so I was going to be a "cool aunt"....

When I was growing up, I had a "cool aunt". At the time, she didn't have any kids. She took us cool places and spent time with us, making us feel like the most awesome kids in the whole world. And she bought the coolest presents! It's kind of funny that one of the biggest memories of my childhood Christmastime, now as an adult, was wondering what awesome thing Aunt Vicki was going to find for us! So, let's just say, that I determined that when I grew up, I would be a "cool aunt" myself.

Well, I got to be a "cool aunt" for a few months... and then Nathan entered our world, and let's face it. It's pretty tough to be a "cool aunt" when you are immersed in your own kid's poop, spit up, and baby food. So my brilliant plan was thwarted. Oh well. I still try to find "cool aunt" gifts for my nephews... but spending time with them to be the "cool aunt"... well, the reality of it is, that just isn't reality! However, my sister has fully embraced the role of rockin' awesome "cool aunt." Both my brother's kids and my kids totally do not understand the awesomeness that is their Aunt Dana. I pray that when they grow up, they will remember every ounce that Aunt Dana has invested in them.

So to kind of make up for my lack of "cool aunt"-edness, we took family photos of my brother's family, to celebrate little Sammy's one year birthday. It really is just crazy to be around this kid, because he is THE spitting image of my brother when he was little. If I didn't KNOW that I took the pictures of him, I would totally guess that those were Jim's baby pictures! They look THAT similar!

squirrel food

I wait all year long for this. Autumn. Oh, how I adore it.

I love the temperature. I love the light. I love the COLOR. (who is surprised by that!!??)

Fall is most certainly my favorite season. And with fall comes the acorns. By the bucket load. We've been collecting the 'squirrel food' as Cora calls it. I'm not quite sure what we'll do with our collection just yet. But it will be super cool when I figure it out!

handful

My two are a handful. Okay, okay. Cora is a handful. Nathan was 'high needs' when he was a baby. But once Cora came along, he promptly took his rightful place as pleaser compliant first child. It's really quite ironic to think about. I remember walking the 'loop' in our old house with Nathan as a baby. Singing. Bouncing. Swaying. ANYTHING to keep this child from SCREAMING. Restaurants? Out of the question. It really wasn't until Cora was well over one that we even ventured out TO restaurants again! Into everything. I remember when I finally covered all my plants with blankets because I could NOT keep that child out of the dirt IN THE HOUSE. We ended up sending our dog to live at the grandparents because we could NOT get Nathan to stop hitting and kicking him, in total play. Child just did NOT get that he was hurting poor Gizmo. I remember referring to "real boys" who played like real boys and got into mischief and required constant supervision, or else you may regret turning your back a moment. At any rate, he's a dream now. He still has his issues, of course, but he's just a joy. Cora, on the other hand, keeps me on my toes at ALL times. I really can NOT imagine having any more than these two. I just can't. I wish I could. I intended to have more. But I just can't.

Which brings me to these lovely friends. With four. One Two Three FOUR. I admire her and her ability to handle four with finesse so much. She's refreshingly real. She doesn't glamorize it. She admits her weaknesses. She has tough days. But she is striving to give these children the childhood of their dreams. She utterly adores being a MOM. So we wanted to capture a little bit of what a family of four, four and under, looks like.

(Photographers out there, I know these aren't rockin'. I tried so hard. BUT, I did learn some good things which will make me better in the future. And that's the point, is it not? Besides, she loves them. And THAT is entirely why I'm doing this. Well, to give my friends a treasure and to have a non-mommy creative outlet.)

add another branch to the family tree

I am a perfectionist. A strong one. It very often paralyzes me. I am not at a point where I'm fully pleased with my photography work. I don't know that I ever will be... But despite that, it is quite a high compliment and boost when someone likes what you do enough that they ask you to come back, a second time, and forever preserve special memories for their family. Last summer when I first began this journey of photographing for others, I captured first little man's one year-ness. This summer, I was invited to capture his two year-ness, but also the birth of his little brother.

Some of my favorite children's music that we listen to as a family is by Frances England. (As in, I would listen to this even if the kids weren't in the car. This is NO Barney, folks). Her song, "Family Tree" just rocks. And every time I heard it in the months leading up to this session, I thought of this family!

Last night while everyone was asleep
I looked out my window, up through the trees
The sky was so big and covered in stars
I knew a baby brother or sister soon would be ours

CHORUS
Hey Ho, our family of three
Is growing beyond my mommy, daddy, and me
Hey Ho, just how will it be
When we add another branch to our family tree

I’ll be the protector, so strong and wise
I’ll be the cheerleader always by his side
This cute, little baby will soon enough see
No one could love him any more or better than me

CHORUS

I’ll teach him all the things I’ve learned along the way
I’ll help him blow out the candles on his first birthday
We’ll grow up together, side by side
Take care of one another - full of love, full of pride

I got my new lens, a Sigma 30mm 1.4, the day before this shoot! I had a wonderful time hanging out with friends and watching a family transition from 3 to 4. Took me right back to when Cora was born and the wonderful girls at Picsee came out to do her newborn family session... and Nathan, at 20 months, wanted ab. so. lute. ly. noth. ing. to. do. with. family. pictures. Good times. But big brother here was really pretty good!

Another thing I wanted to say about this family.... It is one thing for people to want me to come and 'take pictures' for them. I've done that. It is something entirely different when they take what I painstakingly create, and actually print it, and then hang it, big, on their walls. For the last year, whenever I visited their home, my images from last summer were up. For display for all to see. Words do not adequately express what this did and still does for me. It is just beyond cool to see that. That I truly did preserve something spectacular and magical for their family that they love so much they want to see it every single day in their home. She did wall groupings last year. She took them down and did all new ones with these images for this year!!! I can not WAIT to visit their home again to see. It does my artist heart good!

