her favorite

“I have never seen a photo that I love more of me than the one of James with his arm around me and Coop laughing while looking at Reid.  That is us, so us and I have never been able to capture that photo of myself with my boys.  So Thank you from the bottom of my heart.” -Jane

And now my heart has swelled and I have tears in my eyes. So grateful for this job, my life, my ability to give this feeling to people.

You never know which photo is going to speak to someone. I am so, so glad I turned around at this second and snapped without thinking as we walked over to our cars.

-Tara

in the wee small hours of the morning

6:35 : My alarm goes off
6:40 : My alarm goes off again and I roll out of bed, throwing on whatever clothes are on the floor next to my feet
6:41 : I walk downstairs, taking note of what hurts as the stairs creak, usually my ankles and back
6:42 : I walk over and turn on the record player. These first few weeks of school have been all about Harvest Moon.
6:43 : Coffee gets started and I lean into the counter staring off into space after I open the kitchen window. One is already awake and we say sleepy good mornings.
6:50 : He comes downstairs after waking two of the children
6:51 : He flops onto the couch and I bring two cups of coffee over for us
6:52 : We keep each other warm and talk about our night or our day
7:00 : We hear movement upstairs and toilets flushing, then footsteps on the stairs. One leaves to catch a ride
7:01 : He gets up to start breakfast, I get up to pack lunches and give sleepy hugs and kisses
7:15 : We eat
7:25 : He clears the table, I brush her hair and tie her shoes and remind them to fill up their water bottles
7:30 : He goes upstairs to wake up Mckenna
7:40 : I remind them about their water bottles again and we head to the car
8:00 : He leaves as I am coming home, I wait for him to back out of the driveway, we wave
8:01 : I clean up the kitchen, reheat my coffee
8:15 : He gets home, we start the rest of the day