Get Ready For Valentine's Day! Professional Pictures Celebrating the Day!

I know that normally one wouldn't think of getting "Valentine's Day" pictures taken, right? But why not? 

Since we didn't do pictures for our holiday cards this year, I decided to take the kids to one of our local photographers, Baby Dream Photography, for a Valentine's Day "mini-session." Mini-sessions are perfect for kids - 15 minutes in-and-out. That's about {my kids} can stand before they start wigging out. You would think our overly photographed kids would be used to getting pictures taken by now... 

I'm really happy I did these, as looking at these pictures I worry that by next year Lucas will have outgrown his tolerance for things like this. Zoe, in her red Jason Wu (just like FLOTUS on inauguration night!) will still pose and smile (with some bribing), but Lucas is getting to this "really Mom?" stage now that he's almost 9. Thankfully, he still relishes in his "class clown" status...

The other wonderful thing that I'm happy was captured was just how much Zoe LOVES Lucas. She wants to do what he does, she wants to pose like him (with her feminine twist - she was NOT going to have a mustache!) and she just can't keep her hands off him. While that makes for cute pictures, I will admit that this love-of-Lucas can be rather annoying around 7:45 AM on school days when we are trying to get ready to go. 

But I'm happy to have these moments captured today. They are both changing so rapidly that I love having these memories of them at different ages and stages. 

Back to School...

And just like that, summer is over. 

Today the kids went back to school. Emotions were running deep this morning. Excitement, nerves and even a few tears... and I'm sure the kids felt the same way too. 

I deal with anxious times by throwing myself into a project, and this year it was all about capturing and creatively displaying these "first day" moments. Using no less than four different apps, I came home from my two drop-offs (Zoe's in an afternoon 1/2 day program) and cropped, colored and collaged away the emotions that come with the milestones of your children's growth.

First Lucas:

Picture taken with Olympus PEN E-PL3 / App used: Phoster

My big kid. He loves clothes and accessories and picked out his own BtS outfit this year from Tillys. His back-pack was courtesy of the Land's End Back to School event I went to while in New York. I will admit that I was worried it wasn't going to be cool enough for my very style opinionated 8 year old, but he loved it. And it's a nice, solid backpack that looks like it can take a 3rd grade beating.

This was also the first year of the "Stop it Mom, you're embarassing me!" phase... but I still made him hold my hand as we walked down the hill. 

Picture taken with Olympus PEN E-PL3 / App used: TurboCollage and LabelBox

Lucas is wearing the Lands' End Kids' School Rules Classmate Backpack in Medium. It was a gift to me for attending the New York event, and it's currently on sale for $27!

Zoe:

My little pickle who is growing up too quickly.

Picture taken with Olympus PEN E-PL3 / App used: PhosterThis 2-year kindergarten thing will get confusing when it comes to pictures, but I'm SO happy she is in this program. Entering kindergarten isn't something you think of when you first have a late-fall baby, but wow, the decision of to hold-back or put in can drive a parent nuts. 

Zoe is my little fashionista in the making. She chose this dress and the slouchy ankle boots to go with it. She wanted to wear lip gloss, but I wouldn't let her. YES. I wrote that my 4.5 year old wanted to wear lip gloss to her first day of kindergarten. 

Zoe was excited and nervous. She told me she had butterflies in her belly, but she couldn't wait to meet new friends and play with them on "her new playground." Her teacher seems amazing. She created the curriculum for this transitional K program and is excited to be able to give the kids a proper, solid foundation. Zoe got a little clingy when it was time to line up, but then she marched right in with a smile on her face. 

I managed to hold it together while standing outside the class, waving good-bye. But as I was walking back to my car a mom behind me said "Great, now I'm going to go back to work and sob at my desk" ... and that's when I lost it.

My baby; Growing up too fast. 

Picture taken with Olympus PEN E-PL3 / App used: TurboCollage and Labelbox

So home I came. The first Monday afternoon I've had to myself in what? 8 years?

After pulling myself together, I downloaded pictures and created collages. Putting my mind to work and trying not to think about how fast my kids are growing while simultaneously trying to make sure that I never forget the special moments of these precious years.

Picture taken with Olympus PEN E-PL3 / App used: Phoster