emily.

I've known Emily since she was 3 years old. She's been with me full time since she was...hmmm...7, I think? Watching her grow and go through all the kid stages has been an eye-opening experience on a variety of levels, an experiment and lesson in my own personal limits, self-control and depth of my love. She's my daughter, and there aren't the right words or the time to really explain what that has meant and continues to mean as she grows up.

Thankfully, we've moved out of the "sweatpants, I hate showering or doing laundry" phase and into the "this is my personal style" phase, which comes with its own bevvy of interesting moments, and in that typical pre-teen fashion, the word "moody" doesn't even begin to describe her dynamic right now, but all in all, she's a fabulous kiddo, a tremendous sister and when the mood strikes her, she's hilariously funny. And she just graduated from 5th grade and is heading into middle school. (insert screams of horror and terrifying music here)

To celebrate, we took to the beach for her own personal one-on-one portrait session. She agonized over her outfit, actually asked me to help her do her hair (Which, thank you very much, is suddenly very similar to my own style which for years, she dubbed as "the mo-hawk and why would I want a bump in the front of my hair?" Karma and a tiny victory for me in this admission of mimicking my style? But of course.), and had all sorts of pop and lock movements to show her sass. But mainly, she was just Emily. And I realized she is really growing up and becoming a beautiful girl. Sometimes we forget in the chaos of life to really slow down and marvel at what's going on around us. I need to make more time for that.