This Is Life

So, we’re just back from an amazing week spent at the beach, and (surprise, surprise) I have lots of photos to share!  But first, you have to see these photos of our friends Taylor, Joanna, Noah, Grace and Hope, a beautiful family I had the chance to hang out with before vacation.

Oh my…where do I even start with this delightful family?! They are bursting with love, they are happy and finally, complete.  After having two wonderful children, they discovered that they had more love to give.  They learned about children in Ethiopia and their need for safety, family, love and hope.  And so, meet Hope.  She is 9 months old and is one happy, and lucky, little girl.

Grace was taking my picture here. 

Noah and Grace are super cute with their new baby sister.  Seriously, can’t ya just feel the love?!!

Big brother, Noah.

Little/Big Sister, Gracie.

Taylor and Joanna have waited a long time to have their three babies all together. Priceless.

Sisters.

As the story goes, Joanna saw a photo of an orphan in a yellow dress and that’s when she knew.  Many months, delays and disappointments later, Joanna now has her sweet baby girl in her arms, in a yellow dress.

I know! Those eyes! Those cheeks!! How do you not just want to eat this baby up!

Love.

Thank you so much {W} family.  Your love and your family are simply beautiful.

Oh {C} Family, how I loved getting to know you all!  You were so fun and easy to talk to, you put me at ease from the very start.

Meet Bill, Nancy, Billy, Taylor and Maya.

They are laid back, silly, and fun!

These three kiddos were SO GOOD!  You know how you can tell right away if kids are going to be, you know, good…or not.  These kids were goooooood.  Nice, funny, respectful…

Oh, and super cute too!

Love these next two.

Big brother, Billy.  I owe Billy, big time! He saved my life from a giant human eating frog!  Well, there was a frog. And I did almost sit on it.  And Billy did pick it up for me, and put it back in the water.

Beautiful Taylor.  Taylor reminded me a bit of my oldest daughter, in that she was full of things to say.

Little Maya.  Maya was somewhat unimpressed with my jokes, but smiled for me all the same.

Thanks you guys! I had so much fun photographing you and getting to know you!  I’m already looking forward to our next time!

“Making the decision to have a child is monumental.  It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”

So, here are the rest of the photos of beautiful baby Eva.

Eva is the daughter of our best friends Emily and Kevin.  They have survived their fist year of parenthood and I must say, have done an amazing job!  Eva is a happy (and very lucky) girl!

Eva is just on the verge of walking, this made it nice for photos since she couldn’t run away too fast!

This is sooooo a one-year-old stance…wide legs, hands out and ready, curious eyes…

Eva’s Grammy wanted a photo of her granddaughter with some flowers…I’m thinking she’ll like this one. 

Gwaaahhh!! I just LOVE this last series.

Eva’s necklace is the one her Mama wore at her wedding.  Good idea, Em!

Such. a. beauty!

Em and Kevin, thanks so much for trusting me with these photos of your beautiful baby girl.  She is awesome and your family is simply adorable.

It’s hard to believe that 3 years ago today, our beautiful little Anna arrived into this world.  If memory serves, the very first thing I said about my daughter, just after she was born, and  was screaming at the nice nurses were cleaning her up, was “Oh!  That one is feisty!”.  And three years later, our first impression holds true…this one is feisty!  She’s also cuddly and sweet, kind and loving, silly and giggly, dramatic and imaginative, smart and stubborn, and some day, she’s going to set this world on fire!

If you know Anna, you know that in her 3rd year she’s had an obsession with Cinderella (or, as she says, “Cindawella”).  So it seemed only natural that for her birthday photo shoot, she got to be Cinderella. Needless to say, she loooooooved it!

It was actually hard to get her to smile because she was so in character!

Waiting for her prince…

Not that I could choose a “favorite”, but if I had to this one would be it… It’s just so “Anna” to me.

Well, this one’s very “Anna” too. She’s SO silly and giggly and always has a different expression on her face.

How cute is this…The first thing she said after opening up her new Cinderella dress was, “Did we get a new prince dress for daddy to be my prince?!”

Love love love this girl.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Baby Girl!

So….I don’t usually do sneak peeks, but since my clients best friends are aaaaaaall the way in Columbus, I just had to share this one photo from today’s shoot of their beautiful baby girl.

Love that sweet girl, love you guys… can’t wait for you to see the rest of them!!

Oh my! Where to start with this adorable family?  Mama Melissa is the daughter of Cate’s beloved preschool teacher. So, from the start,  I knew this was going to be a sweet, kind and special family.

Meet Mike, Melissa, Isabel and Gabrielle.  AH!  So cute!!

I couldn’t help but feel this family’s love for one another.  In the short time we were shooting, I fully understood just how important family is to them.  Melissa is one of six children, and  had 3 of her sisters and her mom there to help with the shoot.  It was really wonderful to experience such a close and happy family connection.

There’s nothing like a newborn baby.

Love this one of Gabrielle on the shoulder of her Nana (or, as Cate would say, her TEACHER!!!!).

Sisters. 

And big sister kisses…

Isabel just turned 2!

I have to mention the beautiful light in these photos.  We scheduled this shoot on a weekday at about 6:30 in the evening and the light was just perfect!  If you’re thinking of doing some photos with me, consider an evening time!

When Melissa mentioned that she was going to bring a tutu as an outfit, I’m pretty sure I let out an audible squeal!

My favorite….just might need to make a business card out of this one!

Thank you SO MUCH, {L} family!  I can’t wait to hear all about your sweet family at school this year!

This biker gang may look sweet and innocent…

But they can get real mean it the blink of an eye.  Watch out.

After having to reschedule twice due to the weather, I finally got to take this beautiful family’s photos!

Aren’t they just too cute?!

I always say that I like to get to know my clients a little before I photograph them.  Christina and I took that to the extreme one week by joining our personal training sessions from our mutual personal trainer (my sister-in-law…stay tuned for a post on that!).  We really got to know each other over lots of sweat and sprinting. 

Mama and daughter.

Miss Olivia will be in 2nd grade next year (which I happen to think is the best grade EVER).

I just love the profile of a child.

Olivia and their new puppy, Precious.

Jeff and Christina…isn’t it so nice to have a few photos of you and your honey?!

Thanks G family, I’m so glad we finally got to do this!

One of my favorite things about photography is the people that I get to meet, or in this case, remeet and hang out with.  Joy and I went to GOHS together and got to know each other again at preschool this year, her son J.P. and Cate were in the same class.  I was super excited when they asked me to their house for a few photos!

Here is the whole fam; Ryan, Joy, J.P. and baby Lilly.

Their house was AMAZING and I sooooo did not do it justice.  It is a historic home that has been in Joy’s family since 1950. It was really beautiful, you can see a little bit of it in this one.

Hellooooo beautiful sun flare…

Big brother, J.P. such a cutie.

Love this one.

Awwwwww…

We got lots of photos of beautiful 6 week old, baby Lilly.

In her beautiful crib…

This last one might be one of my favorite newborn photos, ever.

Thanks so much, Joy, Ryan, J.P. and Lilly! You are a beautiful family!!