This sweet girl is my one and only niece <3 I got the joy of photographing her ON her birthday.  She LOVES to pretend, so the day before her shoot I had the idea to put together a tea party in my back yard for her. I think they turned out amazing and she loved every minute! (It was probably the longest she sat still lol)  It's been a bit since I photographed a "new" 2 year old! Oh boy she was a ball of energy and ran EVERYWHERE! She was fantastic though, I'd put her into position and she would stay put for 3 to 5 clicks,  then put her little arms in the air and say "Done" . At one point I had laid her down in the grass and she was doing great but looking a little unsure and saying something I couldn't understand. My brother informed me she didn't like GRASS!! I mean, I shouldn't be surprised lots of kids that age don't, but the fact that she, without question laid there for me was amazing! As you will notice some of the pictures are in her mommy's wedding dress. As we were leaving the park the dress was dragging in the parking lot .I started to hear concerned voices and I overheard some ladies saying to each other "Oh its a wedding dress! OH NO it's dragging on the ground!!!" I looked over and assured them it was already used and they all let out a loud sigh of relief  and started laughing and saying "GOOD we were all really scared for her!!"  I LOVE Evee's sweet face! Thanks for doing an awesome job Evee and I look forward to capturing many more years of your sweetness :)

Lately Aubreanna has been into posing for the camera. So her mommy and daddy thought it would be a great idea to let her be a model for a day for her 6th birthday present. Her mommy searched high and low for the outfit she had pictured in her mind and was about to settle the day of the shoot when she turned around and the heavens parted and the angels started singing ;) (isn't that how we all feel when we find the perfect item we have been searching for?!) Aubreanna was delighted with her new "princess" dress and even more excited for her shoot. She did amazingly well at listening to direction and trying to figure out how to smile with only her mouth, not her whole face lol. I think it is the age because my daughter struggles with the same thing :) She killed me with the "model" poses she would give (I especially love the ones she gave me walking down the sidewalk). Even when we thought she was D.O.N.E. taking pictures we were walking away and I heard her say "let's take some more!" You definitely looked like a princess Aubreanna. Happy Birthday!

You probably think since I'm a photographer I have TONS of  wonderful, glamorous photos of my children. I do have tons, but wonderful and glamorous would not be the words I would use to describe most of them. Many are on my iphone since lugging my big "nice" camera around isn't always practical. And it is like PULLING teeth to get a posed shot out of them which I'm sure that has to do with the fact that I've been telling them "No, stop that silly face, stand here, look at mommy, look at mommy"....since they were born :) Anyway today I decided to bring my camera to a short park visit, just in case I could get them to cooperate. Well, It was a GOOD thing because I would like to mark this day on the calendar!! My beautiful (WILD) daughter for the first time EVER stopped what she was doing on her own, posed, smiled a real smile (without coaching), and said take a picture of this! I nearly fell off the bench I was sitting on and almost missed the shot because I was in shock! She continued to smile real smiles and pose, asking me to capture each one! WOW!!! You may need to know her to really appreciate this moment as much as I do but HOLY COW, if you do know her you are surely in as much awe as I am :) Don't get me wrong..she is kind, wonderful, motherly and shares better than any kid I have EVER met, she is just one of those children that has soooo much energy/craziness it is bursting from her 80% of the time through funny faces, sounds, and strange (kid) humor. I'm going to challenge myself to start taking "nice" photos of my children more often so I don't look back and say wow I gave great photos to my clients but totally missed the boat with my own. Soooo... I'd love you guys to keep me accountable. I will post them on here when I take them and if you haven't see my kids for awhile feel free to call me out <3