Balls

A desk was moved in front of his window for better lighting when recording, a glowing character report from his fifth grade teacher, and he is now officially on fall break. 

Asthma and allergies flared, classes wrapped for the quarter with a test score worth celebrating, and a virtual day was spent with a friend for a necessary change of scenery. 

Our Superman speculates he could walk away from being hit by a car. As a pedestrian. Fifty is the new twenty, it seems.

A few weeks ago I read an applicable illustration about keeping all the proverbial balls in the air. Some are glass and others are rubber. The trick is identifying which kind of ball you are juggling in the moment. Let go of the rubber balls and balance only the glass. Pay attention though because those balls tend to change in different seasons. Yesterday's fragile may bounce today.

Then last week I read a far more applicable story about a child in a ball pit who refused to let go of the balls she was desperately clutching even though her father was pleading for her to let go so she wouldn't sink under. The child was adamant they were hers and barely kept her head above the pit because she wouldn't release her grip. I felt deeper conviction during church Sunday while quietly confessing how overwhelmed I have felt. It appears my Father has been encouraging me to drop the balls as well.

By Wednesday, I decided the balls aren't being juggled at all. We are all in an endless and aggressive game of dodge ball. I don't like dodge ball.

The week was wild, stressful and long. Did I mention we are now on fall break? I miss the second week already. 

For Fun Friday they consumed their traditional ice cream while acknowledging awards given to Ty for reasons he cannot recall. Kate was beyond delighted to have scored Marvel toys at McDonald's. I don't have to understand the fascination, just love the kid exuding joy.

Family Dates

Family and Senior photo season has arrived in full force. I have booked myself at least two sessions every weekend and that requires I be intentional about spending time with the kids. Ty elected an early morning skate park date Saturday. We were there by eight and had the place to ourselves. I shot some photos and enjoyed a cup of tea while he rode his heart out. He loved it until he wrecked. I think we dodged an emergency room visit by the skin of our teeth. Watching him fly over his handle bars dropped my stomach. In the end, he had some pretty gnarly bruises but walked away. Praise God. Now I just need to replace broken bike parts and convince him we are doing it again soon so he doesn't grow too afraid to risk it in the future. 

Saturday afternoon was gorgeous so we spent a great deal of time on the porch and deck once the house was cleaned. Kate decided to add Pip to the mix. He kept walking right up to Layla so after a few moments, we let Layla check him out......

Neither was all that impressed by the other.

Sunday, my Senior session lasted a full forty-five minutes before the client declared we were finished. Delighted by the sudden availability in my schedule, Greg and I slipped away for a drive and a salad together. We scouted a few new photography locations and spoke in complete sentences. It was a lovely change of pace.

Monday our new appliances were delivered and the kids got an awesome box. Sometimes I worry the boy aspires to be homeless. He begs to sleep in the box, fights showers and deodorant, wants to hold a 24 hour challenge in the box and only dreams of being a youtuber (which he can do from inside the box). It's not just this box. He gets excited about every box and I feel like a mean mom when I declare, "no, you cannot sleep in the box on school nights. Wait for the weekend." Parenting is weird.

Monday, Kate seeking to reduce her prison sentence, emailed her school counselor requesting additional courses on her schedule next semester. We haven't completed our first quarter and she has decided she is graduating a year early. Things are going well; said with all the sarcasm you can imagine.

Wednesday I once again experienced a not so healthy dose of mom guilt while working our virtual day so I took Kate out to run errands. We made a quick Target run where she picked up a new buddy. She named him David Bones, Dave for short. We grabbed an ice cream and some groceries. Our date wasn't exciting but we needed it, none the less. 

Thursday I accused my friend at work of shopping at Target without me recently. We plan to remedy that over fall break. But showing up in the same sweater neither of us knew the other owned was comical. In our defense, it was purple day in kindergarten.

Only the bravest ask a room full of kindergarten students to guess your age. To their credit, the average was only 41.5. Thank goodness for all those little cuties who had me in my twenties to help balance the stinkers who guessed in the eighties! But if you want to feel pretty special on your birthday, hang out with five year olds. They know how to celebrate. 

Tonight, dinner on the patio with some of our favorites. It was a beautiful ending to a delightful day. 

Fall is in the Air

After announcing she was doing algebra and has lost the will to live, she screamed into our perfectly quiet evening, "slide seven just up and walked away! I hate projects." It was otherwise a happy Saturday night around here.

Greg doesn't care for smores so he spreads peanut butter on chocolate bar pieces instead. Layla was pretty interested in checking it out. 

I took Makenna and Noah out for two year dating anniversary photos. They laughed and played around so much, I was at one point, sitting on the ground laughing too hard to capture the hilarity. We were fighting for the last of the day's light and couldn't pull it together but the results are beautiful and the candids remain my favorite. 

Every boy I have ever shot at some point during the session requests action shots. It never fails and always amuses me. Of course capturing this particular candid may always be my favorite shot of them....

My Sunday afternoon session canceled at the last minute (with a good reason) so I found myself available to hang out with three of my girls exploring a craft store and a few other shops. Their banter back and forth entertains me as much as it exhausts me after awhile. They are a mess together. I found myself missing Lauren's contribution. There is just something about their bond and they way they feed off each other that keeps me laughing and often shocked.

Wednesday I made the first apple crisp of the season and had no regrets. 

Makenna spent the week house sitting for friends. It was a tiny glimpse into our near future as she plans to move out soon. However, she swung by daily to check out the dinner menu. In a nutshell, not much will change once she moves out as we only see her occasionally anyway.

Erin stopped by for dinner and washed a load of laundry Thursday night. I asked her to tackle a quick project for me while she was here. 

2020 planner:

2021 planner:

Ty has reinstated his plea for a pet tarantula.  We are going with a firm no on this. 

Tonight, Greg and I dined on the patio together. It was the perfect ending to another long week.