I’m not gonna lie, these 2 cuties gave me a run for my money! They never stopped moving and my knees are bruised from crawling very fast all over the floor while trying to keep up with them (I think it’s time to invest in some knee pads.)  Their mamas were probably pretty tired too as they also worked hard.  I got to photograph both kids when they were in, and fresh out of, the oven. They happen to be cousins who absolutely adore each other and it is really sweet to watch them together. It’s been so much fun watching them grow over the past year and a half, and I am giddy over the photos that we ALL (kiddos included) worked so hard to get.  The bruises were totally worth it!  Here is a preview of the little cuties (I’m sure their grandma’s have been anxious to see.) You might wanna grab a cup of coffee or a soda because it’s a long one.

First, here they are in, and fresh out of, the oven.

Addisyn is the oldest.

Teagan came next.

Teagan went first and made sure that my floors were nice and polished (using his little knees.) He loves Curious George. I mean he really, really  loves him.

“T” is for Teagan, and Tractors, and Telephones, and Trucks.

You may remember his Daddy’s favorite tin tub from his first shoot. Well, it made an appearance again.

Good thing I have a nice big window up there. His mama says that he likes to look out the window ant home and watch all the cars.

Addisyn was next and all ready to go in her pink cowgirl gear. Her and her mama own some horses, so she is sure to be a cowgirl someday. I love these next photos because they look a little retro to me.

“A” is for Addisyn, and Aprons, and Apples.

I made these giant paper flowers for Addisyn’s shoot. I just knew she would look so pretty surrounded by them.

They also made great accessories.

Just a simple sweet smile.

2 Cuties in a tub is a good way to end don’t you think?

On Friday my baby got a mouth full (and I do mean FULL) of metal. Full set of braces on top, full set on bottom, and a big hunk of metal glued to the roof of her mouth that will expand the width of her mouth. Poor thing could barely talk, eat, or swallow. I think she was excited about getting braces initially (because you know kids kind a like that stuff sometimes) but once it was all in she was bummed about how it felt in her mouth. To make her feel better, we got her all prettied up and did a photo shoot of her with her new BLING. She loved it and totally worked the camera for me. As you will see, she is quite the little model. I loved it because it gave me a chance to play more with the AMAZING light that I get in my Attic Studio during the day.

I swear,  she’s never seen an episode of Next Top Model. It must just be from having her mommy take her photo all her life.

Braces have never looked so cute!

Last one, I was experimenting with different light techniques. Used my reflector on her in this one to get the background a bit darker. I think she was ready to be done.

This little boy is gonna be smothered with brotherly love, seeing as he is the youngest of four boys! I was so excited to have him and his beautiful mama Katie be the first clients in my home studio. While the space is not quite finished yet (all the fun little decorating and touch-up details etc…) I worked on getting the shooting area cleaned up and ready so that we could get baby Colton in while he  was still little enough to do some of the following:

What is it about a baby in a basket? It’s like those kitten videos on you Youtube. You just can’t stop “awwwwing.”

Just a sweet backlit shot of mama snuggling him.

Can’t resist those little fingers.

He was just small enough to fit on this chair. I was hoping he would be because I had this all planned out and knew it would be so cute if we could pull it off. He wasn’t really happy being on that hard chair, but he tolerated it just enough to get some good shots.

Ahh, nice and soft. I think he liked this better.

I think these are my favorites from the shoot. I was not sure at all if this would work and Katie was a brave mama to try. Don’t worry, she was right there  just inches away the whole time. It amazes me how babies can just sleep anywhere.

Couldn’t resist snapping some from the other side.

Thanks Katie for letting me photograph your precious little guy.

Our Ash joined wrestling this winter. It was basically an intro to Wrestling Club where they practice twice a week, learn technique and then have “meet” at the end of the season.  Her PE teacher was one of the coaches and suggested that she would probably like it and do well. Of course we knew that she would be one of very few girls, but she really wanted to do it, so we said, “why not?”  Over the past year and a half we have been getting to know her better and discovering more and more about her personality. And, she has been having fun exploring options and opportunities that would never have been available to her in Haiti (especially being a girl.) She is pretty diverse in her interests. She loves to sing, dance, dress up, and do girlie things. Yet, she is athletic, extremely competitive, and loves to play aggressively. Whenever given a choice between athletics or arts, she always chooses athletics.  I love that she is so bold and not afraid to try new things. I, however, need a lot of practice at being a “sports” mom.  1) I am like the least competitive person I know (unless it’s 80’s trivia) so it’s hard for me to get motivated to yell things from the sideline. Because truthfully, I don’t really care who wins, as long as everyone is having fun. 2) I can’t yell. I simply can’t do it. I can sing and belt out a note like no one’s business, but when it comes to yelling, I just can’t get very loud. So, I feel bad that Ashley probably can’t ever hear me yelling encouragement at her. Maybe I should start bringing a megaphone. That’d make me at least look hardcore. Anyway, here are some photos from the one meet they had at the end of her season.

She had some decent moves (according to my husband who actually knows about wrestling.)

Unfortunately, she had to wrestle boys who totally outweighed her, so even if she took them down, she couldn’t keep em down.

She really had a hard time with not being able to keep them down. I don’t know if during practices she got to wrestle smaller kids, but she did not deal well with it. We felt really bad for her cause those boys were pretty big.

She’s pretty scrappy!

This little girl was cracking me up. She was a brute. The funniest thing was that she would just pin all these boys, then so effortlessly lay on them while looking up and smiling at her parents.

Ash wrestled her friend Quinn last and that was a little bit better of a match since he was a little slimmer than the other boys.

So, when she did get him down…

She was able to hold him down.

Of course, Quinn had his fair share of take downs.

I must say, it is very hard to watch your daughter being wrestled to the ground by boys. But, the lesson involved overrides any uneasiness I have.