four lovely kids

getting a decent photo of four children first grade and under...on their first day of vacation...at the end of the day...following hours in the pool and hence extreme exhaustion...well, it ain't easy.

enter evidence a: failed attempts. failed...but funny.






so, when you do find this beautiful shot with these four beautiful children...well, then you do the happy dance.

enter evidence b: hello, gorgeous children.



i have lots of photos to go through from this family's shoot, but i must say i had fun and embraced the challenge of photographing four tired, vacationed little munchkins who performed just beautifully for me.







thank you audrey, jesse, cole & beckham.

{veda}

i just barely started editing this session, and these were the first three i picked.







if the first three look like this, i can't wait to get to the rest.

baby veda, you are divine.

my friends.

it was a wham-bam-thank-you-mam kind of photo shoot, but you would have never known it. three families in one hour. but the cool thing is...these people are my friends. i am lucky to know and love each of these families. photographing them tonight was one thing...but the icing on the cake was sitting with them later, downtown...outside on a street full of christmas lights. and we ate with our littles sandwiched between us. it was delicious.

my friends...joe & steph, sam & ryan and jon & suzanne...and their beautiful littles.





























...and speaking of beautiful littles...

my little tagged along tonight...quiet as ever, shooting with me, patiently watching on and completely enjoyable at dinner. she helped me love on sweet emery baby and can i just say, she's gonna make one heck of a sister.

baby shots

i've got lots of images to post, but i'm out the door and promised this family i'd have some up of their beautiful little granddaughter.

i don't think i've ever seen eyebrows or eyelashes this distinct on one so little...
and she didn't make a peep the entire shoot. and if you whistled...she was all smiles.

sweet kileigh.



who sat in the rocking chair that belonged to her grandpa when he was little...



...and went fishin' by the lake with her daddy.



and precious baby jack came back this week for some santa babe shots.
broke two lollipops in the process, but it was worth it.



in heaven with all these babies.
they make me so happy!

{sure-would love to photograph them}

the sherwoods.
remember lawson?

well...the little man started walkin' last week.



and he encored his new task flawlessly last night for me.



love those first little frankenstein steps.

and his family is just beautiful. they brought buddy, their golden retriever, and i've decided that a golden retriever is such a lovely accessory in a photo. just family-izes it another notch.





they also brought aunt shannon...which, seeing her with amanda and her only nephew made me miss my sister something terrible.



and being that i am officially obsessed with shadows and silhouettes, i have to profess my love of this picture.



love.
i love how shadows and silhouettes suggest this beautiful image while not putting it completely out there.

as always, dear sherwoods...a pleasure capturing your family last night.

stay tuned.

two announcements of up-coming offers.
yes, i am aware a baby will arrive late january, and we're okay with that.
i'm scheduling things as normal as this is what i love to do, and most likely, i'll be able to knock out an early january mini session and design cards the entire next day as it worked well for our fall mini shoot. once the baby comes, we will slow down a little but, thankfully, this career has allowed me the incredible opportunity to incorporate our littles into my work.

so first up (and these sessions went super fast with fall mini shoot and were a great success, so if you are interested, please book fast! there are only 12 sessions available)...valentine's day mini shoots. i'm reposting this as I had the wrong date before...new date is saturday, january 9th.



cards are guaranteed to arrive within two weeks. and by guaranteed, i mean i will be workin' my hiney off the following day so i can have the peace of mind it is done if little bean should decide to show her face a little early.

the next offer is something i've been thinking about for awhile, and hopefully next year allows more of these kind of photography opportunities as it's my favorite thing to capture. i love 'sessions,' but most are carefully planned out and fit into 45 minutes so you leave with a nice bundle of perfect family/child shots. however, real life isn't like that and, if you follow my blog, you'll see my favorite thing to capture is real life. kids at the counter doing homework. a messy-faced baby in a high chair. quiet reading time on a comfy bed. running through a sprinkler in the afternoon because you can.

i'm offering a special-priced sesssion just to test out...a package that includes two hours of photography in your home capturing your family/children doing what they do...the imperfect moments that you will remember forever. unposed. unscripted. just you. the prints alone in this offer are valued at $200, so this is a great opportunity for anyone who values this kind of photography. i probably won't book these until late february to arrange baby care, or there may be this sleeping bundle slung to my chest you won't even notice, but i'd at least like to throw it out there. if you're interested, please e-mail, and we can pencil in some calendar dates next year.

i've lost my mind

...officially. because i've been over the moon happy with all these babies in my presence. and this one...oh, i got to hold this one today forever. i gave her a bottle and nestled her in the nook under my neck and she fell asleep in my arms...and can i just say...i freakin' love this job.

meet little liv.



with the killer eyes.


(couldn't get her arm out of the 'heil, hitler' gesture. she wanted it there.)

who fights sleep like a kung-fu ninja.



but out she finally went.



and then she was just putty.



oh, so in love with those little parts.



babies are heaven, i tell you.



erin...seriously. between eden and this little love, what more could you ever need?!

{lucy & fam}

my little lucy-in-the-sky-with-diamonds returned tonight after fall mini shoots for some holiday shots with her mom & dad...





...and her mama knew from looking at my website that i'd be thrilled with these shots. oh, how i love me some shoes (and her mama made these!)









lucy, you absolute beauty, you!