Blankie

I'm reading a book called Mamarazzi.  I'm pretty sure I'm guilty of this title.  I'd never heard of the term until a friend recommended the book.  It's all about the how-to's of Mom's photographing their kids.  So, it's not so much of a fun-to-read book (unless your a learning photographer) as it is an attempt to simplify the technical terms and techniques of photographing kids.  There's a particular section thats all about not forgetting to document everyday life.  I've always thought I've done a pretty good job of that, since I'll take a picture of just about anything.  But, it specifically talked about capturing kids with their lovey!

Huh!  Wait?  Of course I have pictures of Blankie!   I must have?  She's carried him all over creation since she was born and has never slept a night without him.  So, I head to my photo albums to investigate because I can't remember any specific pictures.  I keep all our photos digital with a separate back-up to ensure we never lose our memories.  I have pictures dating back to 2001, which is about when digital photography really started to boom!  Today I have more than 15,000 pictures all sorted into appropriate albums.  After looking through all of Brenna's Age Albums I realized I had missed a very,very important part of her life.  There were a few pictures with blankie, but nothing that really captured what that grubby little patch of pink fabric really means to her.

So, what to do except get to snapping!  Here's our precious Blankie through the years!

The beginning of Blankie.  Here Brenna is only 4 days old, although she's not too pleased at the moment.

Pandamania at Grand Parkway Baptist Church

After our late night Monday with the fireworks, we were up bright and early Tuesday morning for our churches Vacation Bible School. Our church is pretty small, and last year we didn't even have a VBS because we were afraid we wouldn't have enough kids.  This year we had about 140 kids 2 years old through 4th grade and the theme was Pandamania.  As a comparison, one of my friends was sending her children to the very large Second Baptist Church and they had over 2,000 children registered!  

Brenna had a fantastic time!  I was alittle nervous about it since this was her first "school" type experience. I tried to explain it to her that it would be different from regular church. As we were driving up the first day she said "But Mama, this is regular church!" She loved every minute of it, and I really enjoyed things too. I lead the Bible Adventures for the preschoolers and while it was a blessing to be so active with the kids for the week, a week was plenty! I was worn out!

The first day after Brenna had been with her Bamboo Crew, she ran up to me in the general session and said "Look Mama, I have my very own name tag.  It says Brenna, B-R-E-N-N-A!"  I said, "That's great!  Look, I have a name tag too!"  Her response "But Mama, you got the wrong one!  That's not your name!  It doesn't say M-A-M-A!"

Happy 4th of July

Ok, so this post is alittle late.  Sorry things have been slow on here lately, but we've been busy!  I'll be playing catch-up with a couple more posts over the next few days, so check back soon.

What was suppose to be a nice relaxing long 4th of July weekend kicked off a very long week filled with backyard BBQs, birthday parties, fireworks, and VBS (more to come on this later!)

We attended a 4-year old's Justin Bieber birthday!  I can't believe its already started.  This little girl is just in love with Justin.  Of course, Brenna had no idea who he was and unless he was coming to play, she's wasn't too concerned.

We also attended one of the 4th of July celebrations so Brenna could see a real fireworks display.  She really liked it this year.   We were far enough away, that things weren't too loud, but close enough to enjoy the view!  Here's a few shoots from the weekend.

Rainbow Kitty

Recently, Brenna discovered a new game with her side walk chalk.  She likes to scribble two or three colors over one another and then rub them together with her hand to see what new color she can make.  When Abraham came over to investigate, Brenna gave him a big pat on the head which resulted in a red ear!  And that started a whole new game!  Abraham the Rainbow Kitty!

Brenna's Gymnastics

Well, with the dance recital in our review mirror we looked ahead to the summer.  Since Brenna is a "big girl" now, she likes to make her own decisions.  And her first major self proclaimed decision was about gymnastics.  While she enjoyed her year of dance, it just didn't bring the enthusiasm that gymnastics did.  But, since we paid the tuition, recital fee, shoes, costumes, and professional pics (the list seemed never ending), we stuck it out to the end.  At the end, I told her she could chose to do whatever she liked.  So we went back to gymnastics.  She jumped right back in like she never missed a beat and she loves it!

Kite Flying!

