In a college photography class, Sue Tenerowicz was introduced to letter art. Her assignment that was to go out in the world and find letters that the world created.  Then spell something.

She says, “A simple idea, but the concept stuck with me.”

“I’ve always used words in pictures to send a special message. Sometimes, it was a message written in the snow, captured in a photo, and sent to a loved one. Other times it was an “I Love You,” written in the sand to capture a beautiful testament with a glowing sunset on the beach.”

“When my husband, Rob, and I moved back to the Bay Area with our boys, I started noticing the letters that were all around us – like the great H on the span of the Golden Gate Bridge. I kept seeing letters in everything from fences to flowers.  It brought me back to that college assignment.”

I want to do this with my kids! I think it would be so much fun to go out on hunts for letters in their names, snap photos and then print them out for a bulletin board or the door of their room. (Although I’m sort of envying my friends who named their kids Max and Ty right now. I don’t know if any of us have the attention span to seek out Julian and Scarlett.)

I used images from Sue's site to make Scarlett's name

Want to try this?
Here are three ways to go (the first being the most hands-on):

1. Take your children on amazing scavenger hunts until you find (and photograph!) all the letters. Print your photos and choose one of these multi-photo frames to display your masterpiece.
2. Find your letters on flickr using this fun tool. Print and frame.
3. Let Sue do all the work for you and buy your chosen word from her on her website SpellItOutPhotos.com

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Letter art not your thing? Choose another fun makin’ it project from our growing list.

After returning from a jaunt to Tahoe with his toddler, Ainslie, our friend Doug gave me tips on fun stuff to do in the snow. (That’s right old friends, I’m embarrassed to admit it but snow is something we visit out here — not endure. And we “jaunt”).

For the baby set:
Walk around with Bjorn and congratulate yourself for being active.

Sharon reports:

We would have normally planned to go snow shoeing or skiing and planned a romantic dinner out. But we spent our time walking around the village, shopping a little, having a nice dinner, going for a long walk, and taking lots of pictures of Ainslie.

Our friends, Doug and Sharon, are total bad-asses. So, when they recommend to take it easy with your rookie baby, you should listen.

Last year, Whitney and I did their 22 mile charity bike ride and were proud to complete it. Sharon did the whole thing 6 months pregnant while Doug had a 30-pound toddler in the bike trailer.

Since my New Year’s resolution every year since Julian was born has been to walk 10,000 steps a day, and so far I have failed miserably, I have a new piece of advice for myself. I should be doing as many errands as I can on foot. I did so much better when I was on maternity leave and then when I was working 4-hour days. Now, I’m not doing nearly as much walking.

If you are reading this looking for a suggestion for the day, this is it: Run errands. For reals, girls, run them. Ok, walk if you’re not a runner. Put the kid in the stroller, backpack or front carrier and head out the door to the place you need to go. If it’s within two miles, this is a reasonable feat. For most of us, however, I’d guess we can get food or necessities less than two miles from home. We can do it. If you do it, come back here and brag. I’ll give you a virtual pat on the back. This is your 49th rookie mom challenge.

P.S. If you live up in the hills, you can drive to the bottom of the hill and start from there.

This challenge, your 48th, goes out to all the urban mamas who need a scavenger hunt for the day.

Take a picture of your baby in front of graffiti – as explained by Dutch, the dad who writes on Sweet Juniper. He has an awesome set of Flickr photos that inspired us to do this. We set out to find the best graffiti in Berkeley and packed up the boys and our cameras. Now, we have to get really brave and try all four five kids!

Please share your attempts here in our comments or on the Rookie Moms Facebook page. If you have any tips on getting your kid to stay put while you take the pictures, let’s hear them.

Your baby too young? Choose another challenge.

Your 42nd weekly challenge is a seasonal photo assignment. You can’t take a bad picture in a pumpkin patch. Good assignment, right? Find a pumpkin patch. Go. Take pictures.

Use hay as a background, too.

photo: backpacktobuggy

photo: Marketing Mommy

If you do this, we would LOVE to see your photos on our rookiemoms facebook page. Is your baby too little or is it the wrong season where you live? Choose another challenge.

Whitney ran into my friend Jeanine outside her house. Jeanine was helping her 9-month old daughter, Pepper, touch some furry lavender sticking out from Whitney’s garden, and didn’t realize whose house it was. The girls had been going on a sensory tour of the neighborhood.

Try it yourself to keep the neighborhood walks interesting:

1. Stop and smell the flowers.
2. Lean in so your baby can touch a fuzzy leaf.
3. Look at the bright colors and shadows.
4. Step on crunchy leaves and sticks, rustle paper or candy wrappers (err, I mean Luna Bar).
5. Are you eating or drinking something your baby can share? Squeezable applesauce maybe?

This is your 38th challenge. This baby tour of your block is great preparation for walking with a toddler.

Share your experiences in the comments.

This week’s challenge is a summery activity for babies that can sit up on their own; this is your 34th challenge.

These ten-month olds (Theo, Del, Julian and Paxton) are having so much fun slurping on plastic toys and touching one another’s toes that they don’t realize their moms are having fun too.

