Thursday, November 12, 2009

new baby. sweet niece. my baby girl.

i had the wonderful opportunity to take newborn photos for my neighbor and friend a few days ago. baby abigail is nothing short of a miracle baby and an angel to boot.

she is breathtaking and sweet. i have only done two newborn shoots so far, but this baby, by far has to be one of the easiest little bambinos to work with... like in the history of newborn baby picture taking experiences. she molded, slept when we needed her to, she was alert when we needed her to be...it was a wonderful experience.

my photog friend, kelle came along to love up on abigail and to help me with posing, soothing, setting up. i'll be honest...two photogs to one newborn baby is the way to go. i was able to get so many more poses this way...and it was way fun to work with my friend. kelle, you rock man! love you. can't wait to do it again.








next up is my adorable baby niece, evelyn. oh, how i love this little girl with all of my heart. she is
sister's baby. she is a little pixie, but has the biggest smile. she lights up a room and her cousins love
too!

i had the best time with this photo shoot. yes, we treated it as a shoot. we organized schedules, went
shopping for the perfect fall outfit, went to three locations...and all the work was worth it, because i could
eat these images off of my computer screen. she's like a little cupcake.








xoxo

a few more that i found from our fall trip to michigan this year.




more later, but for now...g'night!!!!!


Wednesday, November 11, 2009

disney world part 1 of a lot!!!!

had i mentioned we were going to disney world?!!!

well, we did! our girls turned 5 last month and when i say our girls i mean, my little peyton and jenn's little sophia!!!

they are cousins and they love and adore each other to pieces!!! jenn and i have been dreaming of taking our little girls places since they were born or in the womb where we wished and hoped we would have girls together even though all we really wanted were healthy babies. boys were cool too! but we had baby girls and it was the happiest surprise ever in the history of...all my life...lol, not sure what i meant to write, but i'm sure you get it.

i have literally hundreds of pictures, but i am swamped this week with work, so i am posting part 1 today and will go from there bc i am having a ball looking at what we captured.

let me just say...it was MAGICAL! jenn and i had waves of chills, misty eyes, faces that wouldn't/couldn't stop smiling. it really was an amazing 'princess' trip, making us think about planning the next one.

we had the COOLEST room ever at the animal kingdom lodge... yes, we sprung for the better view in hopes getting to see a giraffe or zebra... at least once. HELLO!!! we saw them everyday. every single day we could look out our window and see a GIRAFFE, a boar, or zebra or 10 other things that i can't name, but jenn could 'cause that girl is a kid at heart. i have never seen an adult run like a bat out of hell in order to get to her room just so she could look out of our balcony window 'cause..."omg, they are going toward our room, run, run, run, omg...i think they are in front of our room!!!!!!" (eating jenn's dust as she sprints down the hall of the hotel with kids following and me...laughing my ass off.)

love that girl. she cracks me up. anyway...we immediately stood outside in the cold with the kids and marveled at the long necked animals and beautiful black and white striped creatures. it was so cool, we really felt like we were in africa somewhere. it was surreal. a perfect word for it...surreal. i half expected a dinosaur to round the corner and eat some leaves off of one of the trees. we felt blessed and lucky to be there and found ourselves saying that over and over throughout the weekend.

to say the kids were excited was an understatement...they played on the balcony, climbed bunk beds, fought over who was getting it, watched movies, and then ordered room service. it was fab and that was just the first few hours we were there the first night.

i have more to share...birthday fairies, shopping, photo shoots, burgers and wine at midnight, tons of laughter, a few tears and princesses, but for now, here are some photos and they are not in order.

these are from the day we visted cinderella's castle. we had lunch there and it was really beautiful inside.








our beautiful girls.




we love you girls... so, so much.
xoxo

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

pumpkins, batman, and sick babies.

these are the best days of our lives as parents...i believe that and try to live each day knowing how lucky we are to be here, in this moment, with babies who want to dress like batboy, and his big sister who wants to dress just like him. these are the days that i see two little ones running around the house with capes flying behind them...making superhero sounds whatever those are. i know all parents feel this way, i just want to write about it, cause one day i want my kids to know exactly what i was thinking about one night in november...when they were just babies:)

we are lucky that we still have our kids in the house begging for candy, whining to trick-or-treating from the moment they wake up on halloween morning.

pumpkin carving and getting all the gross seeds out and then toasting them. peyton and beckham sprinkled the salt on and we enjoyed watching them toast in the oven. yummy!

