Aries (the dog).

ARIES (the ram): loves freedom, and will accept any challenge. Aries will get impatient if their ideas do not work out immediately and as expected. Aries are often unwilling to follow someone else's suggestions, especially if they do not make sense to him. Aries often have excess energy which can make them aggressive or forceful (uh, not this guy). Arians are brave leaders who express care and concern for all they lead.

This was my first attempt taking pics of a pup. Well, I guess this ole' guy isn't a pup anymore but I think he is still young at heart . . .

Those eyes kinda melt your heart, don't they Tom?

Abby and Thomas

I had a playdate the other day with two of my favorite children around. I know, I know, I seem to have a lot of favorites . . . but these two are close to my heart (even if they didn't know it).

In my other life, I worked with their Mom. In some ways, I think she is a softer, gentler version of me. With better hair.

Anyway, we have travelled a similar path in many ways and because of that, I feel like she understands me in a very specific way that not many can. We shared our first pregnancies (and some yoga poses at nine months that no one should have to witness), and we continue to share our first-, and now second-, born children as often as we can.

Hence, the photoshoot.

This is Princess Abigail Ariel (self-titled). Abby is one smart little cookie who kept me on my toes while I was snapping away. She chat-chat-chatted to me about all things truly important - proper princess behavior, ponies, and fairies (of course).

Thomas, on the other hand, was the strong but silent type. And the never-stay-still type. But hey, I can keep up! Here are a few shots that I did get in between the somersaults, blocks, and tractors.


As a Mom of two little boys, I love this one:


We did some major playing and I loved every minute of it. I may have not been on my best behavior, however, as Abby has since been informing people that I stood on the counter and moved the furniture all around! It's true.

This last one is my first attempt at some vintage processing (they are magic leaves, by the way). What does everybody think?


These two munchkins are of the sweetest, kindest, variety. Thank you, Thomas and Abby, for playing with me. Looking forward to my cookies . . .

Happy Birthday Asha!

And a quick hip hip hooray birthday shout-out to Asha-Stephanie-Sporticus who is FOUR YEARS old today! You are joy and magic packaged in a pink dress. We love you honey . . .

Scooch!

This is Miss Spencer. I just want to scooch her all day. She is pretty much the softest, sweetest, pinkest little six month old on the planet right now.

If I facebooked Spencer's parents, we would fall under the how-do-you-know-each-other category of "we took a course together." Kev and I actually took prenatal class with her parents when we were all having our first babes, over three years ago.

You know when you see people for the first time and decide that you want to be friends with them from across the room without even having met them first? Okay, so it sounds a little stalker-ish, but that's how I felt about Spencer's Mom and Dad. They exuded genuine happiness.

And they obviously still do because Miss Spencer smiles. And smiles. And smiles.

Spencer has inherited the exudes-genuine-happiness and the I'm-kinda-cool-but-still-really-fun gene.

I also took some pics of Spencer's older sister Cassidy three years ago when she was the same age. It was so nice to be asked back! And when I was at their house, I saw the pictures that I had taken back then, hanging on the wall. I've never seen my pictures hanging on somebody's wall like they were just meant to be there. Hm! I liked it.

Anyway, check this out. This is Cassidy from my 2005 pre-digital days:

And this is Spencer now:


Too much fun. PLUS when I was there, I was lucky enough to capture Cassidy again. And Aries. The dog. More on that later. Thanks guys -- it was so great to see you -- it's been way too long.

Hoo - RAY!

A couple more. He is edible.

Eatin' him up.

Love him.

Mommy's Boy

So I've just started sifting through the pictures I took of my sweeter-bum nephew, Ray, while visiting last week. There are many, many cute shots due to the fact that he is pretty much a perfect little subject to shoot. This is the first one I took that day:


Yup, it's also one of my favorites. It captures how much Ray has grown and how much his Mommy adores him.

It is also almost the only one I have that Ray is looking at the camera. And this is because his Mom is behind him. As I went through my shots, I realized that in almost every single capture, Ray is not staring lovingly into his Auntie's lens, but is looking at his Mommy! Hmmmm . . . my sister-in-law may be banned during the next shoot. Just kidding . . .

Definitely more of Ray to follow but just had to get something new up! Thanks again C&A for the visit. We loved, loved, loved seeing you. Have you recovered yet?

Where have I been?

Aw, I love that people care! Thanks for the enqueries. My lack of blogging has been due to some road trips to visit friends and fam. I now have a whole whackload of new pics to process . . . yet, I am still working on some of my images from previous shoots. Here is one of my new favorites:



I also want to share that I have some exciting stuff going on for me in photography world! Let me nerd out for a minute . . .

I have booked myself into a photography workshop in August that I am SOOO excited about. More on that later but let me just say that I am totally STOKED!! Have we used that word since the early nineties? Let me be the first to bring it back, baby. (quieter now) STOKED.

AND, I have plans to shoot some absolutely gorgeous children this month. Really excited about that.

AND, I think I have my groove back. Hm!