Summer, Please Be Kind

They look like angels, right?  Like the kind of children who would sit quietly for hours playing board games, drawing pictures, asking if they finished all their thank you notes. 

But you already know better. 

They are little demons of adventure.  They want to ride their bikes in construction sites.  They want to turn the room above the garage into a kid-style karaoke bar.  They want cash for an IKEA run so they can buy a hundred of those twirly egg chairs, so they can line them up on the driveway and spin themselves silly. They want to run businesses!  Have dance parties!  Build rockets!

Now I'm planning to fly around the world and take pictures of hope--which is amazing!  which is a miracle!--but seriously, sisters, I pray to God these kids will have mercy on their subjects--oops! i mean supervisors--while I'm working around the clock, getting ready to go.  I pray a nice kind Mary Poppins whose way smarter than they are will land on my doorstep and whip us all into shape, before Kid Nation rules my world.

What are you wishing for this summer?  Who are the subjects at your house who are threatening a takeover?  Show us your angels, your demons, your precious darlings with those impish grins.  We need to know what you're facing, as summer stares us down.

magic pony

Some days it's a Llego severing my ankle. Other days it's a mountain of clean clothes on her floor "because she couldn't find the right shirt". You know the one. It used to be purple, but has faded to lavender. And that might be okay if it didn't show her entire belly when she raises her hands. She doesn't care. She needs it because it goes with her polar bear pants. And this ritual might be half way cute, if I didn't know this is only the first of twelve times that she'll be changing. Today. 

Then there was the Insta-Gone camera. Ever heard of that model? We bought it for my son last year at Christmas. It was going to be his first real digital camera. We made him open it last. I had dreams and visions of all our picture-taking bonding that about to happen. And I think he held it once before it disappeared into The Abyss. The same Abyss which stores about nine pairs of his glasses. Okay, maybe eight. We did find that one pair on the outdoor playset. There they were, just sitting at the bottom of the slide. Had been there for weeks. 

The chaos of three children can be like living in a hurricane. And somedays, I definitely feel like I'm hanging onto a tree limb. And just when you think you're about to blow away, you find something like this. She said she was giving her a bath in the Magical Waterfall Universe. And I couldn't help but picture her three year old little self. Carrying the stool over, I know she was still on her little piggy tip toes, as she washed pony's hair. All by herself, amused and entertained by just her sweet imagination. 

And that made me think about the day when all the shoes are always put away. Finally, I'll be able to find scissors and the remote. No one will be stealing my makeup or paintbrushes. But I won't have magical ponies playing in my sink, either. Let's not wish anything away today. 

What kind of magic is happening in your world?

magic

A couple weeks ago, in the spirit of the season, we decided to download the movie Fred Claus. Simple enough. Until the eight year old wheels of logic started turning in my son's head, and the interrogation began. "But how does Santa get in here if we don't have a chimney?" "Does he know the code to the alarm?" "How does he fly through the night when it's daytime on the other side of the world?" (That one made my head hurt). But we dutifully lied through our teeth as the questions got to be more and more detailed. "YES! We mailed him the key to the front door, ALRIGHT?!!"

A few days passed, and I guess it had been eating my husband up. Because the next thing I know, he waltzes into the room to casually announce that he has single-handedly informed our children (the youngest is THREE) that Santa Claus is indeed NOT REAL.

Me: "Are you serious?"

Him: "Yep, I was sick of lying to them."

Me: "Well, why don't you just tell them about the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. And while you're at it, tell them how babies are made. For good measure, why don't you just pour them a drink?!"

But the damage had been done. Or so we thought. A few more days passed, when my oldest asks my husband, "If Santa's not real, then who always eats all those cookies after we go to bed?"

My husband could see in his eyes how much he desperately wanted Santa to be real. He said, "You know what...I never thought about that. But you're right...the cookies ARE always gone the next morning. Maybe he really IS real afterall!" All three children tuned in. And by the end of the conversation, Santa was alive and well again. And so was the possibility of magic. It made me realize that sometimes it's not important to have all the answers, because so much joy comes from just having the faith to believe.

What do you believe in this Christmas Eve?

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Telling Their Story

On November 13^th I became a mom for the second time. It was one of the most excruciatingly painful experiences of my life and one of the most beautiful all into one. The first tender moment when I held my baby girl was captured on camera. My son’s birth five years prior was also photographed for posterity. Every major event of his life since has been recorded by the shutter’s eye. And as many of the in between moments as possible too.

More than anything, it is the in between everyday moments that I am most interested in photographing. Because it is my child’s daily day to day life that really tells his story. It is an ongoing visual documentation of whom he was and who he is becoming. I especially love to take pictures of him when he isn’t even looking into the camera, like in the picture above. When he isn’t forced to look at the camera is when he is his most authentic self. A professionally trained photographer would probably see many things technically wrong with that image, but to me it is perfection. He was playing in his room on an ordinary day andI was able to capture his gentle kind spirit.

Now I can’t wait to also take pictures, to document the big events and the small magical kid moments of my daughter’s story, the moments that will shape who she will grow up to be.

Words and picture courtesy of Honorary Sister/Guest Blogger Sandra (aka Pink Orchid Too) at artful life.

Sandra is also kindly offering a print from her Sweet Blue Photography Etsy shop for today’s giveaway. Be sure to pop over and see. Her work is gorgeous. But you probably already know that. Leave your comment here today for a chance to win.

Congratulations to Emily of Five Flowers for winning one of Alex’s lovely images.

eyes of a child

You know how children always spot airplanes while you're lost in thought at the steering wheel? Or how they hear dogs barking in the distance, when all you hear is the chatter in your head? It's a welcomed relief to be pulled back into the world. The Moment.

This was taken at a photo shoot when little Vienne (age 4) spotted reindeer on the wall! Until she  pointed it out, I hadn't noticed that the sun was rising to form perfect shadows behind them. And it reminded about when I let my kids play with the camera. They often come up with the most amazing images, and I  think it's for two reasons. One is that they don't see the world through the filter of what it's supposed to look like. Instead, they're naturally open to looking at everything from many different angles. The second reason is that they're not afraid of failing. I think we could all learn a lot from the way kids see things.

What do you think? Any amazing kid-inspired shots to share today?