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Just thinking about how hard it's going to be on this little guy (Coley) when his brother moves out on his own next year.
And it's making me kind of blue today.
I had Ross when I was young and quite honestly, I spend most of his childhood feeling stressed, worried and impatient.
I wish I had slowed down and appreciated it all a bit more.
That's making me kind of blue today too.
The weekend before last was Josh's birthday weekend. (He's still a baby...he's 29.)
We had no kids and a weekend full of plans.
Friday night we had dinner at Porters. (It's the old train station in Medford.)
And then we stopped back by the house, parked the truck, grabbed a blanket and walked to go see James Taylor in concert. Before we left the house, we read through all our admittance information, trying to figure out if I could take my camera. (Josh was convinced that cameras were not allowed, but I wasn't buying it.) There was a long list of things that you couldn't bring, but cameras were not on the list...so I brought it.
And yes, my left big toe still has a deformed toenail. (I ripped off the whole toenail a few months back while trying to move my treadmill.)
I'll bet I was complaining about how bad my toes hurt by this point.
In case you can't read it, it say's "No cameras or recording devices." (That's Josh on his cell phone trying to figure out what to do with my camera other than walking a mile and a half to take it back to the house.)
The first security guy we talked to said he knew it hadn't been posted in the concert information packet that cameras were not allowed in the concert but he still couldn't allow us inside with it and that we'd have to take the camera back home even if it meant missing part of the concert. Then he handed us over to a second security guy who was interrupted by a third security girl who said that under no circumstances could we enter the concert with the camera. So the second security guy told the third security girl that he was going to take us to talk to a fourth security manager.
Once the second security guy walked us through the gate and out of earshot of the third security girl, he said, "Put your camera in your bag, don't take it out for any reason and enjoy the concert."
Josh is still convinced that I must have flashed the second security guy or something to get such preferential treatment. (Trust me...what I've got to flash is NOT enough for preferential treatment.)
The concert was great but I have no pictures to prove it (because I am a strict rule-abider).
Shortly into our walk home (and after several complaints about my sore toes), Josh insisted that we switch shoes.
So, I wore his comfortable flip-flops and he wore my chunky-heeled, leather-weaved, cute but uncomfortable sandals. (His heels was hanging over the back of them but he has abnormally skinny feet so he could at least manage to squeeze into them.)
And even though it was dark outside, I think he still caught a couple of odd glances from people passing by.
He loves me.
And then we headed to Corvallis for the OSU vs. Cincinatti game.
I got carsick a couple of hours into the drive so we pulled over to play football for awhile.
They had matching "Beavers Pride" t-shirts on.
Got stuck in Beaver traffic for about an hour after the game and then we went to dinner at a place in Corvallis that we hadn't been to since we first started dating (the Big Fish).
Drove to Newport after dinner but didn't get to the hotel until really late.
Left the beach and drove to Salem to pick up a rental car for Josh and then we went separate ways; he drove nine hours to a project he's working on in Enterprise and I drove four hours to get home.
I'm not a perfect parent by any stretch of the imagination.
On the top of my list of imperfections are:
1. Lack of patience.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Lack of patience.
However, I have a few good qualities too:
1. Affection.
2. Communication.
3. Consistency.
So Annie spent the entire morning last Friday in much the same manner that she has spent every morning for the last few weeks; hollering, crying, bossing everyone around and pitching a fit.
She was hollering at Courtney because Courtney had the misfortune of asking Coley a question while Annie was trying to talk. She was crying because Ross left a puddle of water on the bathroom floor and she didn't want to step in it while trying to get to the toilet. She was bossing everyone around, telling us all that she is just a tiny baby and that we should all quit being so mean to her. And she was pitching a fit because I put her in time-out for all of the above.
Her new thing is to run when I put her in time-out.
So I just pick her up, put her back in time-out and don't say a word. (Just like Super Nanny taught me.)
But then she ran and giggled again and again until I started to lose my patience. So I threatened her...
I told her if she didn't stay in time-out that I was going upstairs to find one of her babies and was going to throw it in the garbage. The very minute those words came out of my mouth, I wished I could take it back because although I have thrown away many a toy belonging to a temperamental child, I don't really have the heart to throw away anyone's prize possessions. (And for Annie, that is her babies.)
But she thought she'd call my bluff by hollering, "MEANY!" and running from her time-out spot yet again.
If you look back to #3 on my list of good qualities though, you'll notice that I'm consistent. I don't threaten one of the kids with a punishment unless I'm willing to follow through with it. So I try to choose my threats & battles wisely. But once I say something; I stick with it (even if I don't want to).
So I marched upstairs, picked up the first baby I could find and walked it straight to the garbage while Annie's mouth flung wide open.
I actually think that Courtney and Coley's mouths flung wide open too because I've never thrown a baby in the garbage.
Annie let out a shriek and fell to the floor at my feet, tugging on my pant legs, crying "Not my baby...not my babyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!"
I actually had to lock myself in the bathroom for a few minutes to stop myself from retrieving the poor baby from the garbage, amidst all the Starbucks lids, plastic wrap and uneaten lunches.
