Photos, photos and more photos

I just love all the options we have to share photos online these days! Check out this fun website I set up for Colin's class, a fun place to share photos and more on Shutterfly.

http://basclions.shutterfly.com/

Cheers,
DKF

First Week of School 2009 | First Grade, Field Trip, The re-appearance of Snaggle Tooth

This is a message to ALL those wise mommies out there who warned me (much to my disbelieve) that the grade school years would FLY BY. You were right!!! I can't believe Colin has started First Grade.

First week of school was a fantastic success for our young man. Returning to the British American School of Charlotte this year, he fell right back into a familiar routine. This year, we have a delightful teacher by the name of Ms. Ross.

I've volunteered my services to serve as a Community Parent for the class this year - this means I'll be working with a team of other parents to plan "community building" activities for the schools' families. Should be fun! 

Colin's class took a field trip on Friday of this week to explore the "senses" in an outdoor setting. We took the children to Beatty Park, where the kids wore "Senses Detectives" badges and gathered sensory stimulating items like pine cones, trees and rocks. We also found a lot of bugs along the way, and an especially friendly tiny frog.

We were blessed to have Colin's "Mum Mum" here this week to participate in all the fun. My mom, recently retired, has come to spend 2 weeks visiting with us (she's been a tremendous help, as always). Colin just LOVES his Mum Mum!!!

A successful first week of school delivered us happily into the arms of a 3-day (Labor Day) weekend. And during the course of the weekend, Colin's third tooth fell out, beckoning the Tooth Fairy to make another visit to Swancroft Lane. In case you're wondering if the "down" economy has affected the Tooth Fairy's business, the answer is an overwhelming "NO". She left Colin a crisp $20 bill. Colin woke me at 5am on Sunday morning to show me his reward. Then he proceeded to snuggle up with me (and his $20 bill) for a little more snooze time.

All in all, a great first week of school. Highlighted by the always-welcome presence of Mum Mum, fun times with Colin's school buddies, and a visit from the tooth fairy. Can't wait to see what week #2 brings!

Keep Smiling,
Dawn

liveBooks

You may have noticed I've been laying "low" this summer. Colin, my son, only has 2 months off during the summer, so I have been trying to spend a lot of quality time with him, as well as visiting with family and digging into some projects around the photo studio and the house. But I've also been working on some fun new things for d k f photography that I just cannot WAIT to share with you.

One of my exciting announcements is the development of a new portfolio website by liveBooks. It's going to be a very clean and easy-to-navigate site that really shows off the beautiful subjects of my professional portrait work. It will be a few weeks before the new website is up and running, and until then I will have my old site up. So, if you are fan of the current www.dkfphoto.com, visit soon because it will be coming down in a couple weeks.

Happy summer and keep smiling!

:: dkf ::

Colin Earns High Yellow Belt in Martial Arts

Colin's Summer of Martial Arts

Colin has been studying martial arts with a really excellent instructor here in Charlotte. We were introuduced to Sensai Louis Grady by the British American School of Charlotte, where Colin attends school. Sensai Grady gives martial arts classes once a week at BASC, and Colin started at the beginning of last school year.

It was a tough start - our young man just loves to goof around with his friends, and had trouble staying focused (and out of trouble) during class. Probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do as a parent is watch my little boy sit out of class, and subsequently, miss a belt promotion test, because he got himself kicked out of class for misbehaving (Sensai Grady's tough love is exactly the approach he needs).

Well, that was the beginning of the school year, and by the end of the year, Colin had worked his way up to a high white belt. This summer, he asked to do martial arts camp so he could keep up with his "training" and we obliged, happily. After his first week of camp, he earned his yellow belt AND a special award for bravery (and the "Student of the Day" recognition"). During his second week, he again earned a "Student of the Day" recognition AND successfully tested to receive his high yellow belt. There's one more week of camp, and he can't wait to get started!

Please enjoy a few photos from Colin's high yellow belt promotion ceremony. We are happy and blessed parents. :-)

:: dkf ::

Thank you teachers!

The parents of Colin's class put together a video presentation of photos from this year at BASC. Please enjoy!

Join me for Brunch and Shopping featuring fashions by CAbi

Please join me for Brunch and Shopping

When: Wednesday, May 6th 10am-noon
What: Brunch and CAbi party
Where: My house (email ddf4800@yahoo.com to RSVP and for directions/address).

Hope you can come!