per·spec·tive, n. : A mental view or outlook

My kindergartner has been fortunate to participate these past two months in the accelerated reading program at his school which normally doesn’t start until second grade. The first level of achievement in the program is the “cardinal pin” (the school’s mascot). Taking comprehension quizzes and earing points has completely changed my son’s perspective on reading. It has given him a new determinaton and purpose and he pretty much drops everything to make sure he has time to read each day. This week he got his cardinal pin and the excitement level was thru the roof. His teacher gave him a hug and spun him around. He called from school to tell me when he got the pin. And this was the happy face he came bounding off the bus with.

The word of the week is “sparkle.”  What can I say? She sparkles in so many ways.

This week’s theme was “light.”  We had some fun with long exposures and a flashlight, ie: “painting with light.”  The day I shot these images, I got a call from the school nurse about the goose egg my son got on the playground at recess.  I didn’t think it would show up so much in the pictures, but yep – THERE IT IS!  Poor little guy.

This first image is the one I chose to submit for the 52 week project, but have included some others from the set as well.  If anyone is interested, I wrote a step-by-step tutorial about how I created these shots, located within the flash & strobes tutorial forum at ClickinMoms.

I had this idea about trying to write this whole blog post in skater lingo but then I realized that I don’t know any skater lingo other than the word “dude.”  Ha! Therefore I am just going to talk like I normally talk and tell you that these are some highlights from a really fun family session we did right before the holidays.  A couple of the images were used on a custom holiday card and once the chaos of the holiday season died down, we finished up by selecting some wall art and gift prints.

You know how sometimes you talk to someone new on the phone and it’s so relaxed and natural that it’s like talking to an old friend?  That’s how I felt when the mom of this family called me.  I just knew we were going to have a great session.

K, I am glad you found me and I look forward to working with you and your beautiful family in the future!

Wishing you health, peace, and happiness in 2012!

“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.”

I really wanted to add my own addendum to that quote that said “Even my kids.”  LOL!

Merry Christmas everyone!