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Last night was *perfect* weather for blowing bubbles! So that’s what we did . Jenn ~ I had a great time wandering around downtown with you and the kiddos!

I had to “plan” to have this weekend off. Very early in the spring, our calendar started filling up faster than we liked. So for this weekend I put a big X across the days and wrote “family time.” Which is exactly what we did. We slept in, we made yummy breakfasts, we swam and played in the backyard all afternoon and ate ice cream. It was perfect . This is a ‘just because’ post, just because I don’t ever want to forget days like this . xoxo

The other night we got to enjoy a perfect summer evening. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, Justin (along with everyone else in the neighborhood) was mowing, and the air was filled with that delicious smell of fresh cut grass! Hailey and I laid out a blanket with absolutley no agenda other than watching daddy mow. Of course I had my camera in hand and got to truly enjoy just photographing the evening as it progressed from my spot on the blanket. If we spent every night for the rest of our lives like this, I would be a happy girl .

 Last night’s session was perfect. Rain hung around all morning and threatened the evening, so Cindy and I agreed it would be best to reschedule her daughter’s special 2nd birthday shoot. However, we were both a bit confused when we looked out the window around 3:00 and saw blue skies as far as we could see. Literally not a cloud in sight. So I jumped on weather.com and wouldn’t you know the rain was entirely out of the forecast. How can it change that much in an hour?

Anyway, game back on! So we rushed to get ready for the session and I am so glad we did! We ended up with the perfect summer evening light. You know the kind with that beautiful gold glow that just hugs everything it touches? Yeah…that kind. But all that rain made for some hot, sticky temps. And by the end, this little girl was just ready to get into some good old air conditioning (me too!). And what makes a girl feel better than her lovie? Or Lambie in this case . She got some much deserved Lambie love at the end of the session.

Cindy and Brian ~ thanks for putting up with the crazy weather and schedule changes and cancelling of the schedule changes! I’m so glad we ended up getting together last night. Happy Birthday sweet girl!!

Okay, so now we’re 2 days late…but its better than never right? This didn’t get posted on Sunday because we were off enjoying the dads in our lives. Don’t hate

Press play in the image below to see a slideshow of some of my favorite dads.

PS ~ the winner of the free session is the lucky Sean Koors! I will be in touch to plan the details! Thanks to ALL of the dads who submitted comments! Many of them were via email, so I will have to get those together in a post at some point. For right now, I am drowning in shooting, editing and planning sessions. Happy Tuesday everyone!

UPDATE: good grief…I don’t know where my mind is this week! The original post said the contest would run through the end of the month, so through the end of the month it is! Looks like I’m giving away TWO free sessions! . Sean ~ you still won, but everyone else, you have until June 30 to get your comments in. So sorry everyone!

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
~ Albert Einstein

Every day is an incredible learning experience for our family. It is so fascinating and such an honor to be able to see the world through the eyes of a child again. This morning it is dark and stormy outside, so we are playing inside and watching old Disney movies. Hailey just wandered over to her play kitchen (previously only really used as something to bang her other toys against) and said “mommy…hot…” (which is what we always tell her about our real stove). Then I told her she was right, it was very hot. She then proceeded to open the oven door and grab out a “cake” and tell me I had to blow on it before I could eat it!

I know that probably seems like the most boring of stories to many of you reading this…but I could not be more amazed! Her little mind is developing an imagination!! Happy Monday all!

And because, like they say, every post is better with a picture…here is another one from our shoot on Friday .

I spent the most fabulous morning with this little charmer this morning. He is absolutely the cutest little boy! We wore ourselves out running around the yard in the rediculous humidity, but like his ‘nana’ said, “that’s what you get in the midwest!” Many more from this great session to come!

Right now it is 1:16pm. June 9, 2010. In exactly 6 minutes you will be 2 years old. I know they say you “forget” the pain of child birth…but as I sit here thinking about it, I can’t help but recall the tremendous amount of excruciating pain I was in at this time 2 years ago. After 30 hours of labor, a failed epidural, and 2 1/2 hours of pushing…you finally decided to let us see your precious little face. (um….who decided that moms don’t get a party on their kids birthdays? I’m pretty proud of what I did…I deserve some cake!)

