His stance couldn't look anymore like a 16 year old here than it does.
His aggravated look on his face because of my cameras presence couldn't scream teenager anymore than it does. His style couldn't be anymore handsome than it is. Quite a good lookin' kid if you ask me. I know you didn't but I'm just sayin'...!
When he wears his under armour sunglasses he reminds me of the movie TOP GUN. GQ'ish and stealth like. Which character is he..."Goose" of course. Cocky and good lookin'! The hair is almost an exact resemblance.
I love that I convinced him many many years ago that real men wear pink. To this day, he'll throw on a pink polo and not even think twice about it. Oh yes...one day he is going to make that wife of his a very lucky girl.
In 10 days he will be 11 years old. It feels like just yesterday that the doctor looked at me and said..."He's breech. We'll need to do a C-section." That was my first clue that nothing about Brennen would ever be of the norm. He is a special kid. One who is madly in love with the idea of protecting his baby sister. (except when she comes into his room and dumps all of his cars) I'm so blessed and thankful for his caring and loving spirit. He has an overflowing heart filled with compassion which is just out of this world.
I love how he shares my same love of music. We share Itunes songs back and forth all of the time. He loves everything from Christian music to hip hop - just like his Mama. Yes, this child knows a good tune when he hears it. He makes me smile when he cranks the computer in his room and listens to my playlist on this here ol' blog. I hear him belting out tunes and think..."yeap, that's my boy."
In 10 days, he will be eleven. In 3 months, he will graduate from being a 5th grader in elementary school to a big 6th grader in junior high. I basically have three months before our world gets turned upside down. Let's face it...middle school was the starting point for all of us. The start of the distance which ensues between parents and their children. It makes me cringe at the thought. I want him to be 2 all over again. I want the chili bowl haircut back. I want the blues clues videos back that he would dance to, and the sound of his little voice when he would say "Close the gate Papa, close the gate!" (old joke amongst him and my Dad) Geez...one minute he still looks so very small, playing like a child would when I gaze out at him...
and the next minute he stands so very big, straight, and tall - looking like he is 10 going on 25.
I'm clinging to each day - hour by hour.
Yes, he is growing up right before my eyes. They always do. Today I'm feeling it a little more than the usual. Because of that, I came here to journal those feelings and embrace them. Embrace the growth and the power of life. I love this boy. Love him to the sun and back ten gazillion times over.
One of the best things about living in Florida is basically having the beach at your back door. For example, whenever you have a free Friday or Saturday night (or any night of the week for that matter) and you want to pack everyone up & head to the sand & seashore to witness a gorgeous sunset and let the kids frolic in the sand, you can. Thankfully our home here is just down the street from the beach. The road our development sits off of leads right straight down into the gulf of Mexico. A 5 minute drive to the beach makes everything in life that much better.
There is nothing I love more than stepping down into that sand and feeling the grit of it all between my toes. The sugaring process...ya know? The sound of the waves lapping and the smell of the sea salt in the air is almost more than my heart can handle. There is also nothing I love more than seeing my kids enjoy the beach as much or more than I do. I managed to get Brennen to stand still a few times while there Friday evening. This is now one of my new favorite images...
There is something to be said for footprints in the sand. Not just because of the famous poem either. The rushing of the waves and their ability to wash away a footstep is a perfect word picture for how important life is. How short life is. One minute it is here. The next minute it's gone.
I just love photos of toes in the sand. Images of flip flops at the beach.
Brennen wasn't happy with me for posting this image of him below. He stuck his toes in the water and found that the gulf was freezing. However, I just had to share it. :) I focused my camera all on him this particular night. I just love this boy...
When I look at this shot below, it is hard to believe he is going to be 11 in just two more weeks. In some ways he looks so much older here - but in other ways he still resembles that little baby of mine who ran around with a chili bowl haircut for so long and who adored Blues Clues as a toddler. The years just fly by.
He is such a little stud-man now. Girls calling and texting. Females in his class leaving "I love you" verbage on his Valentines, etc. How quickly they grow up. It is nights spent watching the sunsets at the beach that make me so thankful for the time I do have with him. One day he'll be wanting to bring his "best girl" to the shoreline instead of his Mama. No fear...I'll be hiding out in the sea oats with my 70-300mm telephoto lens. Poor girl...she'll have no idea that his Mom mimics the Paparazzi until its too late. Ha ha! Poor Brennen...his life is forever doomed. LOL!
