iheartfaces: a favorite january face

sitting on the balcony

in late morning sunshine

a sparkle in her eyes

we two chatting about stuff

i caught this sliver of a moment

she looking at me

smiling with her eyes

She is my favorite sweet January face.

Visit all of the other favorite January faces at iheartfaces and vote for your favorite!

the serious side of mr. brown

When I moved away from our mutual home town in 2005 I was left with an image of a young boy, a pastor's kid, following his dad around the church campus, tolerating the pestering of his two younger sisters. 

His mom and I had scheduled these pictures long ago in late summer/early fall and because of life stuff, we just had not been able to connect. So when we finally met up on Saturday, I stepped out of my car and was met with this football-carrying, ukulele-playing, slipper-wearing, high school senior.

Where did time go? Who was this man?

I'm about to gush here (and I feel free to do so because, geez, I am old enough to be his mom) because I feel like you all are thinking it too so I might as well say it...

I think I found the next Calvin Klein model. 

Seriously. Don't mean to embarrass you Mr. Brown but that black pea-coat was a great wardrobe choice if I do say so myself.

I thought I would save the ukulele/slipper pictures for another post because I couldn't stand to take away from this little black and white collection of what I am dubbing, "The Serious Side of Mr. Brown".

And, Mr. Brown,  I know you are thinking about majoring in International Relations but you might want to consider taking a side job and contacting Mr. Klein.

Just throwing that out there. 

If any of you want to chime in and agree with me, feel free to do so.

***

(Special note for Senior Mr. Brown: While editing these pictures I felt like I should be listening to some vintage U2. Second picture up from the bottom....Larry Mullen Jr. in the early days. Yes?)

you learn something new everyday...

capturing innocence

What happened when I told them that if they knocked too hard on the guest cottage door they might disturb Grover and Elmo, who were trying to take their afternoon naps...

I may have scarred them for life. (Forgive me Mom.) But are not Little Sister's expressions so priceless? And I love that you can see Big Sis' thought wheels spinning: Is this lady for real? Are Grover and Elmo really in there sleeping? Hmmmm....

I heart kids.

Pink Tuesday

Since yesterday was a little blue/tuna'ish I just thought I would post some happy pink photos I am working on for my friend who is the mama to Faith. Remember her? The photos were a gift to her so I am editing my way through them, smiling as I go. A few days ago I had the chance to hold Faith and in the middle of talking to her mama I looked down to discover that Faith had discovered her thumb and was sucking it like it was the most amazing thing in the whole wide world. Which it probably was in her world cause babies are pretty much simple that way. Anyway, made me happy.

When I came to take Faith's pictures her mom and I had brought some pink swaths of fabric with visions of bows and sweet cherubs dancing in her eyes. Faith wanted nothing to do with any of it. Part of the problem was that she did not like being put down, but I had this suspicion that this is what she was truly trying to express....

Do not ever underestimate the power of a baby to passionately express what she is feeling. This is totally the baby thing to do. What a privilege to try and decipher it all huh? :)

And here are more that made me smile. They are not pink but still....

found

It is Monday.
I awoke this morning feeling like I could sleep another day but I rolled out of bed and shuffled my way downstairs. I am not a coffee drinker but this morning I probably could have joined the dark side if someone had pushed a cup into my hand. As I rounded the corner into the kitchen I noticed an almost empty bowl of tuna sitting on the counter. I picked it up and brought it over to the sink but then decided to just put some plastic wrap over it and eat the last couple of bites for a snack later (because I hate wasting food). As I turned and walked over to the drawer to grab the plastic wrap I felt the bowl tumble right out of my hands, hurl into the kitchen cabinets and then smash into a million pieces. I stood frozen staring at the tuna splatter on the kitchen cabinets, thinking that if this were an episode of CSI the forensic team would certainly be able to decipher what had happened: the tuna splatter was indicative of a forward lateral bowl release causing tuna bits to smack in a perfect fan-pattern on the cabinet. (Though the one chunk of bowl my hubby found ten feet behind me on the family room carpet was a bit random?)

My second thought was...this was so not worth saving the two bites of tuna.

My third thought was...hello Monday.

We cleaned up the tuna. I grabbed a small cup of cereal with almond milk, sat down to the computer to look at pictures from yesterday's family adventure and felt this overwhelming blue'ish feeling wash over me from head to toe. In my world, Blue is a familiar friend to exhaustion and stress. Perhaps you know him too?

In my restlessness I found this picture from a few days ago. She was a somber little girl, always on the outside of the circle, quietly observing her classmates. A few minutes before this picture she was on the outside of the block circle watching her friends play "puppies". When I discovered the block window I lifted my camera to capture the scene through the window and there she was observing me. I had been found.

