Artists Inspired Blog Circle – Red

Artists Inspired Blog Circle – Red

Beautiful…Red. Loving…Red.
You know, as I’ve gone through these past few months of blogging the colors, the one thing I can reflect on about myself is that I’m not very traditional! This month, I guess I’m a little traditional writing about “love” and “red”…but otherwise, you won’t see a lot of red in this post either! To be 100% honest, I’ve been sick with the death plague (also known as strep throat and an ear infection, coupled with some laryngitis for fun, which I graciously shared with my daughter, so she’s home with me today) and the pictures I had hoped to take I didn’t quite get to. So, in Shelby Procrastination Style, I searched for something that I hoped could fit anyways! And to be honest, I’m glad I did. There are some days (okay, nearly every single one of them) that I feel like a failure as a parent. But in truth — the way I see these pictures in this very moment, I feel that my babies’ Daddy and I have to be doing something right. If there’s one thing I think we’ve done right, it’s showing love to our children. We aren’t model parents, we mess up regularly (daily or better for myself), but at the end of the day, despite our flaws, I KNOW that our children know how much we love them. And, I’m taking this crazy high positivity with two things in mind: one, I’m on hydrocodone for the cough/fever/pain issue, so I could be a little off, and two, thankfully she isn’t a teenager yet and hasn’t started hating us (recently, anyways).

So. Red. Here is my interpretation for this lovely month of February! Our family is big (BIG) on traditions, and one of them is our Daddy-Daughter and Mommy-Son Dates!
My husband has been taking Caroline out on dates since she was five, I believe. If I was more together, I’d try to find those pictures to share…they are ADORABLE, and as I recall, there was quite a bit of red in her dress that year. But, my husband always comes to the door, knocks and she’s always surprised as he brings a corsage and asks for her hand. This year, we were all running a little late, so I had no idea he had gone out to knock, so I was fumbling to get my camera together. She was still getting ready (typical girl!) and thankfully he’s always been a patient man through the years and waited for her to finish up. I got just a few pictures of them before the went out to dinner (Saltgrass Steakhouse…seriously…he hasn’t even taken me there yet!) and to the Valentine’s Dance. Regardless of what they do, they always have a blast together, and if you can’t tell by these images, they are pretty smitten together. I adore how much love I can see in these images!

Knock, knock…

Oh my word…I need this one framed. Now. 

I always feel like they have a secret language between them or something…and this image just makes my heart happy. They adore each other!

Red!! I found some red…Mommy did her nails earlier in the day, and coincidentally, she chose red, with silver sparkles!
And then…those RED lips! We put a little gloss on them since she is growing up!

The rest of their evening was wonderful, from what I gather, and they enjoyed lots of talking, and dancing. And most importantly, when Mommy came home with Tyler, they were both already in pajamas and playing the Playstation! I’d say that is total date night success for those two!

So, while Daddy and Care were off doing their thing, this little man and I had a date of our own to get to! A little back story — Tyler LOVE painting my nails. I think he’s always been sad that that’s not something he can really take part in (getting his nails painted) so now he asks to paint them all the time! Well, since I was painting Caroline’s nails, I let him paint my toenails. He loved it (and they turned out REALLY well). So he was already super excited and after doing nails he got changed into this outfit on his own so he could take me out. After he ran Caroline’s sweater out to her, he came to the door, and closed it while he was still outside…and then knocked. Melt my heart that kid is a fast learner!

After he walked in, he gave a frowny face — because he didn’t have a corsage or flowers to give me. So, he ran off to Caroline’s bathroom, and came back with a beautiful purple hair flower, which he placed in my hair and that I wore all night. Precious child! Here’s me, on our date night!

As I finished up my pictures, he picked up my camera bag/purse and put it on, and held his arm out for me to hold. I can’t even make this up! He did this on our last date too…gah! I love this little boy so dang much!

At Panera, before we went to the movies. This is our date night dinner most of the time. He always gets an “everything bagel” with cream cheese.
I could just sit and watch him all night.

And, my little gentleman…always trying to open doors.

This is the last of my pictures, but we had a wonderful night watching A Dog’s Purpose (okay, we both bawled). He also serenaded me on the walk to our car and in the car on the way home to Caroline’s honor choir music. This kid has some game. Girls better watch out!

Thank you to all who have come to check out the blog! I hope you enjoyed my quickly put together interpretation for “Red” and I hope to see you back here next month!

Next up in our Artists Inspired Blog Circle is the talented Nikki Smith of Nikki Smith photographer/storyteller (Facebook page). Click here to see Nikki’s take on this month’s theme – I assure you that you’ll love it…she’s one of my favorites to follow!

The Artists Inspired Blog Circle is made up of an exceptionally talented group of photographers from all walks of life, from all over the world. They are wives, mothers, friends, daughters and visual storytellers who draw from their own experiences to create art that is inspiring, unique, beautiful and thought-provoking.