Hope you are all having a spectacular weekend. Even if you don't have a beach near by, go sugar your toes in the snow with your kiddo's. It will melt soon. Again, life is soooo short. Much love, Angie
PS...Thank you to all of you who've signed up for the Angie Seaman Photography class that begins this Monday. The class has once again sold out. There is now a wait list going for the next class being offered in May. I'll announce details on that one soon. For those still interested in the workshop I'm doing here in Naples in September, there are seats available. Click HERE for details. It is going to be an amazing weekend!
This shot above is the rec center where Brennen plays on his basketball league. It's a gorgeous park - as all the parks here in Southwest Florida are. The parks here in Florida put our parks in Indiana to shame. It's really embarrassing when you compare the two. The Indiana parks and rec peeps could really take some advice from Florida's head honcho's. That is fo' sho'! This shot just happened to be of the entrance into the rec center. It's just a small snippet of the beauty to behold at this particular location. Either way, thought I'd do a quick blog about his game Saturday...
Yeap, here is the stud-man himself exuding frustration at one point in the game - those long eyelashes and all...
Here is the gym inside the rec center. They also have a massive fitness center inside this same building with a phenomenal day care that looks like a school. It's amazing. Awesome facility to say the least.
Just a simple shot of the basket I kept seeing while down on the floor. Yeap, I'm that Mom who sits at the end of the court and takes pictures the whole game - sprawling out across the floor when necessary...
Like for this shoe shot below. Look how dusty and dirty that floor is though. GAG! Can you guess which tennies are Brennen's?
If you guessed the third set of tennies from the left, then you are correct. He is sitting next to the kid with the white tennis shoes on - with his hands together.
This next shot was just of a little girl sitting on the folded up bleachers. I saw her feet dangling with the flip flops on and thought it was a cute shot...
Here was a fun succession of shots I took during one of the baskets made for Brennen's team...
SWOOSHHHHH...nothin' but net...!
Here is another one of those moments when I got down on the floor - that dirty filthy basketball shoe wearin' floor - in front of all the other parents watching me make a fool of myself - and captured this shot of all the boys running. They have two girls on their team (it's a co-ed rec league here) and I loved the pink converse that were proudly displayed in this shot along with all of the other "boyish" tennis shoes.
Here is their team with their coach. You can see Brennen dead center - peeking thru...
And for those of you wondering if they won or not...here was the final score.
We were the HOME team! YAY!
It was a great game that stayed neck and neck - about 1 point apart - the whole game. (until the end when our team landed a few extras) We love his coach - he's a great guy. Brennen starts football this week as well. It's a spring league. His basketball and football will overlap with one another for the next couple of weeks. He's going to be a tired boy I'm sure. On Mondays for the next few weeks he'll have basketball and football practice - on the same night. It was a fluke thing due to being in two different leagues. However, we are going to play it by ear and see how he can handle it. In the meantime, I am just as anxious to get back out on the football sidelines as he is. LOL!
I'm off to go enjoy the sunny and blissful 76 degree weather here in Naples, Florida today. It has been in the sixties all week so yesterday and today were a great change. Looking forward to a weeks worth of warm temps now that the cold front is gone again. "There is something about the sunshine baby..." (that is a Disney song for those who don't know. It's playing on the movie Starstruck as I type. Catchy little tune if you ask me) Enjoy your week everyone. xoxo, Angie
We had a great dinner last night with Joe (our friend from Indiana). Although we missed Tamara and Derek - his wife and son - whom we hope will be back down to visit here real soon. Their family is looking to purchase a vacation home down here in the Cape Coral area so we are pretty stoked and excited about that idea. Derek is one of Brennen's best little pals that he has known since his early elementary school days. We adore their family and hope that they'll be joining us down here as residents soon. It would be great to know that they could "beach it" with us whenever they are in town. :)
That little yellow hand in the photo above is Kenidi's. I think she got it from school. She carries it around in her hand and as small as it is, I always find it sitting or laying somewhere. It's literally about the size of an eraser on a pencil. So tiny. It always makes me laugh though because I've been trying to teach Kenidi how to give the peace sign forever but she just can't figure out how to get only the two fingers up and the others kept down. It's too much coordination for her little hands at this point. She did learn to give two thumbs up the other day though and we've had a hoot with her ever since. She walks around giving everything two thumbs up now. I decided to break out the macro and photograph the chubby little peace sign hands because they remind me of Kenidi so much. Love em'! Love her!
