The Last Click

Horrible news today... with a final click and a few beeps and groans, my camera has finally died. It had been on the fritz the past few months. Many times I worried I would not be able to capture a big event or happy moment. But I guess I got lucky a few too many times. Just before it's final click, in small writing in the corner of the LCD screen appeared "Q32" which I guess is code for "Go buy a new camera." Now this was not an old camera, we bought it just before Claire was born, and I'm a little annoyed that we're having to replace it so soon. But, luckily enough we sold our old sofa set on the same day so it looks like we won't be camera-less for too long. Ahh, when the door closes, somewhere a window opens...

But this does mean that one of my very best and creative mommy moments has been ruined. Last night before bed, Tim and I arranged all the kids' stuffed animals around the house. They were posed reading books, doing puzzles, making a cake, playing games, wearing dress up clothes; when the kids found them this morning, it was quite a riot of laughter. We were going to take pictures of all the silliness and we were going to write a story to go along with each page and make a very cute book and practice all sorts of writing skills. But now we just have a mess to clean!

We also set up an elaborate scavenger hunt for the kids to find their Valentine treats we had hidden. Clues like, "Oceans, Countries, Continents too... where do you think you'll find your next clue??" leading to the globe in Ryan's room, and "Make a pizza, fry an egg, or have some tea, where do you think your next clue will be??" leading to the play kitchen down in the basement had the kids running up and down stairs all morning finally leading to their stash. I would have liked to capture that moment too, but alas... we'll have to do it again next Valentine's Day. They loved it so much, a new tradition has been born!