Sunday Afternoon Portraits

Today I made some pictures of the girls:

Jessica wasn't in a very cooperatin' mood and the shoot didn't last long, so I wasn't able to get a good pictures of all three girls together. Jessica was responsible for the first picture of Elyse above, however; she brought the chair over and had Elyse sit in it, and handed her the yellow plastic watering can, which was a really good idea. Today she was more interested in being the art director than the model, but unfortunately that attitude didn't encourage her sister to be very cooperative either. I'm happy with the few good pictures I did get, though.

Playing in the Backyard

Yesterday afternoon the weather was beautiful, so we spent some time playing in the backyard:

Jessica at Stone Mountain

I took this picture of Jessica this afternoon at Stone Mountain:

Portraits at Fort Yargo State Park

Here are several sepia-toned pictures I took yesterday during our visit to Fort Yargo State Park:

Lone Fisherman

I took this picture this afternoon of a lone fisherman at Fort Yargo State Park in Winder:

Appreciate This Gift

I met my brother, Jeff, for lunch last Friday at Jade Dragon in Lilburn. My fortune cookie said:

I hope that is true. So much of what surrounds us in our culture these days is ugly, and too loud, and too fast--but still, there is much that is beautiful all around us. Finding it is indeed a gift.

Scary Faces

The girls love to make scary faces. I love to take pictures. And thus, this past weekend's Scary Faces photo shoot was born:

(Okay, so this one isn't so scary, but she was trying!)

Not-Scary Faces

Here are some pictures of the girls I took between the scary faces pictures:

Retrospection and Introspection

Here's me, back in 2002:

In this picture I am ten years younger than I am now, forty pounds lighter, and have very little discernible gray in my hair or beard. Anna and I had been married only a year, and we were still five years away from having our first child. I was only thirty-five, older than many newly-married men, true, but still young by many standards.

When I look back on pictures like this, I often think, "Wow, I wish I had realized then how wonderful my life really was. I should have appreciated it more at the time. I should not have taken it so much for granted."

And then I realize: My life today contains so many moments that someday I will look back on and realize were wonderful. Among the best things I can do for my wife, for my children, for myself, then, is to try and appreciate how wonderful my life is right now, while it's actually going on, to not take it for granted but to know it for the gift that it is.

I am blessed. But then, we all are.

Elyse's Hands

I took this picture of Elyse's hands a couple of days ago:

Christmas (at home and at Disney)

Here are some pictures from the last week or so, covering Christmas Day at Granny and Pa's house, and our pre-Christmas family vacation to Orlando:

(That's Anna at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios. It's a pretty cool place, and the butterbeer is very good.)

(Jessica in front of Cinderella's Castle.)

(The lit-up Cinderella's Castle.)

A Few Party Pics

Last night I took a few formal portraits at Anna's work Christmas party. Here are a few of the best:

Benton Family Photos

I went to my cousin Scott's house on Saturday to take some pictures of his family, including his wife and two daughters (age 11 and 15). Here are some of my favorites from that session:

Christmas 2011: Snowman Love

Christmas Day is only six weeks away!

That's six weeks to savor my favorite time of year, and to hope it doesn't go by too quickly.

Six weeks to enjoy the colors and lights and music--my favorite part, the music.

Six weeks to pour egg nogg down my gullet until none of my clothes fit anymore. (Maybe this year I won't go quite that far.)

Six weeks to hope the beauty and joy and peace aren't overshadowed by the worst of the tacky commercialism--and six weeks to enjoy the best of the tacky commercialism.

Six weeks to read A Christmas Carol, three or four pages per night, to Anna before bed.

Six weeks to try to be undeterred by all the Scrooges who can't understand why people like me love Christmas so much.

There's a Hobby Lobby only about seven miles from us, and I go there often. They start setting up for Christmas--I'm not making this up--shortly after Independence Day, so I can go there through much of the summer and get a little jolt of Christmas excitement. I've already bought two Christmas tchotchkes from them, including this love-filled Snow Man:

Tacky? Perhaps. I don't care. It makes me happy.

Sleeping on the Sofa

This afternoon when we got home from school, both girls fell asleep on the sofa while watching "Dora":





Poor Elyse's neck was probably sore when she woke up; she slept for nearly an hour with her head flopped over on her shoulder.