Fall

no cute little faces this time. just a nod to my favorite season.

Sometimes It's a Roller Coaster

Just like your life with a baby/toddler/younger child ... a portrait session can be a roller coaster. Oh there's the rare session where the child is perfectly happy and cooperative the entire time. But seriously - rare.

Here's what you need to know about me. I'm probably gonna capture the ups and the downs of the roller coaster. The twists, turns and even the upside-down-loops.

Oh, I realize that at that moment you're not seeing the humor or the beautiful reality of the ride. I realize this because I have kids too. Listen, I am familiar with the roller coaster. (ehhemmm...I may or may not have had security visit me in the parking lot of a particularly large retail store due to others' concerns for a screaming, writhing child in my general area while I sat and quietly waited on it to pass...{cough}). Yes. I know the roller coaster.

But there are funny moments and sweet moments during the ride. And my fingers can't help but hit the shutter release when those moments appear. Because the roller coaster is our life right now. And what a sweet life it is.

And don't you just love the thrill of the ride? You laugh when you get to the end, don't you? Even if you were screaming and clinging on for dear life just seconds ago.

So brace yourself for the ride. Don't kid yourself into thinking it'll be the kiddie ride (you know the one...the little caterpillar that barely moves). Maybe it will be. Probably not.

And when we start down that hill where you can see the free-fall in front of you ... you will probably hear the click of the shutter.

Consider yourself warned.

Check out the roller coaster - (what isn't pictured is the moment we both realized we couldn't find the car keys...for the car that was just driven to the spot where we were standing. Only 2 moms of toddlers would be found crawling through a car, under a car etc ... looking for the keys that were in hand 2 seconds ago)

Lots of Pink

Just a quick peek at a session I have dubbed "the pink session." You can see why.

The rain let up just long enough to get this session in {shew}. Little Ms "S" is 6 months old already! Her family came along for this session and we broke away from the "norm" studio 6-monther session.

Goodness - just look at all that pink. I am soaking it all in ... 'cause it's something that (for obvious reasons) will never appear in one of my own family photographs!

Dogs

As promised - more from the boy with the beautiful eyes. The things is ... he has a sister with the same eyes. And a great family. And a dog. Wait ... no ...

There's this dog...and she has this boy with amazing eyes. She also has a girl with stunning eyes and the funniest little personality.

If you have a dog, you realize why I needed to re-word that.

I have dogs. I love dogs. I haven't always. It's not that I ever had a distaste for them. I just didn't grow up with one. But then I married a dog lover. And that dog lover talked about how much he missed his dogs. So when we bought our first home, I knew ... knew that I had to get him a dog. What I didn't know was how much my life would change the day we drove out to the country to meet a breeder...and I watched this tiny puppy follow my husband around, wouldn't let him out of her sight, was on his heels the entire time. She came home with us that day {duh} and changed our lives.

Some of the change involved chewed shoes, carpet, air conditioner, grill (as in the kind you cook burgers on ... uh huh), fences, plants, trees, wild kittens... shall I go on? Oh - wait - let's not forget the couch she turned into fluff all over our living room while we were at work and she broke out of her kennel. That'd be the instance that caused us to drive out to the country again. And come home with yet another puppy.

'Cause you solve one problem by multiplying it, right? yeah.

It worked though. Far less chewing went down after that. Our neighbors thanked us. Our bank account thanked us. My home interior breathed a sigh of relief and I was able to finally have a full set of shoes.

2 years later we gave those dogs their own boys. And if I thought my life had changed before...well...wow. {big change}

My heart swells watching my dogs with their boys (to their total delight we added one more boy a few years ago). There aren't too many things better than watching that crowd play together.

So all that leads me to this family's session. They bring their dog each year. I love it. Love that they are dog people like us. Love watching her interact with her people.

Don't be afraid to bring your dog to your session. Warn me first! But seriously - look at what we get...

The session isn't all about the dog (don't tell her that). What you have to know about the following shots is this... I'm a health food girl. I pay attention to nutrition and find serious importance in it. But I need to be better. Wish I could be more disciplined about it. Well "S" is the most health-minded genius I know. I knew I had to do something around this for their session...so we had apples in the park. I loved how her kids were so excited about getting an apple from me (they informed me that apples are full of phytonutrients - HA! awesome!). Almost as much as I loved watching them interact with their dog.

and just because I think this might be the best family shot evvvver...

His Eyes

More coming from this little guy's family - but as I'm finishing up their proofs, I'm amazed at his eyes and felt the need to share some of the sparkle with you today!

Ice Cream!

Cookies & Cream to be exact. Happy 1st Bday Miss S!

Poor Poor Neglected Blog

I'm so sorry little blog of mine. I have neglected you. I went off to Florida and put you to the side...and then have ignored your calls for attention since I returned. Here's what's gonna happen. I'm gonna post lots o' pictures. Not too many words. I promise we'll chat again soon. But it's holiday season my friend. And there isn't much time for words.

Just pictures.

We'll start with my trip to Florida. It was lovely. First real vacation in a very very long time. I didn't even take my camera. Took a simple point & shoot. What did I learn? 1 - I need more of these vacations. 2 - I have a total inability to operate a point & shoot camera. I need manual mode. thank you very much.

Now, we'll move on to some session peeks... here's Ms "S"! Watch later this afternoon for another post of Ms "S" and her ...are you ready for this... birthday ICE CREAM shots (instead of birthday cake).

Certifiably Insane

These are the only words I can think to truly describe the two women involved in these photos.

