Julia turns 5!!

Our little friend Julia turned 5 years old last month and brightened our day by lighting up the studio with her sweet smile!  It was bittersweet for us to photograph Julia's 5 year old session- we have been photographing this lovely family for years.  We have photographed her big brothers since they were just little babes!!  And now, Julia, the "little sister" is a big girl who is 5!! How is that possible?  Weren't we just photographing her newborn session with her brothers gazing lovingly at the little pink bundle of joy?!?  Can't these kiddos stay little forever?!?   We adore capturing families as they grow big and cannot wait to see how they continue to grow up and become big people!  Happy 5th birthday, lovely Miss Julia!!

Pretty in Pink

Lately, we have many of our 2012 babies turn a year old which means we have been lucky enough to photograph a lot of one year old sessions!  These sessions are the best!!  This little cutie, Mylee, turned one in July and came in a few weeks ago for her very own special session (we hope to see big sister Stella next time!!).  Mylee got to play "dress up" in two very sweet outfits perfect for this session!  Mylee's big smile lit up the studio almost as much as the hot pink we used- it really must be her color!!
Stay tuned for a one year old session with cake coming soon to the blog- you won't want to miss it!!

Toothless wonder!

Okay, so we may have a wee bit of an obsession with toothless sessions.  We readily admit it!!  But how can we help ourselves?!?  That gummy grin gets us everytime.  It may also be because it is such a short window of "cuteness" before those big, grown up pearly whites appear and alter appearances until kiddos "grow" into them.
We encourage all of our clients to come in for a toothless session and Leah's family did exactly that!!  Leah lost one of her top front teeth awhile back and had the other front tooth hanging there for quite some time!  Finally, it fell out (it may have had some help!) and we got her in to the studio for this session!  The extra fun part was that Leah got to help "art direct" the session by choosing her outfit and having input into the background used.  And it was all about just her!!!  The result?   You can see for yourself how darling the images turned out!!  Leah and her family will have a reminder of this fleeting moment in time with the portrait in her room!  Love it!!

Sisters.

There is something about sisters that is so sweet and precious. These two sisters are exactly that-big sister Lily is a little mother to little Violet. Seeing them interact and play during their session this past summer was too cute for words. Of course, coordinating sisters outfits is always so fun and their mom did a wonderful job with them. We are so pleased that their portraits are displayed so proudly in their home-and happy that we can share these images with their out of town family and friends through the blog! We hope they enjoy as much as we do!

Toothless smiles

Something special I do for each of my boys is have Melissa photograph them on their own when they have lost their front, top teeth. There is something so endearing about those toothless smiles-and before you know it, those big, gawky looking grown up teeth grow in and that toothless grin is gone forever (unless you play hockey and as a hockey mom, I hope that never happens around here!) Blake, my middle son, is almost 8 and has been anxiously awaiting these two teeth to fall out (it may have to do with the tooth fairy leaving a little more for the top front teeth!) As soon as it happened, he had his own session with Melissa where he got to choose his outfits and props (football uniform, pajamas and a stuffed animal). These images have joined his older brother's toothless images in a beautiful image box we keep in the family for all to marvel at! It is a special keepsake we will cherish forever (thanks Melissa!)

Happy 2010!

Happy New Year!! We are excited to be blogging our first entry in 2010! We have been back to work in the studio for the last week and 2010 has started with a bang! 2010 is going to be a fun year at the studio and we can't wait to share with you our plans...but first things first!! We had to start the year with images from a session we did before the holidays and we wanted to wait to unveil it as our first 2010 blog!

6 month old Lewis (you may remember his newborn session back in the spring?!) and his big brother, Franklin (who is somewhat of a rockstar on the blog!) came in for their first "brothers" session and it couldn't have been more sweet! Mom and Dad are adjusting very well to their household of boys and the heightened activity level that goes along with that!

Before we know it, spring will be here (when it is -15F, that seems hard to believe!!) and Lewis will be back for his year old session!!

Class of 2010!

We love this time of year! Senior sessions are so refreshing and fun! There is something about the energy in these sessions...the excitement of what is to come, the milestone year that is beginning and the anticipation of the future. And this session had all of that energy! Claire has just begun her senior year and has lots of plans for the future. We are so thrilled for Claire and her family...and honored to have been able to capture all of this for them in these portraits! Way to go, Claire!!

A smiley guy!

This little guy was one of the smilest babies we have had in the studio...when he wasn't fast asleep!! Literally, he went from grinning from ear to ear, to out cold asleep! Oh, to be 4 months old! Mikhail is a happy, delightful baby and we were able to capture some great smiles!! We also photographed his family, including his adoring big sister! We loved every second!!

Little cherub!

These beautiful images of one year old Ingrid remind me of a little cherub...so dear and sweet! And we love that starting-to-walk stage! Such a great moment in time to capture! Ingrid came in with her whole family (older sister Marit was in during March for her own session) and we completed the images for the Tres Belle designer piece that will include super cool giraffe print frames!! We can't wait to see it finished!!! It will definitely be a conversation piece!!

This tender moment between mommy and Ingrid melts our hearts!

Of course the session wasn't complete without some lovin' from big sis!! What a great family!!

Peek a boo....it's Moo!!

This little jokester is my three year old, Max, who came into the studio for his 3 year old portraits. Max has the unfortunate nickname of Moo Cow (as given to him by his older brothers). Moo Cow has now been shortened to just "Moo". It is ironic that he has a nickname at all since when his oldest brother was born, we wouldn't even shorten the name Bennett to Ben!! The poor third child!!!

Like many three year olds, Max is obsessed with his blankie which he refers to as his "B". It played a promenient role in the session (until I hid it under the couch in the studio so we could get a few images without it!!) which is why this first image cracks me up!! Someday we will fondly look back at this stage and remember "B" and all of the wonderful things about being three!!!

"All I want for 2009 is my two front teeth!"

This toothless grin belongs to my 7 year old son, Bennett, who recently lost both front teeth which obviously warrants a special photo session! In fact, Bennett has been anticipating this for months. Since last summer, Bennett has been asking when he gets his "own photo session" with Melissa without his brothers. I told him that once he lost his top front teeth, we would go in for his session. Ironically, over the Christmas holidays while we were in Canada visiting grandparents, one of the top teeth fell out. Grandpa immediately went for his camera to capture the moment. Bennett politely refused to smile for the camera, explaining to Grandpa that "Miss Melissa" was the only one who "could take his picture"! It was news to me that Melissa had him sign an exclusivity contract!!!!! Too funny!

Of course, this one is Bennett's favorite image...sporting his Team Canada hockey jersey, he thinks he looks like a tough hockey player who had his teeth knocked out by the puck!!!