I called Josh shortly after I had dropped everyone off at school to inform him of the emotional scarring which had taken place that morning. Josh said that he had been listening to a mom on talk radio the other day who actually sawed one of her kids toys in half while her misbehaving child observed which oddly enough, made me feel much better.
When he picked the kids up from school and tried to talk to Annie about what had happened, Annie said, "Mom told me to go to the bathroom and I didn't want to because there was water on the floor so Mom yelled GO TO THE BATHROOM ANNIE!...and then she threw my baby away."
And while her perception of the actual event might be skewed; it worked.
Tonight, when I threatened to throw one of her toys in the garbage (Note that I didn't threaten to throw away a baby...I can't bare the thought of throwing away another baby.) because she wouldn't quit getting out of bed...she knew I wasn't bluffing. So, she stomped her feet, made a 'humpphff' sound and headed right back up the stairs to bed.
Haven't heard from her since.
First of all, I didn't take this picture. (It was taken by someone else, somewhere in Greece.) However, in September 2010, I'm going to Greece and am going to teach photography classes while I'm there.
Even better?...
Ali Edwards and Jenni Bowlin are teaching scrapbooking classes there too.
Even better?...
Josh Downs is coming too (but he's not teaching anything...unless you're in need of beer drinking lessons).
Tricia from Cocoa Daisy is putting the whole thing on. (In fact, she's on her way to Greece right now to start getting the plans together.)
Registration will open sometime in mid-October but if you're interested in going, you can email Trisha now at mailbox@cocoadaisy.com. You can also find more details here.
Really, really (really) excited about this.
I don't do it as often as I used to but I just wanted to jot down a few things that I don't want to forget about her right now...
1. She asked this morning if she could have a blueberry muffin every day for breakfast. I told her that she could have a blueberry muffin every now & then but that she couldn't have one every day because it wouldn't be very healthy. Then she said, "Well, I'm going to eat one every day because that's just how I roll."
2. She cries constantly. Over anything. It just started getting really bad a few weeks ago. She cries because her shoes won't velcro tight enough. She cries because Cruella Deville stole the Dalmatians. She cries because she wanted to wear the blue polka dot shirt instead of the brown flowered shirt. She cries because Coley swung her caterpillar pillow too hard. She cries because she can't get herself buckled. She cries because Shelby (our dog) can't go to soccer with us. She cries because she doesn't want to wear bloomers. She cries because she does want to wear bloomers. She cries because the blueberries are gone.
3. Coley made the mistake of telling her that I was going to die one day. That all mom's die. She got really upset and I was trying to explain to her that it wasn't going to happen for a really long time but that someday, I'd leave to go be with Jesus. That's when she really started crying, "Don't you want to be with me more than Jesus?"
4. If any of the older kids are getting in trouble she tries to stick up for them but ends up getting herself in trouble for getting so sassy with me & Josh Downs.
5. Her cousin Tate is in her class at preschool now and Annie thinks that is the best thing ever.
6. She calls my sister, "Mommy's Sissy".
7. She wants to weigh herself all the time to see if she's big enough for a booster seat. (She's been stuck at 30 lbs. forever though so a booster seat is nowhere in her near future.)
8. She say's "Mommy?" whenever she has a question or needs to tell me something and won't quite repeating "Mommy?" until I say "What Annie?" I swear I hear "Mommy?" 100+ times a day and I've got to admit that it makes me crazy sometimes.
9. She gets highly incensed when any of the older kids interrupt her, screaming "I'M TALKING!" whenever they so much as make a sound while she's mid-sentence.
10. It doesn't matter how many times we talk to her about not yelling...she's always yelling to make sure that she's heard over the all the other kids.
11. She calls her preschool, "pretty-school".
We had rescheduled our jet boat trip for last Friday. No rain this time. (Just 104 degree weather.)
Not that I'm complaining. (Ok, I did complain a little bit.)
Each jet boat probably seats about 50+ people and they don't normally let kids (especially little ones like Annie) in the front row. However, since Coley had been buttering up the gal who was assigning seats, she talked the driver into making an exception for us.
I'm always half-scared when Cole starts talking some adults ear off...but this time it worked in our favor. (Thanks Coley.)
The driver was a University of Oregon Ducks fan so the bantering between him, Coley and Josh Downs (die-hard Oregon State University Beavers fans) started as soon as the driver spotted Josh's OSU hat.
Coley & Courtney were crazy-excited about the jet boats. Annie however, wasn't too keen on the whole idea.
She spent the first half of the trip with that face on.
I didn't take a whole lot of pictures the first half of the trip either because the sun was directly in our face nearly the entire time.
The boats stop for dinner about halfway into the trip and everyone walks from the docks up to the restaurant.
Annie was whining because her legs hurt. I don't fall for that (but her Dad does.)
I told her I'd hold her, but she had to let me take one picture first. I'm not big on bribing my kids for pictures, but every now and then...
Blurry, but I love it.
We had dinner, but I didn't take any pictures during dinner because I was too busy listening to a bunch of kids whining & complaining about the food that was being served.
I think the only thing any of them liked was the cornbread (I think they each had three pieces) and the blackberry cobbler they served for dessert.