And speaking of love...did I tell you guys how much I love that son of mine too? (even though he NEVER lets me photograph him...he gets it naturally I guess) Yeap, for those of you who aren't friends of mine on facebook, you probably hadn't heard that Brennen made the honor roll here at his new school. I'm so proud of him. It brings me such joy to see him excited about school, his grades, and doing well overall. He came home with a certificate the other day for his honor roll accomplishment and let me know that he got to participate in a special luncheon/party for making the school honor roll. Again, we are thrilled with his transition just as much as we have been Kenidi's. He has a wonderful teacher who has really encouraged him in writing. He loves to write and she's noticed that - and has since promoted his want to keep on writing. His grade level took the "Collier Writes" test here this week. It's part of a test that is similar to our I-Step testing back in Indiana. It had a big portion of the test which centered around writing. The top score you could get was a 6. She let it be known that after skimming quickly over Brennen's test, she felt he had scored either a 5 or 6. I was so pleased and yet again so proud. His grandparents spoiled him with cards and letters in the mail for his hard work. Inside those cards...yeap you guessed it...money. He loves the "green" and I just love their support and the unending encouragement they give my kids. (and me) We are so blessed with the family we have. So very, very, blessed.
On another positive note, please keep my Mom in your prayers. She had a job interview this morning and we are hoping that it went well. She should know something within a week to ten days if they decide to hire her. Please pray for favor in this area with us. We are desperately lifting her up in hopes that she gets some good news and lands this job with benefits, insurance, etc. She needs this and it would be a perfect position for her. Thank you in advance for your prayers. We can't begin to tell you guys how much we appreciate them.
For now...I'm off to go take a 30 or so minute walk/run before coming back to edit some images. The palm trees are swaying here in Florida today and I love getting outdoors to here their actual rustling as they sway back and forth like that. I'm weird - I know. However, they have a sound just as the sea has a sound when its waves come rolling ashore. Happy Friday everyone! Have a superb weekend!
Beach days where your Mom wakes you up for school but instead of getting ready for the bus, you get ready for the beach after she informs you that you are getting a "free day."
Yeap, a free day. A free pass. A day with Mom, without your sister. A day where Brennen gets to be Brennen and not be overshadowed by his sister or her disabilities. God love her.
Let's face it...healthy siblings of special needs children really get the short end of the stick many times. We find that Brennen's life is constantly altered due to the limitations Kenidi has in life. It's not fair to him. Therefore, I decided a beach day with Mom was fitting. A beach day where I could take him and just hang out - allowing him to be himself rather than "Kenidi's brother" for those few hours. And even though we missed our little Kenidi dearly while she was at school for the afternoon, we had some much needed Mommy & son time.
I'll spare you the details of his whining during our 30 minute walk back down the beach to our car as we were leaving that day and just leave you with the warm and fuzzies we had before all that. LOL!
Kenidi being pushed around on the dolly by her Dad...
I love how she fits just perfectly inside the contour of it. So funny!
Also, I'm sure you can see that we are in the process of altering the blog a hair. I thought that I wanted to give it a new fresh makeover. You girls know how I love to change things up a bit from time to time - never keeping anything long enough for it to get stale. Same goes for my AGD logo. If you have a good eye, you'll notice that I changed up my logo design a bit. Well Crystal did it for me - I just told her what I wanted and she magically makes it happen. I had her remove the crown and the heart from my logo. I wanted only wings from here on out. Reason being, it is the wings that AGD is known for - not the heart - and not the crown. Not only that but I have had the logo just long enough for several people to copy the design. I'm not fond of the copying especially when one of them was supposed to be a good blog friend. Therefore, in an attempt to always stay ahead of the game and keep the AGD look but yet always keep it fresh and out of the box, I trashed the heart and the crown, and made it a bit more grown up. Less girlie and more cottage chic. Less zebra-ish or less of a black and fuchsia color scheme and opted for a more beachy look. A fresh and clean new vibe. Angie. I just wanted it to scream AGD & Angie. So...I'm thankful to have a look that isn't blending in with the over saturated amounts of wings, crowns, and hearts now. I love the look and think that Crystal and Amy ROCKED it like they always do. I hope that when you log onto this page now that you will instantly be propelled to the shoreline with us and that you will enjoy your time here as though it was a virtual vacation of sorts. I can't wait to share the Naples treasures with each of you.
