Happy Mother's Day

this is grace


this is grace on crack

what a little pistol. i believe the 2nd photos does her justice. she's in a screaming-for-no-reason phase. not a bad screaming. not tantrum screaming. just screaming. for screaming sake. for fun. she find great joy in it. we're currently working on "screaming is for games. go penn state", or "go penn STEAK" if you are grace.

today is mother's day. for a change we had a nice subdued mother's day. no traveling, no big plans. i'm learning that it's not what i WANT for mother's day more than it's what i DON'T want for mother's day. i don't care what we do, i just want a day off from taking care of my children. no potty trips. no cooking. no feeding. we did alright today. i got a lovely breakfast in bed. then we just caught up on my disney channel and tickle tortures in bed. we ran a few errands as a family. had lunch. took a nap. ordered in yummy sushi for dinner! and i'm in my pjs waiting for desperate housewives and brother & sisters. perfect day. i was even relieved of laundry duty.
not bad. not bad mom. not bad. a slow rainy family day.
i hope everyone was celebrated as they wished. i am surrounded by so many mothers. so many different mothers. i cherish them all and learn from them all.
Happy Mother's Day

school photos

i recently took pics at a local Montessori. 60 or so, 2-6 year olds, FUN! some kiddos i know from private shoots, and a lot i shot the previous year. so nice when it all runs smoothly and the teachers and parents are so pleased with everything. quite a compliment when even the shyest of children open up and get some good shots taken. of course with a small group i was able to offer some collages, not your typical school photo, but then again when you're dealing with little ones sometimes that's the best way to showcase their personality.



HELLO! do you not just LOVE her. such a cutie! which such a flare for drama!


yes, 1 child out of 60 actually took a bite of my apples!



could he be any more excited for his school photo!



i used a lot of this style collage for this shoot. seemed the best way to get the most out of their personality and it showcased siblings best too.

big top times

so, the follow up from the circus. it was a grand success! well, they had to get over the fact that there were not going to be any dinosaurs (we just saw the dino show at the same venue and they now believe the dinos live there) and we had to get over that we were not going to see a basketball game (we see many a game over the winter in the same venue) but once we were in and the crazy stimuli of the circus took over they we're quite excited to experience that too. don't go on their enjoyment from the photos, they were pretty much in awe. they really did totally enjoy themselves although it looks otherwise from the photos. didn't get any of jackson clapping his hands off! and gracie has found her new profession in life. sorry auntie caroline, no more "what do you want to be when you grow up? a soccer player" not it's "an elephant" which really means one of those girls in the great outfits that gets to ride on the elephants!

they took turns sitting with poppy and grandma and then back to mom and dad. it was funny at one point they were with mom and dad and poppy was at the end of our group sitting two seats away and he just looked like and old guy who went to the circus by himself! but i'm sure we looked silly when the kids were sitting with them. the show was that good though, that even though the kids were occupied elsewhere we were enjoying ourselves too.


gracie's new profession


me and J at the circus


J & G at the circus with poppy