First birthday portraits (and a cheerleader too!)

I think birthday cake portraits are SO fun. I so wish that I'd thought of doing them with my kids! Luckily, there are other moms out there who also like the idea, so I get to have fun with other people's babies & their cakes. :)

This session started out neat & clean though. The new 1 year old, and her sister, were beautiful & really sweet together. The baby has a special pink rubber duckie, which I think is so cute.













The big sister is also a cheerleader, which makes for some really fun pictures!





The baby did not particularly enjoy wearing a tutu. :) But maybe that was because there was cake, just out of reach! Once she got the cake, she knew just what to do. She was perfect! She didn't mind being covered with frosting (what a pretty cake!) and used the chocolate duck topper as a spoon to scoop it up. Yum!














Sooooo much fun, thanks for coming girls! Happy birthday!

Twin princesses - portrait previews

I've been wanting to get these darling twins in front of my lens since I first saw them. :) I love them! It was so fun to be out with them - everyone that passed by was ooh-ing and aah-ing about how cute they are. I'm sure they get attention where ever they go. Anyway they were perfect, there are tons of really good pictures of them. Their parents were champion smile-coaxers (thanks!) This is a preview for them, because I'm really swamped in pictures & won't have the rest of them ready for awhile.... love these!














A lot of peek-a-boo, jingling, and squeaking.... totally worth it for this smile!






They kept sinking down in these chairs - they are so fun but not designed for 7 month olds :)








These took some dedication from their parents - it was too high for the girls to reach so their mom & dad are lying down in the dirt to hold them up high enough to get these rose petals (which yes, they ate).

Two years old!

This little girl has grown up so much since I last saw her! It's been about a year and I'm not sure I would have recognized her without her parents. She is bursting with personality & enthusiasm. She played with the treasure box, did bubbles, laughed at puppets, did silly voices, she danced on the "dancing floor", did some family pictures, and she was about done by the time we went outside by the rose bush. How many two year olds could get that much in just one photo session? So fun.





I always love it when pictures fit into a dancing collage. (Click to see it larger.)

Two year old who loves her umbrella; family portraits

I don't put a lot of personal stuff on this blog. But I thought these pictures were, as she says herself, "money-money" (she means "funny-funny") and cute. We had gone to Old Navy together (we do most everything together, like most moms & 2 year olds). She saw this umbrella and immediately knew it was hers! "Mine new umbrella!" She matter-of-factly carried it to the register and has played with it ever since.





We've had such nice umbrella weather lately too - we even took it hiking up on the back side of the mountain. It was a fun hike (at the pace of a 2 year old who was holding an umbrella, which is about half her usual speed) and I loved her & her brother's & sister's umbrellas.



For mother's day one of my favorite gifts is the gift of cooperation for family portraits. I have to say, it's getting harder every year. My family is more cooperative than ever, but it's harder to get poses that I want etc. without being behind the camera myself. That said I do like this one :)



And some more ideas here.

Beautiful sisters portraits

This was my favorite kind of session. This darling little baby, who just turned 1, was so sweet but... she didn't like me. Maybe it wasn't me, maybe it was the camera. :) In any case, there are some sessions when I just know the parents are leaving, wondering if there were any smiles captured. And it turned out so great! I ended up with more than 100 good proofs - a bunch are of her darling big sister, but so many fun pictures of the baby too. Her parents were also amazing smile-coaxers, thanks!

So anyway, I love it when sessions start out a little tricky, and turn out really great. It's rewarding and just feels good. Thanks so much for coming, it was great to see you again! I love watching families grow.