I know I've mention this many times before, but I love our neighborhood.  I love the quiet street that we live on;  I love all the wildlife that comes with the beautiful trees, creek, and lakes;  I love the bridges and the trails.  But most of all, I love all my wonderful neighborhoods.  I love waving as everyone passes by, standing out in the street chatting, and having no pitty to borrow an egg from my next door neighbor, because she just borrowed milk!  I love cooking extra and passing along left overs to my friends, and I love all the yummy treats that find their way to my door!  I also love that on any given summer day, when the temperature is between 70 - 95 degrees our street it littered with bikes, toys, and kids!

Last week we spent every afternoon outside with bike races, water gun wars, mud pies, and kites.  The kite flying was new for Brenna and all the kids enjoyed it.  The Dads managed to get the kite in the air and the kids took turns.  Elmo never looked so beautiful waving down from the big blue sky!

Preschool Splash Day

Our church sponsored a Preschool Splash Day for all our little kids ages 2 - 4. We set out slip-n-slides, blow-up pools, sprinklers, and more. The kids enjoyed popsicles, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, jump ropes, and water balloon games. The kids had a great time just running around with all the endless fun. Here's some shots from the day.

Grandmaw's Chicken Pie

Some people include their kids in kitchen creations like baking a cake, or rolling pizza dough, but not us.  We're from the south (and I don't bake!) so we make dumplings!

Every Sunday for as long as I lived in Dexter, we had dinner after church at my Grandmaw's house.  And every Sunday we had the same thing, Grandmaw's Chicken Pie.  You'd think after 20 years that would start to get old, but it didn't and this week I had a taste for Grandmaw's chicken pie.

I tried to minimize the mesh that would be created by mixing the batter and flouring the counter before Brenna came to help.  I later found out there would be no containing the flour cloud that Hurricane Brenna would stir up.

Just Stuff We Do

So far summer has been HOT!  We do what we can to stay cool and still stay active.  Staying indoors all day isn't an option for me or Brenna, so we head out first thing in the mornings for some backyard playtime.  Then we're indoors until late in the afternoon, just before sun down.

I'm always taking pictures, so here's a collection of all the stuff we do just to have fun while still staying cool.

We help daddy check the sprinklers

One Little Monkey Jumping on the Bed!

You wouldn't know it from these pictures, but Brenna has her first case of strep.  It hasn't been the usually symptoms, but she tested positive so we're on antibiotics.  Aside from some yuckiness (you know what I mean) that randomly comes and goes, she's been fine.  We've tried to stay in, rest, and let the medicine do its magic, but you can only keep a 3-year old contained for so long.  Also, when she's sick, things like clothes seem to get in way (according to her) so that why she's not wearing any pants.  So, here's how we unleash the built-up energy of a house bound preschooler.

Meet Our New Friend!

A very good friend of mine recently had her third child.  Bless her heart, she's a trooper.  You've seen her other two children on here repeatedly.  Well, now its time to meet Baby Gholston! He was born Tuesday, June 24th at 2:05 AM weighing in at 7 lbs and 10 oz. Welcome to the world little guy!

Just For Fun!

Since its was such a beautiful Memorial Day morning, we decided to take a walk down the creek trail and snap a few pictures.  It's been a long time since I purposely took the time to dress Brenna in something nice, fix her hair, and just take some pictures.  I know that sounds ridiculous since 98% of the pictures on this blog are of Brenna, but they're usually what I call "life" shots that just happen; things I want to remember like playing in the playhouse and playdates with friends.  Just life as we know it now.  This time I set out on mission to get some pretty shots of Brenna, just for fun!  At first, I wasn't sure I got exactly what I wanted, since posing a 3-year old is impossible, her pretty linen dress was dirty almost immediately, and wind was blowing so hard I couldn't keep her bow in the hair.  But, Daddy came along so Brenna was all smiles and giggles.  Now looking back on the pictures all I see is her personality, or life as we know it now!  So that made me happy!

Brenna's 1st Dance Recital

Just Because....

Just because I think this may be one of my all time favorite photos that I've taken so far.

Soon I will be adding a watermark.  After a case of photo theft (it was some art photos, nothing of Brenna) I took the advice of some photog friends and created my own watermark.  I have submitted pics to several photo contests along the way and plan to send in some pics to a few local magazines, so it was about time I started marking them.  I designed several adaptions of my initials, and I still haven't committed to just one yet.

Trying Something New

I was inspired by some beautiful pictures that Jamie took of her little boy last week.  So, I decided to stretch the boundaries of my comfort zone and try something new.  Some very close-up, indoor, black and white photos.  Here's my first attempt!  Brenna thought it was a game.  She makes a face, I take a picture, then she laughs at herself while I take more pictures of the smiles.