Sometimes in my yuck-o moments I just want to cease to exist. Disappear for a moment and find myself alone in a hammock on a deserted island.

And then sometimes I think deep down I just want to be found. Like turn the corner and catch my breath to find all along God has seen me. Not just carelessly and distantly watching me, but watching me with an intimate passionate love of one who knows me...my beginning and end and all the days in between.

I know it is true that indeed his eyes never leave me, but on a blue tuna Monday I need a reminder.

good times

The last twenty-four hours of my life....

  

We ate together. 

We read books.
We helped with baby brother.
We celebrated when baby sister used the potty.
We brushed teeth together.
We gathered in the bathroom to watch me put on make-up.
We shared a swipe of honey-flavored chap stick.
We went through my over-night bag. And my make-up bag twice.
We ate scones and blueberries.
We attempted photos at Nana's.
We jumped off of the bed.
We visited preschool.
We cried when we couldn't have the My Little Pony fruit chewies.
We sang The Wheels on the Bus.
We ran.
We asked a lot of questions.

We had such a fun time that we vowed to do it again. It was truly a fun twenty-four hours and it was nice to be so adored.

(Man I'm looking forward to an early bed time.)

sometimes love just aches

Bean and I were in the backyard the other day. It was damp and gray and cold and her face was the only light and color that could be found. The only thing worthy of a shutter click.

I am leaving for a 24 hour trip to visit a friend and I did not want to let go when I squeezed her good-bye before school this morning.

I love her so much it hurts.

taking the higher view

I know, lately I have this thing for bird's eye views. But you see, I tried a few perspectives but couldn't get all of the kids in the shot and I so wanted to capture all of them, with all of their gaming devices. (Well except that poor kid in the right corner who is regretting that he didn't charge the battery in his.) A perch on the bed with my lens at its widest angel and I felt like I was peering down from the ceiling like a hovering, ghostly observer. 

As I snapped it I had a brief moment of perspective. How come I never take this perspective with my own life?  In the middle of my chaos, tears, quiet, or quarrels I could simply stop and climb the ladder, snap on my wide angle lens, and view my moment from a mosquito's view. No, a wall-crawling spider's view. Wait, how about an angel's view? 

Hovering a bit, I just might discover that leaving the earth releases the tethers of emotional and mental ruts. It brings everything and everyone into an unemotional, nonpartisan, clarifying view. (Any more adjectives you wanna add?)

I miss important details when I'm stuck in my earthly, self-centered worn out spot. Details like, there is more going on than what I can see. There are other stories I may be missing. Or, maybe, just maybe, I am not the only one inhabiting this planet.

Well then, that's humbling. 

Won't you join me in climbing the ladder this week? There's clarity up there that I have been missing and I need a fresh view. Maybe you do too?

p.s. on a funnier note: I thought this photo was chuckle-worthy...and a bit telling. I find it funny that there is a language being spoken amongst this crew that I have not a clue how to speak. It is a world I have, nor ever will enter. It is telling in that it reveals what our culture now defines as "playing with friends": meeting up in a fantasy world to compete against each other for points and status. This picture proves that I am now one of the "older" people in the room.

birthday bounce

It's your birthday...

you bounce
you laugh
you swish your hair up in the air
you request pasta for dinner and cake for dessert (carb? what's a carb?)
you dress up for a fashion show and charge an entrance fee
you watch some Tinkerbell on t.v.
you impatiently wait to open your presents
you are the last person to finish your slice of cake, savoring every bite
you don your new favorite pj's and show them to everyone
you let your Uncle Mo carry you to bed and tickle you till you exhaust yourself with laughter

Doesn't everyone celebrate life this way?

Weekend smile

I have never been a person who is ritualistic. The very thought of a ritual makes me squirm. But today I am admitting that I have formed a ritual that has become obsessive. Like please don't ever ask me to stop. **

Every morning after my eyes flutter open I reach for my iPod to check the time and then check in on two blogs. Both are of the type that document the hilarious moments of motherhood. One is written by a high school friend who has two beautiful, yet goofy, daughters and the other is written by a "blogging friend" who has a young Star Wars obsessed son.

It is with great restraint that I keep from writing totally LOL'd! on every post and I dare you to restrain yourself as well.

Go visit And Another Thing... and Smacksy to receive your daily laugh. And don't just read today's posts, scroll through the last month, or year.




**Lately I have been rolling over only to discover that Bean has been quietly creeping in to my room in the early morning hours to snag my iPod and play Lil' Pirates. Apparently someone else has a little ritual of her own.

Oh yes, there have been words.