A letter to Simone

Dear Simone,

    When you were a little girl, you were the most accident prone human being I had ever met.

I wrote "were a little girl" in hopes that you out grow this as you get older. You are brave and small and the combination is not a good one. You climb on anything and everything to get things that you want. You jump as though you will never get hurt. You bounce around on the couch as if it's a bounce house. (Which, we are considering moving into to keep you safe.)  You love to dance...your favorite stage is the middle of the kitchen table.You run all the time. If you aren't running, you usually hippy-hop. Still dangerous.

 Last Monday you were sitting on a bar stool eating your breakfast. I would love to say that breakfast was my famous pancakes with homemade syrup and fresh fruit, but it was cold cereal. I was helping Wyatt and Natalia get ready to leave for the bus, and you fell off the bar stool. You were trying to get down and somehow you slipped right off your seat and landed so hard right on your forehead. That poor little forehead of yours. I screamed so loud, it woke Daddy up. Wyatt tried to catch you, but he was two steps too far.  I picked you up and you cried so hard. The big kids got on the bus, and then we cuddled in my bed and watched movies on my ipad. Then you threw up.

Daddy and I got all of us ready to go really quick after the doctor told us to get you to the ER.  You couldn't walk, and were wobbly. We buckled you in your seat, and then you threw up again. I comforted you but I was so scared. Daddy drove like a very safe, crazy man all the way to the hospital. When we got you in the hospital room you were acting so cooky and funny. You had a sweet smile. They gave you a new teddy bear and a book to read. You were happy. Then you started to throw up again. You couldn't stop for a long time. It was so sad. Daddy and I kept looking at each other, we were so worried. We couldn't do anything to help you, except rub your little back. Daddy pulled your hair up in a ponytail for you.

You got a CT scan, and you tried your best to hold still. I was with you and told you to close your eyes, and that doing that might help you be still. I watched you close your big beautiful eyes. You looked so tiny to me, and so brave. My heart was aching and hoping you would be okay.

When we got back to the room with your bear and book, you threw up more. The doctor came in soon and told us your CT scan looked good. That was good news. We had to watch to close for 48 hours...and wake you twice during the night.

I won't read you this letter when you are little, but one day when you are a Mommy- you will call me because your little one has hit her head and you are so worried. That is exactly what I did, I called my Mom. She told me about a time when my sister did this very same thing. I will remind you of this hard day, and then we will probably worry together until we know everything is alright- just like my Mom and I did.
 The next day I heard you moving your stepping stool with two steps. I walked into the bathroom to find that you had pushed it up the side of the bathtub. You were on the top step, reaching for a little shampoo bottle in the wire basket that hangs from the shower head. Really? Really?


I love you, Simone.


Time for a helmet.

2011 Cherry Blossoms

 in black and white film

 I think I like film more than digital. If these shots where digital images I would probably delete them or crop them....but because they are film I like the flaws. Love them actually.

This is a favorite. 

The light on her little cheek is the detail I like most.

January 2010

 January. That's lake Elkhorn frozen over, but I remember it was a gorgeous day. Here's another post about it. My first time shooting my holga! We left this spot and the back of the camera popped off and exposed the film. Mad mad. It ruined the rest of the pictures except for that shot of the DC Anthropologie. Rileigh and I went to a gorgeous spa and shopping to celebrate our February birthday's. Now I am missing her. It was a really great day.

 Natalia.

I think of two things when I see this photograph.

1. I perfer Lake Elkhorn frozen over.

2. Where is that scarf?

   Rileigh's little Jocelyn....who is not so little anymore.

 Me.

    The line of where the film died. 

I still like it.

My favorite place. 

I have a client that lives really close to this anthro. I love to go photograph their family and then sneak over here for a little shopping.



k- a few more film images to come.

williamsburg in 2010

 Here are some more from my Holga. We went to Great Wolf Lodge with  Ben and Rileigh in 2010. We took the drive over to Colonial Williamsburg and I was so in love that I went through all the film in my camera really fast! Too fast, I only had 12 frames. I was dying for my digital camera but had decided to leave it home before the trip. Why do I do that?

We ate at a restaurant in an old home that served food from that time period. It was great. They sat us in old  wooden chairs, and we looked out old wooden windows with wavy, warped glass panes. The staircase was super tiny and I kept having to use it to take the girls to the bathroom. All of it was so great! I think Lincoln ordered Welsh Rarebit now that I think about it. I'll have to ask him if that's right, and if it was good, and what it was again.{smile}


 Here are some pictures from our first 15 minutes there. I wish I had photos of the vegetable gardens! I loved them. They had these wonderful signs that marked each plant, gorgeous chunky old locks on the sheds, and huge colored glass domes they put over some plants. I guess I'll have to back some day.

 Little herb garden.

I WANT one of these!

Yummy holga goodness

  I got four rolls of holga film developed. 

I am trilled with so many. Here's one.

(Myrtle Beach 2010)

I love the light leaks. 

Now I'm going to go watch a movie with Lincoln. 

