i truly believe that each of you, no matter what kind of camera you have or dont have, no matter how perfect or imperfect our days can be, it needs to be capturedā€¦LIFE needs to be captured.Ā  As a group we hope to inspire you to take out that camera, capture a full day of YOUR life, capture your afternoon swinging at the park, or riding bikes to check the mail, any of it, all of it, just capture it!Ā  No one but your family will prob ever enjoy these images and hey they may not ever even be edited if you are a photog but the bottom line is someday you will look back and you will be so happy you have these memories captured.

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LOOK BACK AT LAST MONTHS POST HERE

*****and be sure to hipitty hop through the rest of the circle starting with my incredible friend JULES TRANDEM SAN DIEGO LIFESTYLE PHOTOGRAPHER******

my sweet addi b.

the lump in my throat has gotten a little bigger with every passing year…but over the last few weeks it has become almost unbearable…i have known since the day you were born this day would come..i prayed for you i wished for you i hoped for you and i loved you with all of me before you even arrived. Ā but you baby girl have already surpassed any dreams i could have even dreamt for you. Ā  You are so much of me and so much of your daddy all wrapped into one but then YOU ARE SO MUCH MORE on top of that! Ā You, my dear, are the cherry on top of my hot fudge sundae….

and now…

today….

is the day…

the day you are so full of excitement and anticipation for, a day Ā that i have tried desperately to prepare you for and prepare myself for…THE DAY YOU WILL BEGIN KINDERGARTEN. Ā I will be honest, i am thrilled for you and the excitement you have for the journey that lies ahead for you, but i am a wreck for myself. Ā I know how silly?! Ā But this is the first time in your life that you will be away from me for more than 4 hours…Earlier this year, Ā i came to the realization that you didn’t need to be me with every waking second, that YOU my sweet girl have grown into such a responsible child. Ā You have the most perfect little southern belle manners, you wash your hands, brush your teeth, can reach all of the light switches and even put your plate in the sink and clothes in the laundry room…all without any reminders, from me. Ā YOU ARE BIG šŸ™‚ Ā My heart swells with so much pride and love over the beautiful girl you have become i sometimes feel it might burst out of my chest. Ā I think my uneasiness comes from my fear of just how much i will miss you, but my peace comes from knowing YOU! Ā I know you will adjust to this with incredible grace, you will no doubt make new friends with ease, your love for reading and learning will flourish and you will most likely get into a little trouble for talking too much at some point šŸ˜‰ Ā You will definitely be beyond exhausted by the time i pick you up, as i could never quite take that afternoon nap away, ha. Ā But the thing is, baby girl, I know that while i will miss you while you are at school learning about and experienceing the world, the part that will get me through (especially this first week) is knowing the utter excitement that you will have when you get to tell me every single second of every single thing that happens every single day you are there. Ā I know i will be trying hard to swallow that lump in my throat down this morning as i walk away from you in your “new big school” but know baby girl, that you are about to start some of the best years of your life.

“until you spread your wings you’ll have no idea how high you can fly…” – author unknown

this also seem like a good time to remind you of these little tidbits as I’m sure more will be coming this week šŸ™‚

so above we did a sweet little shoot of just her, no props, no styling, no direction, JUST HER BEING HER…clearly she has enough personality to fill a room and picking which ones to show was difficult hahaha

since she is staying at a private school so school preparations were a little different than they were for me back in the day but i wanted it to be just as special and memorable for her. Ā i remember going to school shopping for clothes, school supplies, BACKPACKS (oh the backpack drama), and shoes…it was such a ritual for my mom and me, such a special time, we made so many memories, may or may not have had an argument or two hahaha but all of these things to this day i can remember. Ā so we did it, sure she doesn’t wear everyday clothes so we made a day out of it getting “uniform” stuff, our usual sambas, which look fab with anything on girls, heehee and i even let her pick out some school supplies for her “homework station” at home since her supplies will be at her desk when she arrives today. Ā i captured so many images but this post was getting long enough so i had to pick and choose but looking through them and being reminded of all that we have done to prepare her over the last few weeks for today…HER FIRST DAY…already make me so happy of the years to come and the memories we have already made.