This card was given to me by my dear friend Tamara. I met Tamara several years ago when Brennen became friends with her son in 2nd grade. We've enjoyed our time with them ever since. They are great to vacation with and we love their company no matter where we are. Tamara and Joe are considering buying a vacation home in the same neighborhood that our Bonita Springs house is in. We are keeping our fingers crossed that they will so that they will have an excuse to come down and hang out with us all of the time. :) Either way, Tamara gave me this card after our dinner together the other night along with a bag full of "good-bye" gifts that I fell in love with. The card was my favorite though. The wordage on it couldn't be any more perfect. Just had to share...
And speaking of Brennen...a couple of you have asked how the kids are taking the move. Well, it's like this...Brennen is now 10 years old and in 5th grade. He adores his friends here and will miss them terribly. We've assured them that they are welcome at our home in Naples anytime they want to come down. Fortunately, the area where we live has lots of families who go on Spring Break to the Ft. Myers Beach area each year. Beings that we will only be about 40 minutes from Ft. Myers Beach, we are hoping to keep in touch with many of his friends just on Spring break alone not to mention the rest of the year too. Brennen is excited and nervous all at the same time regarding this move. I am the same. Thankfully he is a pretty outgoing kid and makes friends easily. I'm praying that lunch time and recess will be a breeze for him that first day/week. That is my only worry - those moments in general. Brent and I decided that if we were going to move, we needed to do it NOW. It was going to be easier to transplant Brennen there in Naples now - rather than waiting until junior high or high school. He will be at the elementary school for about 5 months before migrating over into the middle school next year with everyone else. The next 5 months will give him just enough time to meet some friends to "move over" into the middle school with. We didn't want to throw him into the junior high next year to fend for himself. We truly believe that getting in the elementary school for the next few months will be a plus for him as he transitions to the junior high next year.
And Kenidi...well...she is a whole other story. Although she doesn't quite understand what is going on, I realize the transition will be tough for her into this new school - mid year. It will be tough for me as well to have to watch her adjust. However, without going into a ton of detail here on the blog...I'd rather watch her transition into a new school in Naples than have her stay in her current school even one more day. I have not discussed her school much here lately out of fear of hurting some feelings or causing an uproar. However, after meetings with the principal of the school as well as repeated conversations with her current teacher, to say that Brent and I are disappointed would be an understatement. Kenidi has come home with multiple incident reports from the school nurse this year - sometimes weekly and even twice a week - due to injuries she is receiving while at school. Sometimes the injuries are explained by acknowledging another child hurt her within the class but then there are most times when no one seems to know what happened to her to cause the injuries. The aide doesn't know, the teacher doesn't know, etc. As you can imagine, sending your child - who can't talk and tell you about her day - to a school where she is coming home injured on a regular basis, really makes your job as a parent even that much more heart wrenching. The school is understaffed and has admitted that they are short on aides and now her teacher has even left for the year due to maternity leave. Kenidi is extremely scared - more like "petrified" of a particular aide in the classroom. When I take her to drop her off, she breaks down and goes into a mode I've never witnessed before when she thinks I'm about to leave her with this particular aide. The bus driver has noted it as did Kenidi's speech therapist at the school. They all confirmed what we were seeing. I don't believe this aide is harming Kenidi but there are other factors that I know cause her fear when it comes to this woman. We've repeatedly asked the school to work with helping Kenidi and this aide transition together but no one is listening. And the final straw came just a couple of weeks ago when I went to drop Kenidi off at school one morning. Her teacher never came outside to get her as scheduled - nor did the aide who was working that morning. When I called inside the school after all of the buses had come and gone and we were the only ones left, the front office staff sent out a school janitor to come and get my daughter from me at the back of the school and walk her to her class. Oh yes they did. Now...I know the janitor is definitely an up and up kind of guy. The principal assured me that he would have released his kids to this janitor anytime. However, I am NOT the principal. I'm a parent who is responsible for the well-fare of my children and I'll be darned if I'm going to release her to a school maintenance worker instead of her teacher - as planned. That janitors job is not to get my kid to class. That is my job and her teachers job! Nuff' said.
