Like the Jack Johnson song says, “3…it’s a magic number….” This was Little Jack’s 3rd birthday, and his favorite movie (for now) is the Toy Story franchise. And since we are only a few weeks away from the release of Toy Story 3, it was only appropriate that we had a Toy Story themed birthday party this year.
We bought Jack a Toy Story bicycle….and of course he had to have a Toy Story matching helmet……
The Toy Story themed bouncer was the perfect rented baby-sitter for the kids……
And to close off the evening, the kids enjoyed a screening of the original “Toy Story” movie at the “DriveWay Drive-In” movie theatre, complete with juice-boxes, popcorn, lots of bug spray, and almost all of Jack’s new Toy Story toys he received as gifts!
It’s not uncommon for me to work a full day on a weekend, even on a Sunday. This weekend however I was “lucky” enough to have my Sunday afternoon appointment cancel on me, which game me the chance to take Little Jack to the park. The funny thing is, I think this kid knows how to go down a slide every possible way, EXCEPT the correct way, sitting down, feet first.
Avid readers and followers of my blog may remember last August I had the privilege of volunteering to photograph a group of children for Flashes of Hope at the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital.
What is Flashes of Hope?
Flashes of Hope is an organization dedicated to creating powerful, uplifting portraits of children fighting cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. Every month volunteer photographers and makeup artists come together at University of Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital to photograph children and families who are undergoing a variety of treatments.
I had the opportunity to photograph several children and their families at Comer, and have seen first hand the benefit that these sessions can provide to families. One child was in the process of waiting for a bone marrow transplant, and in order to limit the risk of exposing her weakened immune system to infection we had to create her portraits in her room while she was still in bed. Everyone and everything (including my camera) had to be wrapped and covered with a gown, cap, mask, and gloves. I couldn’t help but think these limitations would take away from the experience for this young girl, and that she might not be as “into it” as some of the other kids were. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Despite these limitations and the limited time we were allowed in her room, her face lit up as soon as we walked in and she couldn’t have had more fun having her portraits made.
One of the oldest cliches in the book is “a picture is worth a thousand words.” And while that could easily apply to the children photographed at these sessions, the imact these portraits have on families is so much greater. For children and families who are often in the middle of treatments, the sessions are an opportunity to relax and feel good about themselves in the midst of what can be a very stressful time in their lives.
How You Can Help
Flashes of Hope currently serves the children and families at Comer, and would like to expand its efforts to other hospitals in the Chicagoland area. The cost to photograph one child is $25, which covers the cost to produce the package of portraits each family receives from their session. $25 is what the average family spends on a casual/fast-food dinner. Isn’t helping a family with a child in the hospital worth more than a dinner at Panera or Chipotle? (Nothing against those places, I LOVE the Frontega Chicken sandwich at Panera, and don’t get me started on carnitas or spicy chicken burritos stuffed with hot sauce, black beans and sour cream…….)
I haven’t finalised the details yet, however in the next few weeks I’ll be announcing a special portrait offer that will benefit the local Flashes of Hope chapter in Chicago. There will be a special portrait offer for everyone that participates as well
If you’d like more information about Flashes of Hope, please visit their website at www.flashesofhope.org. as well the video below which profiled FOH for the CBS Early Show back in 2006.
We found out that Pinstripes restaurant and bowling alley has an awesome Mom/Dad & Tots bowling “league” every weekday from 10am to noon. $5 per kid gets you an hour of bowling plus shoe rental, and the parents bowl for free! They also serve a complimentary fresh fruit buffet and free coffee for the parents! There’s also an afternoon “recess” session for $7 as well. If you’re a parent looking for something different to do with your kids until the real spring weather gets here, head out to one of their two locations, in either Northbrook or South Barrington.
Up until now the only bowling that Jack has tried is on the Wii, and that’s the 100 pin bowling on the Wii “Sports Resort.”
I love Pinstripes as a place to hang out for adult food, drink, and entertainment, but the fact that they open the doors for a family program like this every day of the week scores major points in my book!
100 W. Higgins Road
South Barrington, Il. 60010
847-844-9300
A few weeks back I posted new portraits of my nephew and twin nieces‘, however it made me think that it’s been awhile since I created new updated portraits of my sons, especially our 2 1/2 year old, Jack. (espcially since THIS is the last “portrait” we have of him!)
The setup was still in place from the Twin’s portraits, so we just plugged Jack & Conner into the same spot, crossed our fingers and hoped that the little dude would cooperate.
…..Not bad considering his attention level lasted long enough to make about 15 frames…….
….Conner was a bit more cooperative…..but then again he’s not exactly very mobile…….
It’s been awhile since I photographed my twin nieces and nephew, and since they were over for dinner last night, we knocked out a few new portraits…….
And even though he ends up with a cute portrait……’bugga isn’t quite as interested in having his picture taken as he used to be…….click HERE for some of his previous modeling work!
I caught A LOT of grief when Jack was born over the fact that it took about two weeks for me to put anything on the blog. So this time around I managed to improve my birth-to-blog ratio by well over a week!
…..about 2 minutes old…….
For those of you that don’t know….Conner had to spend a couple of days in the NICU in order to clear out some fluid that stayed in his lungs. Luckily Little Jack was still able to drop in and help his Mom with Conner’s bottles!
Everyone so far has said that Conner and Jack look almost identical as newborns. See for yourself HERE
OK, no more hospital clothes….I got my car seat…..let’s get outta here!
Out of all the newborn photographs from last week, this one is far and away my favorite picture. Amy had just changed Conner’s clothes and was getting ready to put him in his car seat to head home, and Jack climbed up on to the bed to see what was going on. Even though he had already hung out with his new baby brother quite a bit over the past few days, when Conner looked back at Jack, Jack flashed this look that seems to say “Come on kid….let’s go home…I’ve got a lot of cool stuff to show ya!” It’s amazing that even though Conner had only been around three days at this point, Jack has already taken on the roll of a loving big brother.
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