And I just have to add that Emma is now owning her annual photos!  She picked her outfit, her hat, her shoes, her jewelry AND the location.  Yeah, she’s gonna be something great when she grows up.

When she turned 5, I was away in Ethiopia so I didn’t have the chance to take her out for her 5-year photos like I do every year.  Things got busy when I returned and it just slipped my mind.  So, tonight I had the opportunity to spend some Mommy-Emma time with her in Downtown Annapolis & just play “model.”  I treated her just like one of my clients, let her choose where she wanted to have her picture taken, asked her opinion on what she thought looked good, and so on.  She loved it!  My girl is getting so big!  I can’t believe she is already five & will be in kindergarten in the fall.

I love you Emma Rose!  Thanks for being Mommy’s first (& best) model!

AHHHH!  I’ve got less than an hour to blog!  Today has been fun, but busy.  I got a head shot from my friend Stacy (which required extensive grooming on my part), took the kids to lunch as a treat, prepared our lovely babysitter, Lauren, drove to Alexandria, and attended the DC Spread the Love Tour with Justin & Mary Marantz, got locked in the garage, had to walk umpteen blocks to get cash to get my car out, & finally made it home!  Let’s say my day was filled with a good deal of prayer!

Anyway, about the photo above:  This is our youngest daughter, Brooke.  She’s 2 and a half & has been in her own “big girl” bed for about a year now.  While we don’t tell her she can’t come out of her room in the morning, she has usually sat in her room calling for us when she’s ready to get up.  Well, today she opened her own door & surprised me in my room while I was getting ready.  She came in with her eyes all glazed over from sleep, her mouth & nose all crusty, and carrying every toy she could fit in her tiny hands.  Then (after a quick diaper change), she spread out on the floor and watched cartoons on the TV while she woke up.  This is her deep in thought while watching Peppa Pig.  What could she be thinking?

A side note on this 365 thing, or more some personal ponderings that I could get your imput on:

1) what if there is more than one thing I do in a day that I want to share a photo about?  What do I do?

2) what if I shoot an image really late & want to share it, but I know it’ll be too late – is it okay to share the next day, or is that cheating because it wasn’t taken that day?

I guess I’m learning as I go along.  Thanks for stopping by!

As my first image of 2010, yes, I know this isn’t the greatest.  In fact I just picked up my iPhone & snapped it quickly before the moment passed.  (Maybe I should sleep with my SLR next to my bed from now on!)  This is my firstborn, Emma.  We took her to her cousin’s house last night so the girls could play while we adults played games & enjoyed some New Year’s Eve festivities downstairs.  She was so excited to go because Josh told her that when she went to sleep she would be in Mackinzie’s bed & when she woke up she would be in her own bed!  And that’s the truth…that’s exactly how it happened!  I just love that I have been blessed at this time in my life to be able to stay at home with my darlings, have a husband who works hard so it can be that way, & still have a small photo business as my creative outlet.  God has been so good to our family.  That is why I share this photo – it is just a reminder to me of how wonderful life is in these tiny little moments.

I hope that sharing an image a day will become one of my New “You” Resolutions for 2010 (more on why I call it that another day).  I’ve been following Tasra Mar’s journey of 365 images in 365 days & have been really inspired & spoken to through her honesty, bravery, & consistency.  I thought I would model what I know to be successful.  So, in following along her path, I’ve:  1) Taken an image  2) Read a page in my camera manual and  3) viewed another photographer’s work.

For point number 3 I visited Amy Wenzel’s site & happened upon her post “10 Tips for a Sharper Image” – GO. READ. IT. NOW.  Besides all the personally trying times she’s going through currently, she has an inner strength that will encourage you as well.

Now I’m off to pace the house a thousand times, check my camera bag two thousand times, & change my clothes three thousand times for Mandy & Kelvin’s Wedding this afternoon.  Happy New Year!