family ties

what a fun shoot when you get to incorporate multiple generations and branches of the family tree! quite often i have families i've shot before schedule their shoots when they have visiting relatives to include them in the shoot. i've shot ian and his family for a few years now and it was fun to watch him run around with his cousin and have fun with grandma!

what a handsome devil:

sisters and their kiddos! what fun!:

having fun with grandma:

cousins:

a little loving for mom:

dad too of course!

baby audrey

wow! the addition of a baby really slows things down in my house, never mind it's the third baby, it's summer vacation, and things have just been piling up! let's try to do some catching up.

here's baby audrey! i took her brother's newborn photos and designed his announcement so i was thrilled to hear the added to their lovely family and i was going to get to come over and take nathan's little sister's photos too! (not to mention LOVE the name audrey!)

in mama's arms:


sweet kisses:


what an angel! wonder what she's dreaming about?:


they always seem SO small in daddy's hands:

baby blues and blond curls! what more could you ask for?!?!

check out this beauty!
boy has she grown! and gets cuter and prettier each shoot. it's so fun to watch the kiddos grow and change. everyone has their own personality and their own warm up time and comfort zone. this darling was excited to see me from the get-go and we started on fire! huge grins, bright eyes, and such an interest to run around with me and explore. she was a dream, what a way to ease back into photographing. mom and dad said they attempted a department store shoot while i was "out" on maternity leave without any success. this girl is home grown and prefers home!!! nothing wrong with that! you can tell she's most comfortable there and she's starting to have a real comfort with me, which just has me so tickled! the family is expecting another in october and i can't wait to see the next beauty and how big sis takes it all in!

why does pride make you cry?

it's a simple question. i never gave it much thought. i'm a big crier. i big, sobbing, red eyed, blotchy crier. i cry when i'm sad, i can cry when i'm happy, and i was a little taken aback when we took jackson to his first organized sporting event and i welled up a bit. eric had decided it was time to sign him up for something and we settled on baseball to be the best option. here in town we have a short 6 week challenger baseball league. a wonderful organization for kids 6-18 with disabilities to come together and play just like all kids. we debated about signing up for the standard t-ball league but reflected on the fact that in the long term this is going to be the league he played in so why not start now. i held my breath. he enjoys playing in the backyard and at the park but as for following rules and playing a certain way, i wasn't quite sure how that would go.
he was excited for his first day of baseball. he even dug out his giant red plastic bat to bring along, didn't have the heart to tell him they would probably have bats there for him to use. he acclimated to the field right away! started warming up playing catch with another boy. he was introduced to his buddy for the game (each week different little league teams pair up with a challenger team to help them along in their game). his buddy's name was tyler, that threw him for a little loop, how could there be TWO tylers!?!? but pretty soon with the help of dad and tyler he got right in the mix and followed along.
he was the last on his team to go up to bat. he picked up his aluminum bat and went to the plate and looked back to make sure everyone was watching, and that's where it hit me. my eyes watered looking at his beaming smile. there was so much pride in me, overflowing, watching the pride in himself as he took his stance and eyed up the pitcher. swing and a miss, miss again, and then he connected! the slightest forward motion but everyone cheered and tyler motioned for him to run to first base. on the way to first base he fielded his own ball and got redirected to second base and then around to third and home. he was told to touch first base which he did ever so intently, bent over in half with a single pointer finger! everyone cheered and he stood up and took a bow! ever the showman! as a photographer i was sure to bring the camera, but when questioned where the video camera was i hesitated and said "how exciting is this going to be?!?!" boy was i ever wrong! as we wiped our tears of laughter and joy from our eyes we grumbled at the fact that we didn't even get it on tape! how hysterical!
time to switch it up and take the field. now this is more of what i was anticipating. a little sitting down, a little playing with tyler, and little of diving for balls laying in the field. that's a hard concept to sit and wait for a ball to come your way. but for his first time out there he did great! and how awesome to be surrounded by the families who have gone before you. to see the friendships in the players, excited to see each other at yet another game. to stop and think about the future and think about all he'll learn from playing ball and being part of a team. what a wonderful outing i can't wait for the next time. this time i'll be sure to bring the video camera . . .

getting his big red bat in the backyard

warming up with will

playing with dad

my little ball player!

up at bat

tyler guiding him to first

rounding third

tah dah!

taking his turn on the field

sitting on the bench

in the field

his uniform


mr. cool

celebratory ice cream, chocolate of course!


his sister and brother there to cheer him on

talk about photogenic!

this little guy is all smiles! at 1 year old i anticipate taking some time to get adjusted to me turning their house upside down and having this stranger point a camera in their face, but not so with this little guy. laughing and giggling for 45 minutes straight! he was so easy he's going to spoil me for my other clients. there were so many favorite shots i had trouble picking for the blog so i just posted the collages i mocked up since they give you a little sampling of the whole shoot.

park time!

here's a happy little boy i've had the pleasure of shooting quite a few times since i first met him in the fall. what a perfect time to shoot him so often as he's grown and changed so much over the past few months, check him out here. i think this was by far his favorite shoot, since he's figured out how to WALK and we were outside at a park! yeah! i love to get outside as much as the kiddos!

just take a look at this little munchkin, but don't bite his cheeks too hard ;-)!

back in business!

phfew! that was a LONG blog break! something about being WAY too busy in the holiday months to keep up with everything and having a real quiet jan & feb. but things are going to be picking up here shortly with some photos shoots before my next personal little model arrives in May.

so here's a sweet family with a VERY rambunctious 16 month old! it was all about blake. figuring out what would make him smile, trying different things to get him to stay with us where we were taking pictures. this little guy had his own agenda. parents wanted real sitting pretty portraits, but i love what we got, a sweet family playing and interacting which really shows in the pics.


money shot! just look at the gleam in his eyes!




this is one of my favorites. so often you forget to capture those moments hanging our in a bed just being silly.