glasses for Miss E.

So a few weeks ago the kids and I were all in the kitchen getting dinner ready.  It was getting late and dinner still wasn't on the table.  So I said, "Kids it's getting late.  We need to get this dinner on the table." :)

Emma says to me after squinting for too long at the microwave clock across the kitchen, "It's not that late.  It's only 5:30." 

Ummmmm...It's 7:30.  I think to myself.  Okay.  So Mike and I both have bad eye genes.  We figured we would pass this sweet gift on to our children so we've been on the look out for it.  Emmett needed glasses when he was in the 1st grade.  Mike needed glasses when he was in the 4th grade and I needed glasses when I was in the 5th grade.

SIDE NOTE:  I think I actually needed them before that but my sister, Danita, ended up getting glasses.  And I so didn't want to tell my parents that I needed glasses and have them think I was copying her just so I could get some.  (Uh...yes, I've done crazy, ridiculous things just so that I wouldn't be like someone else since before 5th grade.)  So I squinted at the board for a while.  The day I got glasses and was driving home from the doctor's office with my mom I was so excited.  I said, "Mom, I can see that the trees have leaves!"  I have no idea how long I'd been seeing them as just a glob of green.  I also loved to take off my glasses every 5 seconds when I was at school and clean them with my cute little white cloth and bottle of spritz cleaner.  Yes, the boy next to my desk DID tease me about that.

Back to the story of Miss Emma.  This test is just up Emmett's alley (he loves tests...he and Mike like to sit around and quiz each other about things).  So...Emmett immediately springs into action with a series of vision tests that he creates to see what Emma can and cannot see.  We discover that she clearly can NOT see past about 10 feet.  The next day I called to set up an appointment for her.

The following day at school she told her teacher that she was going to the eye doctor and that she was going to get purple glasses.  There's no changing her mind once she makes it up.  So, no matter how much I tried to convince her that this pair of glasses was cute or that pair of glasses was a great color, she picked the purple pair.  And really, they are the cutest pair of glasses on her because of the way her eyes light up about them when she wears them. 

changing. LIFE.

I have to say that this image just cracks me up.  What the heck is Miss Miriam doing?  And Emma..."What glasses?  I have a lose tooth..."

I love these photographers.

I'm always inspired every time I look through their images and portfolios.  Many of the photographs are them just walking the streets of their town, some of them are portrait sittings, and some are completely set up shots.  Either way their use of light, circumstances, locations, situations...all of it are completely inspiring.  I love the opportunity to have my creativity sparked as I look through their work and think about how I can better capture the essence and depth of a person or a relationship without manipulating it too much or how to use light more to my advantage or see light in a new way. (Just click on a book to go to a link to purchase.  I have a lot more books I love here, too.)

Dorothea Lange.  Willly Ronis.  Robert Doisneau.

Gracie below searching her 'booklist' for inspiration when she got home from preschool today...

learn. LIFE.

the real thing.

I've got some new projects in the works this month.  One of them will be launching on Thursday and you won't want to miss it...especially if you're a mom with a business (hint:  I'm in cahoots with some other women).

The other project is me.  After seeing my friend, Kelly Moore, do an stunning self portrait session I decided that there just aren't enough pictures in the world of me for my kids.  There aren't pictures of the every day, mundane things that I do with them...the things that really mean something...the things that if they didn't happen or if I wasn't here they'd be missed the most.  A lot of it is just me being a mom, me just being around, me just being here.  Doing the same ol' ol'.

Really, though, life is made up of the just being there for someone...through the ins and the outs, the ups and the downs.  So I want my kids to see that I've been there in the little ways...that we've had fun together, that I've done the being there things.  I also just want them always be able to see me in case for some reason they don't.  I don't want to be just this faceless person on the other side of the camera that came out from behind it for the occassional shot.

So...this month is about self portraits of me doing what I do every day.  I won't always look pretty or cute or whatever.  But it will be me doing what I do to just to get through the day.

So tonight I made cookies for the kids and we read.  We actually finished The Giver tonight and I have to admit I got a little choked up.  We had big conversations about the ending and I loved sitting around talking about it.  I love that when we read my kids end up just all over the place around me...especially when we read on a Sunday after church.

Because we have a 40 minute drive to church these days the kids always bring the book we've been reading so that I can read it in the car.  When we get home from church I never do get out of my dress because we walk in the door and they are already saying, "Don't stop Mom!  Keep reading!  We have to know what's going to happen!"  So I sit on the couch and read and read.  The kids lay around me and eventually we finish and then we talk about it the rest of the night.

Tomorrow the kids will each probably come up to me at some point in the day and talk to me about Jonas and baby Gabe and do I really think that the book ended....(I won't say HOW it ended for those of you who are going to read it...and you totally should!).  But they will talk about it tomorrow...and I love the talking.  I love that they think and wonder about the characters in the books we read.  I love that they're concerned and that they want the people we've come to love to feel the things that they feel.

It's beautiful.  I loved sitting around the table eating cookies and just being together. 

So...here's me today...still in my Sunday dress...reading and making cookies...feeling like I just had a perfect episode of "Leave it to Beaver"- with- June- Cleaver- Sunday -afternoon.

perfect. LIFE.

the many faces of Gracie.

I found these images of Gracie enjoying the last of a bowl of vanilla yogurt and fresh strawberries (one of my fave healthy treats) and just had to post her antics.

Gracie is so much fun. She loves to laugh, pretend, hug, play, run, ride her bike, bake cookies, get out more than one game at a time, cuddle, be read to, cuddle up with the softest blanket she gave me, sing any Faith Hill or Carrie Underwood song at the top of her lungs complete with deep emotion and performance, say the sweetest things, draw pictures of her and I together, and work it for the camera.

Gracie is silly, she totally can take and give a joke (even though she's only four), she loves to pray and she totally gets that Jesus loves her and everyone else in the world,  and she can be pretty patient.
She loves to have fun and and has what seems like endless energy.  She feels close to people and misses them deeply when they are away. 

I love her...deeply.

She's wonderful.

love. LIFE.

the old lady.

I got to be at Keri and Keith's wedding two years ago and they still like to kiss just as much as they ever did.  I LOVE hanging out with Keri and Keith.  They are so relaxed about each other, so kind to each other, and just have a really wonderful time together.

I was so excited when they got in touch with me about doing a little shoot with them when I came into town a couple of weeks ago.  They told me that they had a new addition to their family...the old lady. 

The Old Lady is a 1963 BMW motorcycle.  It's got a great vintage look and it's just huge...and HEAVY.  They wanted to make sure to capture the fun they are having with this awesome new ride.  I was envious of Keri getting to ride on the back of it and near the end of the shoot I got the chance to grab a couple of rides on the back with the wind whipping through my hair.  (Side note:  I've been completely against my husband getting a motorcycle.  I keep telling him his not allowed to leave me while we've got 4 kids to take care of...so that, of course, means we are not getting a motorcycle.  I told Keri and Keith after getting the chance to ride The Old Lady my husband would probably be calling them up to say thank you! It was super stinkin' fun!)

As you can see The Old Lady has made herself right at home with Keri and Keith.  (I love the Audrey Hepburn look of Keri's scarf around her head...)  We had so much fun trying to get the perfect shot of them in the street  We even went to a really cool cemetary.  We went back to the place that we visited the day that Keri and Keith got married for old times sake.  The yellow building looks like a place you may stop fo a little bite of something while you're motoring around Italy so it fit perfectly. 

I love the shot of them riding on the motorsycle in black and white near the end!  I think it looks like they are riding through France or something.

Thanks, Keri and Keith for letting me meet The Old Lady...

fun. LIFE.