Ingredients for a successful Margarita Mommies Group:

1. Shady backyard on a nice, warm day
2. Kiddie Pool with a couple inches of water
3. Mom-sized lawn chairs with toes dipping in the water
4. Plastic pitcher of margaritas with plastic cups
5. Splashing babies (diapers optional) — keep them in the shade or slather heavily with sunscreen before the party starts!
6. Daddies available to pick up mommy and baby afterward

This was suggested by my hairdresser as an awesome way to enjoy the summer!

Did you complete this challenge? Share your story and pictures.

• Comment below with details.
• Share a picture with us on Facebook.

Do you hate this challenge? Yeah, we’ve heard that one before. Go on, tell us why you hate it in our comments. Then pick another activity from our challenge list.

Dear readers, this contest is closed. We will contact the winner offline. Peace out.

Did you see the post last month where Whitney showed how her kids used the summer fun kit from GoGo SqueeZ? It cracked me up. Our children — born at the same hospital and living only 2 miles apart — could not be more different sometimes. Her kids corralled their stuffed animals with chalk circles and balanced bean bag pouches on their bellies.

My sons prefer to run all over the place throwing things at one another. In fact, one of my favorite pregnant games to play with them is a modified version of “fetch” where they chase after what I kick or throw. Stomp rockets, playground balls, and Frisbees are the tools in my arsenal for getting them to go-go-go while I sit-sit-sit.

About that giveaway:

The prize will be a “GoGo Time in the Summertime” kit valued at about $225 like this one pictured including Flip UltraHD Video Camera – White, 8 GB, 2 Hours; play gear like throwing discs and those cherished bean bags; tasty GoGo SqueeZ applesauce; and a large canvas tote bag to carry it all.

To enter: Answer how your childhood memories of playing outside are different from what your child experiences today. We’ll choose one random commenter on August 25, 2011.

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Note: GoGo squeeZ compensated us for participation in this project.We hope you like the outdoor toys and video camera so that you can capture your family’s own special brand of outdoor fun.

When I was a kid, during recess you’d find me reading, playing jacks, or just sitting and talking with friends. Hence, my son’s daily deliveries of friendship bracelets and lanyards from day camp that tell me how he’s spending his time there are not surprising. I have not yet picked him up at the end of the day and heard a friend shout, “Great dodgeball game today, Julian!” Sports are just not his thing. Yet.

My kids are always game to play in our backyard, but exactly what they play is not the most strenuous of games. Drawing with chalk, hiding and finding treasures, and pretending to be in a stage performance are the standard activities. I usually try to give them some physical challenges like cartwheels, hula hooping, and long jumping (as measured with chalk) to get their muscles working.

Since I genuinely love the product, I was excited when GoGo squeeZ wanted to work with Rookie Moms. They sent us a bag of squeezy pouches in apple strawberry, apple peach, and apple cinnamon flavors — and a sampling of outdoor toys to make getting our “GoGo time” more fun.

When I sent them outside to interact with the new toys, Scarlett and Julian started making chalk circles, classifying their Webkinz animals by species, and then challenging their plush friends to balance bean bags on their bodies. And that is their new favorite game. See them in action in this video I captured:

We certainly enjoyed our GoGo time in the backyard and will be playing this game on a daily basis. Does your family have any made-up games? What are the rules?

Note: GoGo squeeZ compensated us for participation in this project. Next month we’ll do a giveaway of a set of outdoor toys and a video camera so that you can capture your family’s own special brand of outdoor fun.

As promised, a few more “Moms on Bikes” pictures for cycling enthusiasts. To see me and Heather (6 months pregnant) on our cruisers, go back to this post.

Our friend Rachel on her due date in Copenhagen

Rachel returns home from the hospital after delivering Oscar a few days later.

Triplet tandem bike in Amsterdam, decorated to reduce likelihood of theivery. Via Bakfiets en Meer

Portland-style commuting, via Clever Cycles

Dutch-style bike in the UK (don’t miss baby in carseat in there!) via GlutenFreeKidsTravel.

But wait… there’s one more cute biking image on this page! Do you see it? Our book cover! (Look up at the top of the page, in the sidebar.)

Today’s thoughtful post about finding your groove as a twin mama is shared by Rachel Gurevich. Rachel mothers four amazing kids, writes about fertility for About.com because she has been there and done that. Thanks Rachel!

Twins are really cute in photographs. They make great viral video material, and the idea of having a best buddy for life is sweet. Caring for newborn twins, on the other hands, is not always sweet, cute, nor suitable to be videotaped and posted on YouTube.com. Not without lots of warnings for adult content. (That would be for the swearing, the crazy-no-sleep-blood-shot-eyes look, and the sore nipples – because if you think nursing one baby is hard in those first weeks, well…)

Don’t misunderstand me – I love my twins to death. (Almost literally, when you consider the fact that I thought caring for them in the early days would kill me.) I struggled to conceive for seven years, and when I learned of my double blessing, I laughed so hard in excitement that the ultrasound technician couldn’t do her job.

But I also cried, because while I was ecstatic to be getting a two babies at once, I *knew* this was not a two-for-the-price-of-one-deal. Twins do not lead to twice the work. It’s more like triple the work.

