Happy {Belated} Easter!

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One of my new favorite products: Square collection prints!

I have two new favorite products: new fancy dancy wedding albums and square collection prints.

I just ordered these 20x20 collection prints this morning and I had to share them with you! The mom is picking up 20x20 frames at Ikea (only $25 a piece!) and displaying them in their living room. I think they will look great! Frames are also available at Target.

I hope you are having a great Thursday. 

A Kid's Life Photography Website

The Rock Star.

My prediction is an extreme snowboarder. Or maybe a karate master. Actually, I am going to go for major rock star. Yes, that's it. 

Let's run him through the potential rock star test:

Love of music? Check.

Comfortable with his shirt off? Check.

Amazing blue eyes to make the girls melt? Check.

Wild hair to shake around? Check.

Loud voice for screaming out lyrics? Check.

Excitement and enthusiasm that is contagious? Check.

Well, I guess that that's it. Rock star it is! I am happy to be a part of his life now so I can share stories about the famous Joey when he makes it big. "I knew Joey when he was just a year old! Yes, I got him to take off his shirt!" My memory is not so great. I had better write this stuff down.

I hope you enjoy some of the photographs from our shoot...

A Kid's Life Photography Website

This is Heaven to no one else but me...

A few things to note:

1. Four blocks from our house my daughter announced that she had just had an accident in her car seat and I cannot figure out how to get the liner out to clean it.

2. Exactly 48 hours ago my husband and I decided to turn our house completely around and swap all bedrooms and offices and TV rooms (and build a couple walls and paint - you know, the usual thing people decide to do on a whim). The house is a complete mess and we are now sharing a room with our kids.

3. I cannot do any more laundry until I get a new lint trap and I may be moving on to swimsuit underwear soon!

4. I have a sore throat and a slight fever and I am not feeling like my usual self.

5. Every one of my sons diapers in the last 24 hours have been poopy.

6. My husband left yesterday for an out-of-town job, so I am doing everything by myself for at least a week until he returns.

And then there I was on the swing today with my little Abe. My butt was wet from the fabric swing. I got slight wiffs of Abe's freshly poopy diaper. And all I could think about was how happy I am. How wonderful that moment was. He was sleepy and tired from playing in the mud so he happily snuggled up to me and we swung. The weather was beautiful. The sun was warming us. His hair was soft on my face. I sang quietly to him and he leaned his ear to my mouth to enjoy this too. 

There was a time long ago when I had some boyfriend troubles and I rode my bike a few miles to a park and got on the swings and blasted the Sarah McLachlan song "Elsewhere"on my Discman over and over again. I kept swinging and singing and playing that song, and I after a while I felt such joy. Like I could really see how blessed I was in the things that mattered, and that the rest was not worth worrying about.

That song and that feeling of joy come back to me sometimes. Times like today when I felt pure bliss to be in that spot, in that moment, with my Abe. Singing. "I believe, this is Heaven to no one else but me, and I'll defend it long as I can be, left here to linger in silence if I choose to would you try to understand..."

Just so as I always leave an image with a post (I am a photographer after all!), I will include two here. One from today with the kids, and one from a little bit ago of my Abe, who, after a morning of swimming just couldn't stay awake long enough to make it to bed for a nap...

Sneak Peek: Joe

I had a great time photographing little Joe Joe this morning. Not sure if he always liked my ideas however...

A Kid's Life Photography Website

Invasion of the fruit fly

She was suddenly terrified. As in, screeching-with-bulging-eyes-and-doing-her-best-not-to-wet-her-pants-in-fear, terrified. "IT'S A BUG!" she screamed over and over in the 30-second ordeal. 

Who knew a little fruit fly could create such chaos? If only it knew the power it had over my little Bella at that moment it may have taken advantage of it. "Hey kid, give me some of that banana or I will keep dive bombing your face, he he!" {To be too honest here I have to admit that just now while sitting here alone and typing that last quote from a make-believe mean-spirited fruit fly, I actually read the words aloud as I typed - in a deep, rough, mean-spirited fruit fly voice. I need a nap!}

All this drama happened while I was doing my daily practice - yes, another goal for 2009. I want to try to take an image a day for an entire year and see what I learn and how I grow and what images come out of it. We were sitting at the table today talking about our zoo trip tomorrow and Bella looked so cute that I grabbed my camera to make that moment part of that practice. I got about four frames in before the fruit fly invasion. Aside from the sympathy I feel for Bella, I so love her face in the shots! Hard to beat true emotion.

