The Beginning.

An emotional week is coming to an end. Goodbyes have been said, classrooms have been packed up, and some very, very sweet notes from students and colleagues have fallen into my hands. I don't think there is anything sweeter than a letter. In this age of emails and text messages, we continue to lose the little personal touches that are so special. I'm a "saver" of all notes and letters. I probably get this from my mom, who sometimes thinks its funny to take out her boxes of letters that we wrote to her... apologies for calling our brother stupid, mother's day cards that repeatedly tell her she is the best mom ever, or notes that explain why we really don't like our sister who killed our fish because she dumped all of the fish food in its bowl. And while I will not share these heartfelt messages that were given to me over this past week, I thank you with all of my heart for your thoughts.

The weather this past Wednesday patterned by mood on this day. It was amazingly bright and pleasant outside for most of the day, only to be interrupted by a torrential downpour, and topped off with the most gorgeous rainbow. And not your "I-think-I-can-see-a-few-colors-of-a-rainbow" one. This one spanned across the entire sky, vibrant as can be.



Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high,
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.

Tears have been shed, goodbyes have been said, and now, my friends, I'm ready. Ready for a perfectly created balance of work and play. Which one is which - caring for and spending time with my amazing little one or photographing the most precious newborns and families - is yet to be decided... but that's the beauty of it. How am I feeling right now?

Pretty darn happy.



That's the look of an individual who has the best of both worlds. And what does an individual such as this do in this situation?

We celebrated, of course. A trip to the carnival.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh why can't I?

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?

This is only the beginning.



Who am I?

I'm a mother to the most incredible fifteen month little boy and the wife to a man who loves me just the way I'm meant to be loved. I'm a stay-at-home mom because I believe these years, when the little ones are this little, are way too important to miss (though I don't quite cook and clean as well as I should) and I'm a photographer. I capture the moments that are as precious to you as the moments that I capture for me. Life is too short to sit idly by waiting for something to happen. Believe in something bigger. And go get it.

Dare to dream.

A (baby) glimpse of summer.

It's about time for some relaxation...

...for putting up our feet, sitting back, and enjoying this delicious warm weather. For giggling at nothing at all because isn't it better to spend time laughing and being silly than doing nothing of the sort.



...for getting a little dirty and running around with no shoes on because sometimes it's more fun to feel the grass between our toes (and what perfectly curled little toes this little one has).



....for exploring and observing, for learning and listening.



...for doing whatever we want to do (even if it means refusing to wear the world's cutest pair of sunglasses). For no schedules and new schedules, and perhaps even the end of some little one's bottles and binkies.

...for just being. For being happy and content and comfortable in our life.

And loving, just loving, every single moment of it.

The Magic Number.

Four. The number of days I will officially still be a teacher. I've always loved numbers. Perhaps it started in preschool with all of the Montessori objects we used to learn about numbers; perhaps it grew during our "teacher" games with my little siblings where, of course, I was the teacher, creating and grading math worksheets; or perhaps it was most prevalent to my students, some of whom could really see my passion for numbers and teaching.

Four. Also the number of years I have been a teacher, though it seems much longer. And four years of classroom work, materials, sweet notes from students, and posters are slowly making their way to our house.





Fifteen. The number of months Jacob turned this last week. And my how these months just get better and better. Whether trying to splash his shadow with water or mimic Daddy mowing the grass with his little bike, it's impossible to not smile in his presence. And with ninety degree weather this weekend, the return of the water bucket was a necessity.

Five. The current number of great-grandchildren Mama and Papa currently have. All boys. We almost have enough for a basketball team. We have promised some cheerleaders soon. Joseph turns five this week and my mom made him a Spiderman cape to celebrate. What is it with boys and capes? As if they couldn't get any cuter, a splash of Superhero powers makes you just melt.

Seventeen. The approximate number of times we asked Reis to share his toys. We had a glimpse into the future when the boys are older and they begin wrestling. This thought was a little scary to us. Someone then threw out the idea of the little boys fighting now, how funny this would be, and who we would put money on. Even tossed out the idea of creating babyfights.com to generate some crowds. That thought might have crossed the line.

Three point five. The average height of the boys' jumps. We allowed Joseph to jump alone and, while his belly flops (onto the hard ground) had us laughing until it hurt, we decided to assist the littlest ones in their superhero leaps.

Six-fifteen. The time that Jacob wakes up every morning, even after a long night of playing with cousins and going to sleep way past his bedtime.

Ten - Seven. The final score of the Cardinals game we went to on Saturday. It wasn't exactly Lohse's best day.

Eight. The average percent of the day that Jacob now sticks his tongue out. Not quite sure if it feels funny to him or if he just likes playing with it, but Little Man just can't keep it in his mouth.



Lifetime. The number of days I will always be teacher. A little cheesy perhaps, but undoubtedly true. I may not have a name over my door and may not have a classroom full of kids, but I'll forever be teaching my little man lessons.... some days they may be lessons about numbers and some days they may be lessons about life and all things important.

