make that a snow week

It was an amazing and unexpected week that the three of us were able to spend together.  Snow days Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  Every day I feel like I cannot love and enjoy them more, and every day it grows.


























I shot these with my Nikon D800
Nikon 85mm f1.8
Nikon 50mm 1.4D
Sigma 30mm f1.4

snow day - jan 28th

We were blessed with unexpected snow days, which afforded me the opportunity to document them playing like mad.

I adore this image of her, in her own little world, creating.






They created a world of food for the world of their stuffed animals.


More creating for her.





I shot these with my Nikon D800
Nikon 85mm f1.8
Nikon 50mm 1.4D
Sigma 30mm f1.4

ordinary january 25, 26, 27

Ordinary life in January.  I love them so much.

I french braided her hair for basketball that morning, and for a gymnastics birthday party (that was cancelled due to snow) that afternoon. It was so cute.


She decided that she MUST make a crown with hearts and diamonds.  It was really quite remarkable. She's something else.




I shot these with my Nikon D800
Nikon 85mm f1.8
Nikon 50mm 1.4D
Sigma 30mm f1.4

survival and the world of masculinity, Jan 19th

(Little) Buddy has always loved being outdoors, but the fascination has taken a bit of a turn.  It started when we found _Man Woman Wild_ on Netflix and watched every episode, learning about survival.  Then we discovered _Man Vs. Wild_ with Bear Grylls.  Six seasons, full of episodes, about surviving in every climate, every country, all over the world.  It's a boy's dream.  He is absolutely obsessed with it right now.  And I confess, I really enjoy it, too.  (and realize if I'm ever in a survival situation, I'll most certainly die)

We struggled a bit with what to get the Buddy for Christmas this year.  His birthday is only two months earlier, which makes it more challenging.  As they've aged, finding a "toy" is harder.  There just wasn't a clear "he is gonna LOVE this" item.  At the last minute before Christmas Shawn was at Dick's Sporting Goods and saw a cheap hatchet and a flint striker.  He picked them up and we gave them to him a few days later.

I cannot tell you how many hours he's spent playing with them.  That last minute $10 or so dollars was the BEST gift he's ever received.  He's a little lackadaisical about the hatchet -- Shawn feels like it'll only take one time for him to really learn the lesson.  I'm kind of fond of his fingers and wish him not to lose one at 7 because he didn't fully understand the ramifications of a carelessly laid hand in the path of a well swung hatchet.  I'm trying, really hard, to let him be a boy, and let his dad take hold of this.  One more rung down on the ladder of the hold that momma has on her little boy -- letting him step ever closer to that world of masculinity.  Golly, that is hard to do.   I did ask for him not to get a knife just yet.  I don't think he's ready, and I know I'm certainly not.

At the same time, however, it's beautiful to watch.  It's beautiful to watch him watch Shawn, and try to emulate him.  It's beautiful to watch him run face first, head strong, toward the world of men.

Just the other night his sister had long since fallen asleep and was laid in her bed.  He was snuggled up next to me in our bed, and we were about to start an episode of Man vs. Wild for his "last show". Just a few moments before, he'd taken off his pajama pants so that he was in just his underwear.  He gets hot and tends to prefer just the briefs to sleep.  Shawn finally came up and headed toward the bed.  He was shirtless and wearing sweat pants.  Little Buddy jumped up like something had bitten him, and grabbed those pants back, scrambling to put them on quickly.  When I asked  what on earth he was doing - for he'd just taken them off - he replied "I want to be like Daddy, wearing just pants."

My heart melted.  Literally melted and oozed down onto the floor.




All he wants to do is start fires.  He's tireless in the efforts.  If you've ever used a flint striker, it's a lot harder than it looks.  At least, this one used with the hatcher sure is.  The one Bear uses on tv seems to work much quicker. Perhaps that's just tv.





I shot these with my Nikon D800
Nikon 85mm f1.8
Nikon 50mm 1.4D
Sigma 30mm f1.4

our favorite family

I've photographed a handful of families over the years, but this family has a special place in my heart.  She's one of my very closest friends.  He's one of Shawn's good friends.  Their little guy is my little guy's favorite friend in the whole world.  Their little lady is my little lady's favorite girl in the world, and she is the sweetest thing to my lady.  But on top of all of that, I get to be me when I photograph them.  They want more lifestyle type images.  They want the real smiles, and the real interactions, and they PLAY.  They don't just stare at me and wait to see what I'll tell them.  They interact.  They are a family, and let me photograph that. I love it.

Next year when I photograph them, I want to find the most amazing location so that they can all just explore and play and I get to document it all.  I've got about 8 months to find it!

Last fall, we set out to capture what their family looks like.  I last photographed them in the fall of 2011.  (see it here)  WOW, have they changed!   I also photographed them in the fall of 2009.  Apparently we are on an every other year schedule.  I hadn't realized.  But see how much they've changed since then, too,(see here).  Those are still some of my favorite images I've taken.  But this shows me, as well, that THIS is why we do family sessions.  We want to have them together, as a whole, and see the progression.  See the changes, the nuances, and yet all the while, still them, over time.  It is just so important.  I urge you - get your family photographed.  Do it now.  Don't wait.
































