This is me....now.

I am a...

God trusting,

husband loving,

children cherishing,

camera toting,

picture snapping,

zebra-print obsessing,

spicy food craving,

belly laughter loving,

gossip magazine reading,

garden growing,

vaccine delaying,

Italian food savoring,

children's feet adoring,

Jimmy Buffett listening,

summer loving,

girl.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

My Photography Journey....

So it's officially been a year that I've been doing photography. That amazes me. When I think about the learning curve I've gone through this past year I nearly giggle. Don't get me wrong, I still have so much to learn, but as I've always said that is part of what I love about it.

Growing...learning...pushing myself. It feels good to do that - in fact I've found I crave it.

I've found that I often look at so many things through a photographers eye now...as if I am looking at the world through the lens of my camera. When I see vivid colors I think of the saturation of them. I no longer look at images in a magazine and just flip through them - I am constantly looking at them from the photographers point of view....questioning things like lighting and camera settings. It's never ending.

The whole world of photography is huge....but inch by inch...session by session...I'm making my own little mark.

And that feels good.

Below are just a few of my favorite pictures from an array of recent sessions...

"I have a lot to prove to myself. One is that I can live my life fearlessly."

--Oprah

The things the kiddos say....

I've always been a fan of the adorable things children say. Way back when I was teaching I even had a journal where I wrote some of my favorite quotes down. To this day it cracks me up to go back and read them. Eva and Jaden are both at an age where some of the things that come out of their mouths have me both laughing...and sometimes crying because I am so touched. I thought I would share a few of my recent favorites...

The moon is a big deal at our house. We often say, "I love you to the moon and back" to eachother and Jaden especially is always noticing when the moon is in the sky. On a recent business trip in Canada Matt sent Eva and Jaden a picture of the moon from his phone. The kiddies and I were out and about so we pulled over and took a picture of the moon here to send to him. I explained to them that even though Daddy is far away...the exact same moon is shining down on all of us. Eva sat quietly and watched the moon out of her car window and then quietly said to me, "Mommy, what if the moon doesn't follow us home tonight?"

I loved it...and got a little teary eyed. My little girl thought that the reason we can always see the moon is because it was following us...and following her Daddy too. Such a precious little thought.

*********************

On a much sillier note, Jaden has been fighting a cold lately. On the way to pick Eva up from school today he said he wanted some juice. I responded, "That's a good idea buddy! A little juice might feel good on your throat."

He looked completely panicked, started crying, and said, "I don't want to put it on my throat!!! I want to DRINK it!!!!!"

I couldn't hold in my laughter.

Organizing the School Year Momentos...

I am not a scrapbooker. There...I admit it.

I do not have time to scrapbook and when I have given it an honest effort in the past all I ended up doing was freaking out because I was continuously behind in my efforts. For those of you that do scrapbook - you amaze me. Period.

That being said, I do like to have things organized for my children. Now that Eva has started school there has been on onslaught of papers that have come home. Some of them I put up on our wall (our fridge is stainless steel so it's not magnetic...we have a special side cabinet wall in our kitchen we use to showcase special things). Other papers I look over and then (of course when the little ones are not looking) end up in the trash. Then there are some that mean a lot to me and I want to save.

The problem was what to do with it all (especially since I don't scrapbook and did NOT want a huge bin full of random papers).

Ahhhhh.....about the time I was fretting about this I had become a fan of Sandy's blog over at the Reluctant Entertainer. She had an idea on her blog to keep those papers organized that was sheer genius! I've been using it for a year now and I absolutely LOVE it.

I purchased a large white plain binder. I put cute scrapbook paper in the cover, added Eva's name and the years of schooling the binder will cover, and decorated it...

Inside I put a bunch of clear plastic report covers. When Eva would bring something home that I wanted to save I would just slip it into the plastic cover!! That's it!!!

Here are some examples of things that made it into Eva's book last year....

Special Art Projects

Pictures she would draw (love this one of Mickey Mouse)...
Copies of notes to Eva's teacher...as well as some notes her teacher gave her...

Gifts that she made (this was how she wrapped my Mother's Day gift)...

As time goes on I'll continue to add special things to her binder...sports memorabilia, fieldtrip experiences, awards, etc. Anything that means a lot to her and our family.

Thanks so much to Sandy for giving me this amazing idea!!! I hope that it also helps some of my readers get organized this school year!

It's official...

Everything I needed to learn about life I learned in Kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain...but there in the sand pile at school. Here is what I learned...

Share everything.

Play fair.

Don't hit people.

Put things back where you found them.

Clean up your own mess.

Don't take things that aren't yours.

Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat.

Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and work and dance and play some every day.

When you go out into the world watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.

Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and we nobody really knows why but we are all like that.

Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.

Remember the first word you learned - the biggest word of all: LOOK

And it's still true, no matter how old you are - when you go out into the world it's best if you hold hands and stick together.

I officially have a kindergartner.

Eva's first day was today and it went beautifully.

P.S. Posted 3 posts today!

TAN-DEN-BALLLLL!!!!!!!

We have been soaking in this warm weather for all it's worth! I loooooove the heat - no complaints here! This also means we've been spending a lot more time in our pool. The kiddies love to swim and I enjoy playing with them too!

One of their favorite pool activities this summer has been learning how to do a cannonball! Eva is getting pretty good at it. Jaden, on the other hand, refuses to jump off the side of the pool so he stands on one of the steps and does his cannonball. What cracks us up is that right before he jumps he always yells out, "TAN-DEN-BALLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!"

Seriously.....makes me smile every. single. time.

"Summer afternoon...summer afternoon...to me those have always been two of the most beautiful words in the English language."

--Henry James

Punked.

Matt and I woke up this past weekend to a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the birds were chirping!

We walked out to get the morning paper and WHAM....this is what we saw....

Yep...not even October yet and the fun has started! Those of you that know me know that I looooove a good TP job! My sis, bro-in-law, neighbors, and a few other friends sure made our home look awfully pretty!!!! You can't see it in the pictures but they even did a lot of sidewalk chalk pictures that were hilarious!! They most definitely had me cracking up and running around the yard like a little child to look at everything!!! LOVED it!!

On top of that, my children now appreciate a good TP job (we even had Eva help TP our neighbors last year) and as soon as they saw it they said, "Can we go TPing now?!!!!" Hee-Hee! You better believe that I will most definitely be the mother driving around my teenage children to TP...and probably helping them do it! There is no harm done if it's all in good fun!!!

The best part about the whole thing is that our neighbors on one side of us do not speak a LICK of English. When we walked out to look at it they were standing in their driveway staring at it completely gobsmacked. Poor things. We couldn't even explain to them that it was a joke...they wouldn't have understood!!!

Thanks to Nicole, Jeff, Kelly, Heather, and the Finks for putting a smile on our faces!!! You guys rock!

Shootin' Some B-ball....

I know I've posted a lot lately about Eva's love of sports. But you're gonna have to sit through one more post because tonight my little girl left me speechless.

Let me explain.

We were outside shooting baskets and after a few minutes Eva said, "Mommy, count how many I make!!"

It's a game we often play (note: it's not how many she makes in a row, just how many total) and Eva loves to do it.

Welllllll........

See that picture above? That is Eva making her 100th basket. We stopped counting once she got to 110. I was absolutely floored. Not only in her ability to make 110 baskets (not even sure I could do that), but in the fact that at 5 years old she stuck with it and was determined to first make 25...then 50...then 75...and finally 100.

Yep, I'm one proud Mama.

"The more I practice, the luckier I get."
--Jerry Barber

A little "me" time....for two of us.

So my friend Kim and I enjoyed our annual girls only trip last week. Each year we try to get away - just the two of us - for some quality friend time. As our families have grown we have realized just how important this time is. Kim and I are both busy mommies and while we DO spend a lot of time together it is sometimes hard to get an entire conversation in with all of our children buzzing around us. Don't get us wrong - we wouldn't change it for the world - but again, quality time together is important. On top of that we both have amazing husbands that also understand how much we put into raising our families...and are more than willing to give us a little time to "recharge our batteries" so to speak.

Soooo...we headed to a nearby lake town for some rest and relaxation. We drove up leisurely (no potty breaks)...we meandered through some quaint little shops (no reminders "not to touch anything")...we enjoyed lunch (no highchairs or kiddie menus, in fact we sat at the bar). Afterwards we made our way to the beach.

And what did we do there?

A whooooole lotta NOTHIN'.

And it was heaven.

Late that afternoon we checked into our little spa suite (very cool) and leisurely got ready for dinner (no bedtimes to worry about). We lingered over dinner...enjoyed some wine...and a lot of great laughs.

We hit a bar, enjoyed a cocktail, and mingled with some of the "locals" (was that Kim doing the bunny hop??!)....fun times.

When we got home we sat in bed like two little school girls talking and giggling.

The next day we spent a good hour at a local coffee shop. Sometimes it's amazing to me the amount of world problems that can be conquered with a good friend over a cup of coffee...or tea.

After solving allll world issues we headed back out for some more shopping (does that surprise anyone) and then we headed home to our families.

I feel so blessed that I have wonderful friends that love me, encourage me, and laugh with me. Thanks Kim for an awesome time....looking forward to next year already.