Why, yes, my jaw hit the floor when mama showed me her incredible dress she had chosen for her session. Wow. And she pulls it off so perfectly. Sigh. What a treat to see this happy and loving family again after their newborn session last fall.
To say I'm behind on blogging would be a bit of an understatement, but in light of announcing the 2012 Professional Family and Child Photographer workshops, I figured I should catch up a little on the workshop family sessions ;-). (P.S. If you live 61 miles or more from Austin, you might want to check out the latest announcement on Pinkle Toes 4 Photographers ;-).
My middle child came running into my office yesterday--dirty, sweaty, out of breath, and talking a mile a minute. The house had been awfully quiet and I figured my husband and the boys were up to something outside, but I didn't have a clue as to what he was talking about. Then I went out and saw they were digging in a little space in our front yard. Instantly, I realized exactly what they had found.
10 years go, my husband and I buried a time capsule for our future children. We'd been married just a year and hadn't even started to think about having kiddos at that point, but we had this crazy idea to make a time capsule and decided to go for it. I specifically remember we wrote letters to our future children (we thought we were only going to have two and we already had their names picked out...Tristan and Amerlyn. Thank goodness she came along to fulfill our prophecy). Over the years, I've thought about when we might dig up the time capsule with the kids. To be honest, I couldn't really remember what else we had put in there, but I was *really* excited to read what we had written to our future kids.
When they first started digging, the boys had no idea that *we* were to ones who buried it. They were so wrapped up in the excitement of finding treasure...they were convinced it was at least 100 years old, LOL. I was crushed, however, when I saw that the bag protecting it had fallen apart and the tin was severely corroded. Everything that was paper inside the tin (including several photos, my copy of this book--which was a HUGE part of my life--newspapers, magazines, and oh no!!! THOSE LETTERS!!!!) was ruined. I may or may not have cried a little bit over that.
However, some things did survive...
That's a Polaroid of my hubby and I when I was in college and there's my genie watch (I was obsessed w/ all things Disney growing up) and somehow, a little miniature plastic Hungry Hippos game survived, too. There was a bunch of old jewelry (almost all of it was corroded beyond recognition), but the greatest find was our high school class rings!! I totally forgot that we had put them in there and I have spent countless hours searching the house for them over the years, LOL. That almost makes up for the lost letters ;-). They say diamonds are forever, but now I'm thinking it's plastic, Polaroids, and gold.
The boys enjoyed the time capsule much more than we ever would have imagined. We've decided to make another one for our family to dig up in another 10 years. I'm excited to see what they choose to put in there and I *hope* we can come up with a water-tight container that won't fall apart on us--any suggestions...something besides gold?
Have you ever created or recovered a time capsule? I would LOVE to hear your stories and share them w/ our kiddos (talk to me on Facebook).
It had to be one of the most humid days *ever* this summer when I showed up to photograph their family (I mean, look at the first picture up there...we are NOT in some tropical rainforest...this is Austin, TX for pete's sake). And somehow, they all managed to look radiant throughout their session--especially their mama, who really wanted to capture how they spend their time together as a family. I think we did everything under the hot summer sun: basketball, tea party, live music, story time, and even homemade cookies (and they were AMAZING). It's always such a pleasure to observe how other families live, but especially to see that their children appreciate it, too...
As much as it breaks my heart to see her growing up so fast, I have to appreciate how much she can do and wants to do for herself. I love seeing the joy of accomplishment on that adorable little face.
What they are giving their children is priceless: a home full of happiness and unwavering love. It has been a tremendous privilege of mine to photograph their family connections since their daughter was just a baby in mama's tummy. (You may recognize them here).
Four years since I first met them, they now have three children, and Maria still mothers her family with pure love, grace, and beauty. She sets the mark for me as a mother myself. When we walked out to their garden that night, I didn't quite comprehend what I was about to witness until I saw the the pictures. Maria pulled out her face painting supplies (she mentioned that was one of the things they loved to do together) and set to work on creating artwork on each of her children. It was such a beautiful scene--and at the risk of sounding like an artsy goob, I teared up when I got a chance to flip through the images from that night. But really, I have to wonder if she has *any* idea the kind of memories she's creating for her children every time she does things like this for them. She exudes devotion as a mother and as a wife. She is my shining example of everything a mommy should be. I am honored to know her and proud to call her a friend.
