Getting back to MY family.....

As a photographer, I spend SO much of my life photographing and EDITING everyone else's special memories and special days...I do remember to photograph my family too, but for the last 5+ months, those pictures have been taken, but not even loaded onto my computer....We have had Kelsi's first dance recital, a trip to Florida, Tyler's first flag football team, Kelsi's fifth birthday and a whole summer on the boat, amongst so much more and I haven't even LOOKED at the pictures yet.  The days and months are flying by and I am an emotional wreck at how big my kids are getting....There are not any signs of "baby" left in them and I think we are hitting a whole new phase of childhood with Tyler and at times it feels like that phase is him already wanting to pull away and be with his friends:(

I am trying OH SO HARD to be in the moment and also capture them for later!

 I am making an effort to get back to MY family starting today!

This quick little story is the perfect example of my "little" Tyler right now....He uses language that I would have expected to come out of a late elementary student or even middle schooler and he is only in his first week of first grade!! Tonight at the bowling alley with his family, he looked at Douglas and he said, "I want to go hang out in the arcade?" Douglas responded with "WHAT?", and he repeated, "Can I? I want to go hang out in the arcade."  

HANG OUT....what is that?!!! I think the mixture of ages at YMCA camp this summer "expanded" his vocabulary - I think it truly helped Kelsi grow up a bit (after last years preschool class where she was the oldest) and it really BOOSTED Tyler into middle school....EEEK!!!