Memorial Day

One thing always brings tears to my eyes.
Soldiers returning home.
Without fail, the stories or images of this, make my heart swell and my throat tighten.
I've cried my way through the images posted here:

Coming Home

It's a wonderful collection of images of our soldiers coming home.
So, scroll through them and think about all the brave men and women who are serving our nation on this Memorial Day. And send up a special prayer for my nephew, Adam, who is now in some far away land with hundreds of other soldiers....

my son, the green thumb

My mom gave Mason some packages of seeds for his birthday because that's what he wanted. Because the boy loves growing things. Because he's a green thumb.

So, without ANY assistance from me whatsoever, as i would have surely destroyed the whole operation with my very black thumbs, Mason planted his variety of seeds in the old plastic pool I gave him last summer for his garden.
He dug the holes. He planted the seeds. He watered them faithfully. He even had the smarts to say at one point, "Oh, I better water my plants good today because we're going out of town." Do most seven year olds think like that?

So, after two months of watering, bug duty, and numerous "come-see-the-new-leaf,-Mom!" sessions, it is now time for the harvest. Mason is quite proud of his crops.

Now, if anyone could give me a recipe that calls for about 7 green beans, that'd be great. Because, as it turns out, one solitary green bean plant doesn't produce a whole heck of a lot at one time. :)

summer! [part two]

*** When typing this, I didn't know all the pictures would be links. I can't find a way around it. I'm very annoyed. Just wanted you to know that up front...***

It's officially the first day of summer. And I am thrilled!
Last summer, I didn't know I would be teaching the following school year and before May even began, I had a calendar FULL of weddings and photoshoots.
I just looked at my 2009 calendar.
I had 41(HOLY COW!!!) shoots and 5 weddings between June 1st and August 12th.
It wasn't the most enjoyable or relaxing summer.

Needless to say, this summer will NOT be like that. And I'm even taking the whole month of August off from Sprinkle so I can start the school year off right.

Anyway, I want this summer to be fun, creative and at the risk of sounding contradictory, productive!
i've got quite the "to-do" list brewing in my mind. I'm all about the to do lists, you see.
One of the major things I want to do this summer is help out my poor house.
I feel like I say that all the time.
I could probably find like 12 posts that say something like "I want to make my house a home...yada yada, blah, blah", yet, if you look at my house, you will see nothing has really changed in like three years.
"Not this year!" she declares shaking her fist in the air.
"This year, I have plans!"

Kylah introduced me to the website, houzz.com. She learned of the site from Sarah who is basically the reason any of us look at any site...she's like the website guru...without her etsy might just be a weird word...

...back to houzz. It's like a one stop shop for room ideas. You can search by room, color, style, etc. And then you save your favorite room pictures to your ideabooks.

I will now share some of my photos from my ideabook and I would like you to notice the common theme:


I LOVE THIS! And so want it in my classroom.


I am smitten with (by?with?by?) these frames on that yellow...with the pink flowers...sigh...


The door on the pantry makes me want to go to every antique store I can until I find one just like it. And then all the white...makes me want to make brownies.


Please. Please, someone give me permission to paint my kitchen this yellow.


I have a crush on the color red.


I would never leave my rocking chair.


Troy and I could be very content sleeping in that yellow bed... with all that randomness around us. Well, I could...troy might not feel the same way. Hmmm....


love.it. all.of.it.



Ladies, I think this girl likes COLOR!

Which would only make sense. I mean when I was a little girl i would carefully rearrange all my markers and colors in rainbow order as soon I opened the package.
When I play mexican train with the dominoes with the colored dots, i have to try really hard to care more about winning than making the prettiest train.
Choosing a font color is a life or death decision.
I have an obsession with paint samples. I have hundreds in a baggie.
When I buy shirts, I will buy solid color tees that look good together even thought they'll never be worn at the same time.
Color. It's my thing.

Yet! I never really used that in decorating! I mean, I have a few punches of color here and there, but for the most part my home is a very jumbled mix of tans, blacks, whites and some red.

But in looking at houzz, as i was just adding pictures to ideabooks based on what made me go, "ooooh! I like that!" without really having a room or idea in mind, I really think adding color should be my goal! It's what makes me happy.

There were two other trends I noticed though.
White. I like white furnuture, white cabinets, white frames. I think it's because the white feels like a breath of fresh air. Especially the white kitchens. Something about them made my heart tingle.

