First game of the season was today. They play on Saturdays every week. So, last season I saw a grand total of ONE soccer game. Weddings and your kids' soccer games just don't mix. This weekend I was lucky enough to have a Sunday wedding, rather than the usual Saturday. So, here's what I saw. My kids looked adorable in their oversized soccer shorts, shin guards, and cleats. BUT, now that I see the photos...they just look like older kids. *sigh* What happened? When did my kids grow up? They ran around the field playing ball. Mostly as one big moving mass without thought. But, noooo...mostly my kid wanted to play games. Holly made faces. She experimented with how she moved her arms while she ran. She fixed her shirt. She did kick the ball once, but I'm pretty sure it was because it got in the way of the bug she was looking at in the grass. Anna played great, but her team still got dismantled by the Blue Dolphins. They were stacked with fast, good players. Here's the end of the game conversation with Anna: Anna: Wow mom. They sure get the ball into the net more than us. Me: Yes, they have some pretty fast players. Anna: NO. They have fast shin-guards and soccer shoes. So, already Anna knows life is about the gear you use...she's ready for photography. BA HA HA. That's a running joke amongst photographers, is it the gear or the person? (For the record, I think it is both)

So, check this out. My blog has been featured at WP-Premium's website for being one of the best customizations of the WordPress blogging platform. So, if you want to pop over there and leave some loving review of my site...that would be cool. Beware though, you could easily get sucked deep into looking at all the cool blogs. And of course, I have to give the love directly back to my WordPress theme's creator...Jared at Professional Photographer's Theme for making such a great product. Yes, I did some tweaks and changes, but the wonderful backbone is all his work.

Ok...I just had to write how excited I am to hear all about these babies and pregnancies from some of my wedding clients. Meghan...your little peanut butter pirate Pheobe is the spitting image of Geoff.  Super great blogging on her! Annie...OH MY GOSH!!!!  You were holding  out on me!  Your blog is bookmarked now! Monika...I can't wait to see pictures of your baby!  It's grandma Suzanne sounds pretty darned proud already. Any more good news for me from you all?!  This news just made my day!  Send me some photos and I'd love to post them up here.  I think we could have a poll for blog readers to decide who the baby looks more like, Mom or Dad.  (Of course, Meghan...your baby looks IDENTICAL to Geoff.  No poll needed.)

I think the little kid drawings are going to be one of the things that i'll miss the most as the kids grow up. The pictures are a pretty good insight into what's going on with them. They get more sophisticated, more detailed. The subject matter changes according to which movie they just watched or friends they hung out with. It's about as good of a written journal as they could make.

It's here again.  The first day of school.  Anna started first grade today, and Holly starts her last year of preschool.  Anna hasn't talked about school much, or seemed very interested in back-to-school talk.  But this morning it was obvious that she was indeed paying attention to the importance of the day.  She walked into my bedroom already dressed in her favorite dress and holding a pair of pink ribbon hair clips that she wanted me to put in her hair.  She normally shuns all sorts of hair adornments, so I knew this was a big deal day for her to have asked for those. Jason was a bit more upbeat, and less nostalgic, than I was about the whole occasion. She was pretty somber walking into school.  No chit-chat.  No answers to our questions.  She was all very business-like.  We got to her classroom, and she sailed right in, but still shot this look back to me and said "Come on Mom.  We need to go in."  It's rare that I see this pensive, almost worried, look on Anna's face...makes my heart skip a beat. This year brings a more sophisticated classroom decoration (I guess first grade is supposed to be more academic?) and an official table-chair for each kid with their names on them.  Kudos to all the grade school teachers out there!  You all put an awful lot of work into setting up your classrooms each year...thanks! And so the kids drew some pictures to start the morning off.  Anna drew this really nice picture of a horse (kinda boxy horse) in a field. And, then Jason and I saw the "other kid" from her class last year.  Here's his picture of a cat getting hit by a bolt of lightning.  Great, great.  Is this a boy thing?  Cause all we ever see are bunnies, princesses, and flowers.  Shock, death, and black crayons never happen in our house.  I'm baffled. and a picture for grandma