Back to School

Back to school has made it a crazy month at our house.  I've had lots of picture work to keep me busy, but I am behind on posting it.  My youngest started Pre-K, but she's only there for a few hours a day, and because Mr. Drewman goes out of district, we have to drop him off and pick him up too.  This means my entire days are filled with nothing but having a few hours to squeeze in appointments and running back and forth with the kids. 

Things are starting to settle down, but the very first day of school was just plain chaos!  The hubby had to work leaving me to fight the battle of getting two kids ready and 4 dogs walked and all of us out the door on time.  Then there is the first day of school traffic to deal with.  Yes, it is insanely crazy.  Like cops had to direct traffic crazy.  The joys of parenthood.  If I wasn't so frazzled that morning, I might have cried dropping Kenzie off on her 1st day of school - ever.  Instead I had to park a mile away and we had to run up the 8 blocks to get to class.  We were late and sweaty, and I didn't bring my camera.  The lens kept fogging up from the stupid humidity. Poor thing, I never-not-to-this-day got a picture of her at school. 

Drew was super nervous and he had a loose front tooth.  The thing was so loose, it was sticking pretty much straight out, and he looked like he was more related to Mater the Tow Truck than to us.  He refused to smile for me.  He was picked on that first day and thankfully, the tooth came out the second day, or else I think he might not have gone back to school until it did.  In our rush and chaos and nerves of the day, I snapped 2 pictures: 1 of the two of them standing in front of our door both looking very awkward, and this one of Drew unpacking his school supplies and storing them in his desk. 

I wish I had some beautiful, well planned entry, but real life has gotten in the way.  I don't know how single parents or parents with one half in the military do it on their own!  I certainly don't seem to function well without Dan. 

Back to school has taught me a lot.  First that my children are growing way too fast.  It makes me want to get the camera out and take pictures of them even more than I do now.  From a photographer's viewpoint, I know that I need to figure out how to keep my cameras and my lenses from fogging up.  At least summer is nearly over and the heat and relentless rain are starting to subside.  But the lens fogging is an issue that I have to learn to deal with.  Also, I need to work on my focus.  GRRRR!  I love the depth of field at f1.8 and f1.4 on my 50mm and 85mm lenses.  They make for the prettiest, buttery backgrounds.  But I don't always get that focus sharp and where it needs to be when I shoot like that.  Sooo...it's off to practice for me!

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