the minute her wispy blondes were pulled taut into two fine little sprouts, it happened. i turned her tiny frame around to take it all in, and there standing before me was…a girl. and i’m not sure what the hype is about pigtails being all little girlish because they very much are not. they are indeed very big girlish. in fact, i don’t see pippy or punky. no, i see gilligan’s maryanne, except blonde and trapped in an almost-two-year old’s very small body.

which may be why brett gasped when he saw the cover of her two year book.

and then it went something like this:

brett: no.
me: what, you don’t like it?
brett: i don’t want that on her book.
me: you don’t like the picture?
brett: i want a baby on the cover. that’s not a baby.
me: but she’s two. and that’s a two-year-old, babe.
brett: she doesn’t even know how to ride a tricycle, kelle.

which, might i add is true…however, i love, love, love these pictures we took to finalize her book and somehow, we convinced him that the book stands as finished.

…and then, as i followed her around the lawn last night as the sun began to set and the bottoms of her bare feet blackened, i caught this little moment where the sun danced through all golden on the loose strings that escaped from her pigtails as she found these flowerish things, picked them…and tried to blow the imaginary seeds off. and i don’t even know where she learned that because, sadly, we don’t have dandelions here. and i kicked myself after the whole thing because my camera was on the wrong settings, but…nevertheless. it works.

shall i mention that looking at these pictures accompanied by eva cassidy’s kathy’s song (which, might i add, just might be my favorite song of all time)…evokes stomach lurching. and wellings of puddles of the salty sort in the eyes.

moving on… this ain’t the big fat post for nothing.
being that this last little photo shoot for her book cover has been checked off…
…we are finished.
yes, the book is done.
all one hundred pages of it.
all i-really-don’t-want-to-know-how-many-hours-i-spent of it.
but it was all a divine pleasure. from the night of her first birthday party when i dragged, cut, pasted and saved the very first page in her second year book. and since then, dropping page after page with each blessed month to create a memoir near and dear to our hearts. and, while i’d much rather take the title of album designer over scrapbooker, i can’t deny the fact that…well, yup. i’m a scrapbooker. i scrapbook. there, i said it. and, when i do it, brett calls me scrappy. …and that makes me laugh.

and i won’t let him look at any of the book until it lands in our sweet hands in a couple weeks, but if you’d like to flip through this little work of art, click on twelve months of hard work here.

as for my new favorite additions (here’s where the big fat post part comes in)….

the delicious back cover…

the homage-paid-to-the-bruh-bruhs 2-pg. spread…

the newest easter lovins’…

a shout-out to her homies… (nici, spot a familiar face?)

my favorit-est page in the whole book…the title page…

and the answer to all my stress over leaving out so many photo gems… one year of favorites crammed into 4 small pages…

oh, laud have mercay! the big fat post is gunna burst!

i shan’t tell about the amazing, fabulous woman i met today who inspired me in so many ways…she’s so gettin’ a chapter in my book someday, but no, i’ll leave that for another post.

for now, that should be it.
yes, that’s it.

…enjoying the big & fat things. ~k

will draw for giveaway later this week, so there’s still time.
P.S. Super great Mother’s Day photo/gift special to come! And a refer-a-friend bonus. Details to come!

10. )

9.) not really being one to over-bedazzle my baby, i shall say it’s fun for special occasions (i.e. easter) to dip into the magnetic earring aisle. and when she wears them, we all say *ooo-la-la* which makes her smile. and her eyes twinkle.

(thank you, julie b, for my beautiful dress!)

8.) …which reminds me…
a little pair we snatched up for her upcoming ladybug picnic birthday party which, thanks to a little spring break boredom, is completely planned and finished…

sneekity peekity:

7.) getting dressed up for easter. i love dressing up. and her up.

6.) the blossoms are slowly waking up on our magnolia tree…and i didn’t know until after i looked at this picture that there was a little friend on its petals.

5.) teaching her how to properly eat an oreo (an art, i tell you). i was in stitches the other day observing her put her valuable oreo-eating knowledge to the test. dunking for one. two. three full seconds and lifting up the dripping, milk-softened cookie in one fell swoop, satisfactorily smiling all the while.

4.) meeting this amazing family last week. two years ago, after traveling down many roads for a baby, they adopted a beautiful little girl. she was two weeks older than our lainey. and her name was laynie too. i heard about this family through my dad when, weeks after their little gift arrived, she had to undergo open-heart surgery. i followed their story over the following months as little laynie went through more surgeries. and my heart broke when i heard the news that their sweet laynie went to heaven last february. thankfully, they were blessed the following october with another beautiful little girl…sweet selah. i have looked forward to meeting them for quite some time now, and my heart is happy now having the opportunity to photograph them and all their love for this sweet new angel when they vacationed to florida last week.

tadd, jill & selah…you are all so beautiful in so many ways.

3.) spring break and all the wonderful gatherings of kindred spirits it brings. the blessing of not going anywhere is that we get to lounge. and have spontaneous waffle breakfasts. and pool party afternoons. and bathe our souls with the blessed company of those we love. too many pictures to go through of all our little gatherings this past week. so you’ll just have to close your eyes and imagine a picture of happiness.

2.) sophie. because, although she so obnoxiously barks when someone’s at the door…or when she thinks someone’s at the door…and occassionally makes our girl cry hard when she snatches her food…or pees lake-ish flooding puddles when overexcited…besides all that, she is pure love. she was made to be a kid dog. to be dragged around the house by a tight leash in the hands of a grouchy toddler. to lay protectively outside the door of a sleeping infant. to pant exhaustively with her head half-zipped in an overheated tent just to satisfy the whims of a girl she secretly loves.

aw, sophs…we love you.

1.)

feeling happy. and knowing that that happiness does not come from having everything just right. or surviving in this economy. or even a happy marriage or the blessing of kids. it’s just there, and it is a culmination of gratitude, creativity, love and awareness of good things. little things.

…enjoying the small, the great, the summer, the family things…and all the in between. ~k

there’s more than ten…because i didn’t even mention brown sugar poptarts or ruffled shirts or twice baked potatoes. having a *little sister* finally through brett or the “brink” of summer and icy pops in the freezer. ‘cuz i’m enjoying those too…but i know you have more…and i’m in the mood for a give-away. i will make a pair of sandals…like these ones i did for lainey’s birthday…for your little dear or a gift for a dear you know (they’re for girls, but i may be able to think of something boy-ish if need be)…in the appropriate size and colors…if you tell me five little things making you happy today in your comment.

~k