Trying out the  First Day of School outfit last night.

pro·duc·tive –adjective
1. having the power of producing; generative; creative: aproductive effort.
2. producing readily or abundantly; fertile: a productivevineyard.
Productive refers to a generative source of continuing activity: productive soil; a productive influence.

I have been looking forward to the start of school with the thought that I was finally going to start being productive again. But, today, the day my firstborn starts Kindergarten, I realize that this summer’s productivity was never to be judged by the size of my inbox, the backlog of photos to edit, or the home improvement projects to be completed. This summer WAS productive, if not as structured as I had hoped. But I am not as structured as I often wish I were, so once I again I am reminding myself to cut myself and my family some slack and be proud of what we did. Our mantra for the summer, after all, has been “MORE THANK YOUS, LESS WHINING.” It came from a parental lecture to CM, but has turned into a relevant goal for us all.

This summer, we accomplished…

CM mastering tying, and even double knotting, her shoes.

VC singing her ABCs, counting to 10 (when she’s in the mood), singing songs, especially Mary Had a Little Lamb, over, and over, and over…

CM reading. Always reading.

CM swimming with confidence, finally!

Sisters playing WITH each other. Telling each other stories, dressing up, playing pretend, coloring, running, kicking balls, telling secrets, swimming, running through sprinklers, building castles out of sand, or blocks, cardboard boxes, or bedsheets.

CM did her first cartwheel, and dove to the bottom of the pool for the first time.

Riding our bikes on the street, as a family.

Lots of Band Hero on rainy or too-hot days. (I now know every word to three Taylor Swift songs, CM can mumble her way through American Pie, and T can always guarantee us a good score on Every Rose Has its Thorn)

VC’s first time tubing, and CM’s first time in her own tube. She was so proud.

Hosting family and friends. Visiting family and friends.

VC turned two.

VC working on potty training.

A bedroom makeover that is 90% complete. A bathroom makeover that is 40% complete. No one except me complaining about the ugly mess and annoying inconvenience of either.

VC moving from the crib to a bed. CM moving up to the top bunk she’s been wanting for years.

T passing the halfway mark in his grad school program, and juggling a particularly busy summer with work, and still making the time to ride bikes, go swimming, put the girls to bed every night, and get engrossed in the World Cup.

We got family photos taken, and NOT by me!

Me keeping everyone busy and active enough so that the girls (even the 5 year old)  would be ready to take sanity-saving naps in the afternoons. Sometimes I would join them.

Me squeezing in a few hours of work, here and there. Just enough so I didn’t feel l was neglecting it, but not so much that I let myself forget it was summer break.

Here are our First Day pics. T had to leave early this morning, so he left CM some flowers and a very sweet note that she was proud to read all by herself (with a little help).

It was a great summer. I’m looking forward to a busy fall.

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ATLANTA FAMILIES, I will be up your way September 30 – October 3. This is a great time to go ahead and get photos for the holidays! Take advantage of the current early bird offer, and BOOK TODAY as availability is very limited.

This is the last week of summer at my house. I’m parts nostalgic, relieved, content, exhausted, and excited. I’m not kidding myself. Here in Florida, we still have many more days where the weather makes the beach, pool, sprinkler, and an endless supply of popsicles completely appropriate. It’s just that now we’ll have to squeeze that in between school, soccer, gymnastics, holidays, work, etc.  Now that I will regain a few daylight hours to myself, I will be re-focusing more of my attention on work, and encourage you all to take advantage of the $175 savings that is available through the end of August! Please note that there is now an added incentive to book on a weekday, which is especially convenient for those with very little ones not yet in school.

Looking through my personal photos from the summer made abundantly clear what I already knew, that just like most of you, I take the majority of photos of my family in our day to day with my phone! Here’s a collage of what I captured over the last few months. It seems they are all about my girls or food, or my girls with food! The top left image is from the first day of summer break. The bottom right is from this morning. Everything else is in no particular order.

I love those. But, it makes me realize that I need to take more photos for me and my family (the reason I started to take photos, after all).  And it also reinforces how happy I am that I FINALLY got it together and had a fellow professional take family photos of the four of us. More on that soon!

Okay, I know it’s such old news by now, but since I am just emerging from the stomach bug that came to visit our house, I wanted to share a couple pictures from my Mother’s Day of the two who I have the honor of being Mom to. I had spent Friday night and all of Saturday sick as a dog, but for some reason my body decided to give me a break on Sunday long enough to cautiously enjoy the breakfast the family made for me and my visiting mom, and an afternoon at the beach. The grossness came roaring back on Monday morning, so I’m thankful for the reprieve I was allowed.

I hope you all had a wonderful day celebrating and being celebrated, remembering and honoring yourselves and your moms. I am ever grateful for the many mothers and mother figures in my life.

I’m excited to share some new stuff I’ve been working on. That will be coming very soon! In the meantime, please check out my new sister site, Jacksonville Headshots. If you or someone you know could use some great photos for your business cards, website, dating site, or even social networking, please consider giving me a call.

