Never a dull moment

Hello, poor neglected blog. And hello, wonderfully FAITHFUL blog visitors who continue to stop by even though I've been doing everything but update this blog. *sigh*

Business has really been booming for me on the photography side of things and so if I've not been occupied with teaching, I'm actively booking shoots, shooting sessions, culling and editing images, or packaging and delivering things to clients. It's been so much work juggling things but at the same time, it's been an amazing joy and blessing as well. I have worked so hard for the past decade now and my career as a professional photographer is really paying off in dividends to the point where my reputation and experience is absolutely the major contributor for the demand of my work. It's so nice to know and be able to prove that I'm a seasoned and very well experienced professional in a field that is just about bursting at the seams with folks who have only just picked up a camera. Nothing against some of the greenhorns that are out there as I'm actually a huge fan of young and fresh talent being in the field of art education but just... I don't know. It's nice not to be out there in the gauntlet of trying to carve out a niche for myself anymore. It's nice to not have to fight for work. It's nice to have it be concretely validated (by the good Lord above) that this is indeed what I'm supposed to be doing with my life as He continues to provide for it to happen.

Moving on, I've also been trying to throw myself into being a good mom to an incredibly busy and increasingly inquisitive Miss A. Her new favorite thing is to ask, "Why not?" I'm not sure where this came from over the traditional "Why?" but these days, Miss A is constantly challenging us to explain and justify things more fully. We are really on our toes constantly and, I can't lie, it's fun to watch her sponge up as much information as she can get.

This morning she wanted to put together puzzles and we spent almost an hour doing three different ones. These same puzzles presented quite a challenge no less than three months ago but now? She was able to do them all with very little assistance from me. She's looking at the pieces and employing some great logical reasoning and finding some terrific solutions just like that.

We're also working with her on independent play. Since she's our only little love, she's used to getting an endless amount of playtime at any given time from at least one of us. We have never been interested in shorting her of any attention but we also know that this could create issues by undermining the natural independence that she could otherwise have. For this reason, we are actively alternating play time with alone time. And I'm happy to say that sometimes she can really throw herself down on the floor in protest when play time ends but her imagination and ability to entertain herself is really blossoming. Most recently she's started doing a lot of pretend play. Her latest favorite has been to use the bathroom sink cabinet as a van-car, a hide-n-seek (her words, not ours), or a house for her "shildrens." She has logged hours at this point getting in and out of the cabinet and it's so much fun to watch. Can you see the tiny little fingers at the top of the cabinet? She's in there just hanging out.

Earlier today I was inspired by an episode of Kipper on Sprout and I got out some air dry clay for her to play with. (Being an art teacher has such perks! I love having a very well stocked home studio that can always supply something that can be used for creating.) We played with the clay for a good hour and though it was messy and ended up getting in her hair (not soon after we gave up on trying to keep it off of her shirt), it was so fun watching Miss A get so into it and really make that lump of clay into a cat, a plane, a car, a bird, and finally (with my help) a bowl.

I don't consider myself very naturally maternal. Motherhood really does not come naturally to me at all and despite some people's assumptions of me, I really have to work hard and really think about what I should do at any given time to be a mom much less a decent one. Still, the one thing I do very well and naturally is to just sit at Miss A and marvel at what a wonderful gift she is to have in this life. Whether she's trying to figure out the world, trying to make it into something that only SHE understands, or making a complete mess in it, I absolutely adore her. And no matter how much work I'm ever so blessed to have, I know one of my greatest blessings with always be that which is Miss A.

Gems from our little gem

Last night's bedtime prayer from Miss A went like this:

Dear God, thank you for the s'ghettis but not the red sauce because I don't like the red sauce. Amen. Thank you, Jesus.

And tonight Miss A has spent a significant amount of time tuning up her work bench.

Never a dull moment with this one, folks. Never a dull moment.

The Fall "Vegetable"

Last week was Homecoming week for the school where I teach. A number of activities had to be cancelled due to various reasons outside of the control of administration but one was kept - the Fall Festival. For this event, they turn some of our sports fields into a big community space into a bit of a small carnival set-up. I participate by helping to oversee the face-painting station that is run by the Art club.

This past Fall Festival was a very fun time. D had to help out coordinating a fellowship/community event for something he is involved in so Miss A came along with me to "shadow" me until D could join me later. I talked up the event number of days in advance and so by the time Saturday rolled around, Miss A was totally hyped up for the Fall "Vegetable." And I tried to get her to say festival instead of vegetable but it just wasn't working out so we just went with the Fall "Vegetable" the way she thought it was supposed to be.

Miss A had both of her cheeks painted (a heart and a flower) and also enjoyed rooting on some of the students who were playing powder puff -  she was even yelling, "Go TEAM!" at the appropriate times. Miss A's favorite thing for the day was the inflatable jumping thing. I have no pictures of that but it's probably better that way because 1) she wouldn't stay still long enough for me to take a decent picture with my phone and 2) she pitched a fit BOTH times when D and I told her to stop and that it was time to give someone else a turn. (It's so hard to be little sometimes. *sigh*) Anyway, here is a cute shot of her with her painted face and sitting at the powder puff game.

She sings! She hiccups! She wants it LOUDERLOUDER!

The $3 dress from Target

When I was growing up, I was a cross between a hand-me-down kid and a kid who seemingly never grew and could wear the same clothes from elementary school far into middle school. I was a pipsqueak and that's putting it mildly. In some cases this was a good thing because that meant that whenever I did get new clothes, they were generally higher quality (so they would last) and also of a style that was more classic than trendy (again, so they would last). Still? I often longed for clothing that was more trendy than classic and more novel than mainstay.

Miss A, being of genetic inheritance of myself and a great-grandmother who almost (but didn't) make it to the five foot mark, is carrying on the legacy of being a pipsqueak. I don't even know what percentile she is in for her age group but last we checked (months and months ago), she was barely in the 5th percentile. Now? She might very well have dropped off of the bottom of the charts. She is well into her 3s and she can still wear 24m/2T clothes reasonably comfortably. She went through a growth spurt just a few weeks ago but even now when I know most of her buddies are already getting into 4T sizes, she's barely climbing into the 3T range - mostly for shirts and upperbody wear.

Last weekend when I was in Target, I breezed through her section of clothing and scored two really cute summer shift dresses in fun patterns for only $3 a piece! I could have gotten the 3T but with Fall making its way into our region and summer months away now, I figured I should go with the 4T instead. Miss A discovered these dresses and insisted upon wearing them now while it was still warm. Her favorite one is pictured below - red with pink "Holka" dots (as she calls them).

The first picture is her trying to show a "Skeeter" bite (mosquito bite, if you will) but with the wind blowing, it actually looks like it fits her reasonably well. The second picture though? Well, that's without the wind blowing and a much better picture of how the dress really fits her. I couldn't even say she is swimming in it. She's just about drowning in a 4T! *sigh* My little pipsqueak.

Anyway, sorry for the very low quality pics these days. My phone is so much more easily accessible for pictures than my big camera and these days (unless I'm doing a shoot) my motto is: the closest camera available is better than no camera at all!