Meet some of the bravest kids we have photographed! Abram's mom contacted us and said she and 2 other families wanted to do a photo session together....outside! It was around 30 degrees out and these kids didn't let that stop them! They were all such troopers and did a great job, even let us capture them in 2 separate locations!
Meet Abram. He says so much with his active hands! I am slightly obsessed with hand photos. I love capturing how people hold hands! I love how Abram can only get his hand around 2 of his moms fingers!
Meet Jarrett and Jayden I LOVE the expression on their faces! Just priceless! They have one crazy daddy who was literally jumping over the top of them...I think they were digging it! :) I love how this perfectly captures life as a boy...jumping on sticks...just because he could. There's no doubt about it, Jayden LOVED to swing!!
Meet Tre, Caden and Mya What session would be complete without a race!?!?!? Mya didn't let her mom get too far away from her...perfect! That means mom gets to join the fun too!! I haven't quite pinpointed what it is about this image, but I'm in love!! I think I love it so much because it feels like a mirror image. Don't the boys look so much alike in the above picture? Isn't she just adorable in this outfit?!?! Notice mom's hand in the corner? I told you she didn't let her get too far away! I loved the connection they had! Thank you all for coming out and playing with us! Thanks for showing us the ropes at the park and hanging with us for so long in the cold...the kids were awesome!
Remember Madeline from last summer? She's now a big sister!! She met us at the door as she told her mom that she would take care of Cooper (the dog) as we made our way in. This is especially funny as Cooper is WAY bigger than she is....but she was sure she could "take care" of him. :) It wasn't long before we got to meet Jack and his unending smiles. He gives them away for free and they are totally adorable! I barely got "Hi Jack" out of my mouth and he was hamming it up! Madeline is a dancer....a very busy dancer. Dancing isn't just dancing you know. Dancing means dancing in addition to changing dancing clothes as many times as possible before the song ends! Here's a little taste of what we got to experience during one song from the sound track of Mama Mia... Check out the top of the middle picture...I LOVED walking into Madeline's room and seeing the image we captured of her last summer framed in an awesome hot pink frame....LOVED IT!! Mr. smily face at it again...he can't contain himself! This is the "secret" picture...surprise!! I asked Madeline if she wanted to surprise her mom and dad with some pictures. That meant we had to "sneak" into the next room (I'm sure they didn't see us walk right past them into the next room!) and we found an awesome painting that served as a perfect backdrop for the surprise! And I just couldn't resist putting one of the million of images I captured of Madeline giggling! Her daddy can make her giggle and giggle and giggle forever and I love the images that resulted! Pure joy!
Madeline and Jack - What fun it was to hang out with you! Madeline, thank you for sharing your camera time with Jack this time around! You definitely keep your family on their feet, you are one very busy little girl! :) Jack, I can't get over how much you are a mini-me of your dad! We can't wait to continue to watch you grow....keep on smiling!!
Look who we spent valentine's day with...Mya and Mea!! I'm not sure that is can get much cuter than this???? (I have a new favorite photograph!!) I love this photograph so very much! Perhaps it is because it involved so much laughter. This was the first time these girls have had these tutu's on. Needless to say they LOVED being able to grab them and put them in their mouth. Many of the photograph's look like this... :) You all know how much I love me some family snuggle time and we didn't miss getting in on the action with these girls. How sweet is this, can you just feel the Valentine love exploding from this image?!?!? Mya and Mea hold hands and I just think that it is the cutest thing in the world! Honestly, all of a sudden you will see them holding hands....(pitter patter pitter patter), yes that was my heart. :) I can't get over the cuteness and connection captured here! Mya and Mea - Thank you for letting us capture you sans a nap!! You two were AWESOME!! I still can't believe that you gave us over an hour of your undivided attention and complete sweetness! We loved our time with you and learning all about you! We can't wait to continue to capture you as you grow up!
It's no secret that Eric and I are not very handy around the house, nor are we very good when it comes to lawn care. We just don't get that warm fuzzy feeling by having the perfectly pruned lawn. Sure, we love the look of it and envy each lawn we see, but we know it's just not something that we can bring ourselves to focus on. For all you lawn care experts out there, keep on keepin' on so we can continue to admire your work!
With all the above being mentioned, it is a near miracle I noticed what could have been the start of a weekend full of cleaning the basement. I walked out of the house on Friday and noticed a gigantic puddle forming at the foundation of the house. After I examined the problem, I realized that all the snow melting from the roof was running down the gutter just fine....the problem came when the downspout didn't extend far enough to make it's way over the hill. Thus everything coming down was coming straight back to the house foundation. SHOOT!!
This is where Karen "aka McGyver" Smidt came to the rescue of the basement! I ran to the basement to make sure no water had made its way in...nope! Perfect, I thought! I didn't have enough time to run to the store to get a downspout extender so I had to figure out what I had in the house that could work. I won't even begin to share all the crazy ideas that went through my mind, it would just be too embarrassing! The solution is embarrassing enough!
I remembered that we had an old vacuum in the store room (yes, it should have been thrown away years ago, but we just haven't gotten around to it). The vacuum had a hose extender attachment....perfect!! How should I attach this vacuum attachment to the smashed downspout? (yeah, there was an incident with the lawn mower last year that we haven't quite fixed yet....I told you, this stuff is just not our cup of tea!) DUCT TAPE!! It fixes everything right? The smashed downspout turned out to work quite well as it made all the water go to one side so I wrapped a whole lotta duct tape around the gutter and vacuum attachment....tada.....a ghetto down spout extender!! and the water really runs through it...away from the foundation!!
I have to admit, I was really proud of my quick fix. Who would have thought to use a vacuum extender?!?!? ME! I'm not sure that we learned any good lessons out of this though?!?!? Keeping an old vacuum and a smashed downspout all turned out to be useful. Hmmmmm....it's almost too encouraging don't you think?
Whoa!! This family is bringing the family photo session to the next level! The kids were FULL of ideas and we were lovin' it! They had so many ideas that we even had to take a break from taking pictures and play a game of hide and go seek! Not joking, we put all the cameras down, it was all play, no work :)
I am 100% in love with this image. I love how it captures little Ellie sneaking a peak at Eric and the beautiful fireplace in their home. I love capturing the kids' personality like this! Here's another favorite...I love how it captures Wyatt in his element. He painted that himself on his wall....WHOA! His cowboy hat and boots bring it together just the way I imaged it! Meet Hannah Montana....oh wait, it's Whitney! Too cute! She definitely beat the rest of the family when it came to coming up with different ideas. Everytime we turned around, she had another idea brewing! Meet sweet little Ellie. When we first got there she was hiding behind the chair....but it didn't take her long to warm up. :) It's not too often that we get both a beautiful day AND snow on the ground. All the elements came together and it was perfect for throwing some snow around....woohoo!!! Erikson family - Whoa, what fun was that?!?! We loved that everyone was so involved and kept us on our toes, it was a blast! 2 hours has never gone by so fast! I hope everyone got a double scoop of ice cream, you all deserved it!! :)
