Two of the kids are local to my area, and the other two girls are cousins, visiting from Atlanta.  It was amazing to me how much they were all like one big family, more like brothers and sisters than cousins.

Most of my time was spent chasing after them as they ran on ahead.  They kept trying to convince me to follow the trail to the end, though no one seemed all that positive about where it ended.  When we got to this, I told them it was a sign.

Time to turn around!

He is the lone boy in the sea of girls.  Seems to hold his own though.

His sister.  They get along as you would expect brothers and sisters to get along.

And this little girl had a tooth I was just dying to pull out.  It was the mom in me.

She and her sister were buds.

But, together, the four of them were like the three musketeers.  Or like the four musketeers, if there were such a thing.

Do you like the nails?!  They did that in the morning before I arrived.  They were completely loving their nails.  Well, the girls that is.

Is there a cuter crew?  It was so cold that morning, and the kids were having a blast blowing steam.  When I asked them to do it on camera, the boy held his composure.  The girls were all over it.

Same thing with the funny faces.  Every.single.time.  I would get three girl funny faces.  And one boy smile.  So sweet.

And then it was time to go home.

And we ended just like we had started.  The kids running ahead, and me walking a bit more carefully behind.

Neither snow, nor wind, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays {this photographer} from the swift completion of {her} job.

hehe.

Can’t wait till next year!

A

They are all incredibly sweet.  The youngest is there in the middle.  She is very attached to her mommy, but when she opens up, wow, her personality shines.

Here she is when she heard the door open and knew that her cousin had arrived.  She was beside herself with joy and anticipation.

While the younger girls played, I was able to get some shots of the older girls.  Here is the middle sister.  Like my middle one, she has a lot of energy.  I love this shot because she appears so calm and movie-star-like with her sequined dress!

This, to me, shows her personality:

The oldest sister is approaching that age where the girls become more self-conscious in front of the camera.  Hopefully she’ll continue to see how beautiful she is.

Thanks L Family for having me over on such a very special day.  I look forward to sharing all the generational shots in your gallery viewing!

Peace,

A

Note:  This post has been edited from its original publishing both in content and in selection of photos.  A

Sometimes she has actual pastry chefs to help her.  This year, it was just me and another neighbor mom.  A step down from last year.  And I don’t think I helped much as I assigned myself the “official photographer” task.  Sometimes it’s so good to have this gig.

There were my four kids, a friend of one of my kids, my neighbor’s little girls, and another neighbor’s little girls.  By now, she has it down to a science.  The whole thing runs like a well-oiled machine.  She has counter space galore, so all the kids are set up with their own “space.”  They each get their own rolling pins, their own cookie cutters, their own dough, their own flour.  In case you didn’t know this, girls bicker.  A lot.  We try really hard to make everything VERY uniform so there is less of that.

The kids always have a blast.  This year, the little ones joined the big ones.

It’s like play-dough except you can eat it!  From a three-year-old perspective, what could be better?

Even the VERY young joined in.  How cute is this little girl?  Love her.  This reminds me of some kind of pose ~ “she can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan…”

Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of work involved.

And sometimes, the dough hits the floor.

I didn’t say they were neat.

I did draw the line when the three-year-old cute little girl, in an attempt to clean the floor, started picking up all the fallen dough, and then doing what any good baker would do, rolling it back into the dough.

Yuck.  Hope I caught that in time.

There was some frustration.  Here is B saying, “oh no, I messed up again.”  He’s got a bit of perfectionist in him.

Can’t wait to try some!

A great day all around.  Decorating tomorrow.

Stay tuned.

A

Many friends of ours have elves.  “Elf on the Shelf.”  Unfortunately, our elves don’t just sit on shelves (wouldn’t that be nice?!).  NOOOOOooooo, our elves do mischief every.single.night.  They unwrap all our wax paper and aluminum foil.  They TP our rooms.  They take all the books out of our bookshelves and dump them on the floor (and we have ALOT of books).  They make cookies (good), but then throw flour everywhere (bad).

Thankfully though, sometimes the elves feel bad for me and all the cr*p I have to clean up every.single.morning and they do something nice.

They brought us a second Christmas tree and decorated the whole thing.  And then took a bunch of photos with my camera.  Darn elves.  Messed up all my settings.

