Family Preview & more

I had this family session a few weeks ago, and we had hoped for good weather because they wanted outside pictures, but it was freezing that day! I thought they did a good job pretending that they weren't cold, though! We did the session at the grandparents house, and they had a great location for photos. There was a picture of them a few posts ago with the grandpas awesome old car! Here are the Squires:


Here's the car again! Isn't it neat!? The dog was in the family picture, and afterward he stayed in the back, I thought this was a funny image.
Aren't those eyes pretty!
When I was editing the pictures of the grandparents together, I just had to do a storyboard of them. They were cute!
Thanks for a great session! You guys did awesome!

I have a few pics from recent sessions that I haven't finished proofing yet, but I thought I'd share a sneak peek for them! Check out this adorable cowboy!

This session I just had last night, and these girls were so much fun! I got a chance to use one of my antique store finds, this awesome frame! I thought it turned out really cute!
More of both these sessions later!

We finally got a picture of Cohen smiling! He smiles a lot, but the second I grab the camera he quits. Last night Johnny had him laughing, and we got some cute smiles!
This last one is Cohen being bored with me trying to take his 2 month pictures this morning!

He was 2 months on Monday. It is really hard to pose a baby and take it's photo at the same time! I will probably have to wait till Johnny comes home and can help me, or all the pics will look like this!
Quick Ava story and then I gotta go get some orders put in. Last night Maddie Kate had gotten in trouble (which is pretty rare around here, especially compared to how often Ava is in trouble!) and Maddie was crying and sitting on her daddy's lap. Ava ran in with a pretend camera and said,"Sissy, you're being a BABY!" and took a picture of Maddie Kate crying. Johnny and I started laughing, but trying not to let the girls see us, it was like she was documenting Maddie Kate's troubles and making fun of her! How does she know to do that stuff? She is a funny kid!
Have a great day, and pray for it NOT TO RAIN!! :)

Chatty

Yesterday I went antique/junk store shopping for props. Call me crazy, but I took Ava and Cohen with me. Before we went in, I told Ava several times not to touch everything...YEAH RIGHT! The store we went in was unbelievably packed to the ceiling with all kinds of knicknacks and antiques, and well...stuff! It literally had a little winding path that you just followed all around in the store, barely big enough for just me to walk through, not to mention a mommy carrying a diaper bag, a baby in a car seat carrier trying to corral a 2 year old! Ava couldn't keep her hands off of everything, it was just too interesting! Miraculously, we managed not to break anything, I don't know how, because everything Ava picked up was breakable. And I found several great items to use for photos that I am really excited about! I got 2 chairs, a wooden red crackly one and an orange wingback that needs re-covered, but I might just clean it up and use it as is, it's a neat color and would look great just sitting out in a field with a kid or a senior sitting in it! I got a giant frame, to use as a prop or to use in my studio someday with a huge picture or a mirror in it. I got a big crock to put kids in, and an old tricycle, both will be great for pictures of kids. I was going to take pictures of the stuff and post it, but it has been too rainy today to get it out of the garage. It all has to stay out there till I get a chance to clean it up!

Ava has been on a rampage lately, she is THE destroyer. She has been banned from all writing utensils after she colored on the toilet lid and on the sectional (yes, the poor sectional got it again...last year she wrote on it with a black sharpie...see April 07 if you wanna read about that...) The other thing Ava does right now is change her clothes 32 times a day. She can open her jammie drawer and play clothes drawer, and when she does, she slings all the clothes everywhere to find what she wants to change into. Everytime I walk into her room it looks like a tornado has hit, because there are jammies everywhere!! Plus she dumps out half the bookcase everyday because she loves books right now, and Maddie Kate has Barbies set up in families and little couples all over the room, so it really looks like a tornado has hit all the time, no matter what I do or how many times I pick up the mess. I sing the Trace Adkins song "You're gonna miss this" to myself everyday...it helps! :)

My mom and dad are on a cruise this week! She is a Stampin' Up Demonstrator and she earned the cruise by selling lots of stamping stuff. A free cruise! They are in Bermuda, and the boat sailed out of New York right past the Statue of Liberty! I think that is really neat, and I made her promise to take loads of pictures. I do miss talking to my mom every day though, I usually talk to her 3 or 4 times a day! I call her for advice about everything! She's my business sounding board, and she always has good business advice and kid advice, and those are my main topics right now! I'll be glad when they get back, and I bet my brothers are too, because they are home alone this week having to cook for themselves...

I attempted to get a picture of Cohen smiling today(he's 8 weeks old today!), but that is really hard to do while holding a big black scary camera! I did get some sweet ones though, and one sorta smile, but I will have to have Johnny help me get a really good one later.I love his pretty blue eyes!!

I have been exercising (an aerobic workout video and Johnny's personal training workout he fixed up for me) and doing a "meal plan" that my friend Dana (she didn't want to call it a diet) gave me a few years ago. It helped me lose the weight after I had Ava, and so far it's helping now! I've lost 8 lbs in the past few weeks, which is very encouraging to me! If anyone has any weight loss advice, I would love to hear it!
Well, I need to go to bed, Cohen will probably be up in a few hours...he is sleeping better lately though, just getting up once. He whines around 6 or 6:30 and I have just been getting up and putting his pacifier in his mouth, and that helps until after 7, when I usually have to get up anyway to do Maddie Kate's hair for school! I hope he keeps doing this well, it makes me so much more functional during the day!

What have I been up to?

