So honored to capture these two before they fly next week to South Korea to share their “I do’s”. Congratulations!

The second of our sweet models (and incidentally, our only girl!) was a scant 14 days old. So peaceful and charming.

I am thoroughly exhausted. This semester has been a whirlwind, and culminated in Kate Bellflower and I hosted Laura Brett for a newborn photography workshop. Amazing, totally. I’m excited about the skills I’ve learned and the friends I’ve made. <3

Here's a quick share from the workshop - baby Joshua was simply perfection.

Oy, people. A week into FSU’s fall semester has me feeling OVERWHELMED! Too much to do, and I have a hard time with a small word – “no”. I say yes, because I want to do it all – drink deeply from the cup of life, but then that stupid cup spills. I’m taking three classes this semester, TAing for another class, and staying on as a Research Assistant for the tracker project. Loving life, and I really like all of my classes so far, but man, so much to do!

Onward!

Day 239: August 27, 2011: Frilled Neck Lizard. One of Matthew’s favorite toys.

Day 240: August 28, 2011: A Taste of Home. When I was a kid, on those hot and humid summer days where the idea of running the oven or spending time laboring over a hot stove made you want to gouge your eyes out, my grandmother would make what we called in Chinese liang mien – translated literally as “cold noodles.” After you boil the noodles, ice them down and then mix with a sesame sauce – or as my grandmother adjusted to fit the grocery stores in the US when she immigrated to the States, peanut butter watered down slightly – sliced cucumber, and a soy sauce mix. It’s lovely and makes me homesick.

Day 241: August 28, 2011: too cool for you. My mom sent the kids a care package and in it was a pair of sunglasses for Miss Priss. They’re already broken.

Day 242: August 30, 2011. I go to school in a football stadium. Tuesdays and Wednesdays I spend time in a football stadium, attending class. Aside from the decor in the front lobby and this statue outside, you can’t really tell.

Day 243: August 31, 2011. Sleep Training. Can you tell it’s been a hard day’s night around here? Luckily, we didn’t have to read the book to her that night in order for her to fall asleep and stay asleep well. (also, that book is for us, not the kids. I might be a little subversive, but even -I- have my limits!

Day 244: September 1, 2011. in the still of the night. I technically took this picture on 9/2, but it was way early in the morning and I hadn’t yet gone to sleep. Meet our new friend who keeps Ava at home so she’s not all alone (Matthew’s obsessed lately about anyone being left behind). A male betta fish who as yet is nameless, except for being a little fishie, according to Lindsey.

Day 245: September 2, 2011. Grammar. We ran about 4000 errands that day and while parked in a lot, I took a picture of this signage. Garnet and Gold Goes Green. Seeing grammatical errors in print from a large university makes the Baby Jesus cry.

Day 246: September 3, 2011. cheese and ham sandwich. When Lindsey tells me to take her picture, I listen and snap, snap, snap.

Day 247: September 4, 2011. toy boyt. New Rubbermaid tote = boat and some knocked heads when the five year old tried to simulate rocking waves and knocked the two year old out.

Lindsey was my date yesterday as we went to a reception at my school. She is so painfully shy sometimes, but when she warms up she does so in a big way. She spent a lot of her time “tickling” Lenese. She made a new friend, for sure.

Then we had dinner at Chez Burnett, and WOW were the kids crazy people. Also: loud.

And to cap off a perfect evening, we went out to celebrate Liz’s birthday at the Mockingbird Cafe. We had desserts – and they were awesome. Josh had the goat cheese cheesecake, and I had the peach bread pudding à la mode.

Oh, a whirlwind, like it always is, isn’t it? We have been in full-on kindergarten mode here in Casa YuBur. Things have gone really well for Matthew. As expected he did not cry one little bit, since he’s an old hat at his school (having gone to pre-k there for over a year). Sigh. Time really does fly. Crazy.

August 21 – the mundane. I braided my hair. I haven’t been able to do that in awhile. Debating how long to go or how short to go!

August 22 – the first day of the rest of his academic career!

August 23 – make way for the ducklings! It’s recruitment week at the sororities on campus and for awhile, large groups of women went from house to house, and here – ignoring a “don’t walk” sign on their side – long enough for me to snap this shot.

August 24 – baby talk. One of the joys of my gig as a photographer is that I meet awesome families and then end up becoming friends with the people I shoot. I took Leslee’s maternity photos, her daughter SB’s newborn photos, and a mini-session last winter for their family. It’s amazing to see SB grow up – she’s a year old already! Lindsey loved SB, although she’s lately in a “DAMN YOU EVERYTHING IS MINE EVEN THOUGH NONE OF IT REALLY IS. DON’T CONFUSE ME WITH THE FACTS!” stage, so in this picture, I had coaxed a baby doll from Lindsey (who insisted we bring our own dolls with us) for SB to play with, while Lindsey tried to hold allllllll of SB’s toys on her lap at once.