It’s kind of overwhelming to look back at the last 2 years and remember all that’s happened. Our whole worlds have been turned upside down, sideways, backwards, you name it. But we couldn’t be more thrilled. I was digging up pictures for this post, and totally got lost in the first month of your tiny little life. Soooooo many pictures! Here are two of my favorites . For some reason, before you were born, I was completely anti-pink. Everything we registered for was green and yellow. We knew you were a girl, but I was digging the green. However, when you were just a few days old, I distinctly remember a trip to Target, dragging your daddy down the newborn isle, insisting that you needed 30 pink onsies.

We literally blinked and you were one! I know I say this a lot on here…but I really don’t know how you got so big so fast! It amazes me, confuses me, makes me unfathomably happy, and kind of sad all at the same time. Our little baby was getting older…turning into a toddler. But not quite yet. You were definitely standing on your own, and once in a while you’d brave that first step, but walking was still a few weeks away. You were just starting to get a full head of hair, and you would give hugs and kisses to anyone who asked .

Fast forward another year (for real, who pressed fast forward?! not fair guys!) and here we are. You are two. Your birthday party this year was a fiasco of its own. Stormy weather threatened your pool party, originally planned for Saturday. So, on Friday we made a hundred frantic phone calls, and miraculously arranged for everyone to be here on Sunday instead. Grandma and Papa G drove in from New York and spent the weekend. Grandma hadn’t seen you since Christmas! Wow how you’ve changed since then. We woke up to a beautiful morning and weather in the mid 70′s and sunshine all day . Perfect.

We played with your new play set (more on that to come soon!), swam in the pool ~ your new favorite outdoor past time , opened gifts, ate that unbelievably gorgeous cake, and spent time with our best friends and family.

This last year has turned you into quite the character. Everywhere we go you are making people laugh and smile and feel great . You are talking up a storm ~ and I know that every parent says this, but you seriously have a crazy advanced vocabulary and ability to speak! anyone want to back me up on this? . You’re coming back into a little bit of a shy phase, but that’s okay. Lucky are the few who get a hug or a kiss from you these days (mom and dad included :/).  You’re starting to play pretend and your imagination and creativity is fascinating to watch!

I really can’t find the words to tell you how much we love you sweet girl. You are our whole world. Thank you so much for letting us watch you grow every day. Happy birthday Hailey.

love,
mom & dad

I know I’ve been a little absent this week…but I have good reasons! Promise. So just for a little eye-candy, and to give you another chance to win some rad prizes, here are some more of my favorite dad photos!

If you’re a past dad client, give me a shout out and let me know your thoughts on our session! And, just to throw a wrench in things…if you know a dad out there that deserves a chance to capture some amazing memories with his kiddos, tell me why and he could win a free session! (you can email me your stories or leave them in the comments section here).

Hey dads!! This month is all about you . Well, you and a certain special birthday girl. I wanted to do something to highlight the dads I photograph. There is just something so precious about a father with his children. So precious. And lets face it ~ a photo shoot is generally the very last place any dad wants to be on any given day.  Well, throughout June I will be featuring photos of dads doing what they do best and just being dads.

So dads…lets chat. Okay, wait…dad’s don’t chat do they? Right. Let’s shoot the…okay okay, lets just talk.  I thought this might be a prime opportunity to show how much fun my dad’s have at their photo shoots. Let me tell you one thing, straight up. If you hide, or turn on that selective hearing thing you guys are all so good at whenever the words “family pictures” enter the conversation, don’t worry. You’re not alone. Many many guys out there think that getting family portraits involves matching khaki pants and white button ups, forced smiles and tension you could cut with a knife due to the mad chaotic frenzy that was your family rushing out of the house to a photographer you’ve never met. Dads, I promise you ~ this could not be further from what an Anastasia Marie Photography session is like.

My main goal in every session is to provide your family with treasures ~ images of you just doing your thing and being a family. It really is pretty painless. All i ask you to do is love on your kiddos and have a blast!

So this got me thinking about my past dad clients and their experiences during their shoots. Any of you guys want to chime in with your thoughts? To give you a little incentive, at the end of the month I will round up all of the comments from the dads out there and randomly pick the lucky winner of a free session! So to all the wives out there reading…get your hubbies on here to write a short blurb about their experience!