Oh, the Paparazzi

.....they make me crazy! Stop with the pictures already!!!


I'm putting myself on "camera timeout." That is, my camera can not come out of its storage bag again until I've shared some of the pictures and experiences from this summer. In the past 30 days alone, we have traveled to D.C., Atlanta/west Georgia and Seacrest Beach. We have visited with the dearest of friends and family, soaking up on life. And in between the packing and unpacking, we have started school and began the fall semesters of Mommy & Me ballet class and music class. Not to mention keeping up with the monotony of household duties and the excitement of our professional lives. Whew. I'm tired just thinking of it.

Each day finds me feeling abundantly blessed and not by anything extraordinary, but by the simplest of daily life -
Logan praying, without our prompting, for "Pearson and Mills" (her teachers) in her nightly prayer;
her proudly displaying the "puddin' pig" she created at school on the refrigerator;
her quick correction from "yea" to "yes Ma'am" with my simple "do we say yea, Logan?";
the way she reminds me that she is in-fact "Logan Elizabeth" when I call her little lady;
the fact that my professional life and personal life are balanced with such beauty, in a way that I'm able to do what I love for clients I adore, but have the time for afternoon ice cream treats or bookstore visits with Logan;
the quiet patience of my husband as I struggle to balance on days that don't go so smoothly, when he JUST KNOWS I need him to scoop the sweet girl up for some daddy puzzles time so I can respond to emails or maybe, just maybe catch up on the blogosphere :).

Sometimes I worry a bit about painting such a blissful picture when I post. I mean, come on, we all know about the neverending ironing in my laundry (which is, to my ultimate chagrin, in the garage....worst place EVER for laundry). We all have heard the depressing story of a hubby who has apparently developed the "worst sinus infection" ever and doesn't do his bathtime duties for an ENTIRE week (a.k.a. mommy doesn't have her own quiet bathtime due to this). And we all know of the ongoing depression of bill paying. But, why dwell on the mundane when life offers so much more magic? I read this beautiful post and stopped feeling guilty. And if you aren't already sucked into Kelle Hampton's blog...get ready. She is an incredibly talented writer and photographer, and has the kind of life perspective most of us only dream of.

So, I find myself composing posts in my mind and smiling that every. single. day. offers so many happy moments for our family. And, most of the time, I'm too tired at the end of the day to actually blog all these thoughts. So, they just swarm in my head until I finally make time and post a ridiculously long brain dump. But the best part of it all is the deep-seeded knowledge that all those special people I adore share these same happy moments every day, and it is our choice each night to either stress about the difficult or dwell in the good.

And speaking of good....preschool is GOOD! We have achieved school success, and though we shed a few tears those first two weeks (my tears were saved for once I returned to the car), by Logan's 2nd Thursday, she displayed a little pout, and then was off. And each night after school, she blabbers on endlessly about activities....half of which I have to clarify when we return to school two days later. Case in point - she told me all about painting messy, muddy pigs last Tuesday night while going to sleep. And sure enough, when I checked her little box on Thursday morning, there was her pig, beautifully created with chocolate pudding, which she tells me she licked while painting :).

Here are a few photos of our big girl on her first day of school. In three weeks of going, I tell you, I think she has grown two years. The learning curve of a two-year-old is truly miraculous, and I feel so grateful to have an incredibly loving, enriching, God-centered school in which to begin her love for learning.

The backpack doesn't go with her to school...but she loves to carry the "pack pack" around.

If you have stuck with me to this point, I will finish with a funny story from bedtime last week. As we were laying side-by-side, Logan reached up and patted her chest and said "Logan have ninnies?" (sorry for that term Aunt Kassie) I smiled and responded, "yes Logan, you have two, right by your heart." She then said, as clear as day "I want big ninnies." Ha. So do I sweet girl, so do I!