Sunday, October 23, 2011

Maliyah and Xandric - Fun Fall Photography!

Meet Maliyah and Xandric.  They are the children of my dear friend Tara and we had a blast during this photo shoot at their family farm.  What could be a more perfect venue to capture a little boy's smile than a farm with tractors, barns, cows and beautiful farmland for as far as you can see??!  Xandric is a busy little man, but with the help of his older sister, we managed to capture a bunch of sweet poses!

The Kelley Farm was a great backdrop for these photos and I've put a few of my favorites below.  Enjoy!















This one (below) is my FAVORITE of Maliyah.  I love her relaxed expression and the beautiful natural light coming from behind her.







I really like this one (below) of the tractor.  I love the rustic, yet vibrant blue color of the tractor and the fact that the tractor light is in sharp focus while the kids are looking on from the background in a beautiful soft blur.  









Tara - I've put together a video of all of the photos from our session - I hope you love it!  Be sure to click on the 'full screen' presentation so that you can see all of the photos BIG!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Harper is six months old!

Hi sweet baby girl.  Thanks for letting me take your six month pics.  You are growing into such a sweet little angel and I adore watching you grow.   Thank goodness for you, Greta and Willa - if Dan and I are destined to be parents of boys and never have a daughter of our own, we can take comfort in knowing that we have the most adorable and wonderful nieces!  

Our photo shoot took place on Art Hill in Forest Park.  We were blessed with great weather, incredible light and a happy six-month old that can sit up all on her own (makes makes the photography much much easier . . . :)  Here are few of my favorites:


I LOVE this one.  I love her sweet smile and the fingers in her mouth and the amazing sparkle in her eyes.


























Karen, TJ and Harper - Enjoy the video!  I hope that you like it!


Beach Vacation - Part III

Beach Vacation - Part III is my final vacation post.  I have officially gotten through all of our vacation photos and I am still glowing from such a wonderful family trip.  I seriously can't wait to get back to the beach.  I enjoyed it so much that I'm eagerly awaiting the right moment to approach the subject with Dan to get next year's trip on the calendar.  While we were considering a trip to Disney World for next year's vacation, it actually makes me a bit sad (selfishly, of course) to think that a trip to Florida next year wouldn't involve powder white sand and deep hues of blue ocean for as far as you can see.

While I know that I loved the ocean, I believe that Drew did too.  Drew has brought up our vacation several times since we've been home and it makes me happy to realize that the memories are not only there, but that they are sticking.  I think that Owen liked the vacation too but his needs can never be entirely satisfied by a comfortable condo and beautiful scenery (he is our whiner and can find anything under the sun to be upset about).  Evan, of course, is too little to express an opinion on the topic but he enjoys sitting on mommy's lap (like now) and watching the pictures/videos appear on the monitor.

The story that my kids will tell someday depends on me and I want these vacation memories to be a part of it.  I am writing their book and I want their childhood chapters to be full of traditions and memories of happiness and a cozy home.

I think about this a lot - what will my kids remember?  If it's measured by present enthusiasm, I'd say that Drew will remember his enormous collection of monster trucks and transformers and how every bit of motivation we employ in our household somehow centers around him earning this type of incentive.  I suppose that Owen will remember his deep love for sports and wrestling with his brothers.  My guess is that Evan will recall many hours at the dinner table given that eating is one of his highest priorities as a toddler.

It is my hope that my kids will remember the ways that holidays glowed in our house.  The food, the decorations, the gifts . . . I hope that they recall our celebrations warmly and with pride and love them so deeply that they want to carry them forward into their own homes one day.

I hope that they will remember how I let them make messes.  That we prioritized vacations.  That we hugged.  That we ate meals together.  That we played together.  That we listened to each other.  That we apologized and respected each other.      

I hope that they remember that we worked hard, but we played hard too.  

But most of all, I hope that they remember without a doubt, that they are loved so fiercely and so deeply that it makes my heart ache just trying to describe my love for them.  Perhaps the heartache exists because I know that they may just never know . . . after all, how could they possibly get their minds around something so significant?

Now back to the beach vacation . . . we took a dolphin cruise that was super fun.  While Evan capitalized on the relaxing light breeze and took a snooze in the stroller, Drew and and Owen took a front row seat in the boat in order to be the first to spot a dolphin.








Eventually, we saw lots of dolphins!










Eeeww! . . . we saw lots of a jelly fish on our first day on the beach!







Ahh - the beach, oh how I miss you.  Until next year . . (I hope).  I'll leave you with a some of our 'blissful chaos' in the video below!

Drew likes to scare the birds with a bit of a 'roar' and Owen, well, he just needs to put his swimming trunks back on.  Poor baby Evan, can't quite figure out how to keep the sand out of his eyes.  Ahhh - blissful chaos!
 
© My Heart Is Smiling