And the other trend was walls full of pictures. I bet you coulda called that one. I love hodge podge, yet somehow cohesive frames covering a wall.

So, the reason I went through this ridiculously long ramble about color is because I'm going to try to use that when I start doing things to my house this summer.

My first few projects lend themselves to color anyway -
~the boys' room (as in singular room - we're putting them together...is that the stupidest thing you've ever heard of or what?),
~the new play room (currently the "dog room"),
~and the laundry room (for some reason, when that room feels organized and clean the rest of the house does too...)

If I get those done, then I'll move onto more important things like the living room and the kitchen. But I think I need to start with less intimidating rooms. IN other words, should color not really be my thing then the children and the laundry are the main ones suffering. That's fair, right? :)

So, I'll try to keep you posted on my color adding goal! :)

Summer!

It's here!
It's actually here!
I can't believe it!

one for the books.

i had one of the best moments of my teaching career today.

All 52 of my students were in their homeroom lines after lunch recess. They were sweaty and hot and chatty and not-in-perfect-line-form (as always) and I yelled, "Hey 4th grade! 4th Grade! Listen!..."
They finally all got (semi)quiet and looked at me.
"Remember how hard we all worked getting ready for the writing test?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you remember how we did our best every day?"
"Yeah!"
"You know how we talked about rocking the taks test?!"
"YES!"
"And remember how I said we were gonna win the big game? How the championship was the taks test and we were already the champions?"
"YES!!!"
"Well...EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU PASSED THE WRITING TAKS TEST!"

I wish you could have seen the reaction. Jumps and screams and high fives and "no ways!" and "all of us? even me?"'s.
It was one for the books. Amazing. I'll remember it forever.

100%. Every 4th grader at crockett passed. I'm still in blissful shock. And I'm still unbelievably proud of them all...

not your ordinary cocktail.

every night i take a shot.
yep.
I even toss my head back, chug it in one big gulp, and make that gritting-your-teeth-because-of-the-burn(shots burn right? Is that why people make that face?). My shot doesn't burn though.
I make that face because of the...well, you'll see.
I'm a teacher and a mother and a photographer and a woman for crying out loud and I sometimes need a little...help at the end of the day!
My help just happens to come in liquid form.
If you feel an intervention is needed, i understand.

So here's how you make the shot:


First you need two tablespoons of the good stuff.

Notice how thick and gritty it looks. The way you know you've got the good stuff is because of the pond scum resemblance.
See below how it kind of oozes down the side of the glass? Yep. yumm-o.

Then you add enough lemonade to make it even yummier.

As you can see from the image below, the good stuff settles somewhat at the bottom of the glass. You may decide if you prefer your shot shaken or stirred.
I highly recommend you at least do one of the two.
Really.
You must at least stir it or shake it.
If you don't, you'll...uh...ruin...the pleasant...the...um...unique flavors of the drink.


Then chug it! chug it! chug it! No matter how bad you want it, don't try to lick out every drop from the glass.
Keep your dignity for pete's sake!

Seriously, all my hair was falling out and I had no energy.
at.all.
so after a trip to the doctor, I found out I was a little low on a few vitamins and she recommended the cocktail above. :)
It's helped. Well, it's helped with the energy part. I still can't tell if my hair is doing any better....

I like to offer it to grant just so I can hear him say icky with a wrinkled up nose.
Mason is horrified by it.
Troy took it.
notice the past tense verb in that last sentence.
And I continue every night to take it.
I'm almost (gulp) 30 years old.
oh, good gosh that was devastating to type...
and I need to start taking better care of myself.

I do wish facials had been the remedy for lack of energy though...

bullets...because, well, there's just no other way at this point.

• my cell phone is broken. The screen is just white. I cant read texts or see who is calling or find any phone numbers. It's a tragedy. So, if you've texted me lately, then please know that i didn't get your text, but that hearing my text ringer about sent me over the edge of frustration.
  
• there are FIVE days left of school! I am unimaginably thrilled about this. You have no idea. Unless of course youre a teacher and then you know exactly how I feel.
• in other school news, i had a very good friday. like VERY GOOD. I can't say why yet, but, totally made my year.
  
• In other other school news, my campus is losing some teachers due to numbers...i am the low man on the totem pole. I'm terrified I'm going to be shipped off to kalamazoo. I am not overly stressed (I totally was at first), but now I just want to KNOW! Because I want to be a better teacher next year. Which means some working during the summer. Which means I need to know what I'll be doing in the fall!
  
