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Jake's Christmas present from Santa - aka ME! Yes, I must be a masochist! It is torture every time he gets on this thing... my heart races, my arm pits sweat, and I just about pee my pants! Someone remind me that my first and only son can cause panic in his mother's heart just sitting playing with legos much less riding a four wheeler!
Breakfast with Santa went very well this year since Jake was not worried about farting on Santa like he was last year!
BB and KT were here to help with the making of the Gingerbread Houses
Prepare yourself to be amazed by what you are about to witness! Jake Heath has been carrying around 40 pounds of junk in his Kindergarten backpack! Now mind you he barely weighs 40 pounds...maybe getting the wheels wasn't such a good idea! If we have another Hurricane we just need to grab that black bag and run. His supplies included, but were not limited to:
...you get the idea. The boy is a finder and a taker! Usually he just scours our home taking things from the junk drawer and my jewelry box but his criminal activity has moved out of the home and into the classroom! He recently had to make a confession and apology to his Kinder teacher, my better half, about 15 paint brushes and a flashlight that I knew did not belong in the inventory of his bag. So, if you find this rouge with bulging pockets frisk him before he leaves your house...or just call me if you're missing something and I'll check the loot bag!
You just notice things when you're there. Life does move slower in the country and you have more spare time to do things like pick flowers from your yard and just sit in the rocker and count the layers of petals and stare in awe of the purest white.
This shell is beauty for me right now. It is the first shell we picked up after hurricane Ike destroyed the beach I spent my "little girl" years at. After Thanksgiving dinner, we drove down to the beach to look at the ocean and know it was still there...and we were still here... and we are now at a point we can be grateful, just for that much. I knew that we would see a whole lot more than just the ocean. It was inevitable that the destruction would be all around us as we headed down highway 87. I have always been a person to close the newspaper or turn off the TV when terrible things are happening to people and I can do nothing to help them. I say I do not wish to be a passive witness to other people's misery and devestation. It just feels wrong to me to just stare and not help. But this was the ocean that saw me grow up, and I needed to know my past was still in tact and the salty wind was still blowing just for me. For many years I have cried at this beach, and prayed, and tossed my dreams out into these waters. So though I could do nothing to help the people who lived there, I put my feet in the sand, and picked up the shells, and felt my heart melting right into the waters, and that ocean seemed more blue to me on that day than any other.
When I'm not watching him, Jake can let himself go at Serendipity. It is like one giant playhouse for him where nothing is off limits. I was baking cookies when he called me outside and told me I was thirsty and I needed to visit his drink stand. I went out there with my 35 cents, and he said the round ones were not going to cut it. If you want his sodas, you have to have the dollar ones! Since Daddy is the only one with cash around here and he was nowhere around, he had to let me put it on a tab and promise to return to Jake's General Store later and square up.
This family is amazing! They were so playful and at ease with one another. It made my job capturing their spirit as easy as pie. Truly the way they enteracted with each other and didn't care about the camera, made this one of the funnest shoots I've ever done. I was giggling so much you'd have thought I had a flask in my pocket instead of my lens cap! I walked away thinking this is what "family" should feel like. My husband would say, "oh, you just thought they were whimsical, your favorite emotion!" (and he'd be right). This kind of love is being able to be goofy ,and pick and pester, and get in your face, and laugh at and with each other. I left their home telling the Misses that I would like to come back...with my husband and kids and all our belongings (she had a BIG house). What a joy it would be to be apart of something so special! This is why I take photographs... to meet amazing people who inspire me to live my life in a joyful and giggly way...whimsical if you would.
This picture was taken on our front porch at Serendipity. Don't these children look full of joy and love for one another?! Since big sisters have gone off to college, the two littlest punks cherish the time they spend with the twins when they come home. Ah, peace and serenity...just the way I like it! Oh, let me mention that the girls shrieked when they found out this picture was our Christmas card photo. In typical "girly girl" fashion they said, "but I look fat, but I look horrible!" If I was in this photo, I too would be super critical of myself... that's what is means to be female. You will always think your butt looks big and your skin looks greasy and your hair is a disaster, but guess what!? 99% of the time it doesn't! Most people out in the world think YOU look fab! And that is YOU girls, you look so gorgeous in this picture and every picture you take!
