Blog Challenge: Slide Show

Here's your challenge: choose a group of photos and make a slide show! Choose key photos from a single event, or showcase a collage of photos from all over the place. It doesn't matter! But choose a grouping of photos and tie them together somehow with a story or an essay or a letter.

TO make your slideshow, go to www.slide.com and set up an account.

These pictures were taken at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia. My husband and I took our then 2 year-old daughter, Camryn, on a weekend vacation. That was in the spring of 2000.

It was still a bit chilly, but the sun made it warm enough during the day. We had such a good time. The flowers were in bloom everywhere. We swam in the heated pool. We rented bicycles and rode them to the butterfly conservatory. Camryn loved the butterflies the most; she even let them land on her arm, nose, leg... wherever they wanted. It was a great vacation.

That trip to Callaway Gardens was our last family trip as a family of three. Not long after we got home, I discovered I was pregnant with our second child, Aiden.

It's funny how you forget what it's like to have just one child once you have two (or more). I remember wanting more children so badly, but on this side of things I wish I had enjoyed Camryn by herself a little while longer. Not that I don't love and adore Aiden, Quinn and Lillian, but it was so nice to be a mom of one.

I know the kids will grow up so quickly, and I am trying to cherish every moment I have with all of them. I love spending one on one time with each child. I really treasure those times, whether we're going to a movie or to dinner or to Target or just hanging out in my bed, talking or giggling.

Those times are the most precious, the most intimate. Secrets are shared when I'm alone with my children. There is something about laying face to face with someone on a pillow that makes you want to spill your guts. I am honored that they consider me worthy of hearing their most private thoughts. I hope they always hold me in such high esteem.

That little 2 year-old girl I took to Callaway Gardens almost seven years ago will be nine soon. She's changing daily. She's growing... physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. I'm equally awed by her poise and her stubbornness. I can feel our relationship changing, and there are days I want to spirit her away to the fields of flowers to try to recapture that innocence she once had.

I'm afraid to let Camryn grow up, but I'm excited anticipating what her future holds. These next few years are going to be trying on both of us as she starts to try to figure out things for herself, establishes her identity separate from me and her dad. I pray fervently that she will always make her parents a part of what's going on in her life, that she will always feel comfortable being honest with us without fear of punishment or judgment.

I hope she will trust us.

I trust her.