Silly Monkey Stories: Sitting Bull Goes to the Food Truck Festival

It's been awhile since I've mentioned old Sitting Bull.  If you've been a reader for a long time, then you'll know who I'm referring to.  If you haven't, I am referring to our daughter.  She earned the nickname "Sitting Bull" because, when she is truly unhappy, her face is unmoving like stone.  It is virtually impossible to get even a partial smile or any reaction for that matter out of her.

Last weekend, our daughter decided she was extremely unhappy at the Food Truck Festival.  It just was not as much fun as it was the year before for the kids.  Before we left the event, we decided that it might be fun to have the children's caricatures done.  The artist, from Fun Enterprises, Inc. was very personable and had the two boys smiling before too long, but not old Sitting Bull though.

This was the closest she came to smiling and she was not happy about it at all . . .

This is how the caricature came out.  Do you see the resemblance?  I'm not sure.  He definitely captured each child's face shape, our oldest son's closed-mouth smile, and our youngest son's goofy toothy smile.  I don't think the artist quite captured our daughter's evil eye.  What do you think?

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Silly Monkey Story: A Portrait of Moi!

Our 5 year old daughter just loves to draw.  Whenever she has free time at school, she almost always opts to draw a picture to give to me, my husband, or one of her teachers.  Well, a couple of weeks ago, she presented me with this portrait, which is pretty impressive for a 5 year old.

If I was not the confident person that I am, I would think that she's trying to tell me that I have big hair, fat ankles, and I wear too much lipstick.  I am also dying to ask her what those purple things are.  I suppose I should be thankful that she didn't draw me with a laptop permanently attached to my hands, right?

(Click photo to enlarge)

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Inspiration plus an Amazing Promotion from JCPenney Portrait Studio

With Mother's Day and Father's Day coming up, you may be considering a new framed family portrait as the perfect gift, especially if you have not had one done in awhile.  After all, our children grow and change so quickly.  To me, photos are the best way to capture their childhoods.  If you're like me, then you have had some great and some not-so-great experiences with young children and professional portrait sittings.  Let me share what I have come to learn about taking family portraits . . .

The main thing I have come to realize about taking portrait photos is that formal is not always better.  Your children can sit still and smile for the camera against a blue background during their school portraits, but a studio experience should be creative and fun.  Even when I take portraits of the children at home, the best photos are often the ones in which they are allowed to let loose.  Checkout these portrait ideas I have pinned on Pinterest.  There is such an imaginative use of composition, props, and angles.  Which photo concept is your favorite?

If you would like to have a portrait done before Mother's Day or Father's Day, you can snag an amazing deal during the month of April at your local JCPenney Portrait Studio.  Through April 30th, 2012 you can receive 6 Traditional Portrait Sheets for $20 plus one Free Sitting Fee (a $9 sitting fee applies to each person after the first).  You are allowed to mix and match photo sizes and you do not have to limit yourself to just one image.  You can even schedule a session online.

To find the closest JCPenny Portrait Studio to you, simply enter your zip code on JCPPortraits.com.  For even more portrait inspirations, visit the JCPPortrait Gallery and Pinterest page.


I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of jcpenney Portrait Studio. I was asked to create a Pinterest Board and pin at least five (5) pins. I give jcpenney the right to repin any or all images/original content from this board. I received a promotional item as a thanks for my participation.

Silly Monkey Stories: Happy Feet?

Today I wanted to share with you this recent portrait our 3-1/2 year old daughter drew of me, her twin brother, and herself. You may have to click on the image to enlarge it, so that you can see the lines a little more clearly.

When asked where Daddy and her big brother were, our little artist said that Daddy was at work and Jake was on the school bus coming home from school. By the way, those two lines that look like nooses are really depicting me holding each twins hand. That is how we walk to the bus stop to meet their big brother in the afternoons during the school year.

There are some things that I can't quite make out though. For instance, what are on my feet? I don't own a pair of bunny slippers. Could she be trying to show that Mommy has happy feet?

(Click on image to enlarge)

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Silly Monkey Stories: Say Cheese Please

I had the opportunity to possibly receive a mention in a national magazine and they asked me for a photo of the family at the kitchen table. So we attempted to set the timer on my SLR and take a casual family photo.

I think we probably took almost forty shots. Around the twentieth we were losing our patience. There was always at least one child that was not looking at the camera or just looked extremely disinterested.

Photos always come out better when they are candids. The first two photos below were test shots taken by my husband before we got started. Everyone is smiling and there is levity in the air. Then you move down to the third photo below . . .

Our 6yr old was complaining that his eyes were burning from the flash, which explains his odd stare. Our daughter refused to smile in 98% of the photos. We even had to resort to tickling her. Her twin brother, however, smiled in almost every photo, but do you see what this little monkey is doing in this photo?

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If you have a Silly Monkey Story to share, sign Mr. Linky below with the link to your blog post (not the link to your main blog page). Please do not forget to visit the other participants and leave them comments to let them know you stopped by!

My Son Presented Me With Two Original Works of Art

If you've followed my Creating With Colors series, then you already know that our kindergartner loves to create art. He surprised me with these two pictures the other day.

The first one was of a rainbow and it put such a smile on my face. He didn't like that I said that it looked like there was a door that led under the rainbow though. I think he did an awesome job writing the to and the from all on his own. He is convinced that "f" is good enough without the "rom" after it. Sometimes you just can't argue with a 6yr old.

This next one is a portrait of me. I love this one because I am smiling in the picture and there are two hearts . . . one for my son and one for me. I am going to have him sign this one so I can keep it forever.