and puppy makes three...

two big kids! well, more like three kids but one was canine! i love big kids! they listen, look, smile, on cue. not that these two didn't behave like brother and sister, there was plenty of that, but they were behaving just as one would expect a 10 & 12 year old to behave. it reminded me a lot of me and my brother.
and since the majority of my clients are of the under 8 set this was my first encounter of kids picking their own outfits! now keep in mind, Big Sis looks beautiful in the shot of her in the tall grasses, almost reminiscent of summer at the beach, but..
it's october.
in pennsylvania.
and it's somewhere in the range of 45-50 degrees out with the sun quickly setting! i was shivering just looking at her! but it did light a fire under us and we worked fast and furious to bang this shoot out.
plus we had their Little Sis, their pug puppy, Poppy (say that 3x fast!) i always hold my breath when a client stops and tells me, "and, um, we have a dog we'd like to include in the photos". agh! give me a terrible two year old any day! dogs are so unpredictable and i spend the whole shoot holding my breath that i'm capturing what the family wants. kids, i can look and tell if they're giving me a funny face. dogs, that's another story. but this one was a dream! i believe she was actually competing with Big Brother to see who could be the biggest ham!
take a look....




they certainly LOVE their puppy!


look at him! so mature!


and, NO, we are NOT at the beach, although we might wish we were.....

sugar and spice and everything nice...

it's that time of year again! to shoot one of my favorite little girls! and to boot this year she has a beautiful little sister! i'm sure Big Sis will teach her everything she she knows. Big Sis has been one of my easiest clients to shoot since we start a few years back. one of those kids who always takes a great photo, listens beyond any other child, and is just the cutest thing on top of all that! i've always shot Big Sis outdoors but Little Sis required us to spend some time inside this year and they both did great! no struggling to get everyone to look, no temper tantrums, what a joy. i can't wait to watch these sisters grow up. next year, i bet Little Sis is just running around after Big Sis!


see!??! what poses, and it all comes natural!



gotta LOVE a happy baby!


ugh! i can just eat her up! and catch my reflection in her eyes? so cool!

WE ARE.....

PENN STATE!!! you know in all my years of taking photos in Happy Valley this may very well be the first time i had a family do a Penn State theme. i loved it, it was really cute!
and as previously mentioned this is another growing party of five! only this five has 3 three years old and UNDER! phfew! everyone took turns wanting to be the star, but i have to say Baby stole the show! at 4 months she was right on cue in the family photos and hammed it up in her solo shots. and then she was DONE, kaput, and went to sleep in daddy's arms.
i've been shooting Big Sis since she was, hmmm, probably only six months old, and CRAWLING!!!! it's so much fun to watch families grow and personalities develop. i think it's safe to say that if these guys have any more kids they're going to look EXACTLY like the ones they have! the genes are strong in this family!

party of five

i have to say, it's my observation that families of five are on the rise. it seems more and more folks i know have three kids. i have an ongoing jest that the more kids you have the less poses i take and just more of each pose to try and ensure that everyone is looking at the same time! (and to cut back on the photoshop work!)

here is a fun family with a lot of different personalities. we mixed it up and ran the race against the sun, the cold, and just being plain fed up with taking photos! i like to try to get a good mix of posed photos and families just being families and having fun. i love the "kiss-the-baby" photo! shares a moment doesn't it?



where's my daddy?!


peek-a-boo!

check out this monkey....

what a cutie! i know, i say it all the time, perhaps i just LOVE kids! but this one was such a sweet tempered, mellow, chill, dude! actually mom was questioning where his big smiles were during our session. we pulled out all the stops but alas, still rather serious. i assured her we still got some great shots and sometimes big baby stares are just as beautiful as grins. i also relayed a story of another child who wasn't acting like themselves and then much to the surprise of everyone they turned out with the signs of a cold soon after our session. this was true of this little monkey. i just posted the photos though and mom was thrilled with the results, and informed me that he's still trying to shake the remnants of the cold that he did get. poor little guy!
take a look, does he look like he's on the verge of getting sick? i could just eat him up....





such a photogenic family!

Ariel on Broadway!