• in other other other school news, troy might be involved in a school in town. That's all i'm saying about that. I shan't curse it with too much speculation.
• this is a somewhat cryptic post.
  
• mason's baseball team has had so much fun this year. And that's what it's all about right? fun? Because man have they had fun! And they've learned a lot too...like how to deal with loss. :) But, seriously, it's been very fun, this baseball stuff.
  

And that's all I really have time for. What a tragic post. Maybe summer will be more exciting. SUMMER! It's almost here!

Home

I should be in bed since i have to actually go to work tomorrow morning but i just want to write this before I get busy and don't...

The things that make home home for me...

Wildflowers in the orchard
Moms books everywhere
Pictures. Pictures. And more pictures.
The sound of Ollie* racing around the house
The slam of the screen door
The the smell of goat feed
The feel of chicken scratch in your hands
The familiar smell of the air conditioner being used for the first time
Eating fruit straight off the tree
Long chats on the couch
Homecooked meals
Cereal from a sippy bowl
Gathering eggs
The sounds that are so familiar you don't notice them-the tick of grandmommy's clock, the creak of the second story as mom enjoys her quiet time, the ac kicking on, roosters crowing, guineas squawking, the lack of sirens and horns honking...
Pop pop's popcorn
Gema's desserts
Games.
The crunch of the gravel in the driveway
The musty smell of the barn and how it never changes
The school room view
The feeling of peace I get when i turn the corner and I see the front porch

Home isn't perfect by standard definitions. The plates come in many shapes and patterns, the silverware is all different, the furniture is mismatched the towels come in every shade. The flowerbeds have tomato plants next to petunias, and the bedding is bits and pieces from different sets. But it's perfect. I wouldn't have it any other way. Home is home. It's familiar and safe and the place i feel the most at ease. And it's all because of the woman who made it home, my mom.

I never want to leave and my heart always aches a little bit as the hills become plains and each mile takes me away from the home and the woman that saw my first step, my first sleepover, my first date, my first baby...

I love you mom. Thank you for giving me the childhood I had and for making a home saturated with love and priceless memories.

A day off

I took the day off today.
I am right now sitting in a retro burger joint in Austin eating the best french fries of my life.
Next to me is a couple with a chihuahua, a giant poodle dog, a golden retriever and a PARROT! I love Austin.
So on my childless day in Austin, I'm getting my camera cleaned, doing some shopping and enjoying doing whatever i want.

I do feel guilty about not being at work, but why? They give me days off for a reason right? And I am so sick of school right now. It was just too good an opportunity to pass up. But i still feel so guilty! I hate that!

PS The parrot just took flight for a second! Crazy! He's back with his owners now though.
PPS I love blogging on the go with Charlie!

a steal!

I've been looking and looking for some old luggage to use during photo sessions. It's easy enough to find, not as easy to afford. Well a few saturdays ago I went to several antique stores and found tons of cute luggage - for like $17 bucks and up.
Then I went to one of my favorite places, Christians in Action.
I found a luggage SET, three soft yellow pieces of varying sizes, for 5.99!
But it gets better!
Everything there, pretty much, was half off! So I got three pieces of luggage for $3.

Thrilled was I! :)

Today I used the luggage for the first time. It didn't really match their outfits so I didn't want it to stand out, but it was perfect for getting three girls to sit in a stickery field of flowers (weeds) at varying heights!

See...

That person.

Do you have a person that you just consistently do stupid stuff in front of? I do.

Stupid thing 1:
I Never wrote her name in my sprinkle calendar and completely forgot...no, didn't even know I had a shoot with her until she called to confirm. I did not play my mistake off very well.

Stupid thing 2:
Immediately following that phone call i sent her an email that was supposed to go to another customer. Yet somehow it still said dear "her name".

Stupid thing 3:
Today was the session. It was at 5:30. As a car was pulling into the EMPTY spa parking lot where we were meeting I saw a couple and the girl was on her phone. At that moment my phone rang. I answered it and she said, "we're having a crisis!" I said, "oh no! Let me come over there and talk to you." and i hung up, hopped out of the car and was met by a man climbing out of the car. As soon as i said hi to him I knew they weren't my customers.

This means i just hung up on my customer who was in fact not there yet.

I called back embarrassed and praying i had actually remembered my camera bag. I had.

Sheesh.