While our family custom is not to buy anything for the babies before they are born, we did buy car seats and a double stroller — car seats to take them home, and a double stroller so I could leave the house as soon as possible. This was, to me, extremely important.

I spent much of the pregnancy on low key bed rest. It wasn’t total bed rest, but I couldn’t do more than get myself to the doctor and back without having contractions and feeling like my back and my expanding tummy might break.

While with my older kids I was a baby wearing mom, I wanted a stroller for these two from the beginning. I have a Baby Bjorn and Ergo Carrier, but I needed to be realistic. Was my broken, out-of-shape, just-off-bed-rest body capable of baby wearing in those early months? No way.

My effort to be realistic did not take into account, however, how hard it is to get out of the house with twin newborns.

I tried a few times during the first weeks. I’d nurse one baby, nurse the other, supplement one baby, supplement the other, pump, change their diapers, get them dressed to go outside, go to the bathroom myself and then… it’d be time to start all over again. So I thought I’d wait until we had the whole feeding thing under control.

I tried again when I was only nursing and no longer pumping. But still, it seemed impossible. Nurse one, nurse the other, diaper one, diaper two, coat and socks for one, coats and socks for two, bring the stroller down the stairs, run back up for baby one, run down with baby one and strap him in, run back up for baby two, run back down and strap in baby two, start walking, and 10 minutes later, time to nurse again. Plus, I was physically exhausted before we managed the first block.

After giving this a try a few more times, I gave up. I sat at home and cried. I started to think I would never, ever go anywhere again. When I pictured my future, I saw myself on the couch, pale from lack of sunlight, a baby nursing at each breast, for the rest of my life.

I wallowed in self-pity for a few weeks. But as the weather got nicer, and my cabin fever grew, I became more determined to get out. I knew exercise and sunlight were key to kicking postpartum depression’s butt to the curb. I couldn’t just sit inside and cry forever. I never let nursing or any other baby related handicap keep me from getting outside with my older kids.

Plus, I had looked forward to having another baby for seven years – was this miserable, overwhelmed state how I wanted to remember their first year?

Then, I started to wonder if it really mattered how far we got on the walk. I mean, just getting the babies into the stroller – that was progress, right? And all those stairs, up and down with the babies, that was exercise, right? So even if we never got past the block, even if we never got further than strapping the twins into their seats, I was still doing something. I was still getting out of the house.

I promised myself that every day I would attempt to get out. And if I didn’t make it, I declared to myself that I would be ok with that. I wouldn’t see the end goal as a walk to a certain place. If I got my shoes on, and that’s all I could manage, I patted myself on the back for a job well done, even if the perfectionist in me tried to object. (I learned this seemingly simple and yet amazingly powerful mental trickery from Jennifer Louden’s Satisfaction Finder.)

The first few days, I got my shoes on, but not much further. Then, I started getting good at the whole stroller-baby-transfer process. I figured out how to save trips up and down, and I started to see the steps as part of the journey, not just an obstacle to overcome.

Eventually, I found myself going on real walks, almost every day of the week. Walks that covered several blocks, walks that lasted longer than 5 or 10 minutes. I started getting adventurous, taking turns down streets I didn’t know, for new views. Usually, I listened to music on my iPod, but sometimes I listened to audio classes or just enjoyed the sounds of nature and life.

My twins are 14 months now, and we go on a walk at least four times a week. These walks saved my sanity in the early days, and they continue to be a life saver now. In those early days, walking helped me get out of the house and enjoy some sunshine. These days, the walks allow me time for myself (in my head, anyway) and provide at least an hour of time when I’m not rescuing climbing toddlers from counter tops and bookshelves.

Once the twins fall asleep, as they often do during a walk, I’ll find a bench and do some cloud watching. Eventually, I’ll find myself staring at their precious faces, and that’s when I feel the love bubbling over in my heart. Because those walks give me inner peace and comfort, and they allow me to see the twins the way outsiders do – cute, sweet, and totally YouTube.com adorable.

Sending another big THANK YOU to Rachel for sharing her experiences with us for Twins Week. If you want more Rachel, check out her book, The Doula Advantage, which received endorsements from Dr. William Sears and parenting author Ann Douglas.

[Photo provided by Farrah Ritter]

The challenge for the day is to take advantage of a warm afternoon and feed your family outside; it’s time for a family picnic. It is so much easier to clean up Cheerio crumbs when I can just shake my blanket into the grass and leave the rest to the bugs.

I like to keep it simple by splitting planning duties with friends or just hitting the great outdoors with my lunch and my baby:

• Pack up the requisite baby gear during a naptime.
• Pick up your lunch at a favorite deli or take-out joint. In other words, don’t hurt yourself by cooking if you don’t have to.
• Head to your local park or favorite grassy patch with a blanket.
• Enjoy the first-rate free entertainment of light dancing through the leaves and cold, prickly grass. Watching other kids and dogs rounds out the fun. Holden can just sit there and watch a caterpillar (like for 30 whole seconds).

This is your twenty-eighth weekly challenge! Share your successes, attempts and photos with us here or on facebook.