And like they do every year, yesterday they left the children a partially assembled gingerbread house.  This is the morning the kids like best.  All the candy laid out all over the table, tubes of icing, and a lazy day.  This one was made all the better by the snow coming down and closing us in our own cozy world.  Here is the house, almost complete, with the little guy putting on the finishing touches.

The finished product.

The best thing about the elves though is the magic.  We sprinkle them with magic dust every night, and while we sleep they come to life.  They may do a lot of mischief, but in my eyes, the magic they bring to my children is worth every hassle.

{and there are a lot of hassles.}

Peace,

A

Here you go!

Hope you enjoyed it!  I was really happy with this, my first attempt.  You can buy the DVD or forward to friends and family, simply by clicking on the links above.

Cheers,

A

Come, meet the boys.

C, the oldest, is eight.  And the twins just turned three.  Those twins were cracking me up.  And each other!

Big brother was always right there, helping out where needed.

It is so obvious how much those little boys ADORE their big brother.  Spontaneous hugs tell all.

They had fun running and racing.

And then it was time to pack up and head home.  Blondie there just cracks me up.  Always smiling.

Thanks for the laughs!

Until next time,

xo

A

So, I sit at home today, in my jammies, deleting all the “sale” emails that keep coming in, trying to figure out my new iMac, eating leftovers, drinking too much coffee, telling my kids to stop bickering, happy that I don’t have to figure out a dinner for tonight, and playing with some shots from yesterday.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving.  Remember?!  I did a crazy thing and scheduled a shoot for the morning.  I knew it would be a quick one, and it was right down the street.  I figured it would get me up, showered, and dressed earlier than usual, so that would be a good thing.  It was.  What a great morning.  I woke up to a wonderful fog cover.  My husband said, “oh, too bad about the weather.”  And I said, “are you kidding me, this is great!”  Fog/clouds are like one big giant softbox.  And this wasn’t a heavy fog.  It was thin, though everywhere.  Beautiful.

I did my shoot with three cute boys – a set of three-year-old twins, and one eight year old.  I’ll share more of that session later.  For now, here are some shots from around my neighborhood.  I knew they would convert wonderfully to black and white.  I love black and white.  Love it.

Hope you do too!

Okay, so everyone can use some color in their day.

And one more, just because I can’t resist.  I just LOVE black and whites.  Stay tuned for more shots from this wonderful day.

xo

A

The little red head stole my heart.  Can you see why?

It might be the two-teeth smile.  Or the brilliant red hair.  Or the personality.

She’s a doll.  And boy is she loved by her big brother.

That little red head didn’t stop smiling the whole time.

You can see where she gets her personality.  Mom in her red hair and beautiful contagious smile.  I swear I wanted to spend all day with them.  We had coffee afterwards and it was so fun.  Such a treat.

This was one of my favorite images of the day.  One of those shots that just speaks to me.  Subtle and understated.  Open air and so much love between mom and her daughter.  The universe is so large yet what it all comes down to is love.

And this shot was too precious.  The little one crawling to her family.  They’re all smiling and waving at her.  She stops to wave back.  So sweet.

Thank you B Family.  I look forward to capturing more of your family memories in the coming years.

xo

A

Well, I want to let you know that there is one place you can shop that will provide some excellent choices for the cards themselves. Minted.com was chosen by Real Simple Magazine as the 2009 “favorite resource for personalized holiday cards.” Shop through my storefront, and use the coupon code THANKS09 by November 23rd and receive a 10% discount off your order. They’re so great that you can order now (to get the discount) and upload your photos at a later date.

For my clients, simply place your order and indicate in the “special instructions” that I will be uploading your image. Let me know which image you would like to use. I will upload it, and the preview will be sent to you for approval prior to printing. Easy peasy.

If you’re not a client yet, but would like to use your own photo, have at it!  No problem.  Coupon works for you too!

They have such a great selection of cards, including flat cards and a new “mini-book” where you can feature each child on a page and give a little update about their year.  Wonderful!  Say goodbye to the folded up family newsletter!

Have fun shopping!

xo

A

Until then, I have to post just this one shot.  Oh, how I loved this session and this family.  I have the best job in the world, documenting these times, this love, this happiness and joy.  I carry it with me long after the session has ended.

Thank you B Family.  More coming soon!

xo

A