Homecoming {life}

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was off on a very special Saturday photography assignment. One that I was most excited about but that would push me. Those are always the best, aren't they?

This particular assignment was the best. Our friend Christy, along with her kids, was getting ready to welcome Vince, her lieutenant commander husband, home from Afghanistan for a two-week visit. This was the six-month mark of a 14-month deployment.

Christy is a delight. She works with Neel, and is one of those people I never see enough of. I'm always so happy when I do. I was thrilled when she asked me to document this moment for her family and tickled to be part of the process. Tickled when she emailed: "Here's my cell!" and forgot to include the number because she was so distracted! When I got to the airport and saw her and the kids standing there, anxiously waiting for the plane to come in, I immediately got teary-eyed and thought, "I'm never going to make it."

Alexa made a sign for her dad, and Ethan tried to talk to me. But all they really wanted to do was wait and crack jokes about how Vince would probably be the last off the plane and stop at the bathroom on the way.

They were nervous, excited, pent-up and happy. It was really beautiful to watch.

See how happy they are when they finally laid eyes on him?

Yeah, it was beautiful to watch.

I used to to do labor support (in another lifetime-although I have to admit, birth photography has some appeal to me!), and you had to be sensitive to that critical moment that came after the birth and fell between when mom and dad needed you there a little longer and when they were ready to be on their own. Sometimes they didn't really know themselves! Being with Christy's family felt almost as intimate as a birth experience that day, but even after Vince arrived, I had this sense that there were more pictures to be taken.

So I took a few more minutes and walked to the baggage claim with them.Vince admired the sign that Alexa made, and Christy and Alexa both noticed how thin he'd gotten.

He couldn't stop looking at or toucing his family. A hand to the head here, a quick hug there.

As we hopped onto the moving sidewalk, Alexa turned to her parents and said, "I will never get used to this."

Ethan didn't say much. He was pretty smiley though.

Happy Family. I took several pictures like these and told them what great smiles they all had. And they all said at once, "We have a lot to be happy about."

Happy family indeed. Coming and going.

snacks? check {life}

For us, the hardest part about Callum getting braces was giving up popcorn. We've been eating popcorn as a snack around here since he was the smallest of babes, and I had to pick off the fluffy bits so he wouldn't choke on the kernels and husks. Back then we called it "pop-pop." Fast forward to the school years and popcorn was an afternoon staple around here. The first snack Callum could really make himself.

It's been nearly a year now, and I'm still struggling to find a good after-school snack (boy needs to eat when he gets home) that's not too over-the-top unhealthy, is satisfying and that Cal can manage himself. Lately we've been buying Chex Mix at the grocery store and gobbling bag after bag of that. Apparently we need crunch. Every winter, at Christmastime, I make homemade Chex Mix for us to snack on...it's a tradition around these parts. And while I'd thought about making Chex Mix for our everyday, somehow I resisted. I wanted our traditional holiday snack to still feel special.

This weekend I caved. I'm tired of buying bags of Chex Mix (tasty though it is) with processed ingredients when we all love the homemade versions so much. When I make it, we determine the mix of stuff (heavy on chex, heavy on nuts, light on pretzels), and while it's not completely healthy (can you say butter?), at least I know what's in it.

My decision to cave and go ahead and make it, off season, was met with universal praise. 100% of my constituents approved. I have two problems now, however. First, living with this stuff in the house while I'm working home alone all day. And second, if a big container of this manna from heaven is going to sit on my counter, I am going to need a prettier, air-tight container. Can you get on that for me, Erin?