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family
The essence of today's family is when you have members coming and going and schedules and school and sports and parents always on top of it all. I've had the honor of shooting this family multiple times now and it's cool to see them growing and changing and branching out while always staying close. Just like families should.
I'd like to say I was on vacation in the south of France, watching the sun set over golden hills. I'd LIKE to say I was in Santorini, Greece seeing water so blue it made me weep. Sadly, noeither of those are true and instead we've had a nearly three week bout of on-again, off-again flu go through every member of our family at different times and intensities. It's been rainy and we've felt yucky and not much has happened in the household worth mentioning. Other than surviving, of course, which is really what's important.
We've had a few things going on, which is par for the course with the approaching summer. Finally, FINALLY, getting a little sun. High school prom, school functions and field trips and the start of an itchy green thumb. I have tomatoes to plant, Indy and I made 4 terrariums full of cacti and succulents and bought (and fed!) a Venus Fly Trap. A few pics below because the light was good and my teens were agreaable to being photographed (if you knew how rare that was...), one right before prom dinner and a cell-pic at Lowe's because the flowers were gorgeous in the light. You know, LIFE, or business as usual.
Wow. Just wow. My first born baby is 19. Almost out of the teens and really, truly an adult (as opposed to just trying to act like one!) Two recent pics, here she is studying for a college math test (and trying to watch American Idol at the same time) and on the right, getting ready for a "hot date" (ha ha, with her sister) to watch Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland".
Here are 19 things about Shade on her 19th birthday:
My oldest daughter turned 18 and wanted to get a tattoo. While this may or may not be something everyone thinks is OK for their kids, I have no problem with it. I am extremely happy that my older daughters make such good choices in life that despite all the normal temptations available to teens, all I literally have had to worry about is the fact that they each want a tattoo. Neither smoke, drug or drink and are even pretty serious with their hearts (ie: they don't date a lot of guys) so honestly, if a tattoo was my biggest concern by the age of 18, I think I have pretty good kids. They do have to be over 18 though. Anyway, Shade waited patiently and at almost 19 she got a tattoo of a flock of birds flying up across her shoulder blade. There are 7 birds, one for each member of her family, in age order.
Of course, I HAD to be there to document the event. Oh, and as long as I was there, I also got one. My third one, it features 3 beautiful bluebirds, one for each of my daughters.
Unrelated to the tattoo, I saw at the I [heart] faces website that two of my images entered into their logo contest placed in the top 10! The sweatshirt/sunglasses one tied for 5th and the painting on the knee came in 8th. Pretty cool, there were so many awesome entries.
Spent part of the chilly, ohhh sooo chilly, afternoon with the Fenter family again to make a few more images of their sweet little family. A quick trip to a nearby park, complete with slide and a stout little hill that their son loved to run up and down. Promises of hot cocoa kept everyone happy for the most part and we made the best of the short time we were outside.
