Nicole & Kids {family}

Here's a special one for sure!  After having to call off their session last week because of the ice storm, I got to shoot for my cousin and her three kids.  While it still wasn't ideal - at 34 degrees - it went so well!  These three kiddos were so good and did exactly ask I asked!  Then, they would throw their coats on for a minute while we set the next shot.  We only shot for about 10 minutes and they were all keepers. 

How cute are they?

 

Here's Adreanna, the oldest of the three, who was a little nervous about getting her picture taken:

 

And here is McKenzie, one of the twins, and probably the most comfortable in front of the camera:

And Kaleb, twin #2, who wasn't too interested in looking at me, let alone smiling:

 

 

Nikki works very hard to be such a good mom to these three and I sure am proud of her.

 

   I'd say they love her for it.

 

Before we rushed back into my car to warm up, I caught mom trying to weasel a smile out of Kaleb and I captured what turned out to be some of my favorite images I've ever produced:

 

 

Shaffer {children}

Ok, so I think this is one of the most adorable families in existence!  Mom & Dad are both my fellow alumni of ESU, and Mom & I used to play softball against each other.  It's always nice to see people you know start a family together, and even better when they ask you to photograph them. 

As soon as they arrived, Miss K was polite & social, saying "hi," calling me by name and thanking me for complimenting her church dress.  Little Mr. S pretty much smiled the entire time too.  We were capturing his 6-month milestone - sitting up - and getting in some Christmas shots.  First we did some shots in what was my father's rocking chair as a boy.

 

 I had to bribe Miss K with a present because she wasn't too interested in sitting there!

 

Little mister was sitting up so good!  His mom & dad - who both have great voices by the way - sang to him to get these grins:

Little miss was being super adorable while she was talking to & laughing with her daddy.

And here, she figured out that there were not actually princesses in my camera lens as we had told her there were before:

 

 

We moved on to the Christmas photos.  The little guy didn't want to just sit there - he was after that tree!

 

And the ornament...

 

 

This series of shots was an afterthought.  It just popped in my head as we were about to call it quits and it turned out so cute!  Little man must've been getting tired - here's a time lapse of he & the bear toppling over.

 

Finally, we got a couple shots of these two cuties together.  Most of the time, Miss K was holding Mister S so tightly she was covering up both of their faces, but we did manage to get these two adorable images:

 

 

 

Morgan {newborn}

I had the pleasure of photographing beautiful baby Morgan!  This one was special to me because not only did I grow up playing with her daddy who lived down the street, but her momma was a dear friend of mine through middle & high school and I had not seen her for years!  It was so great to catch up with her while baby Morgan was being super adorable and chill - mostly awake - but chill.  We only had one of these moments:

This was a great opportunity for me to use all of the awesome new props I bought, like this adorable crown from Handcrafted Crowns.

And this bonnet from HandmadebyLululu.

 

And this handspun gnome hat from A Piece of the Plan.  This was the first time I got to try this "tucked in" pose & I think I'll be adding it to my workflow from now on!

Today in microfashion: Morgan is rocking a sweet new pair of cream knit overalls. 

 

I just think she looks like a little birdie in these:

 

 

It's always nice when clients bring in something personal to use as a prop.  Mom brought in this string of pearls that were her grandma's.

 

 

 

 

 

Baby Morgan's dad likes to play slow pitch, so he wanted his gear incorporated into the shoot.  You'll never guess how mom put this little bow on her head - Karo syrup!

 

 

Lastly, I tried to capture all her tiny details - something that is so important to do, but easily skipped.  Teeny feet: 

 Tiny hands:

 And a cute nose & smushy (word?) lips:

 

Thank you for letting me document this fleeting time for you, T & J!

Christmas 2013 - Part 1 - Decorating

How ridiculous is this: I'm 28 years old and this year is the first time I've had my own Christmas tree.  Each of the last 10 years that I've lived away from home, I've not cared one bit about putting one up, let alone decorating whatever house I lived in.  Well this year's different people.  I'm a mom.  And I guess moms decorate.  And I guess they make Christmas candies.  So I did that stuff.

First off, this Christmas was preceded by an ice storm, so that provided for some pretty cool pictures. 

Tim was pretty gung ho about putting lights up so I snapped a shot of those iced over.

On to the decorations.  I like to keep my house looking very simple with neutral grays throughout - in fact, the front room is black & white photos only.  I also hate Christmas colors, so it wasn't too tough to decide to go with gold, white & silver.

My mom & grandma have always made one of my gifts a Christmas decoration, and I have never used them until now! So, this picture frame is probably at least 5 years old and just now getting its first use with an adorable picture of my babies!  Oh, and can't forget the olfactory decorations - that candle is probably the best smelling candle ever - "Warm Rustic Woods." Walmart style.

 

And now to the goodies!  Anybody who knows me, knows that I am not Betty Crocker.  In fact, my Gram was just teasing me calling me Betty Junior because I am still learning.  I burnt my chocolate on my first attempt at these sweets. Whoops. 

 

I made chocolate dipped marshmallows topped with candy cane & graham crackers, cinnamon almonds, and mint puppy chow.  Reindeer chow maybe?

I even got crafty enough to make one of my brother & his girlfriend's gifts.  Sharpie on, stick in the oven @ 350 for 30 minutes and VOILA! 

Then, there's this guy.  Carl? Craig? I'm not even sure what his name is, honestly.  Abram's grandma got him for us, so now we have to do the Elf thing.  He really took to his name this year though - he literally did not move from this shelf.

And here's my little elf, "helping," which really means that he is pulling ornaments off the tree.


Hope you enjoyed this post.  I'll be posting part 2 in the next couple of days.  Merry Christmas everyone!

--Megan