.  So it is explained that Santa will bring gifts, just not until Christmas.  After several days of Santa distress we were able to adequately reinforce the concept that the presents will happen on Christmas, but not before, and all is right with the world again. 

However, Santa does realize that he had better deliver on Christmas morning or he is going to be in BIG trouble:)

While playing last night….

“Les go see Santa a Dary Keen!” [“Lets go see Santa at Dairy Queen!”]

Oh.  Of course.  Santa at Dairy Queen—what could possibly be better than that!?

“Cummon Mommy!  Les go see Santa!”

Claire then marches over to a corner of our family room (that has been dubbed “Dary Keen” by our imaginative toddler) and crouches down before shouting at me “Der he is!!!” and pointing to a spot on the ground in front of her.  She then carries on a “conversation” with Santa, still crouching down and staring at a spot just above the floor.  Apparently Santa has shrunk to ~6 inches tall.  Who knew?

In response to anything Claire likes or wants….

 “Oh!  Iss pwerfict!  Iss pwerfict for me??” (while trying on her new belt, or Mommy’s bracelets, or putting on her new mittens, or…well, you get the picture:)

So, now you know what we’ll be hearing Christmas morning:  “Merry Kismass Tee!  Merry Kismass Tee!  Oh, dis is wha I want!  Oh!  Iss pwerfict for me?  Is pwerfict for me!  Tank you Santa!  Tank you!  Les go Dary Keen!!  Yay!”

Oh, through the eyes of a child—such wonder and joy….

Merry Christmas from the Lane Family!

"Whes Johnnie???"

So we’re making dinner the other night and Claire is sitting on the counter playing with some spoons and chattering away when all of a sudden she says “Hey, whes Johnnie go?”  [translation:  Hey, where did Johnnie go?] 

At which point I am rather confused.  We don’t know any Johnnies…or Johns for that matter.  So I reply “Johnnie?  Who’s Johnnie sweetie?”  And apparently that wasn’t the correct response so Claire repeats her [totally reasonable and obvious question] “Johnnie!  Whes Johnnie go!?!”

Well, I’ll spare you the next few minutes of back and forth questions (this is a story about a two-year old, after all, so those questions get rather repetitive, rather quickly) but finally I struck upon inspiration:  “Claire, where was Johnnie?”

Triumphantly Claire points at the refrigerator and declares “In da fwidge!”

Oh.  Of course. 

I open the fridge and Claire shrieks “OH!  Dere he is!!”

I didn’t jump straight up in the air – I might have startled a little, but I didn’t scream or anything ridiculous like that.

As my heart rate returned to normal I ask “He’s in the fridge?”

“Yeah!  Right dere!”

So I hold her up to show me Johnnie.  And she points behind the cheese, past the sour cream, to the SALAMI.

Oh.  Of course!

Salami. 

Silly Mommy.

Stage Meltdown

I took Claire to her first ballet on Saturday—at 2:00 in the afternoon—and we had to make it through the whole performance, no leaving early.   

Now, if you don’t have a 2-year old that may seem like a completely sane and reasonable way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  If you do have a 2-year old (or experience with a 2-year old) you may already be chuckling to yourself or shaking your head wondering “what the…?!”  Because there are two dark forces at play here: 

1.      Claire still takes an afternoon nap—and this nap is essential to her mental health (and the mental health of her parents) because without a nap…well, let’s just say that it gets ugly.  Real ugly.

2.      Sitting still, especially for extended periods of time, is not exactly part of a 2-year old’s skill set….  Nuff said. 

Now, in my defense, there were extenuating circumstances:  we couldn’t go to the evening show because we already had plans - and one of the lead dancers is a former student of  mine, a current student of Scott’s, and I took her Senior pictures this fall.  And she really really wanted us to see the show and she was also really really looking forward to meet Claire at the end.  So, the 2:00 pm show was the only option, and we had to make it through the whole thing.   

Ooookay. 