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this is the time of year i love to bake even though i am not a great baker...last week i made pumpkin roll...
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it kinda sucked...
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but it was fun to roll the pumpkin bread in a dish towel. i need a good pumpkin roll recipe so i can try again if anyone knows of one.
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my baby was sick...

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a nervous baby boy.

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the crew.

then, finally the time is near. we enjoy friends... and family if we are lucky. we drink, eat hot dogs and chili with the same group of people each year and i take comfort and joy in knowing that we have a little family tradition going...one i hope lasts every year.

the kids visit their first house, beckham is a little scared of the scary decorations . he shields his eyes and runs to daddy...unashamed. just young and seeking comfort. peyton is a bit more independent and goes ahead with a buddy.

"trick-or-treat day is here, mommy!"
"i bat boy!"

finally, we are done and the kids run home to go through their treats...

stomach aches and tooth decay warnings go unheard as they tear into their candy not long after we frantically inspected each piece just like our parents did for us. we are the parents now. that little fact always surprises me...even now after five years of parenthood! i love it...even if it does make me a little old...in their eyes.

peyton says, "your old mommy. i don't want to be old like you. please don't get more old." :)

both kiddies have been under the weather so we have been trying hard to make our time stuck in the house fun. so we build castles, play dinosaurs, and make projects.

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my boy...concentrating on his picture. i love how serious he gets.

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next we play market...and i typically pay about a 'hundred four hundred dollars' for a banana. good deal i'd say. i pay about 5 more dollars for two 'cume-cumbers.'

peyton asked me why adults have to work so much at home today? broke my heart and made me realize how busy i have been. i promised her i would would work less because she and beckham are more important than anything...even work. she said, "no, mommy. don't stop working." when i asked her why, this is what she said word for word.

"don't stop working, mommy because your work is important to you." bless her little heart.

HELLO? i sat stunned as i listened to my little girl speak like a grownup. she amazes me and i learn from her so much everyday about being more present and living my best life. she reminded me what was most important and that even though i think i am just sneaking in time here and there...it is significant to them. and while i won't stop working, because i do love my "work" and it is important to me, i am more aware that they need me with them and i will take advantage of these young years. i will squeeze every last drop of little voices, mommy snuggles, castle building, dinosaur eating dinosaur games, book reading, craft making, cooking cupcakes, fun loving time that i have with these little ones. because before i know it...my babies won't want to play dinosaur games and fly arounf the house in their batgirl costumes.

xoxo

peyton, sophia, jenn, and i are heading to disney world this weekend to celebrate the girls' 5th birthdays. we are excited and anxious to begin this trip we have been talking about since we became pregnant and planning for years. we have carefully planned out each day and can't wait to meet the princesses and especially go the castle for lunch. i will post pics later!!!


Monday, November 2, 2009

mama's, babies, and footballs.

this post is for some pretty amazing mama's that have been patient in waiting to see a sneak preview of their sessions. i did a few at once because i have been working like a good little elf in order to get these done for...
CHRISTMAS MAILERS!!!!!!!

i love me a good christmas mailer and i love saying christmas mailers instead of cards...it makes me want to say something like, " the mailers are done, now all i have to do is take them to the post!" a little bit of the little women for me to get me in the mood for christmas...not that i need any help in that department.

jeff and i decided to decorate early for christmas this year...maybe next week...just sayin'...the darwish's love them some holiday cheer!!!

first family is an old friend from school! it was so nice catching up and walking through old fields to find the perfect spot for the family photo the mama had envisioned in her mind last summer when she first asked me to these...

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lydia was the perfect model and loved posing and having fun in front of my lens. she made my job a breeze!

next family was about rained out due to about 24 hours of non-stop rain. i had three shoots this day, we had
to cancel two, but we were determined to get just ONE good photo for christmas...what happened was pure
magic because i have about 100 photos i could post here. most of these were taken in the rain...mom was
holding an umbrella over her beautiful boys for the most of the shoot.

it was rainy, gray, gloomy...but these boys are amazing and made these images come alive. seriously, they
kinda make me want another boy.

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such a great time! xoxo

next is beautiful little kate...i photographed her newborn pics and this day she was so alert, i just love how she is looking
right at the camera!

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baby marley is next!!!! lovin' on those eyes right now!!!

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i ADORE this photo of marley and her mama!

hope all had a great halloween.

xoxo