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

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!

this is the time of year i love to bake even though i am not a great baker...last week i made pumpkin roll...

it kinda sucked...

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.

my baby was sick...

a nervous baby boy.

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.

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

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!!!

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...

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.

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!

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

i ADORE this photo of marley and her mama!

hope all had a great halloween.

xoxo

puma weekend and a little edgy urban!

i feel like i am finally catching up with shoots and work and unpacking and...so much. it feels so good to cross things off my list:) i have been wanting to post some pictures from our time in michigan, so hopefully every week i will get that done, because if their in one thing that makes me feel instantly better...it is knowing that i have posted memories.

i am so that girl that saves just about everything for the sake of a memory. yes, i save movie stubs, old pictures...even really blurring, crumpled ones where you don't know who is in the picture. i save diaries, old stuff from school like brownie and girl scout badges, old homecoming and prom dresses, old shoes...ugly ones. you name it, i save it and with the birth of of my two babies...it's only gotten worse. i save most of peyton's school projects and when i actually have a fight with myself...convincing myself i have enough...i don't need more, i feel guilty and almost usually pull it out of the garbage hang it somewhere.

my new way of coping/accepting is throwing things in the trash and then pouring something on it...like spaghetti sauce or something really gross like raw eggs or old sour cream;0 it works pretty well. then i'm feelin' all cool and proactive on cleaning up the clutter and then BAM, "(whiny, pained voiced) mommy, you threw away my project. why did you throw away my project? (big brown accusing eyes staring at me)."

"i'm sorry sweetie, i thought you threw that away. i'm so glad you found that bc i love it! (little white lie), i'm going to hang it up right here on the fridge!!!!"

okay, i'm officially on a tangent. all i really wanted to write was i want to post some pics from our michigan trip bc i know that my blogging has really suffered since starting my business. i love to do both and i really want to better document our family experiences. it's so important, bc regardless of how much you THINK you won't forget in a year, two years,...ten years-we will. we will forget the little tiny details of our days and i so don't want to forget all of it.

here are some pics of my sister-friends...we have literally grown-up together and we try to take at least one day a year to go somewhere and hang...actually we do this like twice a year. last year we did chicago. this year for out annual puma party (i think a puma is what a woman is before she is a cougar???) anyway we went to a vineyard in michigan, had a two hour long win tasting and then headed back to net's lake house to get ready to go out for the night. like always it was amazing. love you girls! my cam died three pics in, so as someone so nicely stated to me after i about had heart failure, "well i guess now you have to enjoy yourself!" ;0

baby bro is feeling a little under the weather. i took him to the docs yesterday to rule out the h1n1??/swine flu. they swabbed him up and said..."no swine flu here! just a common cold!" whew. then, i learned that kids 5 and above can not get the swine flu shot unless are considered high risk. peyton just missed the cut-off:( i am so one of those peeps that wants her children protected, but worries about the side-effects. i feel lucky that we have vaccines available to us, but at the same time, as parents we are forced with the decision of getting them done or not/guilt both ways/pros and cons both ways. oye. lOL i just wrote oye!

i spy two sweet babies mesmerized by the snowglobes...

even though i am finding it hard to escape the beautifulness of christmas...even at bed bath and beyond...!!!!!! we are getting ready for halloween!

two words:

BAT GIRL

another two words:

BAT BOY.

another few words:

head-to-toe HOT PINK LAME' for peyton...WT????????

as i started to hyperventilate while losing all hope that peyton would choose something a bit more...cute, i realized how happy Peanut Butter (peyton and beckham) were. beckham said, "i have a SUPER cool costume, mommy. i bat boy!!" he then put his hands up like superman and ran fast enough that his cape would fly behind him.

peyton, looked at me and said, " mommy, i don't want to be a mermaid, i want to be bat girl with beckham!" she then gave me her best superhero pose...both hands on hips and she was workin' her stand to boot.

three more words:

i give up.

it is officially over for me. a ladybug one year, cowgirl, and then cinderella and tinkerbell last year...i made the choice the couple of years, went along with her choices last year but she still wanted my opinion. it's all over. no apologies, she's batgirl now!!! i admire her choice making with conviction skills-something i lack:)

they're so excited and i am so excited for halloween.

beckham kept saying this over and over last night, "this is my trick-or-treat day costume mommy. ye-yaaa!"

now on to a wonderful family i met and photographed for the first time last summer. caterina and her beautiful little ones are a joy to spend time with and easy to photograph. this gorgeous mama is starting a new chapter in her life and wanted to start it fresh with new family pictures. she recently moved to an urban downtown area outside of detroit.

she was not familiar with the downtown area, but i asked her if we could do some edgy urban shots and that i would find the location (with my sister, heather's help cause girlfriend has a cool apartment in the same town) and we would have some fun!!! she was all for it and then thanked afterward saying she never knew she could have so much fun in an alley (or a three!!!) welcome home, caterina. you are an amazing person!!!!! xoxo

xoxo

have fun and be safe this halloween!!!

happy birthday to my sweet friend, jenn!!!!!

you make 30 look great!!! i love you!!!