quite possibly the first two photos ever taken of h where she is not smiling.
what can i say? life’s hard when you are six.
and by hard i mean magical.clearly.
xoxo
reading, organizing, shopping, momming too close to the sun. Home is wherever the Army sends us.
That's right. The internet is ablaze w/ Call Me Maybe lip dubs. You know the Howell girls always have to be on trend. 🙂
They sing this song day and night and they crack me up because they get so into it. Especially Sadie…who is NEVER in to ANYTHING. 🙂
Note:Yes, the car is parked. In the driveway. Please don't ask if I was driving, hahaha.
Sadie and Harper Sing Call Me Maybe from stephanie howell on Vimeo.
first and last days of kindergarten:
look how much she has grown! she looks so much taller,older,and so much more confident.
i've never been one to say "i'm sad" that she's growing. i think of all of my friends who have lost their children or cannot have children…i'm just grateful she's growing.so so so grateful.
and oh boy it makes my heart ache. it's bittersweet.
i think of walking her into that first day of kindergarten. i think of how she was clutching my hand, how she was so very nervous. i think of how she asked if i thought she'd make any friends.
then i think of her yesterday. and how i had a hard time getting her to leave. i think of how every student was hugging her. i think of how her teacher said she's the kindest student in class.
and today,just like that,i'm the mother of a first grader!
i am so proud of my girl. and i can't wait to see how she grows in first grade.
she really flew this year…i can't imagine what next year holds.
this past year i learned that elizabeth stone is dead right. this past year i let my heart go walking around outside my body.
and my heart came right back to me. beautiful,strong,and brave.
happy saturday.
xoxo
s
photo taken outside the olde pink house on harper's sixth birthday
This photo terrifies me.
Because she's six…but I see glimpses of sixteen. I can see what she will look like as a woman,and it makes my heart hurt.
The funny thing is,I can see myself looking back on this photo when she is sixteen and treasuring how little she was.
She is so beautiful.
Do you ever have moments like this with your children? Where you look at a captured image and see glimpses of the future?
It simultaneously thrills and terrifies me.
And when things like this happen,my heart says a quick prayer and it always sounds a little something like this..
Please Lord. Let me be there to see the real thing.
Every day I watch her grow is a privilege.
I think every mother gets scared. Scared that it will be hard. Scared that she won't know what to do. Scared that something will happen and she won't get to witness it at all.
How does one photo have the power do that? It's actually quite amazing. And one of the many,many reasons I love photographs.
I hope you all have a beautiful day!
xoxo
S
the girls had their very first soccer game last week. yes, they are on the same team :).
this makes for some very…um…interesting moments?
so let me offer you a quick flashback. harper has only played soccer once before. she was three. and it went like this:
well, it went back and forth between that and her yelling “DO I LOOK ASHION???” during games. i guess you could say it wasn’t really her “thing”.
so i suppose i expected something similar this time. she hasn’t really been that interested at practices. she does what she’s asked to do, but she isn’t overly excited about it or anything of the sort.
sadie,on the other hand…sadie has been very gung ho. i think it’s a good way for her to get out her energy/agression. the problem is that it’s her first time ever playing. she’s still getting the hang of it.but she has such a big desire to learn.
she is SO HARD on herself. she gets so frustrated that she doesn’t pick everything up on the very first try. i keep telling her i’m proud of her and that she should just have fun…but sister has a competitive streak a mile wide.
especially when it comes to harper.
as i mentioned, last week was their first game. here’s where the title of this post comes into play.
harper
was
amazing.
she was fast and focused and driven. she was at the front of the pack and the coach kept her in the entire time. and what is that LOOK on her face? is she growling?!?!?!?
what happened to my girly “i don’t want to get dirty” girl? what happened to my “YUCK I’M ALL SWEATY” girl?
and then at the very end of the game? she scored a goal!!! you should have seen her face. i sure wish her daddy was there to see it.
i didn’t take any photos of her scoring b/c i was experiencing it. i didn’t want to miss a moment so i didn’t have the camera over my face.
but when i recovered from my shock i grabbed the camera from around my neck and snapped this photo of sadie’s immediate reaction.
my.
i don’t think i have to caption this photo, i think you can decipher her look yourself. if looks could kill. sibling rivalry much?
and yes, we did talk about how it wasn’t nice to not be happy for her sister. and we also talked about how she’d have her moment, too. and she did…she got the ball away from someone on the other team and dribbled it for a second. the cheers were deafening!
but wow, just wow.that kid is something else.
and harper? she was something else too. you could have knocked me over with a feather. i never ever would have guessed she’d play like that.
reminds me of a certain 16 year old who had never played a sport in her life, a 16 year old that picked up a lacrosse stick and was really really good. my mom says she’d never even seen me run. 🙂 and i ended up being all-state! 🙂
it’s funny how we see unexpected reflections of ourselves in our children.
hope your weekend was beautiful!
xxo
s