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  • WELCOME!

    Hi there! Thank you so much for visiting the Kelly Anderson photo blog. That's me (in my pajamas) photographing my 3 little loves. As you can see it's the fun, intimate, everyday moments that I love to capture!

    Blogstalkers, You are sure to notice some changes around here. The appearance of this blog is under construction so please ignore the design elements for now. Existing posts appear as they did before so you can read/comment/pin as usual.

    We'll be up and ready soon! Thanks again for visiting!

day 5/30 days to kinder: baking cakes

Thursday, August 11, 2011

OK, so I don’t bake much.  Not much of a problem – except lately I’ve realized that my girls are really interested in making/creating/baking special foods so I’m making a point to try get out of my comfort zone.  Madelyn is always asking me to teach her how to make cake/cupcakes/cookies so how can I resist?  So, today we made cupcakes.

btw, how awesome is this kitchen???  We’re staying at Hotel Valley Ho tonight and I had to take a gazillion pictures in this setting.  Dreamy!  We were given a VHo gift certificate from some of my ASU colleagues for a staycation so we’re staying for the night…our last AZ resort visit before moving to MN).  More pics from this Ahhh-mazing modern retro resort coming soon!

Also, my friend Megan came over to check out our suite and she took tons of pictures as well (most of these are credit to her and I am so grateful).

day 4/ 30 days to kinder: ‘i like me!’

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Sometimes reading a book is the best together time.

‘I like me!’ by Nancy Carlson is a family favorite.   I love the message – it’s about a cheerful pig (Louanne) who has great self esteem, self acceptance, and self confidence. Louanne is her own best friend. She knows how to take care of herself and has the confidence to pick herself up and try again whenever she makes a mistake.

I remember reading this book to my little sister when she was a toddler 20 some years ago.  Ah, time flies so fast! Madelyn has known this book by memory since age 3 and it’s the sweetest thing to listen when she reads aloud.

Tonight I had a surprise gift for my (almost) school girl.  This shabby vintage crown made her eyes sparkle and my own heart swoon.

day 3/30 days to kinder: building forts

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Another awesome day!  Mad had the idea to build a fort together so we spent the evening covering her room in blankets and tablecloths.  For a final touch we added mini lanterns to make it magical.

Now we’re packing up for a special fort slumber party…

Pillow pets – check.  Sleeping bags – check.  Favorite books – check. Coloring books and art pencils – check.  Flashlights – check.  Twizzlers – check.

day 2/30 days to kinder: movie night

Monday, August 8, 2011

RIO is far and away the girls’ favorite movie so it was an obvious choice for our countdown to kinder.  Madelyn begs me to watch it with her every.single.day. so it’s about time I say YES (like really yes…I’ll fully engage in this and not multitask 4 other projects at the same time).

It turned out to be a perfect night.

Singing, dancing, laughing, cuddling…as good as it gets.  For sure.

day 1/ 30 days to kinder: ice cream and wish lists

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Day 1: We went out for ice cream and talked about the things we would like to do together in the next 29 days.  We each made a list and drew sketches in Madelyn’s art book.  Kinda hot outside so we sat in the path of a mister system to keep cool on the patio (you can see the misty haze in some of these pics).  Our ice cream melted fast and we were both a sticky mess!

Her list.

Watch RIO

Go to the Princess Castle

Paint toes pink

Go out for ice cream again

Valley Ho

Rock climbing

My list.

Go swimming and do underwater pictures

Interview Madelyn – age 5

Children’s museum

Lunch date (just the 2 of us)

School shopping

Library

Mini golflng

Water slides

Lazy River

Donate books to Joyful life library

Ice cream and cake party with AZ friends

Cotton Candy

Teach Mady how to write new words (ie: Minnesota…kindergarten…winter…cousins…all the things that will be a part of her everyday life in just a few weeks)

More ideas will come I am sure.  This is what we came up with tonight as we sat outside letting ice cream melt all over us.   We were too hot and messy to think of anything else so we’ll keep a running list.  Any ideas???

Do you have any favorite back-to-school traditions?  Please share!

p.s. Wish I had time to post daily for 30 days but in the midst of work, kids, packing, etc. it’s not likely…I’ll aim for a weekly post of highlights.