May Random-ness

The urge hit me to take some pictures this morning. I realized it had been a really long time since I had taken any photos of anything besides the muddy backyard, and photography is something I really enjoy. Once upon a time, I thought I would take it up as a serious hobby, but all I ever seem to take photos of are the kids! That's fine, and I'm glad we will have lots of pictures of them as little kids when they get bigger, but sometimes I would like to go out in the local world and take photos of something else. Right after I got the camera, I went to the Old Mill and took some photos I was really proud of, but that was a year and a half ago. Anyway, here are a couple of shots from this morning......

I especially love this last one, she seems so sweet. Just shows how looks can be deceiving--right after this, she decided Nate didn't really need the toy he was playing with and relieved him of it. Sweet, huh? It has gotten harder and harder to get nice photos of Nathan, since he has reached that age when he thinks he has to smile a huge cheesy fake smile every time the camera is pointed at him. Still, it's a phase of his life that I need to document. One day, those photos will embarrass the heck out of him when I show them to his girlfriends.

Speaking of Nathan reaching "that age," we have been working on his Kindergarten registration, and I, like so many mothers out there, am having a really hard time believing that my baby is going to be starting school. He wanted to watch home movies yesterday, so we started with the video from when he was born. Turns out he wasn't very interested in seeing himself sleeping or crying, but I was mesmerized. At the time, he had seemed so big, and he really was--for a newborn, anyway. But now I have a hard time recalling him being so small. After that, we watched video from Amy's birth, when Nathan was almost 2 and a half, and he was so stinking cute! I had forgotten! Once again, he had seemed so big then, but now seems so small. I got a kick out of how he talked then, his mispronunciations and speech quirks. It doesn't feel like that long ago, and yet he has changed so much. He is absolutely not a toddler, but a full blown little boy, and not really so little, for that matter! So, we are at the brink of his last "baby" summer, before he begins his school journey and leaves baby- and toddler-hood forever behind him. I am full of anticipation over what kind of boy he will be, wondering how he will interact and get along with other kids as he grows, wondering who his friends will be and what they will enjoy doing together. I am, as always, in unfamiliar territory raising this boy, since I didn't have a brother growing up. I just don't know what boys are like, and so I feel fortunate that my sister is doing all this boy stuff first with Grant, so I can look to her for advice. I feel pretty confident about that girl of mine, unless she turns out to be a tomboy, and then I will be at a loss once again! So far, with her love of all things Princess and Baby, I think I can manage. However, she is full of surprises, so time will tell!