You've heard that before, right?  Look at things in a new light.  Sometimes I just obsess about looking at light!  :)

  But in this case, I definitely think the old adage is true.  You see, we've been here for almost 14 years.  That's a long time of looking at the same things.  Sure the trees grow and new families move in, but familiarity can definitely breed complacency.

  So this morning, I decided to walk around the neighborhood with the kiddos early in the morning.  Ever since they were babies, these two have been early birds, so I didn't have to convince anyone the idea was a good one.  We grabbed some granola bars for a little breakfast al fresco and headed out.

  Looks like our street isn't as boring as I thought when looked at in a new light...

I admit it, I'm that person who takes my big girl camera with me and takes photos that others might think are strange. Do you ever feel like photos are more of an insurance policy on memories than a vehicle for Facebook likes or big canvases on the wall?   If you do, then you totally get me.  My heart swells over the photos that capture who we are and the traditions that we hold dear far more than the Holiday Card shot in a random field.  Can you relate?

  It's not that I don't take portraits, because I do.  But the photos I look at over and over; the ones that feel like who we are: they're the ones that a lot of people don't quite get.  Then again, I don't take them for other people.  I take them for my kids and their future kids.  The Momstradamus in me knows that there are better stories, better moments to share in our Sunday morning trips to Burger King (because Ivy only likes their hash browns) and McDonalds (for everyone else) than in a field during the golden hour.  They'll laugh over the time that we meticulously counted out $1.04 in pennies only to find out that the price had changed since last week and we had to scramble for the extra $0.11 in a way that they'll never reminisce about a portrait session.  The raw, unfiltered truth will mean so much more than a contrived "perfect family" shot. 

  Do you have any traditions that don't mean a thing to anyone but you?  Do you have photos of those things?  Because no matter how much we wish differently, there's no stopping the roll of time.  Kids stop taking naps (dang it!), they grow up and move out, friends and family move away, favorite places close down and turn in to parking lots and if we're not careful we wake up and the world changed when we weren't looking.  Those "weird" photos will be there to remind you of those precious moments when your memory gets fuzzy.

  So I take my camera everywhere and photograph the mundane; knowing full well that those are the moments that matter.

Baseball is a huge part of life around here.  We're raising two die hard Chicago Cubs fans and my youngest dreams of pitching in the big leagues someday.  While that's certainly a few years down the line, the summer rituals of practices and games have begun.

  I had to laugh when one of the other coaches showed some of the photos I've taken of the boys around to the guys at work and told them he'd hired a professional photographer for the team.  Last year I made each of the boys customized baseball cards and I'm pretty sure I'm going to do it again.  Don't they look like real ballers?