iLife.

This is manmade granola.

Or should I say, babymade granola.

And it’s the kind of thing I like to record for posterity on my iPhone.

Because really, it’s quite talented of a baby to be able to place the correct ingredients (in this case, Nutrigrain, Jellybeans, Broccoli, and other Trade Secret ingredients) between his high chair liner and cover, then instinctually know the correct mush-and-press power for the exact right amount of days, weeks, or months to create such a high quality product.

I’m pretty sure some hipster in Denver would pay big bucks for that product.

I suppose it should also be noted that his food-repurposing talents come from his mother.

Food seems to be a regular pattern in my iPhotos.  Although oftentimes, it’s to capture an extremely frustrating moment – as if photographing it somehow makes it less traumatic.

Sometimes this applies to non-food-related tragedy as well.

Why do these visual stories of despair get saved for all eternity on my electronic appendage?  I have no idea.  But I am positive that it helped in the moment.

Naturally, there are a lot of photos of my children on my iPhone.  For instance, when they have exceptional moments of self-chosen-coordination,

Or just moments of exceptional dexterity.

I record their responses to power outages, an oft-experienced phenomena in our house.

The girl – she waves the power trucks down with welcoming fronds.

The boy – he welcomes them with more of a New Orleans flair.

Despite the horrible iPhone camera properties, I sometimes get lucky and catch an expression that makes me want to blow it up and frame it, despite how ridiculously grainy it would be.

Sometimes I photograph random objects, meaning nothing to the naked eye, but somehow hoping that if I record the object, I’ll remember the story behind it.

Example A:

We had been given a single flower at the grocery store, along with the above packet of “flower medicine.”  Ali was scrutinizing the instructions in the back seat in preparation for the proper care of her flower when we arrived home.

“Okay Mommy.  It says that 1. you pour the packet in a bowl.  Then 2. you pour water in.  Then 3. you cut the end of the stem, and then 4. it turns into three flowers!!!”

Example B:

I went to a girl’s night out dinner and sat next to Lindsay, my sister-in-law.  I read her VBS-Mommy-Identification bracelet, and I totally read her kid’s group name as being “Hell Ya.”

That was quite the Vacation Bible Study.

I’m terrible at keeping track of Ali’s momentous papers, so I photograph them.

Such as her packing list for the beach:

“We ned a pelo a bange we ned a noisemakr we ned sum frins sum sutfd we ned a blo up bed we need han sop som snacs papr tawls wep wypse”

The disproportionately large number of cleaning supplies listed did give me reason for concern…

She’s also started labeling the backs of her favorite photos…

I also find it helpful to record the gory, such as the progress of my quickly re-dilapidating foot.

Fortunately, I do like the color purple.

I record my son’s stripping habit,

coffee habit,

 

And the results thereof.

I photograph oddities, in hopes of one day blogging about them.  Such as the curious notion of a convertible…SUV?

I love to capture moments of family togetherness,

And irony.

Because the kid who screams to get out of his own padded, roomy stroller also screams to get into his sister’s butt-pinchingly-small three dollar doll stroller.

What moments do you tend to iCapture?