So...let me repeat myself again...I would rather watch Kenidi have to endure the adjustment of a new school mid-year rather than to have to watch her go thru one more day of torment at her current school. Clearly there are issues there. People are dropping the ball and they've admitted it. The children in that special needs class have gotten less than 50% since the first day of school began. I'd like to say that her teacher "checked out" in recent weeks when she got further along in her pregnancy. However, the truth is...she was never "checked in" from day one. As you can imagine, this is hurtful for us because we had her in the best school with the best teacher and the absolute BEST aides last year.
Unfortunately, the district let most of those people go and then shuffled everyone else around to different areas. So...it's tough when one school, one principal, one teacher, and four different aides spoiled us rotten regarding the care and love they showered our daughter with when she was in their care - only to go to the polar opposite when the district changed her school this year. Thankfully, I've been able to remain good friends with her teacher as well as an aide of hers last year. We love them dearly and miss them being in her life more than words can describe. I used to always hear about the horrible time that parents of special needs kids have with schools before I had Kenidi. However, I never realized the drama and its complexity until I had a special needs child of my own. As her only advocate in life, Brent and I will do whatever we feel necessary to keep this child safe and comfortable. And at this point in time, that means moving her to a new school.
Are we moving just because of her school, No. Not at all. Truth be told...this move to Naples has been in the works for 10 plus years. Deep down, even you guys knew I'd end up there someday. An opportunity presented itself to go now, so we are going - before I change my mind again. I swore I'd never leave my parents and move there. Now look, I'm leaving my Dad and Cathy behind as well as Brent's mom. It's a tough decision. In the end though, life's curve balls helped me make that decision. My goal is to get to Naples, dig in deep, and go gung-ho with my photography business there. I want to make a name for myself and build a business that can sustain itself for my family. Photography is a HUGE passion of mine and I feel that I can promote it there better than here in Indy. I can shoot year round there. As a natural light photographer, I only get 5 months or so here in Indy to shoot each year. And that is if Mother Nature doesn't cause me to have to cancel sessions due to weather issues. Naples is a tourist area. People flock there for family vacations and tons of them want family photos on the beach when in town. I want to embrace those wants and cater to the those families willing to let me photography them. I've been there and know how hard it is to find a beach photographer or any photographer for that matter when on vacation in a tropical area. Due to my own experiences when searching for a photographer, I plan to hopefully saturate the market there in Naples and Southwest Florida in general. We'll see where the good Lord takes this. I'm letting him lead the way. For all I know, he'll get me down there and away from photography doing something else totally different. I heard a saying the other day that said something to the effect that God laughs at our "10 year plans." I truly believe that. He totally has his own agenda and I'm confident that his agenda is always best. :) Less than 48 hours to go...
Umm...yeah...Brennen thinks he pretty much ROCKS now that he is sporting the front side of Mom's laptop. This nifty little attachment is causing quite the stir when in public - for all of the fellow Starbucks customers, airplane/airport guests, etc. to see. Great - simple - & extremely easy advertising. We love it around here. Kenidi is a bit perturbed that she isn't sporting the cover of Mommy's laptop though so we are working on getting a picture of the two of them together. If both of them would ever cooperate at the same time for a photograph, that might be an option. So far we are striking out - repeatedly - with our attempts. Better luck next time. Famous last words. Until then, Brennen is the sole "ROCK STAR" for now. :-)
PS...Talking about my ROCK STAR son, Brennen and I had a date night together last night. Just some Mommy & son time together. Daddy stayed home and kept Kenidi for us while Brennen and I went to the movie theater and saw the new Michael Jackson movie together. We stuffed our faces on nachos and cheese, sour watermelons, m&m's etc. There go those clean white teeth. Ha ha! Anyway, for those of you considering whether or not to go see the MJ movie while it is in theaters for the next two weeks, GO! It was worth the money in my opinion. Brennen loved it and so did I. I had to work on containing myself during the show though. There were several instances when my legs and feet kept feeling the need to jump up out of my seat and break out into my mad dance skillz right there in front of everyone. Wink wink! :-) You just can't help it when listening to his tunes. MJ's music ROCKS but it really ROCKS as it is being piped out over the loud speakers in a movie theater. Good stuff! Go see...go see!
