Little Lovelies in a Lovely Spot

Last weekend, I was able to photograph some sweet sisters for the third time. (You can see their previous sessions here and here.) It has been such a pleasure to watch them grow!

We were able to do the session on a piece of private property that has me drooling every time I see it. It is truly spectacular, and if I lived there myself I'd probably never go indoors... and my camera would be permanently attached to my hand. Fortunately the owners are incredibly nice and allowed us to traipse around, following the girls and snapping photos as we went. I am so, so grateful for their generosity.

Here's a look at some of what we captured. These girls are absolutely darling little balls of energy -- constantly ready to explore and utterly fearless. I hope that they hang onto that curiosity and fearlessness as they grow. If they do, there will be no stopping them!

New Chapter

This handsome guy is starting a new chapter of his life. After spending a little time with him, I'm sure that he's ready to tackle more than just opponents on the high school football field. :)

Buddies

Sadly, our older dog is nearing the end of his life. We're not sure exactly how much longer he'll be with us, but we can all tell that it won't be a great deal of time. I think that one of my kids, in particular, is sensitive to that and is trying to show this old guy how much he's loved while he's still here. It is, at times, incredibly sweet.

Well, hello!

I realize that it has been a couple of months, but I'm ready to get back into the swing of many things, including work -- on a limited scale -- and updating the blog.

I didn't exactly plan to, but I sidelined this site for much of the summer so that I could travel with the family and focus on the kids when we were in town. I squeezed in a little work here and there, but for the most part I was in full mommy mode... and loving it. Well, liking it. Well... at points... tolerating it. I admit, I am one of those people who needs a creative outlet, as well as alone time and quiet, on a regular basis. (Quiet is something that is pretty much unheard of when any of my kids is around.) So while I did enjoy the lazy mornings with my yahoos and all of the togetherness that summer affords, I was ready for school to start last week. ;)

Of the many, many photos I've taken in the last weeks and months, I will grab a few of the most recent and most easily accessible. Here are my chickens on the first morning of the new school year.

Waking them up and finding them already chatting, with E's carefully laid-out "person" on his floor... (I just noticed the additions the girlie made to 2-D E.)



Foxy proudly mirroring her own "person":



Reading her note from her teacher (with a little help from her big bro, and her dad emptying the dishwasher while only partially awake):



Leave it to someone to look like a goofball... and no, that's not an actual corn dog on her plate, just a disgusting one-time-only sausage/pancake thing they talked me into buying:



And a quick snap before we loaded into two separate cars and headed out to two different schools. (The big guy hit a whole new campus.)



And now we're off and running! Yippee!!