R & R weekend

what a relaxing weekend we had. I am back in the swing of things now though proofing photos. I am so thankful for the rain...it didn't keep us indoors.
Christian and some neighborhood girlies found some snails!

Then went to visit my sister and my precious new nephew!
Here is Joel in the arms of his big sis!

2 sessions i just love

Here are a couple sessions all in one post.
First, this family was so cute. The mom used to be a producer in her "former" career so she was all set with a trunk load of props to keep the kiddos occupied.

the picnic...

the family walk...
mom with the little girls...

a bit of crouquet...

and so many others. We even did finger painting at the very end!

ok, next session is an ex-coworker who i hadn't seen in years. She came in from TX to visit family in Bloomington. She told me how sentimental the location was (her in-laws backyard where they were married) and really wanted some shots of her baby boy with his grandparents he doesn't get to see very often. I know these images will be treasured!!

another new fav of mine.
and a very special door with an even more special baby!

my gift

This was shot by my hubby on mother's day...something Maddie and I have been wanting captured for months now. When I'm brushing her hair in the bathroom I always hug her when I'm done and she leans in close to my chest. We look in the mirror together to notice our height differences (not as much difference anymore) and remind each other that we want a photo taken of us together one day. Finally... we got it!

To top it off, she gave me mother's day gift a day late. It was one of the best gifts I've ever received b/c it was done with her whole heart. She got off the bus and called me in the house about 20 mins later. She had the ottomon as a table in the front of the couch (which had a blanket on it for extra softness). On the ottoman was a diet coke and 2 gifts she had made for me at school. One was a packet of flower seeds... the other a booklet she made of all the things she loves about her mom. It made me cry and that takes a lot! She then turnd on the TV to Oprah and said, "don't get up, this is for you!" and made me sit there and watch it... cause she knows I never get to watch Oprah b/c I'm forced to watch PBS kids everyday after school. I didn't even have to tell her to do her homework...she just did it. Then she went out and watered all our landscaping for 30 mins. Let's just say it was a beautiful gift and totally unexpected.

So, this image means a lot to me. It reminds me that I have one beautiful daughter who has changed my life for the better. Who knows how to give love with no strings attached and loves me unconditionally, despite my awful flaws. We will treasure this photograph forever and I hope it will get passed down to her children and through all our generations. I love that I don't have make-up on and that neither of us have our hair brushed. It's the way we are and want to remember. I hope that all of you reading this will be encouraged to get yourself in a photograph and not to worry about looking like a fashion model. You will be glad you did one day and so will the rest of your friends and family...some that you may never even be alive to meet. Sounds pretty sad doesn't it! I want it to! I know there are about 500 viewers checking this blog each month so hopefully at least one person will let this sink in!

ETA: this shot was taken by my friend Steph... notice the name scratched into the brick by a rock.

and then for all you with daughters you've got to see this short video. This is why we can never compare to those models... darn media!

Happy Mother's Day

What a perfect session to display in celebration of Mother's Day. A family of 4 with one more on the way! What an awesome mother too! She is so beautiful both inside and out.
I seem to connect best with boys or girls that are a bit tomboyish... so these 4 boys were right up my ally! I have so many goodies but here are just a few for now.
Doesn't she look fabulous... only 4 weeks to go!
The tree-house dad built so it deserved to be part of the family photograph

and lots of shots of the youngest

there are tons of the other brothers too but I didn't want to steal the show with them. They are so goofy and silly! LOVE it!

baby Joel

my new newphew is here and he's SO beautiful. Here he is at 5 days!this is his big brother who's 18yrs old (my sister's step son). I thought it was so tender to see the two of them together will such a big age difference. Justin adores him and calls him his "little buddy"

siblings

If there's only one thing I take away from this session, it's the unconditional love we have for our siblings.

This family adopted their son in February but you'd never know it had only been such a short amount of time when watching him and his big sister play. She adored him and vise versa. I have SO many moments to show mom and dad so I don't want to spoil too many surprises but here are just a few.

just being silly as silly kids are!
and was thrilled when I had permission to take the couch outdoors! Here they are sitting pretty!
and here they are being kids!

outdoors-finally!!

It was great to get outside again. We hunted hard for some shade this time of year with bare leaves but it only takes a little shade to go along way! Here are my other kids :-) Isn't she beautiful?

umm.... lift your hat up girl! Sure makes a cute pic though.

if she only knew how beautiful she looked here!

spunky Kirsten!

ETA: I've always wanted to do something funky like this... adding texture to a photo to look like canvas art. Here's my play at it... although you can hardly see the texture on this blog... in real life it's really yummy!

daddy's girl

Here are a few from the latest session of a one year old lovely little one! She saw her daddy when she was looking out the window. The mom said she is such a daddy's girl. I totally agree!

proof!