Well, this may have been one of the longest lulls ever in my blogging--sorry to my loyal readers! Life is just different with a baby! I have been working on all kinds of things though, such as getting organized and designing some new marketing items for a bridal show in 2 weeks, changing diapers, putting in orders, feeding Cohen, doing lots of email and phone customer service, changing diapers, creating my new logo ( see it at the right, what do you think?), chasing Ava, doing a few sessions, changing diapers, my first wedding since having a baby this past Saturday, feeding Cohen, finally doing our taxes, changing diapers....you get the idea! :)

I have an engagement session finished up and I want to show some of the photos. I have known Jennifer pretty much forever!She lived in near Johnny's parents when she was little and went their church, and then she and her family moved down to this area, where they attended the church I grew up in. So I guess Johnny and I have collectively known her her whole life! Anyway, I am thrilled to be doing her wedding photos this June, and here are some of her engagement images:



Thanks so much for letting me take your pictures!I'm looking forward to your wedding in June!

Cohen has started smiling at us, which makes us so happy! It's so wonderful to see those fat cheeks all smiley and loving us! I haven't gotten a picture of his smile yet, but I will post one when I do!

Baby Session and a family update

I hope everyone had a happy Easter! I know, it's been a long time since I posted (besides the one silly Easter pic of Ava!) but we have had Spring Break and Easter, so it has just been a busy time for our family. I haven't had time to do anything! (That seems pretty normal for me these days, with my high-maintenance 2 1/2 year old...more about her later... and my high-maintenance baby who won't sleep at night! :)

Anyway, I have a preview of a baby session I did just before Spring Break! He was about 3 months old, and so sweet! He seemed so big compared to my Cohen, I just can't believe that they grow SO FAST! Here's Trace:He is loving his mommy in all these pictures, he couldn't take his eyes off of her! :)
So sweet! I love baby sessions, and Trace did great! Thanks for letting me photograph him!

Here's a tiny preview for the 2 sessions that are currently waiting for their pictures:
Cool old car, huh? Fun family too! More to come...
I LOVE laughing pictures! Engagement sessions are one of my favorites! More later...

Here are my silly girls doing the basic teenage girl myspace picture! I think Daddy might have had something to do with this....
We took a little trip to Effingham to visit Johnny's parents for a few days since Maddie Kate and Johnny were on Spring Break. The day we headed up there, I had a Dr. appt, and I took Cohen with me, and Johnny took Ava and Maddie Kate to the mall. When they came back to pick me up, Ava was wearing a very mismatched outfit (sweatpants with boots). Johnny had had to dig out something else for her to wear out of her suitcase because she had an accident on the floor in Hibbetts! She has been potty trained for awhile now, but she has been regressing the past few weeks really badly. I don't know if it's an attention thing or what, but I can't wait till she gets it right again!
This is Cohen, the first time he ever wore overalls. He must think he's Superman. :)
These are my little Easter bunnies! Poor Cohen, he has no idea that mommy put silly bunny ears on him!
I did attempt some Easter photos with my girls in their Easter dresses, here are a few:

Johnny actually took this one of the glamorous Maddie Kate!
This next one is funny to me because it's actually just a timer picture! We didn't have any one to take a snapshot of us all together on Easter, (and I think my sister still has my tripod) so I set the camera on the piano bench and this is what we got:It's not the greatest, but at least we have a picture. And I know, we don't match, and only the girls actually look springy(they had to wear sweaters over their dresses), but Easter came so early this year, and it's not warm enough for spring clothing!Daddy with his boy!
And this is what happens when you hand the camera to a 6 year old! :)
This is Ava on Easter afternoon.

We didn't make her take a nap since my whole family was over for dinner and spent the afternoon, but about 6, she passed out sitting up on the couch watching Maddie Kate playing Wii.

This morning when I started typing this blog (It has taken pretty much all morning due to all my little interruptions! :) I heard Ava making a racket in Cohen's room. I went in to check and she was walking out holding Maddie Kate's Amazing Amanda doll. She said, "I put lipgloss on my girl." I looked and the doll looked fine, and I didn't see any lipgloss anywhere, so I figured she was just pretending. A few minutes later I walked back into the playroom to put a movie on for her, and discovered a little jar of Vaseline (which had been on Cohen's changing table) open on the floor, right next to Amazing Amanda. Upon closer inspection, I found Amazing Amanda had "lipgloss" all over her face, some in her hair, and all over her legs. A Barbie SUV that was sitting nearby was also covered from bumper to bumper with Vaseline.
Why does she do these things? How does she think of it? And how does she do them so quickly?! I can't possibly keep up! :) :(

Jessica

Birthday session!

I love closeups! Aren't her eyes beautiful?!
I had a session the other day with this adorable sweetie for her 1 year pictures. She was shy, but we did get her warmed up after awhile! I'm not one of those who believes you have to have a perfect smile to have a great photo, but I know most mommy's want at least a few smiles in their sessions (I know I like to see Ava's dimples, too!) and I think we accomplished that!
Here's Brooklyn:I love messy cake pictures, and I love her chubby cheeks! So cute!

Here she is with mom and dad! One of my favorite family poses! :)
Thanks for allowing me to take Brooklyn's photos, she was so sweet, and it was so nice to meet you all! I hope you enjoy your images, and I hope she has a great party tonight! :)

P.S. Today is the last day of the Cohen 10% off special, so if I don't hear from you today...it's too late! :)


P.S. Again: I forgot I wanted to add this storyboard I made of Brooklyn eating her birthday cake. She is so sweet!