• this is a broadcast of the i promise i will post more than once a week now that school is starting system •

hi there.

(waving)

so yea, school tomorrow. i seem more nervous than them. i just keep envisioning drew alone at the middle school lunch tables, not having the safety of the “class table”. im trying to breathe through it.

id love to share a client session, because i have MANY from the summer that i haven’t yet shared, and i’m excited to! i had some fun ones.

to start, a lovely family that are also friends of mine. amie and ken (and ava) had the lovely idea of meeting up at the orange county fair for photos. i was like, UM YES PLEASE.

when you lean down to take one of your first family photos and THIS HAPPENS,

you know its going to be a good shoot.

ken and amie seriously have the most wonderful attitude. i ADORE them. just look how adorable they are?!

and they love love love their little girl.

the second she said OC fair, i said PHOTO BOOTHS! the sweet girl was completely overwhelmed by the noise, lights, and sounds. we had a tough time keeping her together, but she held out just long enough to get these, and i will be forever grateful to her for that. (love to you sweet ava!)

we then begged a 16 year old kid for one of these because poor ken had failed miserably in his trying to win one.

after all that fun, we just had to have one near death experience to top the night off. and an apple fritter. (i was laughing my brains out taking this)

• beach, bonfire, beer, beautiful, bittersweet •

the end of the summer. i have mixed feelings. on the one hand, of course, im celebrating the fact that i will once more have some peace and quiet during the day. (i really, really, really require peace and quiet. funny that i had four children.) but really, that doesn’t measure up against the fact that i will have to wake up at 6:30am, make lunches, fight against the clock every morning, drive kids at three different times in the morning and the afternoon, deal with paperwork, homework, mckenna’s behavior issues, bus driver issues, teacher issues, friend issues, etc etc etc.

also, two of my children are entering MIDDLE SCHOOL.

and my BABY is leaving me FOR KINDERGARTEN.

but i could never home-school, un-school, or any of those combinations there-of. i need my kids to go away. so that i will miss them. and then they can come back.

so, mixed feelings.

school starts for us next tuesday. and i dont know who is LESS prepared. them, or me.

so a celebratory beach bonfire seemed like the perfect way to go out with a bang. and a beer. (or a malibu and coke (or two) as pertains to me).

my sexy man beast. i love his profile.

we rounded up the kids and came back to the firepit to change into warm clothes and get dinner started.

lisa makes the yummiest pizza pockets out of these apple pie makers (you can find them in the camping section at wal-mart)

always a fun time with the mcgarveys. always a bummer when school starts up again and we see each other less.

• look at the incredible gift my wonderful friend lisa gave to me •

we met up at the beach on friday for a “goodbye to summer” bonfire (more pics to come later today-running out to MIDDLE SCHOOL REGISTRATION right now-eeeek) and i am so glad i handed lisa my camera and made my kids get out of the water. we just walked up and down the beach for a few minutes, lisa snapping away.

when i saw this i cried. its perfectly us. the sunflare, the crazy crop (COULD DIE OVER THOSE THINGS)
but even more its the way im laughing at nate and how he is staring right at lisa with his chowder face. how drew is looking at jeff. how mckenna is probably eyeballing my coke that i set down in the sand to the left of us. and how anna is happily bouncing along…

edited-the day has flown by and i am tuckered out beyond belief. will post a bigger update tomorrow y’all. i gots to get this bod into a hot bath with a book.