Four. The number of days until a new adventure begins. A little scary? Indeed. But from where I'm looking, I'm one hundred percent excited about the opportunities that await....

Busy Momma.

I can't even believe it is already Friday. This morning, my most impatient reader (my sister), was texting, yahoo messaging, and facebooking me telling me I have not had a new post all week. We sat at my parent's house last night laughing hysterically about the fact that we are the kids on Parenthood. It was an easy decision on who was who. Jason was the oldest son, Adam, the one who fixes things and has a kinda crazy little one (who we love). I was Julia because, as my sister stated, I would bring someone that was sick "homemade chicken noodle soup" as I secretly dumped in delicious store-bought soup. Linzaloo was Sarah, the free-spirited little soul who still lives at Mom and Dad's (and she would, too, if she wasn't getting married soon). And Justin, the littlest of us all living in San Diego (who we miss dearly) was Crosby, the youngest of the family who still has his Mom do his laundry and whose humor and personality is just priceless. Strange that we fit so perfectly? Perhaps. Even stranger that we actually had an entire conversation about this on fb? Definitely.



The only thing that doesn't quite fit is the fact that, in real life, our parents are still so very happily married and Justin does not have a baby boy... that we know about.

So Linzaloo, or Sarah, I'm sorry I don't have a longer post for you. I am in the process of packing up my classroom and ending my year and career as a teacher which makes me so totally happy and sad at the same time for I will miss my students, their crazy high school drama and stories and teaching them math and all things important. I will miss telling them stories about Jacob and being a part of this amazing little community. More to come about this later, but I am also overly excited about being home with my little one, focusing my energy on my photography and having amazing, powerful sessions like this one.

A busy day awaits us right now, but I promise you stories and pictures and special moments will arrive this weekend....

Happy Friday.

Welcome back, Monday.

Monday has come all too quickly after a rain filled weekend. With all of our time indoors, I should be more organized on this first weekday morning, but I still see stacks of paper that must be put away, laundry that must be folded, and photographs that needs frames and positions on walls. With the number of pictures I take of our little family, you would think I would have innumerable photographs hung on the walls of our home, but this is far from the truth. The problem is that, because I am constantly taking photographs of our family, I continue to wait for that next perfect moment. There are so many of these moments to choose from...

Like during a short burst of sun this weekend when we headed out for a tricycle ride and Daddy kept showing Jacob how to pop a wheelie.



Or trying to show Jacob how to make his own feet pedal the bike.



Or Jacob giving up on stretching his legs out that far, especially when he discovered it was much more fun to give the tricycle a ride. And our little circle around our neighborhood took much longer than it should this way.



Or how Philip has the most patience and lets his little one lead the way the entire walk.



Or the rain boots that made their second appearance of the weekend and I was proud to show Philip that Jacob would wear those shoes more than his predicted one time.







It's hard to choose my favorite, but choosing I will do. Right after my delicious sugar-free red bull and some organizing....

A happy Monday to you.

Hello, Rainy Weekend.

Hello, New Rain Boots.



It wasn't the perfect weekend. I came down with a bug and we spent most of Friday at Yaya's house where I positioned myself on the couch and Jacob in the kitchen with Yaya cooking up homemade chicken noodle soup. Let me tell you, that soup has magic healing powers. And my mom knows it. The second I called her (at 4:30 Friday morning), I knew she was already planning her grocery list to whip up some of the magic potion. Twenty-eight and still going to my parent's house when I am sick? Philip did have to go to work and I did need some help with the little guy, but it's true,

everyone needs a little momma love when they are not feeling well.

When I did start feeling better, out and about we went. Testing out new rain boots and testing out perfectly baby-sized ice cream cones.

Hello, Happy Boy.



He loved it. Just ate the whole thing right up.

When he was done with all the good stuff, he fed the rest of his cone to his puppies and was off to play. Because the good thing about rain boots, is that a little mud and water doesn't matter one bit.

The perfect weekend? Not exactly. But we make the best of it. And that's something to smile about.

A 55 year old celebration begins with...

A big surprise, of course. My dad certainly would not want a celebration in his honor so Mom had to go a tad behind his back and do a little planning. It all started with a cute little bow tie and a cute little boy many, many years ago.

Then came the bow ties for everyone invited... because what is a birthday party without a theme?

The birthday man himself was then brought to the event... where he thought he was going to a nice, quiet dinner with his wonderful wife.



Until he realized that there were many of his loved ones waiting for him.

A little cake and some birthday wishes and a blind fold that he refused to wear into the restaurant but allowed my mom to put it back on him for a few pictures.



And a whole lot of love. You would think these guys were brothers or something.



In fact, they are. And sons to one amazing dad.

But then again, maybe that's why our dad is the best. Because he learned from the best.

And that's a fifty-five year old celebration. Happy Birthday to the greatest Daddy-O in the world.