Yes, I am one of the two.

The other is {obviously} nearly as crazy as me.

If you have followed me for some time, you know that I have this one client. She's quite the creative one. We do a session in the fall every year. Every. Single. Year. (much to her husband's dismay). Each year - the day after we shoot her session - I begin thinking of how I'm gonna top it for next year.

Well this year the timing had to be perfect - because it involved the carnival. Darn carnival only runs Thurs-Saturday and guess what days out of the week a family with three school-age kids has sports etc.? That's right ... Thurs-Saturday. Sunday would have been great. Too bad we would have been the only ones there on Sunday. Well no - that's not true - it would have been us and the clean-up crew. Not exactly the photo-opp we were looking for.

So, being the stubborn creative types that we are, we figured out that if we met at a certain hour on Thursday we could make it work. We would have to move quickly and dear husband would have to be excluded from the shoot. Kids only. He was very disappointed I tell you. He's probably still crying right now over missing this shoot.

Well guess what?

Rain.

That's what.

We spent the day on the phone with each other and stalking Gary Lezak {local weatherman - only guy I'll watch, btw}. Do we go for it? Do we not? It will be another year before this comes to town again. Look - it's slowing down to a drizzle! Just how crazy are we?

Turns out - very. Certifiably insane.

'Cause we went for it.

I stopped and loaded up on umbrellas on the way. Good thing. 'Cause we had an umbrella over each kid and an umbrella over my camera the whole time. We were a vision - kids all dressed up, hauling 72 umbrellas around (ok, ok - maybe not quite that many) and me laying on the ground in the drizzle to get the shots. Have you ever looked around at a fair or carnival? Interesting people, no? To say we stuck out like sore thumbs would be a huge understatement.

But we had fun. Ok, the kids had fun. Me & "Miss K" ... well ... when you're certifiably insane can you really judge just how much fun you did or did not have?

And guess what? We decided that we just couldn't stand to have her husband miss all the fun for an entire year - so we're gonna do another one later in the fall. One with their whole family. Not the carnival. And no rain. Or drizzle. I bet her husband is jumping for joy right now. Just giddy with excitement that we found a way to include him once again this year.

*important disclaimer* I will not shoot a session in weather that will make it impossible for me to protect my equipment or be dangerous to your children. The weather in this session involved zero risk to the kids and was a situation that my equipment could be protected. It was, in fact, a rare instance.

Brain Food

I need some. No, really - I need some brain food pronto. What is it about allergies that causes all intelligent thought to drain right out of your head? Why in the world would a perfectly sane {well, relatively} person sit in front of her computer screen for hours upon hours ... waiting on the big bright screen to inspire her ... to give her the perfect topic to blog about for a sneak peek? I'm on my 3rd cup of coffee and it's not working. So coffee appears to not be the brain food I need today (doesn't mean I won't continue to try it though). I tried nutella. Nope. Dark Chocolate peanut butter. Nope. The pantry & fridge are pretty close to empty...so I'm running low on ideas here. The package of "potty-training M&Ms" {Peyton's} is staring at me. I keep telling it to go away. The package of saltines is staring at me too. I keep telling it that it's not my friend until I return from my trip to the beach.

That's right ... I'm now talking to food and expecting a response. This could all be do to the 6 ... that's right SIX... allergy meds I'm on at the moment.

Consider this a warning ... all clients scheduled for the next 5 days ... this blog post is your warning. I may not make much sense at our up-coming session. I might even do the chicken dance. If I get a glazed over look on my face ... well ... just don't feed me a saltine. There's a beach trip in my very near future...

Wait ... there it is ... brain food! Beach trip + husband - kids = brain food. That's good news for everyone scheduled for the week I get back. This week's clients ... well ... just snap your fingers in front of my face and remind me of my up-coming brain food.

"Y" family - I present your "peek." And I apologize for a lack of thought-provoking chat to go along with the peek. But I figure, if anyone can sympathize with my fatigue and surprising moments of being lost in space ... well ... it would definitely be the parents of a newborn and 2yr old. Yes, I'm sure you can sympathize with me!

the new big brother and I had some play time while baby was eating...what a ham!

now, I realize that some may be slightly taken off-guard by me posting a baby bottom on here. I apologize if you have been taken off-guard. But c'mon ... is there anything much cuter than the little bullet-bottom of a newborn?! When else in life is it so adorable to have dimples and fat rolls?!

Another Birthday!

For me! That's right - Happy 29th Birthday to me! (and yes - it HAS been 29 years since 1975...it has - I'm bad at math so I get to claim 29. shshhh.)

So I figure I gotta post a birthday session on my birthday, no?! We celebrated his birthday in the park - eating cake, playing with bubbles and swinging. I think that's exactly how I'm gonna spend the rest of MY birthday!

Peek A Boo

Are You Ready?

For Holiday Season? Ready for the craziness?

Yeah, me either.

But it's almost here. A few more days and Labor Day will be past us and thus the official start to Holiday Season in the children photography biz.

There are changes coming for Holiday Season. New things to talk about and older things to wish goodbye. (much like my life with a 2yr old at the moment...hello binky(paci)-free life...goodbye naptime).

We'll chat about these things very soon. Meanwhile, take a moment to peek through a sweet little 1yr old. She loves her pearls...good girl!

look at that look she's giving us - knows she shouldn't put the necklace in her mouth but let's be honest...she's 1...she's gonna do it anyway

hmmm...doesn't taste as good as expected

a happy birthday girl

cupcakes and piggies

{peek}

{a-boo!}