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Character Breakfast

I always intend to blog five days a week, Monday through Friday.  But it never happens.  I usually squeak in three or four posts, but that’s about it.  Fridays, in particular, have alluded me.  Today, however, I have a few extra minutes, so I sat down at the computer but found myself stumped as to subject matter.  So, I started browsing our vast on-line library of pictures…

On the rare occasion that I actually blog on a Friday, I usually like to post something for my “Flashback Friday” feature where I delve into my legwarmered, teal eyeshadowed, BonJovied past and write about something ridiculously old-school.  I have something I could post about today that is extremely timely and interesting and bittersweet that would definitely count as a flashback, but I can’t post about it.  And I can’t tell you why.  I probably won’t be able to post about it for at least five years.  Don’t ask…I can’t tell.  Yet.

Soooooooooooooo…I’m going to post a little vignette about my three children eating breakfast.  Yes, eating.  Yes, breakfast.  Because these are the photos that inspired me today as I browse Big D’s site.

Big D took this series of photos in February when we were visiting his parents.  I don’t know why he took them, but I’m glad he did.  Big D and I have very different photo-taking approaches.  Usually, I use my point-and-shoot to try to record bits of our history.  I take pictures during holidays.  I take pictures at events.  I take pictures so that we will remember.

Big D takes pictures of emotions.  He captures feelings.  He records personality.  It is art.  I love that we have both kinds of pictures of our family.  Someday my kids can look back and remember what we did and where we went and what they achieved.  But they’ll also be able to look at these photos and know who they were.

They are just eating cereal, for crying out loud.  But one can look at these photos and know something about each of them.  We don’t just know that we went to Ma and Pa’s house and ate their cereal.  We know a little bit about them.  We see a little of their souls.  Some how, some way Big D clicked and captured a moment and captured their characters at the same time.

I love photography.

I love my kids.

I love my husband.

Happy Friday to you all…

Photo Fallacy

I have heard many, many times that one will not take as many pictures of their subsequent children as they do of their first.  This has proved wrong in our family.  Way wrong.

We did take a ton of pictures of Bonny Annie.  She was cute.  She was a little red-headed girl.  She was the first grandchild.  On both sides.  She was oft-photographed.

But we took even more pictures of Dirty Harry.  He was cute too.  He was chubby.  He was the first boy grandchild.  On both sides.  But it was mostly because we had a better camera.

But Cap’n Jack Henry wins the prize.  He is undoubtedly the most photographed child in our family.  Possibly in the whole world.  He’s cute.  He’s little.  He has extra-long eyelashes.  And super-curly hair.  He’s the 6th grandchild.  On both sides. 

Allow me to demonstrate this dynamic…

Yesterday was Easter, right?  All three kids got a little bit of candy in their baskets.  See…

So far, so good.

So, how many photos does it take to document each child’s consumption of said candy?  Let’s take a look…

Specimen #1,  Bonny Annie:

One…

Two…

(and she’s probably going to kill me for posting that one)

Three…

Three…not bad.  Sufficient.  To the point.

Specimen #2, Dirty Harry:

One…

One?  Just one?  And I was lucky to get that one.  He doesn’t like to sit still for picture-taking.

Specimen #3, Cap’n Jack Henry:

One…

Two…

Three…

Four…

Five…

Six…

Seven…

Eight…

Nine…

Ten…

Eleven…

Eleven.  Eleven!!!  Excessive.  Superfluous.  And I deleted the blurry ones.

So, as you can see, it is possible to take more pictures of your second, third, fourth, fifth, etc. children than you did of your first.  It can be done.  I believe that I also proved that it would be crazy for us to try to have a fourth child.  We simply do not have the time or energy to take and process all of the potential pictures.

School Pictures

I am not a photographer.  I have a point-and-shoot camera.

Big D is a photographer.  He has not one, but two, top of the line SLR cameras.

But Big D has a life, and I do not, so when I saw that this week for the….

 

NBTSbloghop

…was school portrait week, I knew I would have to try to photograph my kids, because there is no way in our busy week that I could ask Big D to drag out his backdrops and tripods and such.

Here are my results…

Bonny Annie, my oldest, is smart, creative and fun.  Her academic strength lies in the language arts areas, yet she wants to be a missionary doctor someday, and is aptly fascinated by science.  She loves to read and be crafty.  She likes to watch good movies, Meet Me in St. Louisbeing an all-time favorite.  She loves drama…on stage and off.  She is a blackbelt in Tae Kwon Do and wins medals at every tournament she attends.  She takes great care of her baby brother and nitpicks the middle one.  She is turning 13 in just a couple of weeks.  That scares me.  It scares me badly.

Dirty Harry, my middle child, is athletic, sensitive and hilarious.  His favorite subjects include reading, history, science and spelling.  He doesn’t like math, but he’s a grade ahead of where he’s supposed to be.  He loves Legos and the Wii.  When he grows up he wants to be a professional baseball player, but if that doesn’t work out then he wants to be a Navy chaplain.  He is also a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and is currently playing on a nine year-old travel baseball team for our town.  He thrives in dirt, sweat and grime. 

Cap’n Jack Henry, my baby, is in pre-pre-pre-pre K.  He is happy, hungry and loud.  He likes books, teething rings and stuffed animals.  He will be a year-old in November, but how can that be???  He was only a little over five pounds at birth, but he’s more than tripled his weight since then and all of the problems that the doctors anticipated when he was in the NICU for a week have dissipated as he’s turned out to be a healthy, thriving young un’.  He is a joy and fills our days with laughter….and diapers.

And that’s it.  Those are the students who grace the corridors and desks of Hilltop Academy, drinking our milk and breaking our chalk. 

I am blessed.


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