The first year at our kids’ school, a friend told me that they go all out for Dia de los Muertos. Honestly, I didn’t even really know what it was, but sure enough, our school did go all out and I thought it was beautiful, even if it didn’t particularly mean much to me at the time.

By our second year at the school, however, we had lost 3 very close family members and suddenly, Dia de los Muertos became an event I had been both dreading and anxiously anticipating. We made it through the processional, but the emotions stirred during my 2nd time ever in that march were overpowering, but uplifting.

This year, we got the kiddos  up at 6 a.m. this morning to do their sugar skull makeup. My husband and I were working so hard, we may or may not have been a tad late to school today. But it was soooo worth it! The kids looked amazing and they were so proud of their makeup!

This year, our children each made very thoughtful and beautiful ofrendas to honor our lost loved ones: Grandma Rosie, Uncle Jim, Pop, and even our pups, Kona and Storm:

More images from the day:

But the real treat of the day came by the dance and musical performances of the students for the entire school. I posted some video clips on Instagram (one, two, three, and four), but those really don’t capture the incredible energy and vibe and sound and color and beauty of the celebration. The kids were SO into it! Such a treat to watch my own children get caught up in the magic, too. All of these students are quite lucky to have such talented and creative teachers, staff, and volunteers to pull something like this together in such a short timeframe. Wow!

Austin Kids Photographer

I just did a quick search for old posts about her and I had to stop looking through them lest I force myself into the rabbit hole of nostalgia and melancholy. She started Kindergarten this week. Her first year of school. This is not a new thing to many parents. It’s not even a new thing to me. I’ve been there, done that. But this time, it was different. This is my baby. My baby isn’t a baby. This is not something my heart is willing to accept. And as if to add insult to injury, she lost her very first tooth the day after we did this photo session. And to further rub salt in my wounds, she is happy. How dare she????? No tears. No, “Mommy…I miss you! Stay with me!” Nope. I’m old news. My poor little mommy heart was not made to handle all of this “growing up” business. I am not properly equipped. It has been admittedly difficult for me to accept this week. Don’t even get me started on when any one of my kids decides to leave the next in just a few short summers. But I’m still proud. I’m still joyful. I still feel blessed beyond words that I am one of the lucky few that actually gets to experience these bittersweet gems in life. So I’ll quit my whining. For now 😉

I got something in the mail yesterday. It was the culmination of 365 days (+ a few more this year) of documentation, sweat, and tears. Literally. I was shaking a little bit as I opened it and flipped through all 242 pages of it. When I finished, I will admit to being a little tired. It was difficult to relive last year through these pictures, but at the same time, it was necessary and I was surprised to find that I was smiling more than I was teary. I will be ordering three more copies…one more for each of my children to keep forever as well. I am glad it’s over. But I am proud:

For the next 48 hrs, the THIS link will allow you the chance to flip through the entire album via iBooks on an iPad (for those that were asking to see the inside). Note that April 27th and May 2nd are not misprints. Those are very intentional and were the most appropriate ways I could think of to attempt to convey our feelings at that time. Once that link expires, you can always see all of the images in the collection via this Facebook album.

The book is 11×13 from Blurb designed using InDesign (which I learned via these album design tutorials). My husband hung up the shelves for me last night (I love him) so that our albums could be displayed and more readily accessible to everyone to flip through whenever we want. Though I would have preferred the shelves to be white and probably could have made them myself MUCH cheaper, I was in a hurry to take advantage of my husband’s willing spirit, so we snagged these from Target. The lip on the end is *very* important as they hold the books on the shelf and keep them from sliding off. They could also be a little bit deeper to hold more, but in this particular space, they work well and don’t get in the way of the walkway, so I guess that’s good.

Thank you to everyone that followed along with this project last year and I would LOVE to see anyone else’s 365’s if they are willing to share. Post in the comments below! And if you started one this year…GOOD LUCK!

P.S. My husband asked me two questions after looking through this book:

Him – “Are you glad you did it?”

Me – “Heck YES!”

Him – “Do you want to do it again?”

Me – “Heck NO!”

So this year, I didn’t get much any say in the choice of Halloween costumes. This is what happens when you let Dad help them make their selections. I did make my eldest take his mask off for one pic so I could see some semblance of my sweet boy underneath. My rocker son was pretty spot on. And of course my princess never disappoints ;-0. None of these made my 365, however. I wanted to capture something else for that…

Hope you all had a wonderful and safe Halloween with cuter costumes than what I was working with ;-).

I have started this post several times today and still can’t find the words to express any more than what is: my husband’s father, known to all of us as “Pop,” passed away early this morning. On the heels of losing Jim, it is overwhelming at best. We are numb and exhausted.

Thank you in advance for your patience as our family makes the necessary arrangements. I will return messages as soon as I am able.