This dude says he doesn't want to dress up tonight. He's grown too big for Halloween apparently. I think I was about his age (age 10) when I gave it up too. He looked at me and said..."I'll just help Kenidi trick or treat for her candy." I'm sure he'll be helping her eat it too. Ha ha! That is quite alright with me though. The less candy in this house the better. :) They just had their shiny white teeth cleaned at the dentist on Thursday and the thought of them sugar coating those pearly whites over the weekend makes me physically ill. A kid needs to be a "kid" though.
Thanks to all of you who have emailed or written me in the past week asking if I'm OK. I guess my lack of blog posts lead you to think something could be wrong. Nope...I'm just extremely busy right now. Our family schedule is only going to get even more hectic in the next three weeks. I'll explain more on that later. I'm also in the middle of a 6 week course for photoshop training and that takes time each day as I must complete classes/lessons and submit assignments every day over the next 6 weeks as well. Fun stuff! So...just bare with me. I'm still here and still blogging but the past few days have been hectic as far as my to do list goes and previous engagements go.
I hope each of you have a great night of goblins and ghosts with your little ones this evening and that all of you stay warm while doing so. It's only supposed to be a high of 50 degrees here in Indiana today so I'm assuming tonight will be really chilly. For that reason, I doubt we stay outside too overly long. If the weather temp is under 65 degrees, I'm a real weenie! A big baby is more like it. In my past life I am thinking that I was birthed in the sand, in the Sahara desert maybe. It's the only explanation I can come up with regarding my dislike with cold weather/cool weather. So look for me to be layered up in multiple layers tonight and my kids as well. Yes, we'll look like Bob Gregory's long lost relatives. No doubt! (Sorry...only you long time Hoosiers will get that private joke)
PS...Have your little ones click HERE for some Halloween fun! Happy haunts...Angie
Brennen informed me this morning that he would "NOT" be standing out at the bus stop getting his picture taken every morning from now thru eternity. He asked me when "enough was enough" and wanted to know how much longer I was going to continue to drag my camera out to the bus with him and Kenidi each morning. As you can tell by the look on his face in the picture above...he's done! If that wasn't a forced smile, I don't know what was. Ha ha! I've been lucky to get the ones I've got due to his normal unwillingness to get in front of a camera. Hummmm...wonder where he gets that from? Wink wink~! ;) Now Kenidi on the other hand, she looks like she is posing for some back to school ad or something in that shot above. She has no qualms with posing away and loves every second in front of the camera. Beings that she has been my model for all of my designs since the year after her birth, she is naturally accustomed to life in front of a lens. She knows no different. I honestly think she views it as part of our daily routine. God help me when she finally figures it all out and resigns on me. Until then, I'm soaking the smiles up...(even if this shot below is blurry and blown out somewhat)
You can see what is left of one of her battle wounds from the war with a classmate on Tuesday in this shot below. It's on the side of her chin. I'm praying that it doesn't scar and that it heals up and completely disappears. Just a little bump - a little war wound. She is a "Seaman" though. She can handle it!
For now, I'm off to go drudge up some energy. This 6am alarm buzzing in my ear the last three mornings is killing me. My body is definitely detesting the early morning fun we are having now that school is back in session. I'm sitting here editing images at my laptop and I feel as though I could just crash right here at the kitchen island. When I woke Kenidi up this morning, I asked her if she was ready to go to school again today. She looked at me, shook her head "no" and rolled back over. Those were my sentiments exactly. Ha ha!
I'll be posting the "foto find Friday" project here on the blog again tomorrow even though I'll be in my mentoring session. The theme this week is "water." If you have a photo that somehow pertains to water, post it. We'd love to see it. Thanks to each of you who participated in last week's "flower" theme. xoxo, Angie
Well, day two must have went a bit better for Kenidi. (other then the note from her teacher confirming that she was pretty defiant most of the day today) Yesterday she came home with two nurses incident reports in her backpack from where she had been injured in class by a fellow student. Therefore, the fact that she didn't have any incident reports in her book bag today made me a relieved Mama. She does have some war wounds from the apparent battle yesterday but she seemed fine when she got off the bus. We layered her up with more neosporin and more band aids today before she left and the areas of concern look to be a bit better this evening. What a first day, eh? I don't know what was worse, learning of the cat fight or finding out that she went swinging after an adult herself. Oh yeah...welcome to our world.