August 25 – bliss. Matthew is obsessed with Lindsey’s bed, and the other night when I told him he couldn’t sleep in her bed, because he was too big and the bed was too small, I found them in her bed the morning afterward. Matthew said to me, sleepily and triumphantly, “Mama, see, I sleep in sister’s bed. I show you.” Punk.

Tonight they did it again. Love.

August 19 – playdate!

August 20 – story time at the main branch of the library. Matthew is playing in the “treehouse” they have set up.

I am so glad that my sweet Matthew and Lindsey have each other.

Matthew starts kindergarten on Monday – we have his orientation tomorrow and I am sure that will seem all too crazy real. So fast. Wasn’t it just yesterday that he was lifted into my arms with a ferocious cry? Wasn’t I staying up all night with him to nurse? Wasn’t he small enough to fit in a baby wrap against my chest? Oh, the memories.

August 15 – 65 lbs. My big boy!

August 16 – I drove around last night searching for the perfect spot to take a picture of the night sky. Didn’t find the perfect spot, but was drawn to the vibrancy – of all places – in the parking lot of Walmart.

August 17 – Matthew is getting too big for me to effectively photograph in the tub. He enjoyed his mohawk, flexing his muscles, and most of all, his friend the Frog, who has been a bath time toy since he was a baby.

See 5 years ago:

Oh man, it’s been a crazy August so far. The beginning of August had us in a furious prep for a trip to California – one of my friends in Los Angeles was getting married and so we decided to make a trip of it! As you may know, we came to Tallahassee via the San Francisco East Bay and we haven’t been back since we left. So to catch up on project 365!

August 1 – Doctors Yu & Burnett:

August 2 – Ava’s tenth birthday. In dog years, she now qualifies for social security, and as the state of affairs goes, all she gets are extra steak like treats.

August 3 – Lindsey enjoys watching baseball with Josh. Here they are in their streaming internet glory:

August 4 – first leg of the trip: we drove to Jacksonville late on Thursday night to catch an early morning flight. Pulling into our hotel for the night, the only lights on are a street light and the lights of a Waffle House.

August 5 – Herrick Chapel, the location of the wedding the day after. Gorgeous stained glass, and a beautiful location.

August 6 – Going to the chapel… and introducing Dr. & Mrs. James & Kwanda Ford. A separate entry with more pictures will be forthcoming!

August 7 – On my first night in the Bay Area, we went with Josh’s grandmother to one of our favorite places in Oakland: Sahn Maru.

August 8 – Josh and I went to a Giants game (versus the Pirates, who trounced our Guys). We walked along the Embarcadero to get to the ballpark. A few hours after I took this picture, we were worried about having to leave SF by foot, since BART was having a computer glitch that halted all trains. Luckily, by the time we got back to Montgomery, the trains were running again. This is using my spiffy Lensbaby Composer Pro

August 9 – After lunch with a friend in San Francisco, Josh and I played tourist and headed over to the Golden Gate Bridge. Toward the center of the bridge, the messages about jumping and suicide increased. Barbed wire lined the top of the fence on the pedestrian side, serving as a deterrent to jumpers. Not sure how effective the signs or the barbed wire was.

August 10 – we picked up a pizza from Cheeseboard and drove out to Sutro Heights to eat it. We were COLD – it was around 60ºF when we were out there. Giant Camera/Camera Obscura below.

August 11 – Kiddos & Froyos. Met up with a friend after getting lost on the freeway and ending up at Treasure Island by accident. Oops. Nicole’s kids are similar in age to my two – Corey is a month (probably less) younger than Matthew, and Laurel is a couple of months younger than Lindsey. It’s amazing to see how much they’ve grown, but visiting with them made me miss my two so much.

August 12 – Before flying out of Oakland to Jacksonville, and then driving the 2+ hour trip from Jacksonville to Tallahassee, we stopped by a few of our favorite shops to get food to go. We ended up with a couple of sandwiches from Bakesale Betty (their fried chicken cole slaw sandwich is to die for) and Genova sandwiches and fried artichoke hearts. So good. This place was right around the corner from us. Then it was off to the airport.

August 13 – After no sleep from our quest to return home, we had Matthew’s birthday party at the Brogan. He loved it, and we were lucky enough to have Sarah’s Face Painting help us make it a fabulous event by making a few angry birdie items for favors and a cake that’s being worn as a hat here these days.

Here, I think Lennon drank too much and needed to rest on a cute lady.

And finally, today. August 14 – the balloons we got from Publix didn’t even last a day!