It’s so weird not being a teacher anymore because I still get excited when I see the back to school supply ads & the thought of shiny new name tags & new little faces coming in to my classroom still makes me giddy. However, that is not my lot in life at this point and I am satisfied. I now get to be on the parent side of this phenomenon. Emma, my four-year-old (or “four and a HAF” as she says it) had her first “preview” day last Wednesday. She got to attend school for one hour and meet half of her classmates & get reacquainted with her old classroom. She picked out her outfit, chose her headband, put on her socks & shoes all by herself, and even brushed her teeth three times! And as we were leaving she stole a flower from our community for her teacher. And as Brooke does, she copied Emma in every little detail of the day, right down to the flower theft. Here are Emma’s first day snapshots…

Breakfast of champions:  Cinnamon toast in triangles!

Some cartoons to start the morning out right

And now for some awkward posing…silly girl!

Blowing me a kiss goodbye!

Showing off her bag that she designed

A flower for the teacher

And her hook!

Now Brooke (or Brookie as we lovingly call her) went to school the Friday after Emma for her “preview” day.  She has been practicing her teachers’ names before bed and was excited to use them.  For those of you who know Brooke, you probably knew she would have no problem at all in two-year-old class.  We sent Emma at age two because she was deathly shy.  We send Brooke at age two so she can learn to share & follow directions.  They are just different people!  She was very determined to put her shoes on “aw by my felf” so Amaw was so generous and took her fat feet to Stride Rite & got her 2 new pairs of kicks…complete with Velcro!  I’ll let the photos tell you the rest….

Her new size 6′s

She chose a banana for breakfast…the dog got some too

Brooke’s new bag – Tinkerbell & sparkly letters

Here she is being independent again – putting on the bag

The shoes in action!

Dragging her bag into school

Assessing the situation

She spotted some toys

And she’s off!

So that’s it!  My babies are in school and I can’t believe it!  I also get one whole Friday morning to my own self…what ever will I do????

I have really loved this song ever since my husband turned me on to. So, just for fun, I put Joey & Kate’s photos with it and this is what I got…..

This post isn’t meant to get you down, or make you sad.  It’s meant to show you the real-life moments that happen.  Yes, I know you always get to see the best, and most happy, and most lovely of all the images I take.  Did ya think I’d show you the bad ones?  Of course not!  But I did want to share with you some super cute, and super sad faces I got from Kate this past weekend.

We went out on one of the hottest, most humid, most sunny afternoons.  And darn it, Kate wanted some milk!  And she wasn’t going to be persuaded otherwise!  We gave her yogurt bites, Skittles, funny dances, silly songs, and her mommy even gave her kisses…but she would have none of it!  She wasn’t going to smile until she got some milk.

I’m blogging this to show you that life may not always be smiles, and that’s okay.  We all want some milk once in a while and it’s alright not to smile until we get it.  So, go get what you are longing for and then smile.

Little Paul is the adorable son of my long-time friend Gina and her wonderful husband “Big” Paul.  I have to admit I was sad when Paul married Gina and took her away from us all the way up to New Jersey.  But, he has made her happy, and she him, so what more can I ask for my dear friend?  Well, they have been blessed this year with a wonderful little baby boy.  I first met him when he was about 2 weeks old and now he’s magically 8 months!  It seems like it happened over night!  So when Gina told me she’d be down this month, I had to snap some more recent photos of this little guy!

There were so many great photos to choose from, it was hard to narrow it down to just these 15.  Paul started out the afternoon almost trying NOT to smile at me.  It was really weird, almost like he knew I was there to get him smiling, so he wasn’t going to do it.  Ha!  What a little stinker!  But as soon as his daddy came out, he was all smiles!  He was so wonderful!

Here’s Paul…

I thought this was going to be the only expression he would give me all afternoon!

This is actually my second time photographing Jackson, it’s just that the first time he was still in his momma’s belly.  Sam & Justin participated in my “Bare Bellies” party back in the early Spring.  And now….ta da!  Jackson has arrived!  He is actually 4 weeks old TODAY!  Can you believe it?  He seems like such a big fella, but then when his daddy holds him, he seems so tiny!

Sam & Justin invited me into their home this past Saturday to capture some shots of “Jax” before he got too much out of the sleepy newborn stage.  Well, let’s just say he wasn’t too sleepy.  He ate before I came, ate when I was there, and still was determined to be awake!  He sort of half fell asleep and tried to fake us out for a bit, but his Popeye peeking gave him away.  But oh, he is such a gem!  I could just sit and look at his little boy hands, & feet, & nose, and ears all day!  I thoroughly enjoyed getting to finally meet you, Jackson.  Your mommy & daddy love you very much, I know, and are glad you’ve finally arrived!

Enjoy!

Big yawn!

Having a quiet talk with Daddy.

Finally asleep on Mommy.

Taking his first elephant ride!