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Love this family. They let me dive deep into a style of photography that I have long used on my own family, but have been hesitant to bring out during client sessions. Thank you. Now, everyone hunker down and pray for no power outages after the inch or so of ice and 10+ inches of snow we’re supposed to get!

Well…at least one good thing came from Sunday’s football game. Hailey got to spend some quality time with her Beboo and Asheey. She adores these two. ‘Beboo’ is my brother and she doesn’t get to see him nearly enough. But luckily that will be changing in a few months! Anyway, my little brother stole a ‘vintage’ Bears sweater from our dad and when he walked in the door I knew I had to try and get some pictures of him with Hailey in her little Urlacher  jersey. Well…this is what she gave me . I actually am quite in love with this series of shots. It was dark outside and our pre-remodel kitchen doesn’t exactly have the greatest light. So these are grainy, blurry, shadowy, not technically great by any means. Which is why they are in black and white . But I love them just the same…nitty, gritty, every day life .

And I think I will enjoy rooting against the Packers in the Superbowl almost as much as I would have enjoyed rooting for my Bears. Maybe next year .

Poor thing…she’s gotta grow up in a Packer’s house .

Apparently I wear my newborns out! I feel ya little guy…

Sorry I’ve been a little quiet here lately. I spent the better part of last week in Austin, TX at the PinkleToes workshop with Michele Anderson. I cannot even begin to tell you all (or should I say y’all ) how much fun I had. Not only was this the first photography workshop I’ve been to, it was the first time I left my husband and my daughter since she’s been gone. Oh, the hubs and I have gone on several mini vacations together, leaving the little one with grandma and grandpa, I’ve just never left both of them to do something for myself. I am so glad I took that time to really focus on something I love so much. I have come back totally refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to tackle some big things.

I’ve gushed over the awesomeness of Michele a few other times on this blog, and I just have to do it again. It was such an honor to spend that time learning and growing from someone I admire so much. I’ve got many more pictures to show you in a little bit, but until then, check out our group shot on Michele’s blog.

This little sweetheart was awake for 95% of our session…and she was *happy* the entire time! So I was ok with it . Her family has been clients of mine for the last few years and I have photographed many milestones in their lives. I am so thankful to be able to watch this family grow ~ the love they all have for each other is just amazing.

I head off to Austin, TX on Wednesday night for the opportunity of a lifetime. I get to work with the incredible photographer who took our family photos back in October. I, along with 4 other participants, will get to spend 3 days doing all things photography with Michele Anderson of PinkleToes Photography. As I said in our family photo post, she has been a quiet mentor to me throughout this journey and to be able to actually shoot with her…a dream come true. Plus, after getting to hang out with her at the beach, I know we’ll have a blast! Can. not. wait! I hope to be able to soak up a rediculous amount of information and bring that back to be a much better photographer for my clients.

I love newborn sessions. Probably my favorite. There are so many ways to approach a session, and you will get beautiful results out of every one of them. Lately I’ve found myself pushing away from those twisty newborn poses that are uber popular right now. The newness of a new family is something that only happens once. And anyone who has kiddos knows just how quickly that newborn time flies by. So I want to show the curly, twisty newness of the newborn, but I also want to preserve that time for my  newborn families. Those precious, precious  moments of dad trying to help a new big sister help her little brother for the first time, a new mom shhhhshing her sweet baby to sleep, feeding, change, diapers, tears (everyones ), everything. That’s where my eyes are going at my recent sessions. I hope you enjoy.

Well, my blog angel was watching me this morning I guess. The first version of this post just up and disappeared on me. Which might be a good thing because I was getting a little sappy . I’m going to try and get through another one of these posts without tears. Didn’t work the first time, probably won’t work this time.

We miss these guys. A lot. None of us miss them more than sweet miss Hailey though. The move took us a quick 90 miutes away. She still asks almost daily if her best friend can come over to her house. And it breaks my heart to tell her not today day after day. She’s catching on though. Now when I say no, she sweetly says “oh…because she’s way far away, right?” Ugh!

I love these four kids as if they were my own. Their mom is a better friend to me than she knows. I dearly miss living right across the street from them. I miss all those summer days when we would walk over to each others’ houses in flip flops, kids and water bottles in towe and get to sit and talk for hours while they played. I’m fairly certain Hailey thinks she’s a Miller kid who just gets to sleep at our house .

Anyway…I need to stop. This session took place on one of the last useable fall days in November. Before we got 9″ of snow overnight. Oh, I can’t wait for spring!!

Mkay, let’s just stop here for a second and talk about this light!! These were just two quickies I snapped in the parking lot before we started. I should have gathered them all up right there and held the session between the cars. Why I didn’t? I have no clue. But isn’t that the most gorgeous light?

…taking a trip down memory lane this morning and I can’t believe how much a little person can change in just one year. It blows my mind.

As I said on facebook, this is how about 95% of  my pictures of Hailey look like lately. Hence the serious lack of Hailey pictures. If I could only post audio with this “mommy, put your camera down!” And when I just hold it on my lap (ready to sneak a shot when she’s not looking) she says “no mommy, I take it, put it down here!” Seriously. Punk.

Maybe it’s because we’re snowed in today, or because this move has flipped me upside down and sideways, but I was feeling an urge to photograph my little girl today. These photos, posted just about this time last year are some of my absolute favorites. If I could share this love of photography with my daughter…that would just be a dream. So I set my old camera out this morning for her to find, which she did. She picked it up and started talking  just like her mommy, holding the camera up to her eyes, looking at the back and smiling. We could not love you more Hailey.

Congratulations!! It was a close call this year. Thank you to everyone who took the time to stop by and vote. Your love and support continues to amaze me every day. This cutie was in the lead for the majority of the contest, but there were two others giving him a run for his money. There are no prizes for 2nd or 3rd place, but I thought you’d like to meet the runners up.

2nd place:

3rd place:

Again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you to all of my clients, family, friends, everyone who has supported and encouraged me through the year. I appreciate you more than you’ll ever know.

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