We did pretty good….  We sat way in the back so Claire could dance in the aisle to her heart’s content and no one would yell at us for bringing apples and cheese into the auditorium (gotta have snacks).  There was her [loud] “oooohhh, pretty!” exclamation as the lights came up for the second half (but everyone laughed at that one, because it was pretty, and that tiny 2-year old voice is pretty dang cute).  She did say “oh!  All done!” after every single song in the second half  [and she wasn’t exactly whispering].  She also got her boot stuck in the seat in front of us at one point which caused some tears (thankfully no one was sitting in that seat).  And then there was the one really bad moment when she was maneuvering out of her seat (for the 4,000^th time) but this time she miscalculated and smacked her little noggin off the seat in front of us.  Hard.  That was bad.  Real bad.   

But as I was comforting her I said something magical that made the owwie go away “Shhhh, sweetie, it’s ok!  The show is almost over and when it’s over we get to go up on the stage and say hi to the dancers!”  That made the howling stop and the tears go away.  Like magic. 

Now, I never would have said that if I didn’t believe it to be true.  At almost every other performance I’ve ever been to we go up on stage to say hi and congratulations and give flowers to the dancers.  But ~20 minutes later I got to find out that today it wasn’t one of those performances.  This time the curtain stayed down, we got to visit with some of the dancers down on the floor, but there was no going up on the stage. 

Uh. Oh.

Claire has an elephant’s memory:  once a promise is made she never forgets.  Mommy had promised the stage—and Mommy soon realized she wasn’t going to be able to deliver. 

Uh. Oh. 

We made it outside before Claire realized that we weren’t going up on the stage.  And then…well, she had a meltdown.  The kind of meltdown where you’re afraid people think you beat your child because what else could possibly be the cause of such a scene???  The kind of meltdown that comes after "I only had half a nap and I was so quiet and we watched all that fun stuff on the stage and Mommy said it was our turn next and now we're outside and I WANNA GO UP ON THE STAGE!!!!!!"  

And I only had myself to blame.  I mean, who promises a 2-year old something that has even the slightest possibility of not coming true???  [after 2 hours of "quiet time"]  A dumb mommy that’s who.  *sigh*    

But, thankfully, it only took ~10 minutes of thumb sucking and blankie time in the car to stop the tears and by the time we got home she couldn’t wait to tell Daddy all about the “girls dancing!”  And by Sunday she was modeled her version of  “girls dancing” with pirouettes, leg kicks, hops, and jumps.  So, in the end it was a successful venture. 

Whew. 

I've Fallen...

I have pretty much fallen off the face of the earth…the blogging earth that is.  The last time I posted was…um, July?  Yikes. 

Facebook has just become such a better place to share Sneak Peeks and quick little updates so blogging has just been…neglected.  Sorely neglected.  

I have actually been considering just getting rid of the blog entirely, but I realized something over the weekend.  I have many fellow photographer friends from around the country that I follow on Facebook and read their blogs regularly and the blogs that I really enjoy reading are from photographers who blog about their personal lives, not necessarily their photos.  Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE seeing all of their new work and photos on Facebook, but it is really fun to also get a glimpse of the person behind the photos through their blogs.  

So, I’m going to try it for a while and see how it goes!  Let me know what you think!

Stay tuned for my Saturday Ballet Adventure :)

Whew.

I knew this summer was going to be crazy.  Insane even.  And has it lived up to it's potential?  Oh yeah:)  But in the best way possible!  I mean, how many photographers do you know who can say "Not only can we take some rockin pictures of your wedding day, we can also change the flat tire on your limo!"  [ok, to be perfectly honest, I couldn't say this either...but that's why I have the bestest hubby in the whole wide world who has skills as varied as quick-draw-lens-changing while perching atop tall ladders, to supplying the tools AND the muscles/skills for changing flat limo tires!  Wow:)]

We have photographed two weddings in one weekend.  We have celebrated our daughter's 2-year birthday party surrounded by family and friends.  We have almost been struck by lightning.  We have been junk-sale-shopping in Bozeman.  We've entertained the neighborhood playing backyard football.  We've photographed new babies and old friends.  We've found new ways to share our images with clients (whoohoo for pictage.com!).  We've slept in a few times and we've gotten up early a lot.  We've kissed owies and swung on the swings.  We've been "real" swimming for the first time and howled into the warm wind while racing fast across the lake in Grammie and Papa's new boat.  We've read lots of bedtime stores and watered the flowers.  We've drank some beers and laughed a lot and...whew...I am just so incredibly, fantastically, awesomely blown away by how blessed we are.