I just finished cleaning up dinner and am off to sign into my next online photography class. We are discussing "curves" in photoshop tonight. Fun stuff! I'm learning tonight - not teaching. Speaking of teaching though, thank you to all of you who have signed up for the next round of my photography workshop today. I know we are going to have another great class on our hands. Also, if you have questions regarding what topics we will be learning, don't hesitate to contact me. I hope to post a blog update again tomorrow and then from Friday on, I might be a little MIA for three days. I'm totally stoked to be participating in a mentorship program with a local photographer here in Indy. I'm spending three straight days with her (from 10am in the morning until 9pm at night each day) as she teaches me the ropes and instills in me the knowledge she possesses regarding photography. She is an award winning creative portrait photographer and I'm so humbled and honored to be working under her and to just be in her presence - soaking up all of her talent that she is so willing to share. She has traveled the world to areas such as Australia, England, Hawaii, etc. fulfilling requests for her mentoring amongst colleagues in the industry. There are no words for the excitement I have regarding this mentoring that she is doing for me. I've literally been busting at the seams for Friday morning to roll around. I can barely contain myself. I'll definitely be sharing more about who she is and all that she taught me come Monday. The woman does brilliant work in the photography realm and I'm sure I'll be awe-struck while in person with her. She is one of my top favorite two photographers in the United States. Therefore, to be able to work one on one with her for three solid days is such a blessing. She has special shoots planned - even night ones - where she'll be instructing me on changing lighting conditions, shooting in RAW, commercial driven photography rather then "posed" photography, location scouting, urban and rural shoots, advanced photoshop techniques, etc. Have I told you how stoked I am about this opportunity? Until then, please ignore the pinging sounds you might hear. It's just me bouncing off the walls and counting down the minutes until the mentoring begins on Friday morning. Stay tuned...I'm sure I'll have lots of photos to share from the 3 day experience. Thankfully, we are supposed to have sunny and 90 degree weather the entire three days here in Indiana. I'm eager to have her teach me the tricks of using my available light while on a shoot. Good times~good times!
For now, it's off to learn "curves" in photoshop. Wish me luck. In the meantime, I'll leave you with this photo (above) of Brennen and Kenidi this morning while waiting on their bus. Have a great night! xoxo, Angie
First day of 5th grade (big man on campus) and first day of 1st grade. My babies are growing up.
Brennen did great. He has a new bus driver this year which he is thankful for. So is Mama! Wink wink! ;) He climbed up the steps to the bus and waved to me once in his seat like "This is how I roll - no big deal Mom!" I teared up as I walked away. To think just last night he was still holding my hand and leaning on my shoulder as we walked thru the mall together only to know that in one more year, he'll be off to the middle school and probably "embarrassed" of good ol' Mom by that point. Breaks my heart that he is getting so big. He has yet to seem "too big" to love on his sister though. Love that!
He is always looking out for her and leading the way...
Although Kenidi didn't do so swell and wasn't as "hey this is how I roll" when entering her class this morning, they were both all smiles and cheesy grins at the bus stop for that moment.
Kenidi even got some "hey check me out" moves in before her day started.
I'm praying for them both and their teachers today. Brent was watching Kenidi as she slept last night and he said out loud..."Oh Kenidi, they have know idea what they are in for, do they?" (meaning the school and her teachers) He was all..."They have no idea whose coming to town and it ain't Santa Claus." Ha ha! I was cracking up. He is so right. I just hope these new teachers can handle her. Wink wink! ;) Here is to a new day - a new chapter. Hope all of you are off to a great start this morning. xoxo, Angie
If I was a drinker, today would be one of those days where I'd bust out a bottle of wine. And drink it all by myself - The. whole. thing. Better yet, make that a bottle of whiskey. Or I know...let's go with the big "V" - Vodka instead. Yes, it's been that bad. My son is challenging me. Big time. He is 10 going on 16 with a mouth the size of Texas. And get this...his latest favorite statement to me is..."Oh look - you're wearing a pony tail today Mom. You get mean when you wear pony tails. That explains why you're acting this way." Yeap, he really said that to me. More than once even. The next time it went something like this..."See, I told you - you're mean today because you're wearing THE pony tail." OOOOhhhhh how I love him so. The first time I busted out laughing because his statement was so comical. The 2nd time, third time, etc...not so much! Instead of a drinking fest though, I took my bad self and plopped down in front of some Chili's chips and salsa as well as a big ol' fat plate of chocolate molten cake from their restaurant. After that, I topped it all off with more - yes "more" peanut butter oreo's. Now that is my idea of a drunk fest. ;)
In a nutshell, I'm beginning to understand why some animals eat their young...