I hope you enjoy the images and are perhaps inspired to start a daily practice of your own.

Sometimes I wonder if emotional kids grow into emotional teens and emotional adults. If so, then I am in trouble.

A Kid's Life Photography Website

Crabby Mom Buster

To say I was crabby would have been an understatement. Seriously, I felt like I was going to burst. 

And then there was this noise coming up the stairs to my office. My husband was at work, my son was napping, I was working at my desk. That left my little Bella to be the loud monster on the stairs. 

She was grunting and stepping heavy as she came in my door. When I looked up at her I burst into laughter. She is so cute! Apparently she was hungry, as she somehow got the jar of crackers off the kitchen counter and upstairs for me to open for her. 

I must say that there are two things I so love about this. First, she grabbed the healthy TLC crackers. Second, she also grabbed a plate to put the crackers on. That's my girl.

We both laughed and laughed and of course I took photos. We ate lunch then went outside to play in the snow. 

Thank you, Miss Bella, for breaking my crabbiness. You are wonderful and I love you! 

A Kid's Life Photography Website

It makes me chuckle.

I am guilty. And I bet you are too. Have not all of us parents uttered the words, "Smile and you can have a treat when we are done!" or "Hey! Stop making faces now. We need a nice picture for grandma and grandpa!" Yup, I have and I am not too proud of it either.

And sometimes I still do it. It is just part of being a parent.

But then there are moments where we let the kids make the faces. When we give them permission to be themselves and let loose and make the craziest face they can think of. 

During my shoots, I always let the kids have their time. Let them go crazy and give me some funny faces. And then we all laugh.

Every time I see these images I chuckle. And their parents chuckle. And the kids chuckle.

I thought you might like to see a few of the most recent funny faces - one of them even ended up being on this year's Christmas card!

A Kid's Life Photography Website

Secrets...

We all know about secrets. There are good ones and bad ones (and probably really bad ones). And, of course, Christmas is the time of year for good secrets. Time for sneaky photo shoots and surprise photo gifts (yes, I relate everything to photography - or Oprah - but that is another post). 

Anyway, there were many a time when I wanted to post a cute Christmas card I did for someone or an image that I knew would be part of a gift, but in many cases my friends' and clients' families read my blog and I did not want to be the one to ruin any good Christmas secrets.

So as I find the time now I might sneak in a Christmas image or two that got left behind in the "Christmas Secret: Do Not Post" bin. 

A couple images of little Miss Freya fell into that bin and I wanted to be sure to post them because she is so sweet (not to mention my future daughter-in-law - see previous post here).

A Kid's Life Photography Website

The baker's kids have no doughnuts.

The baker's kids have no doughnuts. Or is it the teacher's kids can't spell? Or something about kids not having any shoes. Anyway, it's some quote my dad always says meaning that when you do something professionally, you don't come home and do it too.

And it has happened to me. Well, not completely as I can't really ever seem to put the camera down, but I have given up formal photo shoots with my kids. That is until recently. I wanted to experiment with color backgrounds, and who better to practice on then my own children?

The plan always sounds good. We head up to my dad's place and set up a studio and the kids act perfect and I get shots that bring a tear to my eyes. Ah yes. A girl can dream, can't she?

Well, needless to say it did not go as I had dreamed but I must admit that a few of these shots touch my heart...

A Kid's Life Photography Website

The Impossible Details

We sat in Caribou for our pre-shoot consultation. "What are their ages?" I asked and held my breath. "Seven and a half, four and a half, two and a half, two, seven months, seven months, five months, and four months." I exhaled deeply and let out a little nervous laugh. Eight kids seven and under? All in one studio shot? I wanted to crack a joke about using duct tape but wasn't sure if it would be appropriate - or funny. But the even funnier thing about this was that I had already agreed to do it. Funny...or crazy...or perhaps a little bit of both.

