10 on 10 | July edition

Every single time I sit down to write this monthly post, my 10 on 10, I feel like a broken record.  "There's no way it has been a month already."  "Man, time flies."  "The days are long, but the years so very short."  "I'm thankful for this reminder of a month already past."  But dude.  Those statements couldn't possibly be more true.

Little Buddy starts school in just a hair over a month.  Kindergarten.  KINDERGARTEN.  I've read these sentimental weepy posts from others over the years.  I haven't rolled my eyes, but I haven't really understood either.  I believe I've had sympathy, but not empathy.  Now we've delved into the realm of empathy.  I'm becoming a sentimental mess.  He's growing so fast.  He's so amazing and I love him so much.  I even got an extra year with him here with me, since he has a late October birthday.  He will be six in four months.  But still, I want to grab him and hold on and never let go.  He's turned into this awesome little guy.  He's so much like me and it makes my heart want to burst.

"They've" always chastised to "just love 'em.  enjoy 'em."  And I haven't.  For starters, the lack of discipline - aka  just loving them - has dire consequences for both me and the kid.  But that's a conversation for another day. For second, the baby/toddler/preschooler phase still requires so much work and that takes away from the enjoyment for ME.  But we've hit this amazing sweet spot now and he's just pure enjoyment.  I truly, truly want to freeze time.  I'm wrestling so heavy with the decision to have more children or not, because I don't want to miss out one tiny moment with Little Buddy.  I want to relish in everything with him, and with the Lady.

At any rate, we are here today for the 10 on 10.  Rule follower me is a little torn on the inside today.  I just really like following the rules, and for my final product of a year of this project I wanted 12 documentations of entire days in our lives.  But again for this month, I couldn't.  I am always photographing what is happening with my family, especially in the summer when we are outside so much.  Always.  So with my normal photographing, plus the Finding the Light Workshop images I've taken over the last month, there was just tooooooo much.  I couldn't possibly fit in another day of shooting, like I prefer to do for the 10 on 10, much less handle 500 more images for the month.  I am probably two years behind in my family photos.  So many amazing and wonderful images that I've never processed, never posted.  I decided to do my 10 on 10 this time, with some images that would have been stuck in the 'never seen the light of day' folder.

This particular evening Shawn and Little Buddy were playing basketball.  Little Buddy wore the 3D glasses for about two weeks, constantly.  I'm so glad I have these images to remind me of that.  Wore them all day long, every day, wherever we went.  I loved it.  He claimed here that they helped him play basketball better.  I just love the little athlete he's turned out to be.  I cannot express how much I adore watching the two of them play basketball.  My 10 on 10 is about an hour of a summer evening.  A moment in time I never, ever want to forget.

[My 10 on 10 is a group project with photographers all around the country.  After you view my version of 10 on 10, stroll through the group and see how they spent their days.  Next up is my sweet friend Jayme Franklin.  I'd bet my next starbucks that she shot hers on film!]

[My 10 on 10 is a group project with photographers all around the country.  After you view my version of 10 on 10, stroll through the group and see how they spent their days.  Next up is Jayme Franklin.]

I shot these with my D90 Nikon 85mm f1.8