These Days: September 2010

These Days:

* Noah is as passionate as ever about trains. He loves Chuggington on TV, and the Metrolink tram in our town, and railroad crossings, and the fact that the Schnucks brand of cocoa puffs featured a cartoon train on the front... He is hooked and passionate. Love it! 

* I am making time to sew at least 30 minutes a day, at least 4-5 days a week. It centers me in a way that should make my mom laugh-- since when we were kids, I was FLABBERGASTED that she LIKED to sew and did it to relax. I was FLOORED. I hated sewing. But now, in that way at least, I have become my mother. 

* We take "family walks" now and then, just around our neighborhood. Noah loves them, and talks about our neighborhood in such a knowing way. 

* Our mornings are not early, nor are they frantic. Noah wakes about 8:30, which wakes me. Joe is gone by then, having biked to the Metro for work. After Noah and I sit in his room playing a bit, we mosy down to eat cold cereal and read scriptures in the most leisurely fashion. I have to remind myself to change out of pjs early, so we don't keep that pace ALL day. :)

* I am shooting significantly less sessions a month... something I decided to move towards this summer. It is PERFECT right now--- the balance between work and family. 

* I am editing a fun session I talked my sister and her friends into.... something I wanted to do for ME, and needed models for. It is making my heart happy to see these sun-drenched, personality-filled images as I edit. LOVE LOVE LOVE that shooting less for work enabled me to shoot Joe's Mime Shoot and now this Bessie Shoot. For ME. For MY heart. 

* Noah and I made cupcakes yesterday. We made pink frosting for them because on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse they have "Moo Muffins", which look exactly like pink frosted cupcakes. I've been  promising him we'd make "Moo Muffins" for weeks now. 

* I am caught up on my personal photos through mid-2008. That sounds awful, but for me, that is nothing short of a MIRACLE. :)

* This fall I want to: go to a Cards game, take an Amtrak train trip to Herman or Jeff City with Joe and Noah so Noah can ride a REAL train, go to an apple orchard, go to a pumpkin patch, go to a corn maze, have a weekend away with just Joe, do mini Halloween portraits for my friends' kiddos, make the coolest tent for Noah's Christmas gift, convince Katie to fly out and hang with me, make apple or pumpkin butter, have a flower-making crafty girls' night.... and on and on....

* I have introduced Sound of Music to Noah, and he LOVES it. That makes my old-fashioned, "played-Maria-in-high-school" heart HAPPPPY. He adores the Goatherd song, sings "Edelweiss" nearly perfectly, and loves "So Long, Farewell". Oh, and knows nearly every word to "Do, Re, Mi". It's ridiculously cute. I'm creating a nerd boy, I know it. 

* I'm between iTouch app addictions right now. After conquering Peggle and Plants Vs. Zombies, and getting 2+ stars on all the newest levels of Angry Birds, I confess that I am not finding anything worthy of replacing those bits of awesomeness. 

* I am writing randomness tonight because I promised myself I'd write every day this week, but after last night feeling so GOOD--- like I had managed to actually put into words some of the amazingness I've been feeling, I just don't have any additional energy to reprise it... for now. I have lots of thoughts brewing... about money, and about my work and how it has shifted... But.... MEH. Today, you get a random list.

* And it is 12:15. I should go to bed. Tomorrow is my Work Day, and I have mucho emails to catch up on, a pricing guide to edit, some orders to place, some bookkeeping, and all the other "behind the scenes" stuff that goes into running a photography business. I should get good sleep so I maximize my time away from Noah. 

so... for now, adieu, adieu, to you and you and yoooooooooooou!