I shot these with my Nikon D800
Nikon 85mm f1.8
Nikon 50mm 1.4D
Sigma 30mm f1.4

childhood utopia

I loved the old house.  I didn't think we needed to move. But he was insistent.  The kids needed a yard, and woods, to play in.  (I thought, what four month old needs these things?)  I knew of a house I liked, with a nice big flat yard, and they were selling.  We asked to see it.  The rest is history.

Never could I have envisioned that we'd be giving the kids backyard childhood utopia.

They have no idea now.  I hope that some day they do.  How few kids have such an expanse to play on?  How few kids have a zip-line, their very own zip-line, in their backyard?  How few kids have the most rocking awesome tree house in their back yard?  I assume they think this is ordinary.  I hope some day they realize just how fortunate they are for these amazing things they've had in their childhood.

This day, this crazy warm day in January, they discovered how to climb up the zip-line platform themselves to get on the carriage themselves.  They discovered how they could team work to get the carriage back up, so they didn't need one of us to help them use it.  This means a LOT more zip-line play time.

I couldn't resist coming out to photograph it.  I also shot video and put it all together here in this post, if you missed it. But I wanted to show just the photos, as well.














When I first saw that they'd drawn all over the swing set with chalk, my insides balked. I schooled my face not to betray the "oh YIKES" to them, but my initial reaction was one of "oh great, now we'll have to try to get that off... how will we do that... ugg, guys, ugg!!!" However, as time went on, and I found the hearts she drew on the side, my own heart melted. I find the chalk charming and such a picture of THEM. And truly, what does it matter? It is THEIR swing set any way. Let them do with it as they please. The chalk harms nothing, just as the mud they used to draw on it last summer harmed nothing. Motherhood lessons - I'm still learning them every single day. I'm so thankful I didn't freak out on them, and squelch this creativity.





I shot these with my Nikon D800
Nikon 85mm f1.8
Nikon 50mm 1.4D
Sigma 30mm f1.4

the discovery of her obsession - just January 6, 7, 8

Around the time the Little Lady was born, Little Buddy (who isn't so little any more - I need to determine a new pseudonym for him) began his first fascination/obsession of airplanes.  He was allllllllll about airplanes for a long, long, long time.  Ever since, he's tended towards this phases.  There was a phase where he loved dragons from _How to Train Your Dragon_.  The _Star Wars_ phase.  The _Cars_ phase.  The dinosaurs phase.  The ocean animals phase that lasted probably longer than any of them.  He's been so focused on these things and played with these toys endlessly.  

At some point we realized that the Little Lady never had something similar.  She played with toys, of course.  She was drawn to My Little Ponies for a while and was a little bit fascinated... but it was short lived compared to Buddy's.  She's liked all things pink.  She liked squinkies, and "Little Pet Shops" as she calls them.  And still today she'd go nuts if you presented her with one.  But the focus and obsession wasn't the same as Little Buddy's phase obsessions.  She enjoyed playing with his toys, and playing with him, just as much as the things of hers.  

We wondered why this was different.  Just very interesting to us analytical and introspective folks.  

As time has gone on, however, her obsession has emerged.  People gave us stuffed animals when Little Buddy was born, and I wondered "why do people do this?  Kids don't actually PLAY or USE stuffed animals...."  

Or so I thought. 

Little Buddy didn't care about them.  The Little Lady?  THIS.  This is her focus and toy obsession. 

She adores, with utter abandon, stuffed animals.  In particular, her very favorite are what she calls "Big Eyed Stuffed Animals."  They are the Ty Beanie Boo line, and she LOVES them.  She cannot have enough of them.  She plays with them, all the time.  Seriously, all the time, and seriously, she PLAYS with them.  They are just decoration.  They are not just to snuggle with.  They PLAY with them.   Just as her brother has always preferred smaller toys that fit in his hand, as opposed to larger toys (like the great big Playmobil Jet I so excitedly gave that he never, ever, not once, played with), she prefers these tiny animals to larger ones.  Two peas in a pod, they are. 

As she has indulged him and played what interested his little boy self, he now will indulge her and play in her games as well.  They are the very best of friends, and it makes my heart swell.  

We built this sofa table a few months ago, thinking it would be a place to set a cup or a picture frame... but accordingly to the Lady, it is a display shelf for her stuffed animals. 



They both love Connect the Dots.  They asked for some, and I found a whole book of the different species of whales in Connect the Dots on Enchanted Learning.   They spent the whole day working on their books.  What could have been more perfect for my ocean and animal loving children?



On top of that, his top tooth was loose.  I was certain he'd lose it for Christmas, but dude.  That sucker  just hung on and hung on.  It was getting closer to coming out, and I realized I better get some last shots of his little boy smile.









I shot these with my Nikon D800
Nikon 85mm f1.8
Nikon 50mm 1.4D
Sigma 30mm f1.4