Beautiful family. Beautiful children. Without further ado...

(I gotta say. This is my favorite picture I've ever taken. Ever. yes, ever!)

surprise!

Once upon a time there was an extraordinary set of foster parents. They were working on finalizing the adoption of their oldest son. They found out about a pregnancy and offered to adopt that baby. Shortly before son #2 was born and they got him, they discovered that they themselves were pregnant. Daughter and son #2 are only a few months apart! Then shortly after daughter was born, they discovered that yet again, they were expecting.

Four kids, four and under. And they lived happily ever after.

Not to mention that for a good part of her pregnancy with this little guy, she was on strict bedrest. Yeah, how do you think bedrest with 3 who are four and under goes, two of which are barely one?

This little guy had some complications when he was born. Then he had some more complications after he came home. But he's doing super now! I actually saw him just the other day... he's almost four months old now. My, how he's changed! And he looks SO much like his sister!!! Cutie pies they are!

the half year

I'm behind on blogging. Big time. I just can not find time to do everything I need to do. I keep reminding myself that it will be so very different in three years when they are both in school all day long. Right? Then I'll have time to do everything, right?

This little man had his half birthday. I had a wonderful time. Now that I'm out of the baby-baby phase, I can really appreciate just how amazing this phase is. They are a fun family, and that makes all the difference!

the eyes have it

I just love Kelly Willette from Willette Designs. She has challenged me personally on many different things. And I love how she occasionally inspires us with simple 'capture this' challenges. The latest one is to capture our loved one's eyes. Would you know it? I have loved ones AND they have remarkable eyes...

Only problem is... NEITHER ONE OF THEM WANTS TO LET ME TAKE A PICTURE OF THEM ANY MORE.

I will resist the urge to go postal on this blog about just how frustrated I am about this very issue.

But yesterday evening, I decided to try to get some shots of their eyes a la the challenge. So here was as good as it gets.

and cheating a little... here was a shot from back in June of the princess. I came across it Monday actually and was just STRUCK by it. Shamefully, I haven't even LOOKED at my own images from June, July or august... yikes.

25 years

Almost exactly one year ago, my inlaws celebrated 25 years of marriage. Circumstances were such that they didn't have a formal wedding, much less like what weddings have become today! They did have a small reception and had a cake. To my knowledge, she has just one snapshot from that event in which they are cutting the cake. So, when 25 years came around, they decided to do a vow renewal ceremony and make it like the wedding she would have liked to have all those years ago.

To be honest, the frugal-practical side of me thought this was a little silly (to make it just like a wedding). Having gone through, and spent the funds on, a 'real' wedding (that was NOTHING in comparison to wedding budgets these days, just a few years later!)... well, we now advise anyone who asks our opinion to skip the whole formal ceremony and reception thing and spend that money on the honeymoon! It's so crazy and hectic and expensive -- and you don't even REMEMBER it!!! I am NOT uber sentimental. So I guess that is partly why I feel that way. All that to say, I had to tell myself that if I hadn't ever had a wedding, I'd probably feel the way same and want to do the same things.

And of course, she asked if I would take the photos. I really didn't want to! First, this wasn't something I'd ever done before, nor was I really that interested in. I knew the location and I knew the light would be horrible -- everything I know is natural light. I don't even own a flash. I knew I didn't have the proper equipment to do this job. Second, I had a 13 month old and a 2.5 year old to take care of while being there, and all my normal 'childcare' is family that was heavily involved in the event. Third, I was family for this event. So being in charge of the photos meant I didn't get to really attend it. But, as much as I promote boundaries in your life, I didn't really feel like I could say no. I made it very clear that I could guarantee NOTHING as far as results.

When it was all over? As I expected, I was tremendously disappointed in the images. The lighting situation was just as I anticipated. With my prime lens, there was limited zooming to what I could do with my feet. I just plain did a poor job. I wasn't surprised, but I was still very upset. And when I feel like the images I took stink... well, I have a REALLY hard time working up the motivation to edit those....

I ran a quick batch edit on all the images and gave them to her. I asked that she let me know which ones she liked and I would custom edit those. (I have found adults to be WAY way WAY more picky about themselves than about kids, and I do not have time to waste editing images that the adult doesn't even like!). She never did anything with them. And I put it behind me.... until....

Shawn asked me if we could make an album to give them for their anniversary this year to commemorate the event. At first I'm sure I gave my "are you SERIOUS?" question. Boy, that would be a ton of work... and the images are horrible... and it's just gonna be yucky.... and waa waa WAAA!

But after some thought, I realized that my standards of photography have been a little warped. Although these would most certainly win NO prizes and would be scoffed at by most pros, they would be priceless to my mother in law. So, I was off.

Turns out, I am SO glad I did! First, this was a very neat thing for me to see, professionally, for lack of a better word. I've grown! I did these 1 year ago, and I could see so very clearly as I worked through those images all my mistakes and how I would have done it differently today. That was just way cool. It was a big boost to see that I AM making progress -- it just isn't something you can see from day to day, just as I don't feel my kids growing, but oh they ARE!

Second, it was way cool to see it all as a finished work. The images by themselves are really nothing spectacular. But when put all together like this in an album to tell the story... I LOVE it. I really do. It was beyond cool to feel this album in my hands and see my work. Imperfect, but mine. And to say she was happy (and surprised!) with it, is an understatement.

So here's my little project that I can finally share about. I went back and forth on sharing it all here, because that's a lot of images to load. So sorry... I omitted the one really cool collage spread that included images of all the individual reception attendees... since I don't have their permission to post them on the web. But other than that, here's the book in its imperfect entirety.