I’m thinking babies grow too fast. This little sweetie belongs to my friends Kacy and Chad—and it seems like just a few weeks ago that I held her newborn body in my arms at the hospital. Priya is wearing pink and white striped Osh Kosh overalls in this shot. Livia had a similar pair she wore as a little bitty girl. Now that I think of it, all kids grow fast! Which is why [cough cough] you should hire me to take your family photos.

Our kids? They keep growing, with or without our express permission. So get those family pictures scheduled and then make actual prints for your walls. And whether you hire me or not, that’s another thing entirely. You know where to find me. ;)

If you’ve ever taken family pictures with me, you know I’ll say “we’re done!” and then we’ll proceed to take a few more shots on our way to the finish line. There’s a reason I do this. Every so often the payoff is magical. Everyone relaxes, moods lift, the light is glorious, and inspiration is mine.

Thanks for the Rajala family for being awesome. More images to come.

Look at this happy and quiet scene! What’s going on? Hours and hours of pumpkin carving, that’s what’s going on.

We bought pumpkins really early in the season and my carvin’-happy child couldn’t wait to get started. Using the teeny tools from a store bought kit, Livia cut up two pumpkins and did almost the entire thing, start to finish, by herself. (I only helped when the stems presented a challenge.) Over the course of a weekend I’d say Liv spent about five hours pumpkin carving. Way to go, kid!

Know what’s scarier than a scary jack-o’-lantern? A scary jack-o’-lantern that’s molding inside. So yeah, neither of our carved pumpkins made it until Halloween.

**So my husband just asked who took this picture and who’s the girl in the picture. My feathers got a bit ruffled as I said, “Me! And Tess Wittmann!” And that’s not the point, I thought with a little indignation. Yes, the blurry image is a change of pace from my norm; however that’s exactly what I was in the mood for today—a change of pace. I posted it because I really like it. I like the movement captured, I like the colors and I like the composition. Explanation complete.

Remember this family from two years ago? Here they are again, featured on The Prairie Box, and perhaps taking home a special award for the Most Hilarious Kids Ever. I could hang out with Marshall and Bryce all day because their energy and goofiness kills me. The first pic below is so very JC Penney catalog and yet I absolutely adore it. I can reassure you they didn’t maintain those serious faces for more than two seconds.

Thanks to the Parishes for hanging out with me and my camera! I think you guys are great.

My friend Amy waited a long time for this baby, this little guy who filled up her arms and her heart last fall. I am so excited to see their sweet family again this weekend!

This week has been dizzying. As one who acutely feels emotions that correspond to seemingly every life event, I’ve been up and and I’ve been down. High and low. Joy and sorrow, all mixed together.

Something in me wants to lay down a very Pollyanna-ish bottom line and declare that sunshine and rainbows are the order of the day. Another part of me desperately wants to acknowledge the rough patches and disappointments, because in them we recognize that we are not alone in the struggles of this life. So here we go: a truthful blog post where I share a bit of both the good and the bad.

Highs:

• Witnessing the amazing red-orange maple tree glowing outside the front door of my friend Chelsey’s house—God made this tree so very alive and it just killed me with its beauty yesterday.
• Snuggling under a down comforter with my daughter and diving headfirst in the world of Harry Potter. Seeing her almost crazy with anticipation to find answers to some of the first book’s early mysteries.
• Enjoying coffee and meals with old friends and new friends.
• Seeing God answer prayer as we restructure small groups at church and feeling his hand upon our desire to glorify him even as we experience growing pains.
• Celebrating babies as they enter into this world and join families—biological and adoptive. It’s a blessing to walk alongside my friends right now.

Lows:

• Acutely feeling the loss of our own baby six years ago (wow, six!) and feeling ever more frustrated by wondering if God wants us to have more children.
• Really really really feeling that last one.
• Trying to make wise decisions for my daughter’s education and struggling to know what’s best.
• Being a grouch in general due to all the lows already listed!

I’m not going to wrap up this post in a lovely bow. But you know what I am going to do now? Go get my hair done. So there, lows—I’m getting my hair cut and maybe colored and I’m going to set aside this week’s sorrows for my entire hair appointment. A girl’s gotta rejoice in the good things, right?

One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous… He couldn’t know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: “To Harry Potter—the boy who lived!”

I have been waiting so long to read Harry Potter to Livia. It is time! While Jeremy is at a meeting we decided to crack open some play dough and get reading. Or rather, I decided to do this and Livia went along with my plans until…

She was done. And bored again. But Mom wanted to read more. So…

Face paints. Hoo boy, let the good times roll.

This is life with one child in the Tredway household. Harry Potter and play dough and face paints in the span of a two hour meeting on a quiet Sunday morning. You know what also happens with life with one child? Television. I think we set an all-time television-watching-record-of-shame yesterday, so today we’re trying to counter it with something more productive.

**As something of a postscript to my post: Livia would like you to guess what she is in these pictures. The second shot captures her in action.