Love,

Michele

I have been so sick and tired of never being able to easily open/close the curtains that go across our rather large windows because the rings get  hung up on those telescoping rod humps. I searched all over Pinterest and the web to find a solution. I found two: 1) I could make my hubby cut out all new custom length rods (not going to happen) or 2) try this special teflon tape. While the tape has gotten pretty good reviews and would probably be a better option for wooden rods, I just couldn’t wait any longer so I thought I’d give regular ol’ tape a try on our metal rods:

1. Clean curtain rod so it’s free of dirt/dust (that took the longest part for me, ha!)
2. Get out some good sticking clear packing tape.
3. Wrap it securely but *lightly* around the section with the hump – meaning, you want the tape to stay, but you don’t want to press it into the hump…use it to make a “ramp” over the hump.
4. Open and close your curtains ’til your heart’s content.

I don’t know how long this will last, but for now, I am one happy camper being able to use my curtains they way they were intended!!! You’re welcome 😉

I can’t say this Christmas was particularly joyful, but I can say that we all did our absolute best to fill it with as many small bits of joy that we could muster. My husband (AKA Mr. Griswold) did a wonderful job of decorating turning our home into a magical little holiday wonderland. We were very grateful to get to have a lovely “breakfast for dinner” Christmas Eve with my family. On Christmas morning, we drove up to spend some time with my husband’s family and our kids got to have their very first White Christmas. And we reveled in the fact that at least we got to be together. All of us got to be together. The only invaluable Christmas gift I can imagine right now.

Upon returning home, there was a mountain of mail in our mailbox. Dozens and dozens of Christmas cards piled up because we haven’t had two seconds to drive down and check the mail in so long. I spent a good 30 minutes just opening cards tonight and in the middle of it, I just broke down. How wonderful is it to see so many beautiful, BEAUTIFUL families together, smiling back on those cards. Moving notes of encouragement from clients to us…people who don’t even know my brother-in-law, lifting us up in their thoughts this holiday season. Little gifts of appreciation, of peace, of “we’re thinking of you.” The power of your love and understanding is almost too much to bear at times. Thank you. Thank you to everyone who took the time to send out a holiday card this year. You have no idea how wonderful it is to see so much happiness all over the world!

j.imprints is still going strong and the sense of purpose it has given to Virgil and I has been so incredibly valuable. Go search #jimprints on Instagram…how cool is it to see how people are using and displaying their images? Keep sharing. Keep posting. Keep tagging. Keep us hoping.

I’m certain this post is fairly jumbled as we’re all pretty tired and trying to get back into real life after the whirlwind of the holidays. Please forgive me if communication is slow over the next several weeks. So much piled up during the holiday rush and all of the family stuff. And we are now gearing up for the first set of photography workshops at the beginning of Jan. I am very, very much looking forward to immersing myself into the world of family photography learning and teaching and improving and I cannot wait to meet these women who are coming in from all over the world to talk shop with me.

I hope, from the bottom of my heart, that you were touched by magic this holiday season and I wish you all the very best 2013 you could possibly imagine.

Much love,

Michele

Tonight, we will be gearing up to send our boys to school in the morning for the first time. After homeschooling for 3 years, we’ve decided that they need a new experience. My husband desperately needs a break. The boys desperately need a break from each other. It’s going to be a tough transition, but I’m certain it will also be a good one for our family at this point in time. I am sad to lose our amazing schedule and flexibility and all of this time with them, but I’m excited to have a more structured work day, which will hopefully lead to a more play time with the kiddos when they’re home from school.

To wrap up an AMAZING summer, we decided that the family should tag along to some family photo sessions I had scheduled in the Houston area this past weekend. When I travel to shoot, I like to stay focused on what I’m there to do, so I was a little nervous about balancing family + work, but this turned out to be an amazing working vacation!!! In between shoots, we got to visit some incredible places, including the Space Center Houston, the Downtown Aquarium, the Houston Zoo, the Houston Museum of Natural Science, and the Houston Children’s Museum. The Houston City Pass turned out to be a GREAT value for our visits to all of these places…so glad we did that! Be prepared you will have to pay some extras like parking or to see certain exhibits or ride certain rides, but overall, totally worth it.

The images above were all created and edited with my iPhone…funny how I rarely pull out my real camera any more when it comes to my personal work. Yeah. All of my personal images seem to be Instagram only these days ;-). This week, I also will be posting some sneak peeks of the sessions I did in Houston (with my big girl camera).

Meanwhile, I’ve got to get back to the laundry and then perhaps one more final family swim before our summer is…sniff…over. Good luck to everyone here in Austin who is sending their kiddos to school tomorrow. Good luck to those who may be continuing or even starting their own homeschool journey. It is definitely not something we regret and would go back to it in a heartbeat if we decided we needed to do so.

P.S. Thank you to those of you who encouraged me to submit some of my iPhone images to National Geographic. After much convincing from friends and family, I finally decided to send in this one. We shall see…

This has been an incredibly long process and I know I still have some work to do on it, but I’m thrilled to have something fresh for Pinkle Toes Photography! I LOVE change! Thanks for coming by and I hope you like the changes, too!

Speaking of changes, for those dying to see my new pink hair, courtesy of Katie, here ya go:

Didn’t she do a GREAT job? That girl is so talented…not only did she color and cut my hair she styled it, did my makeup, AND took these pics! Yeah. Katie rocks.

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