This is a Brady bunch family. You know, the kind involving two existing families coming together and forming one big happy family. One of the all-grown-up "Brady" kids and her husband and three kids live in Florida and they were home for the holidays. And what a great idea to have a photograph taken of all the grandkids together as a surprise gift for grandma and grandpa for Christmas. The catch? The Floridians were not coming to Minnesota until the 19th. Yes, we had to have the shoot on the 20th and edit, choose, order, and print the images in time for Christmas. (Have I mentioned before that I have a "can do" personality? Now do you believe me?)

After getting over the shock of the reality of their ages and our timing, we got to work. This was too important to let a little thing like the impossible details get us down. 

So, two shoots later with many groupings, grandma almost coming over during the shoot and ruining the surprise, kids crying, treat bribery, kids crying again, loads of singing and pretending to be farm animals, kids crying again, blizzard conditions, eight parents trying to make uniformed decisions, and leaky diapers, we got the job done and ended up with some really cute shots. And I got to spend time with a wonderful family. Really, for the stress of this shoot they were so helpful and easy going and fun to work with. This would not have been possible without their good attitudes (and singing help). A big thanks to them!

I asked a veteran professional photographer for advice on this shoot and one of his comments stuck clearly in my mind. "If you can get one shot with everybody in it where nobody is crying and all heads are turned somewhat towards the camera - then you will have been successful." I almost made it...

A Kid's Life Photography Website

Noah and Paige Sneak Peek...

Here is a little sneak peek of yesterday's shoot with Noah and Paige. Poor Lucy had to stay inside, but she did sneak out once. And trust me, finding a dog the color of dirty snow during a snowfall is not easy!

When I get a moment to breath again I will post more from this shoot and hope to also update you on other shoots I have been working on.

Enjoy...

A Kid's Life Photography Website

I take photographs

Some moms write things down. Some have some super-human memories. I take photographs.

I am afraid to forget the beautiful and the everyday. I am afraid to forget that moment a few days ago when my kids were looking out the window in my office while I worked. How cute they were watching the world go by. How big and little they are all at the same time. How precious they are to me.

My journaling intentions always fall by the wayside. But I am never far from my camera. And I always feel some comfort as I release the shutter to capture one more moment of my children that will never be again. I am thankful that I take photographs.

(By the way, the windows in my office are pretty much at floor-length and always locked and closed - I didn't want anyone to think that I am letting my kids climb up high onto windows while I worried about getting the perfect shot!)

A Kid's Life Photography Website

A moment of consciousness...

It was late and I had a big photography project on my mind - and I was in bed - not sleeping. So I sent an email to get it off of my mind, and as I was walking down the stairs from my office I had an overwhelming desire to snuggle with my 16-month old son. 

Sometimes I feel like I am living in a haze. Like I am living an unconscious life, just trying to keep up and not really thinking about everything as I go along. (Moms, do you feel me?)

But through the haze, I have strong moments of consciousness. Moments where there is something bigger than myself leading me to be aware of life. Where my breaths are slower and my heart is happy and my thoughts are only focused on what is in front of me. Oh how I love and seize these moments!

When I am working with my clients, this focus happens so easily for me. I feel so present with them and their children and I don't ever think about anything else. But when it comes to my personal life, the moments do not always come without effort. But I was blessed last night.

I lifted my little Abe out of his crib and brought him to bed with us. We snuggled so close. I kissed his cheek, and in his sleep he made a kissing noise with his lips. I smelled his hair. Actually it would be more accurate to say I deeply inhaled the smell of his hair. I smelled his breath. I thought about his tummy always full of Cheerioes and milk and if that was why his breath smelled the way it did. I kissed his cute lips. I rubbed his tummy. I felt his toes. I fell asleep with my arm around him and my face snuggled in his neck. It was beautiful, and so is my son. I thank God for him every day.

I took these shots a couple days ago. One look at those cheeks and you can see why I kiss them so often! I hope you didn't mind my gushing for a bit.:)