After all the whining & complaining, they rolled down the grassy hill in front of the restaurant for awhile.
None of those shots turned out very good...
Although I like how it looks like Coley was praying as he rolled down the hill.
Fun-time ended after Coley & Courtney both rolled into a pile of deer poop.
Back to the boat. (She had decided it was too hot for her tights so those are Dora the Explorer underoos hanging out.)
That's one of the other jet boats heading back.
The ride back was crazy.
The driver must have spun the boat around in a complete circle at least six or seven times. Sitting in the front of the boat, you feel all the force of that spin and get to see the huge wall of water it creates just feet in front of your face.
They've actually had people break the windows in the front of the boat from crashing into them.
So we held onto the kids really tight.
And the driver thought is was really funny to stop the boat suddenly, without any notice which sent a wave of water over the top of the boat every time.
I was cramming my camera into a plastic grocery bag every few minutes so it didn't get soaked.
Whenever he stopped the boat for a few minutes though, I could stand up and take pictures.
It wasn't long before the driver started harassing me about how many pictures I was taking though. (He said he was going to start charging me for the gas it took to sit and idle while I took pictures.)
Josh was soaked from the water that came in every time the driver spun the boat around.
She made friends and kept holding hands with all the woman sitting behind us.
Thankfully, Annie spent the second half of the trip with that look on her face.
Soccer just started up and with both Cole & Courtney playing, it's going to fill lots of our weeknights and all of our Saturdays. They both have practice on Thursdays so Josh and I are taking the divide & conquer approach to Thursday night practices.
I took Courtney Lee tonight.
She tripped and fell so many times...but she got back up and hustled down the field each and every time. And anytime another kid fell, she stopped to help them up.
That's such a perfect example of who she is (and I love that about her.)
We had dinner over at Josh's parents the other night.
Ross & Cali decided to climb to the top of that thing. (Josh's parents run a local mill.)
A few weeks back, Josh was standing in the driveway talking to some family when he heard, "Hey Dad, look at me!" only to look over and see Coley standing at the top of that huge thing.
There were lots of kids. (Most of them were mine.)
These guys are cousins from Klamath Falls and were actually asking me to take their pictures. (That's Levi and Elizabeth.)
My kids never ask to have to have their picture taken so I was happy to oblige.
And that's Andrew and Levi.
Annie's never seen a kid ask to have his picture taken either and was quite perplexed by this notion.
Courtney set up this whole game, lining up the littlest kids in front to catch strawberries with their cups. (You can actually see the strawberry she threw at the top of the frame.)
Taylor didn't catch any strawberries.
Annie didn't catch any strawberries either but she settled for some grapes instead.
School starts for all the kids this week so I talked my neighbor into pulling out one of his buses so I could get some very posed, very planned 'Back to School' shots of the little kids.
I didn't even waste my breath asking Ross as I knew he'd want no part of it. The little kids were all over it though.
I was all over it too until about 5 minutes into the shoot when I spotted Annie with two fistfuls of blackberries dripping down her arms.
My patience level is just much better suited for candid shooting.
She lost another tooth yesterday.
The wind kicked up for a second.
I wanted this shot to turn out so much better than it did.
Fighting over who gets to put bunny ears over Annie's head. (Annie is always oblivious the the bunny ears behind her.)
He must have won the fight over the bunny ears.
There's a baby in her backpack.
She's forever trying to kiss someone who doesn't want to be kissed. (She's a lover.)
And I had to post this shot because I was just thinking the other day about the fact that I didn't have any pictures of Annie doing this exact thing; she started pinching her neck when she was an infant (which I have plenty of pictures of.) It was her relaxation technique. Anytime she was tired or scared or needing to relax, she'd pinch it. She used to pinch it so hard that she'd bruise herself.
As she's gotten older, she hasn't given up the habit, she's just modified the technique. Now, she sticks her thumb under her arm (as a brace) and uses the rest of her fingers to rub the skin on her neck.
She's even old enough to recognize that it's her de-stresser now and will say things like, "You hurt my feelings so I'm going to pinch my neck."
I think she was stressed because I told her she couldn't pick anymore blackberries until I was done shooting.
Coley asked who was excited for school to start.
Fighting over bunny ears again.
I think this one is my favorite.
The little kids start preschool, 2nd and 3rd grade tomorrow morning (Tuesday).
And Ross starts his senior year on Wednesday.
Just a few more from the beach (mostly of Annie since she was the only one who would stay in one place)...
These two are always singing (and I love it).
Blowing me kisses.
And that's finally it for the beach pictures.
Someone asked yesterday why I preach to my students not to tilt their horizons so I figured I should clarify...
My recommendation is that whatever you do and however your choose to compose your photos, do it with intent. So, if there are strong horizontal or vertical lines in your photo (like those created by a horizon, a fence, a window frame, etc.), my recommendation is to do one of two things:
1. Make sure those lines are perfectly parallel with the frame of your camera.
OR
2. Strongly angle those lines, avoiding that 'in-between' look where it looks like you slightly and accidentally angled the lines.
You just don't want your photos to look accidentally composed, you want them to look intentionally composed.
(That's not written in stone of course and rules are always made to be broken.)