Proof

 I have had a good couple of days trying to get out of my photography funk. Yes. I am in a funk. I don't know how to get out of it completely. I keep shooting, but I don't download the images. I think it's because I don't have time to look at my own pictures. I took on fewer clients this season. I turned people away even. I just couldn't do it this year. Last year was insane. I thought that if I had less on my to do list (photography wise), that I could be the amazing mother, wife, dancer, decorator, home organizer, chef, friend, gospel teacher for my kids, and housekeeper that I am in my head. Nope. Eliminating a little of one thing did not help me achieve any of that. (Yes, I've had some crazy health issues, that may have been making me a little fatigued. But whatever.) I was still pretty busy, my house was still a mess, I missed dance a ton, my kids ate weird stuff sometimes, the awesome Christmas plans haven't all been done (I still have time.), but I feel okay about it.


I down loaded these today. I took them in the summertime. They made me cry. It's proof, I tell you! They're happy. They love each other. I don't have to be perfect. I may be grouchy from staying up too late working, but they don't really care. They are so quick to forgive and forget.

We laugh.

We're kind of dumb together.

We have our family jokes.

CAKE! Did someone say cake? 

I hope one day they will look at these pictures are remember all the wonderful things we did together when they were little. How good, perfect even, it felt to be together.

 

Underwater

 Lincoln and I bought a disposable underwater camera in Hawaii, but we never used it. I took it to Myrtle Beach with us and loved using it in the pools. I just picked up the film today! I really really love the feeling I get when I pick up film. I haven't felt it in a long time, and I was giddy walking out of the lab! Sat down on a chair in the hallway and looked at my photographs. I was in heaven. One day I will rent underwater housing for my dslr. That will be AMAZING!

 I think sometimes they are cooler when you hold them upside down or sideways! 

(Do you see that heart?)

 

 All the photographs of him NOT holding his nose didn't turn out. =(

 This girl! 

She loves the water! So brave. So silly. She'll go under, sit there, and just SMILE up at me. Smile...under the water......what a nut!

 This one is the indoor pool. I love the effect the light coming from the sky lights above.

I wish I would have saved more film for in there.

 

 One of my favs.

 

   Another favorite.

Ah. It feels so good to blog. I hope I do it again soon!

"I'm Seven"

I keep saying she's six.

She doesn't forget, and is always quick to correct me. 

 We celebrated her birthday at Myrtle Beach. Besides a cat, Natalia only wanted Rapunzel things for her birthday. I had some grand surprise plans that kept getting ruined on her big day. Finally in the afternoon I got her in the giant soaking tub with Simone then I would say, "I'll be right back I need to get the shampoo." Or clothes, or conditioner, or whatever. Every time I left the room I would help Lincoln decorate a little more. I borrowed some amazing party decorations from my friend Sara. Yellow lanterns, purple bunting with yellow suns (just like the movie), and a long braid. I brought the string of lantern lights. One snag....It's really hard to hang all those things in a hotel room! No tape. No pushpins. We tied them to light fixtures, thermostats, and whatever else worked.

They grew tired of the tub, and Talia didn't want to have her hair dried. It was so funny to try to keep them in our room. We let them out. Lincoln turned on the music from Tangled as she walked in. 

Natalia was so surprised.

 

 She loved her gifts.

We went out to dinner. 

She wore that dress.....

and loved every second of attention!

(That dinner was a seafood buffet. 

Is that important?....not now....but I'll have to bring it up in another post. =)

See that tower on the left. 

We were supposed to be there. 

That's all I am going to say about that. 

We still had a great time.

More to come......

Tidwell Twelve

(The guy in front did a comedy act that was so funny!)

A long time ago in a land called Target there was a beautiful, amazing, talented, humble mother shopping with her family. She was standing in an isle when she heard her husband's whistle. (Does your husband have a whistle? Mine does, and I respond to it just like a dog would. How embarrassing.) When she turned she saw her three little children and strong, handsome husband dressed in fur. LOTS of fur. That day an idea was born, "We should all be Vikings for Halloween."

Penny and I have been working on these costumes for about two months. After many trips to the thrift store, sketching out ideas, late nights sewing and painting, and making paper mache horns they were complete. We tested them out at the Renaissance Festival. I was not prepared for the reactions. People would stop us and ask us if they could take a photo. Then a mob would form and many people would start snapping away. We would "YAR" at them! It was great.

What?


You want to see pictures of us eating Turkey legs?




Okay.....

 (pork chop on a stick)

 

Simone would take a bite and say in a growly voice, "That's so GOOD!"

All hail the turkey leg!

 A scotch egg. yum.

 I want to eat this baby! Everywhere we went people would say "A VIKING FAMILY!" Then as the group passed they would see Simone and say, "AND A VIKING BABY!"

 

 Want to hear a funny story?


 They only have port-a-potties there. There is a LONG LONG line to wait in to use one of them. My kids kept needed to go- several times--- and I would walk right up to the front of the long line, and totally walk by everyone! This is so out of character for me! As I walked by I would say very loudly and as if I was teaching my child, "VIKINGS DON'T WAIT IN LINE!"

This is my favorite picture of the day! Gosh, Lincoln looks so stinkin' handsome as a Viking! Love. I really like him with a beard. He doesn't know that. =)



One last note.....

Tonight we dressed up again, and the twelve of us went to our church Halloween party. There was a chili and a corn bread cook off. Lincoln's chili won first place and my cornbread won second. Then our family won "Best historical costume" in the family group.