NINE

She loves art: painting, drawing, cartooning.
She cringes at pink, but humors me when it comes to matching for the family portrait.
She desperately wonders why she doesn't know her two sisters - why they speak another language that is as foreign as their personalities are to her.
She laughs and her eyes squeeze shut, her brows bunch and her mouth spreads wide in smile.
She makes pronouncements, merely smaller mentions of her talks with God that often become reality.
She understands far more than her 3650 days seem capable of.
She cares deeply for everyone, often sacrificing her own wants to appease someone else's.
She believes fiercely in Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and in her Mom's ability to conjure up each or dismiss them should her behavior merit it.
She loves her Daddy despite the distance and time that separates them.
She devotes herself to faith, believing in the parables, the fortunes, the revelations all.
She hopes for easier times, greater financial security, and stressless homecomings.
She accepts everyone regardless of their faults or shortcomings.
She adapts to changes however frequent.
She craves purple and finds it pretty.
She rocks it out and belts her tunes.
She plays hard.
She smiles pretty.
She knows much.
She is NINE.

Fire Taco!

I've no idea what exactly this expression means, but Ya insisted it was the thing to say as the boys posed and pounced on and off this sewer drain. Perhaps I consumed one too many tacos while pregnant?

While at our last playdate, I shot a quick couple of family photos for Jack's family to have (holidays are looming and cards are needed for everyone). We'll see if Mom picks one of these horizontal portraits. My favorite, though, is a vertical shot that is totally unposed and an absolutely precious moment captured.

Silly Clowns

Life is sometimes just a little too serious... So every once in a while, we like to take a break from the sombre mood and enjoy a little clowning around. He's got jokes, she's got jokes. And Mama? Well, she's laughing at her two little clowns and feeling the atmosphere lighten to a much more bearable setting. It's amazing what a little silly can do.

Shared with My3B Sweet Shot Tuesday and Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday. Last image uses KK's "Phoebe" texture as well as "Ugg Love" (twice: once full color and once sepia toned and flipped) and a bit of Pure Photoshop's "Pure Haze" action set.

'Free & Easy x's 2' eDition

[caption id="attachment_1281" align="aligncenter" width="395" caption="The challenge: use two of KK textures with any image"][/caption]


The kids are getting ready to take school photos. I always try to get them nicely groomed before they sit for the quickie picture, but haven't purchased fall photos in several years. I figure that when they're both famous, it's the yearbook pictures that everyone flocks to for display. And we all know that the one time my kid looks a little more unkempt than an active kid ought is the time the photo will be viral. So even though I have no intention of buying anything, I make extra effort to have the kids ready for a close-up. Chi has already picked out a portrait she wants to give out to her friends and we've had the photo turned into wallets at my favorite printer. Ya doesn't share photos yet, but his Daddy wanted pictures for the family, so I picked out a nice portrait we'd done for that.

These pictures, however, were just for fun. Chi was channeling her Star Wars diva and Ya was sporting his first mama-did-it do, and "Iro" (aka frohawk). Ya's photo was processed with "ugg love" and "start" and Chi's with "the ladder."

Scavenger Hunt Sunday: Get Low

Hunting is getting a bit more difficult now that school is in session...

Phone

It's a working phone... though it's not mine.

Low Key
It was raining last weekend when I took the kids into the city. The plan was to go to the American Indian Museum, but apparently, if you don't take the L'Enfant Plaza stop on Metro, it's not nearby (read: I couldn't find it despite the straight line of Smithsonian museums). We ended up climbing the 100 or so stairs to the National Art Gallery (the accessible entrance is all the way around the building, not on the Mall side). Chi decided the museum was inappropriately naked, so we left after seeing only one floor.

We made a quick stop for lunch at a street vendor just as the first drops of rain began pelting us. Our umbrellas have apparently fallen ill - - one flipped inside out and broke, the other is separating the fabric from the armature. We fleed toward the Metro entrance, but since it was so early in the day, it felt like a waste to head all the way home. Then I saw the Air and Space Museum. It's changed a lot since the field trip I took there in my school years. Now, it has entire interactive exhibits for children and the learning is much more hands on and much less reading to discover.

Scarf

Initially, I thought of scarfing down food... but pictures of people eating is a little uncouth. Chi enjoys any excuse to play in my scarves, so we set up this quick portrait.

Monochromatic or Analogous Color (Exploring with Camera prompt)
I really thought I had this one nailed... but apparently, I remembered "color wheel" and found a plethora of complementary color rich photos. Bummer.

So, I was going through the shots from last week's Metro ride and found this shot. Ya is still in love with trains and there was something about these tracks that spoke to me. I think it was the repetitious nature of the carefully placed boards. Maybe it was rocks nestled inside each rail. Or, maybe, it was the subtle color variations I saw.

Circles

Saw this "Little Guy Tie" online while looking at RTS nights on Facebook. I'd been stalking Studio412 Boutique for some time trying to get ahold of one of these cute ties. Ya loves it. He calls it his dress up thing.
This self portrait concept seems to be falling to the wayside lately. If I do get my camera out, it's for a determined purpose and only very briefly. Suddenly there's just no time to pursue my passion - - work got in the way.

i HEART Faces: White

Iheartfaces is challenging photographers to conjure up their images of white in a color capture.

During my photojournalism teaches at the high school I work at, I sometimes take my students outside and use them as models as I lecture [ramble]. I don't look for them to pose - actually preferring that they be oblivious to my camera. My shutter never stops working as I talk about composition, backgrounds, filling the frame, and telling a story. I love the results after a teach like this... always amazing captures of my beautiful and unique teenage charges.

This particular photo is one of my absolute favorites because I took it right around the same time that the student was working on a column about choosing to wear her hijab and dressing herself in clothing that kept her modestly covered all year. She's such a wonderful, intelligent girl, who has dealt with the stares of inconsiderate peers who don't get her "fashion" and don't bother to simply ask her the significance of her dress. I adore her strength. I envy the light she brings into the classroom. I love her naturally-beautiful outward appearance that matches so well with her soul.

Hey School: bring it on!

We've organized our closets. We've pulled out the clothes that no longer fit and made our donations to charity. We've shopped for the preschool and fourth grade must-have class lists.
We've posed for Mommy's obligatory back to school fashion pictures. And discovered (luckily) that the skirt Chi wanted to wear on day one does not fit at all - first day tragedy averted.

A few dozen sloppy kisses from little brother to annoy big sister. It worked like a charm. And then, he began to plot.

A couple of escapes in our mock "walking to the bus stop" photos.
Then, big sister leads the way and provides a secure hand to hold.

We've got this before back to school thing down. Mommy will go off to work to prepare her classroom and organize her lessons next week. There'll be no school buses for our crew again this year. When the actual first day of school arrives, we'll commute to our respective learning spaces in the pre-sunrise morning. And we'll work hard to continue the success begun last term.

Oh yeah, school, bring it on!

** Taking our back to school photos days before school starts is becoming an annual tradition. As a teacher, I don't have the ability to walk my kids into their classrooms or to wait for buses with other parents and caregivers. So a couple of days before the official First Day of School, we pick out our first day outfits and venture outside for a trial run of the first morning. Of course, Ya wears a uniform when his school year actually starts, so his outfit is only his choice during the summer session at preschool. The luxury of staging this event is that I can wait for the perfect light of mid morning.