Crafts with my little man

I love this precious time with my younger son.  We worked on a craft together today.  He loves making a mess. :)  It makes me stop, shake my head, and block the welling tears when I realize that he will be going to school in the fall and my baby, who spends every moment with me now, will be growing up and gone for part of every day... I swear I just gave birth to him....  It is easy to take your children's youth for granted, but I need to stop and treasure this time before it's gone.   

My boy's baseball photo

I took the Cubs' team and individual photos tonight after practice.  I love that group of kids and their families.  :)  I am so grateful to have been hired as the league's photographer this year.  What an honor!


I just love that I captured my son's sweet personality in this picture.  He is everything to me...no surprise there, right?  He has improved in leaps and bounds in baseball this year.  He makes me so proud, but not just because of how he's doing in baseball.  He is an extraordinary young boy: smart, goofy, fun-loving, caring, kind, sensitive, and strong.  I hope I showed some of those qualities in this photo.

Quiet beauty after the sunset

After I did a photo job tonight for one of the baseball teams, I noticed the sun setting as I was driving home.  I took a detour and drove to the marsh/mangrove area in my neighborhood.  The sun had already gone down, the sky was beautiful, and it was so peaceful.  It was very still - no wind.  I could only hear crickets and herons squawking as they flew to their roosts.  What a great way to end the day in paradise.  

Hangin' with some lovies

My son set up all his stuffed animal lovies on the couch this morning when he woke up.  He sat there cuddling them all and watched my older son play Wii before breakfast.  He just melts me...

Baseball High

My son had the baseball game of his life so far today!  He hit off the first pitch every time he was up, no strikes or outs!!!, and had some crazy-good line drives into the grass!  He hit two home runs!!  He also got a single and a triple where he slid into 3rd base just in the nick of time.  It was amazing.  I was crying and screaming out there on the field and realized that I never lifted my camera for the first home run OR the slide.... I was just too excited!  Oh well...  at least I didn't have a heart attack!  I managed to "wake up" and get some shots of him running home the 2nd time and hitting the ball, at least.  ;-)  I was so darn proud of him that I hardly could breathe.  Tears were streaming down my face.  At the end of the game, he was beaming and came to tell me that Coach Drew gave him a game ball to show how unbelievably proud he was of him.  GOOD STUFF.  I'll be on a high from this game for a while.  :)

Trampoline Insanity

Our good friend, Casey, and his children are visiting us this weekend.  Our kids just love each other and had a blast today on the trampoline.  It's a true miracle everyone made it off alive and in one piece.  Good thing I was only watching for a little while.... I am a worrier... I can't handle the stress.  

Fielding the baseball

This is my older son at baseball practice today.  The kids worked really hard on catching/fielding the ball and throwing.  Here's a shot of my boy doing his thing.  He's getting better and better.  I love to watch how hard he's trying and concentrating out there!