I’ve mentioned several times how much I treasure grandparents, and especially how grateful I am that my girls get to have such a sweet relationship with theirs. Here is a series of shots I captured of VC with my mom, whom she calls Lola, hanging out in the shade on our last visit. I loved them so much I thought they deserved their own post, and probably a special place on the walls of my home.

I enthusiastically encourage families to consider doing family sessions that include multiple generations, or where it’s specifically grandparents with grandchildren. Mother’s Day is coming up, and a gift certificate would be a wonderful gift for moms or grandmothers. The photos that result will be treasures for generations to come! Consider this, too, if you have out of town family coming to visit this summer. Gift certificates can be purchased in any denomination.

Even if you don’t have me come over to take them, or until you do, grab your camera and take a few of your own pictures. Not only the ones in front of the mantle with the kids in your or your parents’ laps. The moments where your favorite people are enjoying and loving one another are, in my opinion, so much more meaningful.

…that is what this baby girl’s name means. She is the newest member of my extended family. Lucky for her that she is so photogenic, because T and I joke about how the rest of the family’s photos are always so great, that they look like the sample photo that comes with the frame! I apologize for including SO MANY pics in this post, but I am just so excited to share these with some of my favorite people.

Let’s not forget about big brother. If you were meeting this family in person, you would never have to worry about him being a wallflower to his baby sister. I bet his parents are surprised that I got any photos of him that aren’t a big blur. This boy is always on the move!

We spent Spring Break with family in both Atlanta and and Utah. T and I spent most of our time in Atlanta working, but the girls got to spend lots of time with grandparents, cousins, aunts, and friends. When I’m working with my camera all day, I tend to not want to take a lot of pictures during my family time. However, here is one cute moment that I caught of the cousins snuggling up together for a movie.

Not sure what they were watching at this moment, but I love the expressions.

And here are a few from Lola’s house.

We went from spring in Georgia, to winter in Utah. Easter morning brought about 5 inches of snow! Quite a thrill for my Florida girls.

This was VC’s very first experience with snow. She was not a big fan.

Thankfully, Daddy’s not afraid of snow, or purple flower hairbands.

But she sure was cute bundled up in all those layers.

What VC did love was her newest cousin. More of her and the rest of the B family in a future post!

VC has needed a haircut for longer than I care to admit. I don’t know what it says about me, but I’m not the kind of mom who’s very intent – or good – at styling and accessorizing my girls’ hair. Finally, at lunch one day, I could take the bang mask no longer. I grabbed kitchen scissors and…

I got about two good snips in and she hasn’t let me near her since. She’s no dummy. Eventually I will get a professional to fix it, but when else in life can you get away with a hack job like this and still look so adorable?

Whew. October and November were so busy. I’m incredibly honored and grateful to all of the families who trusted me with their family’s portraits this year. Now that the Holiday Mini Sessions are all complete, I have just a few more sessions to fit in this month and then I am taking a couple of weeks to enjoy my family and get ready for 2010. There are a lot of exciting things in the works, including a new blog, travel calendar, and a big giveaway! Please stay tuned!

Since so many of my recent sessions were intended to be surprises for Christmas, I can’t share too many of those pictures. That’s all the excuse I need to squeeze in a few of my own family. My girls are lucky to have great relationships with all of their grandparents, great grandparents, and even one great-great grandmother! I cherish every opportunity we have to bring the generations together. These are from Thanksgiving weekend.

VC and her “Papa”

CM and “Memo”, her great-great grandmother.

October was so busy! Thank goodness for today’s bonus hour. It’s been a little while since I posted some pics of my own girls, so here are a few recent ones.

Just one bit of business: Mini Session dates extended through November 24! Check out Investment page for details.

We took the scenic route home from Fort Lauderdale early in the month. This is near the place we stopped for lunch.



Halloween.

There’s not much CM likes better than dressing up. I have to brag on my mom (Lola, to the girls). She made this Alice in Wonderland costume from scratch. CM firmly believes that Lola can fix or make just about anything!

CM’s Halloween decorations.

Funny thing about these is that this was NOT halloween.

Just my happy VC playing with her Lola.

With all the H1N1 warnings out there, it’s hard not to watch your kids for the slightest sign of the dreaded flu. It seems that the bugs that have invaded our house are just the average back-to-school variety. Above is CM keeping herself and us entertained earlier this week. This was on the second day when she was getting back to normal…day one was not so cheerful.

I describe myself as having a green heart and a black thumb. The summer heat has finally broken here so we got out in the yard to clear out all the debris of what we attempted to grow last season, and the weeds that came up instead. It’s so nice to go outside to play and not instantly break a sweat.

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JACKSONVILLE – Just a few slots left for Holiday Mini Sessions! See Investment page for details.

FORT LAUDERDALE – Meet me on the beach! Only mini session slots remaining on Oct 4. Email me NOW to claim one!

ATLANTA – One Day Only – Saturday, October 17 – until 2010! Contact me at jenmen@gmail.com

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