This is gonna be one MONSTER of a post!

Well, as you can see, I've been neglecting my poor ol' blog. Life has just gotten hectic! I mean, my oldest started REAL school. That's crazy. Forget all the ailments, birthday parties, and back to work stuff...me trying to work through her going to school is about enough to keep me from the blog for a week, right!?! Am I pardoned? Please? :-)

No, but really, the kid LOVES school. I knew she would. She's definitely wired for it. She likes structure & schedules. She likes everything to be in it's place. She likes to learn, and she LOVES to be the good little girl. (For everyone else, anyway! Not so much at home. But whatever...) Right now it's really cute & sweet & it makes me a proud mama to hear how well behaved she is. But, okay, let's think this through. A few years down the road, what is this going to mean for her? The other kids are...well...NOT gonna love her & her goody-two-shoes behavior. Know what I mean? Oh well...it probably won't phase her any!

So, let me share a few first day of school pictures with you. I KNOW you've been to my blog multiple times a day for the past week just itchin' to see them, right!?! Bwahahaha!!! I amuse myself. Actually, I'll be surprised if I have any visitors left...I've been terrible.

Here's my girl: (still at home...feeling pretty good...feeling excited.)

Just arriving at school...still feeling pretty confident. (Look at her in her little uniform! Too cute!)
She's getting closer to the kids. Notice: she's starting to fidget with her hands a tad.
Oh, yeah, she's definitely starting to feel nervous. Not only is she fidgeting with her hands, but she's also starting to do odd things with her mouth. This girl WEARS her nervousness on her sleeve, that's for sure. Poor thing.

Oh, and the kids standing DIRECTLY beside her...yeah, those big ol' kids are HER CLASSMATES! They are all KINDERGARTNERS! Can you believe it!?! No wonder she's nervous!
And, full blown nervousness! (Pun intended. I feel like my aunt Lois or Mary Lively! Haha!)
But, yeah, all in all, GREAT experience for her! In fact, I'm pretty sure the anxiety melted away as soon as they got in their classroom. Emma just LOVES her teacher! LOVES her! (Plus, her best little boy friend [read: future husband if mom has her way] is in her class, too.)

So, that's that.

Now, onto other things. (I'll get to how it's going with Maya in a minute!)

If I'm being honest, I've got to say that I've felt totally uninspired in photography since I got back from China. I think I've picked up my camera four times, and, well, you're seeing photos from three of those times right here in this post! Ha! I don't know what it is. I don't know why I've been uninspired, I just have.

I look at other photographers' work, and I'm just awed. I'm blown away by their ART. I feel like I'm at a point in my photography that I can consistently produce nice photographs. I don't feel, though, that I'm producing art. I've always had a need to be creative, to do SOMEthing, anything that involves creating. I feel like what I'm doing with photography allows room for creativity, for sure. Don't get me wrong on that. I just don't feel like I'm able to see a whole scene, see a feeling, see that SOMEthing that makes it truly art. I don't know.

Lots of the work I've been loving lately has been post processed to create whatever it is I love. It may be a perfectly normal photograph, a photograph I can capture all day long, that has been turned into something AMAZING later. It's also the "later" that I can't get. I try. I do. And, maybe it's just a passing fad. I don't know. I really don't care, either. I'm in the mood to create, and what I'm doing isn't satisfaction enough, so I'm going for it. Fad or not.

So, with that in mind, I went out into the front yard with the girls the other evening. I thought I'd like to try to get a little sunflare (which it was VERY little...ugh...) and post process it into a more vintage feel. Maybe? Desaturate it some, muted colors to start with, hazy feel... I don't know that I really made it happen, but it was fun to play anyway.

Here are the results of my efforts: (Way to hustle, right!?! <----I REALLY hope someone "gets" that.)

And, here's the last one taken even further. I know many, MANY people probably will NOT like this one, but that's okay. This one I did for me.
And, here are a few more from the same day that I just processed same ol' same ol'. :-) Maya comin' at me as a monster. Scary stuff. I know.
Okay. This, I LOVE! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! If this isn't the funnest interaction I've caught between the two of them, well...feel free to tell me what you think is funner! Ha! :-)
And, don't ask me what Maya's doing here besides being ornery. I really don't know. I DO know, though, that Emma looks pret-ty irritated. (I love this one, too.)
So, that was a fun night. Sort of.

Then, yesterday when the big sis was at school, Maya & I decided to get some shots of her in her room. I just love their room. It's really a lot of fun, but with all the bright colors going on I get all sorts of color casts. It usually frustrates me enough to keep me out of there, but Maya's been doing this new thing in her room that I HAD to have proof of. So, in I went. I'm actually REALLY pleased with how these came out. I think they're some of my newer faves. :-) Just a girl in her room...havin' fun, being a maniac, makin' a mess, loungin' on the ground readin' a book...you know...typical stuff for a 3 year old.

These first two were taken with the kit lens. I'm pretty impressed, myself! I'm loving the first one just because she's reading a leap pad book with the disaster that is her room in the background. It's just...very Maya. :-)

THIS is the new thing. Does this surprise anyone? I mean, really. I always tell you guys she's a maniac. This is what I mean. She's just nutty.


Then there's the sweet mei mei. As crazy as she gets, she spends an equal amount of time snuggling. This girl's love language is MOST DEFINITELY affection. :-) This is just before she asks me to "nuggle wit" her.
So, there you have it. That sums up my month in photos since I've been home. Fun stuff.

Oh, I did say I'd tell you how Maya's doing with her big sis & BFF being in school all day. Well, ummm...she's become a tad bit high maintenance. There's just no other way to say it. The kid wants to be by my side NONstop. I'm serious. This is no exaggeration. She wants me to snuggle her, come to her "show" (the joys,) let her sing endless made up songs to me, feed her, sit by her, play with her, whatever...

And, you know, I'm still in the feeling bad for her stages. She's SOOO enthusiastic when Emma gets home that it just breaks my heart. She RUNS to the garage door each day when she hears it go up, flings it open, and stands there jumping up & down, clapping & chanting Emma's name. Poor thing. Anyway, so I feel obligated to do these things with her during the day. She just needs a buddy, right!?! So, it's almost daily now that I've attended her "shows." You'd think it would evolve some, the storyline would develop more. Nope. Same thing every day.

So, because I feel obligated, the other day I cleaned the family room whilst basically giving the kid a piggy back ride. This was not my idea. Nothing about lugging a 35 pounder on my back while I do something I already despise - dusting & cleaning base boards - sounds AT ALL fun. But, if I got down low enough, she'd come at me, full sprint, and leap onto my back, fling her arms around my neck, much of the time choking me. It wasn't a game, either. I don't think she thought this was exceptionally fun. She just truly wanted to be close to me & she'd see her opportunity. And, well, I didn't have the heart to tell her to get the heck off my back! If Emma had been home, if Maya hadn't been so pathetic ever since Emma started school, well...I'd for SURE be flinging her off of there in record time. Who wants to CLEAN with a kid on their back!?! Seriously!?! Whatever. Surely this can't last long, right? She'll get over Emma going to school. Gosh, I hope so.

So, yeah...an extra prayer here & there for my sanity would be much appreciated. :-)