Why aren't we ever taught to take advantage of those moments before being catapulted into adulthood?
To twirl and dance around in the sand, to dig holes until we can't dig any further - holes mind you - without recourse.
To bury ourselves and never have to worry about getting ourselves in too deep.
To taunt with your big brother and pester him until you can't laugh any harder and neither can he. (and neither can Mommy while trying to hold a camera steady.)
Why aren't we taught to cherish those innocent moments while we have them?
Before we know it...we turn 6, then 10, then 25, then 40, etc.? We all of a sudden look back and the photograph we view that takes us back to those moments in time is nothing but a distant memory. Like a yellowed and golden old picture that is decades old...
I'm asking myself that today as I view this photo below...
It is a photo of Kenidi taken this week at the beach but it completely resembles me...Angie...at her age. Kenidi will turn 6 in about two weeks. At that age - age 6 - is when I hold most of the memories from my life. I'm unsure why I don't have many memories from the years prior to age 6 but I just don't. At age 7, I remember the turning point of my parents marriage ending, my first trip to the beach, my first sunburn which led to the people we stayed with in Florida breaking a true aloe leaf off an aloe plant and then rubbing it's raw and earthly contents on my reddened skin. I'll never forget that. I can't look at a bottle of aloe without remembering that moment. I also remember loosing a very expensive fishing pole which belonged to the gentleman where we stayed that week at the beach. I lost it to a fish much larger than me in the bay off the ocean. I like a 7 year old would, laid the pole down, turned my back for two seconds, and off went the really expensive pole with the really big fish. I'm sure that pole is all but a memory itself 27 years later. All of these memories seem to begin around age 6 or 7 years old for me. My life seemed to begin then not only in memories within my head but also within pictures. If I were home in Indy, I'd pull out an old photo of myself at this same age and pair it side by side with the one of Kenidi shown above. The orange clothes, the missing teeth, the hair, etc....it all resembles a photograph of myself at her exact age. And when I say resembles...I mean we look like twins. Same hair color, same skin tone, same smile, same everything.
For the first time ever, I'm able to see me in Kenidi. Me as a young girl anyhow. You know how people will tell you all the time that your kids look like you but you never can really see it yourself? Well I "SEE" it in this picture of Kenidi. I see me. I see a young girl whose memories are really just beginning. Whose life is starting to become written in a memory kind of form. And each second counts - every memory - Every laugh - every cry - every joy - every heart break. It is all beginning like right now! I emailed this picture to my parents yesterday and showed them the comparison. My Dad wrote back and confirmed with the words..."It's a little Angie! Love you, Dad" in his email to me. He is right. She is a little me. A little me with a life that is just beginning to flourish.
She will someday remember all of these trips to the beach with Mommy, Daddy, and bubbies. She will remember the evening sunsets and how her Mommy was beach obsessed and camera obsessed as she sat soaking it all in with her camera every night. She'll remember her daddy dancing on the beach with her. She'll no doubt also remember her individual dancing and twirling around in the sand until she was dizzy with delight. She'll remember all of the pestering she did to her big brother as he dug holes with his big, blue, shovel and how she deliberately dove into the holes - placing more sand back where he had just dug. She'll remember her big brother burying her legs and feet until she couldn't move then belly laughing like there was no tomorrow. One day, these photographs and her memories will truly be all she has left of her early years. Her history. Her history is in the making right now and I'm embracing it. I'm embracing every second of it as we approach her 6th birthday in 12 more days. At the moment, we have tentative plans for pizza and cake by the seaside on the evening of her big day. With as much as she loves the beach, I know she'd have it no other way. 9 days later, I'll celebrate my 34th birthday here. And like her, I'd have it no other way either. Pizza, cake, sunset, seaside...Nuff' said!
Another memory, more photographs, more history in the making...