oh time is just flying by and i cannot keep up with myself. i realized i never followed up on gong into NYC to see the Little Mermaid on Broadway! what a delight! i had just a few passing concerns that grace might be too little but I as anxious to give it a whirl. what a lovely time! my mother and i took her into the city for the day and it was such a treat. she was plenty happy just to ride the train into NY! we walked through the city, had lunch, and went to the show. it was great, we thoroughly enjoyed it all.
i totally thought there would be more little girls who would come decked out in costume but there really weren't any. gracie had on her mother-made ariel dress (really a sundress but we layered for the october day)and she has a special "show" hairdo that seem to stop everyone in their tracks and compliment her on her hair. really just two french braids that joined into one. but it was special for her.
she spent most of her time divided between my mother's lap and my lap and the time she wasn't sitting with either of us she was standing, mouth agape, hanging onto the seat in front of her. i was afraid the show was going to be too long for her but at intermission she got upset that it was over. after i assured her that was more we pottied and came back. this time i told her that the next time it stops it will be all done so she was prepared. next time i'll have to rephrase that because at the end of each scene much to the giggles of those surrounding us she nervously asked "is it over?!?!" everything was going so completely well i knew there had to be a hitch. ours were the ribbons that shot out at the end. no, she was scared by it, she was tragically, and dramatically sadden by the fact that she didn't get one to take home. a terrific wonderful experience marred by not being able to catch a $.02 ribbon being shot our over the crowd. curse you disney on broadway folks, why did you have to take it that far! we calmed her down as we left and tried to tell her that all the other little girls had to give them back to shoot out at the next show. sometime you just have to lie.
and the icing on the cake we got to see my aunt marsha and her granddaughter stephanie on the train ride home after they had come into to see legally blond. gracie is just crazy about big girls so she gave me up in an instant to sit with steph and mooch her skittles on the way home.
yeah! i'm so glad that everything went so well (aside from the ribbon incident) that i will be inspired to treat her to something like that in the future!


waiting for the train into NYC


having fun on the train ride


at lunch with grandma



waiting in line to go into the theater and get our seats


having tootsie rolls while we wait for the show to start


getting a delicious NYC pretzel for the train ride home


meeting stephanie and aunt marsha on the train home

take a look if you can stand uber adorableness!

this kid is CUTE!!!! i warn you. there was not a bad photo taken! he just looked up with a gleam in his eye and a twitch in his smile. too young for "cheesey" smiles, just natural adorableness! we spent a lot of time running after him trying to pseudo get him to cooperate but when we gave in and just let him find his way around, we got what we came for! i love these kinds of shoots, when Mom isn't a 100% sure we GOT it, and is worried about his compliance and then he gets to WOW her in the shots!

kozy kabin kamping

a last minute decision to go away fro the weekend lands us in a little kozy kabin on a campground in mexico. mexico, pennsylvania that is.....

perfect weekend camping. it's almost unthinkable to think about tent camping and all that work for just a weekend with two kids, so finding a place that provides the shelter, great compromise. it was just under an hour away which is good too, not a long a haul. campground was huge. the most RVs i ever seen on one campground. seems a lot of the folks rent spots for months at a time and probably spend most of their weekends there. on the plus side, big campground had a great playground, and lot of activities (a great pool for nicer weather of course). we also rented a golf cart to tootle around. that's all the kids need for entertainment!

the kids loved the cabin itself. with a ladder to the loft to crawl around in they were set going up and down, up and down. saturday morning they had a scheduled Halloween craft, and after lunch they had a Halloween parade, trick or treating and a party afterwards. what a great way to make the most of our Halloween costumes. on saturday night they had a haunted hayride and a haunted house. we weren't sure what the kids would think but i'm determined that they won't be scaredy cats like me! they were pretty ok with everything surprisingly. jackson didn't care for the men who shot off muzzle loaders on the hayride (it was part of a scare tactic not just random scary guys) from faraway he thought they were fireworks, but from close up he was not too fond. and in the haunted house the thing thing that scared the kids the most was when grandma margie was in front and screamed when she was scared!!! they were very thoughtful though and had an "out" just before the last scariest part of the haunted house. through most of it gracie was just trying to figure out why there were people in gorilla suits and strangely why there was someone in a bunny costume! i think most of the haunted house "employees" were thoughtful enough to realize how little they were and they didn't go all out.

jackson was just excited to get his "Woody" boots out and wear them. i'm convinced the cheap Wal-Mart boots hurt his feet but he just WON'T take them off! and gracie has finally settled on being buzz lightyear. she waviered with Ariel for awhile but when we found a great buzz costume to borrow from a friend, who can resist blow up wings!!?!?!


the kids craft project


can't go camping without MARSHMALLOWS!!!


sitting by the fire side


swinging on the playground


gracie's new favorite thing to do, "digger-diggers" in the sand box


the Halloween parade


practicing her princess wave


trick or treating


a modified Woody (from Toy Story) this weekend he was a cowboy until i get the rest of his costume finished!


she LOVES to toast the marshmallows but prefers hers straight out of the bag

NYC Buddy Walk 2008

one more buddy walk done! after so many years of beautiful weather we were bound to have a rainy one eventually! what a soggy day! it really cut back on before the walk activities. we all huddled under umbrella's trying to stay as dry as possible.

the weather didn't seem to deter people coming out though. pretty amazing. it cleared up as we were walking. and the rain certainly didn't stop jackson, who preferred NOT to wear his rain coat, and was all about the "buddy RUN"! why walk when you can run?! answer - because the your mother has to carry you when you tire out!

thanks to all who came out to walk and thanks to all who supported us! i can't believe this was our 5th NYC buddy walk.


Jackson's Joggers


the man of the hour


anna smiling in the rain


as jackson calls it "buddy RUN!"


j-man


getting a little tired from all that running. j has to work on pacing himself.


emily, sam and aunt lyn


ron and anna


all done! time for dry clothes and lunch!