I can't really express how amazing it feels to work with our clients to capture their memories - those forever moments that are sometimes so big and other times so quiet and small - but I do know that I thank God for the opportunity to continue this journey each and every day.

Life is wonderful - and all I can say is thanks to all of the people in my life who make it possible:  my hubby, my baby, my mom and dad, Scott's mom and dad, our friends & family, our clients, our fans.  Thanks you guys.


~From this completely saturated by blessings Mommy-Wife-Photographer

Do You Know an Amazing Mom?!?

Mother’s Day will be here before we know it—and in honor of moms everywhere I am excited to announce the first ever MLP Awesome Mom Award (AMA) contest!

I think it is incredibly important to honor the work that all moms do, all the time, every day, without being asked, and often without being thanked…. So here’s your chance: I want you to tell me about an amazing mom who you know. It could be your own mom or grandma, or a friend, sister, aunt (etc) who’s a mom or mom-stand-in and who you think is amazing! Type up your story on the Megan Lane Photography page on Facebook and be sure to explain why she is the bestest mom ever and why she deserves to win the AMA contest.

Then, you need to get people to vote for your submission by “Liking” or Commenting on your entry (this is where you spread the word to your family & friends!!). The mom with the most votes (Likes + Comments = Total Votes) will be presented with an MLP gift certificate for a FREE family or child photography session and five free enlargements!

The contest starts today and we will take submissions and voting until 11:30 pm on Saturday May 8th. I will announce the winner on Mother’s Day, May 9th!

I thought this would be fun because I can’t think of a better way to thank your mom than to write her a personal “why you are awesome” note. The gift certificate is just icing on the cake because what mom/grandma doesn’t love pictures of the littlest people in their lives? Win/Win all the way around:)

I would like to kick off the AMA contest by telling you about a truly amazing woman in my world:   my mom, Tobi Sandiland. My mom has always been there for me: cheering me on, supporting me in every adventure and endeavor, being a shoulder to cry on, and an incredible strength to lean on. We laugh together, cry together, shop together, and do kick-butt dump runs together! I consider myself incredibly, wonderfully blessed to have had her guiding presence in my life from childhood through to my own motherhood (and everything in between…). Basically she is one of the most amazing women that I know! I try to tell her thanks as much as possible, and I try to be appreciative of all that she does…but sometimes it just feels so small compared to the vastness of what she has done for me. SO, I would like to dedicate this AMA contest to my mom. (Mom - I love you, I thank you, I hope you know how much. Always & forever M)

I can’t wait to read about your mom stories—warm fuzzies here we come:) And don’t forget to spread the word to your friends & family to vote for your submission!!

A Few Notes: Each entry needs to be its own separate “post” so people can vote for your mom, so please don’t fill in your entry as a comment to someone else’s story! Start a new “box” for each new mom. You can only vote once for each mom (but you are welcome to vote for multiple moms:) Only positive stories and comments will be allowed. Anything ucky or mean will be deleted – and I am the person who decides what is ucky or mean.

Whew. I hope I explained that ok…! If you have any questions please feel free to give me a call or shoot me an email (406-431-6452 or megan@meganlanephotography.com).

And to all of you who are moms and are awesome: thank you—and may God bless you with patience, laughter, & loads of sticky kisses!

Click here to visit the MLP page on Facebook to 

start your entry now! :)

Sweet Baby S

Baby S is almost exactly a year younger than my own baby girl--and it is just incredible to think that last year this could have been Claire...!  But isn't nine months such a fun, cuddly, chunka-monk age?!   They are really starting to develop their personalities and let you know what they think - and this baby girl shared some priceless expressions (she had the cutest "smoocheroo" face ever--but to see those pics you'll have to visit the website www.meganlanephotography.com and check out the rest of the Baby S slideshow:).  She was also quite the mover and the shaker--you had to be fast to catch her sitting down or she'd be off on a mission to explore!  Such fun:)

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