tooting her flute.

Both junior high school bands performed this past Friday evening at Tomball's annual Patriotic Night at the high school football game. You wouldn't know that behind that smile, she had learned a very valuable lesson about the function of a seat belt a short while earlier in the evening. Poor M decided to crawl into the back seat where her friends were to put her flute together and when I started to proceed through a stop sign, someone else ran it causing me to hit the brakes hard. Because she was sitting on the floor of the car holding her flute to her mouth, she flew forward into the center console busting her lip and jamming up her finger. Of course, we told her to just imagine what would have happened if I were going more than about 2 mph...very frightening, indeed.

The rest of these were not taken by me, but by either Chris or Keith (or both) while I was fulfilling my volunteer duties below and T was wrangling with the video camera and C in the packed stands. Thanks guys and I am sure you will all understand if I spare my readers the awesome pics you took of me. This is another T, a buddy of M and the son of the above mentioned Chris (and his lovely wife Julie)...

And here is M whose choice to wear pink Converse made identifying her on the field much easier for her dad...

So glad the guys got pics of this because from the field, all we could see where a bunch of folks marching around. What you can't see is that all three bands formed the shape of the continental United States...God bless America, we are truly blessed to live here.

Ahh, L and her friend, K who is little sister to the above mentioned T and daughter to the same Chris & Julie...having fun with initials yet??

rah. rah.

She has added cheer to her list of favorite things though I am happy to report that swim still ranks higher, thank goodness. Today was the first official game for the Patriots and I must admit that seeing those teeny tiny boys in their huge football gear running around the field was priceless. It was clear that all the practicing they do paid off as they walked all over the opposing team though let's not forget to mention they had the advantage of all these sparkling cheerleaders to encourage them too!

I had only one shot left on my camera so I grabbed this one before we left. :)

time flies.

Where did the first week of school go?? I can't believe we are already in the second full week and I truly hope that the entire year doesn't go by like this. During summer, I thought I couldn't wait for it to start and now I just want to hit pause for a little while. M is totally loving the freedom of junior high and has already gone to her first high school football game with several of her girlfriends. Volleyball try-outs are this week and while I know she is fairly confident she has worked hard enough and is more than good enough to make the team, she is still a jumble of nerves. As for L, third grade is awesome! This year, she is introduced to switching classes mid day which is great and she has already been invited and gone to a birthday party for a new friend at school. Lastly, C's first week was as eventful but not necessarily as positive. Beginning with the first day of school when he was accidentally put on the wrong bus and then the third day when he slipped in a puddle of water and landed on his head on the tile floor resulting in a lovely goose egg bump and bruise. By Friday, he was requesting to go back to his old school and to the loving arms of his fabulous Kindergarten teacher. I keep telling him it will get better and I know it will, but I can't help but think..."poor kid!"

cosmetic changes.

UUUUGGGGHHH!!! She is getting to old for me now. She is officially in 7th grade, junior higher. When I told her she could start wearing make-up when she was in junior high, it was so far away but now here we are and in truth, later than for most as in this school district, 7th grade is the first year of junior high. So since I forgot to take pics of her this morning on her first day of school, I brought my camera with us when we went to the mall immediately after I picked up from school to Bare Escentuals for a lesson in make-up application (mom fully admits to being completely worthless in this department).
So many choices.

The perfect, neutral tones for M but with some sparkles to up the "girlie" factor a bit.

First, the expert applied and then M gave her best on the other side.

Of course, it was a teensy weensy bit too much for my taste, but I was surprised when M said it was too much for her liking too....Hallelujah!

I must having some sort of meltdown because did I get an "after" shot...no, I didn't.

off to a great start.

The first day of school already? Yep. This morning went amazingly well with everyone up and moving and ready to go. Unfortunately, for the first time in her entire life, I completely forgot to take a pic of M on her first day of school. What the heck was I thinking? I don't know. It was so early when she left (6:55 am) and after she and Daddy pulled out of the driveway, I went on to start my day by stripping our bed when it hit me. I guess I'll just have to take a pic of her at the end of the day for a change. Needless to say, I did not make the same mistake with L & C. L was up and downstairs and dressed in the outfit she picked out for this day on the second week of summer within five minutes after her alarm going off.

We arrive safe & sound and with plenty of time to spare.

In the doors, no turning back now.

We started with C's class and I prayed that it would go well.

Sizing up the kids around him.

Prayers answered, I am soooo happy that this year C was far more upbeat than his Kindergarten year. He was all smiles all the way to school and even as we left, he was still grinning. The only heartbreaking part was that he wouldn't give me a kiss goodbye because as you can see in this picture, he is letting me know that there is a cute girl sitting next to him and I guess it's already uncool to kiss your mom in front of a girl. Off I go to cry.

Next we were off to L's class to get her settled in.

Nothing like having your mom snapping away while you try to not draw attention to yourself!

light play.

Putting off some of the work I was supposed to do after feeling very uninspired which is never a good frame of mind to be in when proofing, I thought I would brush up on some lighting techniques. One that has notoriously given me trouble is short lighting. These are not quite technically correct, but I liked the general effect and mood of them. I can always count on L to provide me with ample tude to establish my desired mood...lol!
This one was definitely my favorite.
With this one, there was just too much help from the reflector which managed to change if from short lighting to broad which is the opposite of what I was going for (doh!).

a new location.

I took my little man on a bit of a photo excursion this morning and we found a terrific location, ripe with possibilities from families to seniors to engagements, this place is awesome! Our fun didn't last long though, the heat and intensity of the Texas sun was too much to bear in the blink of an eye. No worries though, I got some great stuff and have plans to go out again in the warm evening sun in the not-to-distant future.

Even in full shade, it is very hard to get him to open his eyes so you can see those heart melting baby browns.

By this point, the sun was just too much and all I was getting were squints, no matter the shade.

The sun hid behind some clouds for just a couple minutes and I was able to get this one.

I had a trunk full of outfits for little Boo too, but given how hot she gets, I knew it was best to wait until my evening plans on another day.