It's *almost* here!

It is so hard to believe Ryleigh is almost one! On Valentine's day my sweet precious baby girl will be an entire year old. I am in complete denial! The birthday party invitations are in and addressed, just waiting to be stamped and mailed. I have been accumulating decorations and ideas for her party. We are trying to find creative ways to celebrate her big day and incorporate Mady and Leighton. Here are a few from today in her birthday girl shirt!

Showing us she's turning "1":



Two more before she started making a run for it!



Mady grabbed a necklace thinking it would keep her still. Ryleigh tried to fit it over her head:



And of course it got stuck!

Like a weed!

Yep, he's growing like a weed ;)! Remember Cade from his newborn session?

Well, here he is at 6 months old, all grown up! His mommy was worried we didn't get any pictures because he sure wasn't too into getting his picture taken, but we got tons of cute ones! Here are a few of my favorites!

Meet Gabriella!

Here is Gabriella! She is one very lucky 3 month old! She has the most adorble nursery I have ever seen, a closet full of adorable outfits, but best of all she has two incredibly beautiful parents who love her very much! It was so cute to see the way they light up just looking at her and it was clear they love and adore her very much! I can see why! I wish I could have put her in my camera bag and brought her home with me ;). She made the cutest noises, from grunting to snorting! And she loved to put her fingers in her mouth, not her thumb though! Last week must not have been my lucky week with 3 month olds though! They both decided that they would much rather eat and sleep than be photographed! Who can blame them?! Here are a couple of Gabriella and her amazing parents! We are already planning her 6 month session and hoping the snow melts by then! I can't wait to see how much she grows in the next couple of months!

Take One...

I am sure some of you remember Jackson from his newborn portraits a couple of
months ago (the baby on the bookshelf). Well, what you probably don't know is that those images took two sessions. Jackson loves to give me a hard time the first time I come and be a perfect angel the second time. Between him and his big brother there is never a dull or easy moment! Luckily, their sister is much much more cooperative and just as sweet as the boys! Well, I tried to take Jackson's three month portraits. SAME thing! Didn't want anything to do with me or getting his pictures taken! I had about 3 minutes to try, and here are the few I did get. I will be going back next week and trying it again! I did hang their most AMAZING and INCREDIBLE wall gallery while I was there and I completely forgot to take picture to share with all of you! I will do it this week, you will be blown away! I am jealous and my home is full of wall portraits!

11 months!

I had a dream last night that I accidentally deleted my entire blog! All of my posts were gone. I was panicked and woke up in quite a state of fear, so I figured it was a sign I needed to update! I still have so many seniors, babies, weddings that I haven't had a chance to share. Even the incredible trash the dress session! For most business (photographers included) things slow down in January. Time to get the taxes done, work on branding and websites, reexamine your policies. Well, I haven't had time to do ANY of that yet! I am beyond grateful and humbled that I am too busy, but will be taking 10 days off towards the end of March, so please plan accordingly!

And since I couldn't post without pictures, here are a few of Miss Ryleigh! She is 11 months old now and I cannot believe it! She is walking everywhere, loves to say dada and mama, says thank you and your welcome (in her own version of slang of course!) and has said Mady a few time! She brings out entire family so much joy it is hard to put into words! So here she is, helping me test out a new backdrop for a very special session for Miss Ashley's family on Friday. If you haven't checked out Ashley's story, please head on over there. She is battling cancer at the age of 23 with more grace, faith, and strength than anyone I know. Leave her a note in the guestbook and let her know you visited her site! Her newest journal entries are written by her family, but if you go back a couple of months you can read just how wonderful she is in her own words.

Happy New Year!

I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year (a little late, I know!). Thank you so much for all of the well wishes while my children and I have all been ill. We are all finally doing much better and I have been working like crazy to catch up while I have been unable to work. Here are a few snaps from this morning to show you how much better we are feeling, and Mady's new haircut! She picked it out all herself and was much braver than I was about cutting off over 7 inches of hair! Two of these will be added to my new wall collage, which two would you choose?!