you may have heard about it.

i had an incredible time with my other friends at the workshop and with zack arias and his wife meghan and creativeLIVE.

when i wasn’t over at creativeLIVE, though, i was hanging out with one of my friends from college, Laurie, and her husband, and their two kids.

i had a blast.

how could you not when have a superhero to play with?

this was my first time meeting Laurie’s husband and their children.

i think i have at least 2 new bestfriends whenever i head back to seattle.

these kids completely cracked me up.

the faces this little girl makes…

and this guy…  cutest little boy ever.

i suspect this little girl may…just…be…

{ maybe }

daddy’s little girl.

their family is precious together.

a typical family of laughs, meltdowns, tantrums, more laughs.

mom and dad tired at night.

get up in the morning,

and do it all again.

but together, they work.

together.

they are a family.

and…

my favorite part?

getting a high five from this three year old who never high-fives anyone.

priceless.

already i can’t wait to go back.

xo

A

Amy’s Army is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to providing grants to women battling any kind of cancer in the Northern Virginia area. Financial assistance is provided for non-covered medical bills, for basic living expense emergencies, and for non-medical expenses related to medical treatment.

This wonderful organization grew out of a team of women ~ friends ~ who rallied around their friend Amy, who was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer at the age of 37. They formed a team for various fundraisers, such as the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, and they were literally off and running. Their stamina and determination to keep fighting for cancer awareness and for cancer funding is unparalleled, except of course, by their friend Amy’s determination to keep fighting the disease battling for her body.

The fight continues.

I was fortunate to spend an afternoon with Amy and her family several weeks ago. It was as if the stars had aligned to allow such a spur-of-the-moment, impromptu photography session to take place. After weeks of trying to match our schedules (me with 4 kids, Amy with 4 kids, and all that entails with sports and social responsibilities), one morning a mutual friend (thank you Tammy!) placed a single simple phone call and said, “How about 3pm today?”

And it worked.

For everyone.

Outfits were thrown together in a flurry. Showers were had at the last minute. It was hot, and some people (Hi Martin!) don’t like wearing jeans when it’s hot. I can completely understand.

But it was worth it.

I’d like you to see more of that afternoon, and if you have it in your heart (and in your pocket!), please consider donating to Amy’s Army. You can donate directly through their website, and all donations are 100% tax deductible.

Amy, talking to your husband Martin and your sister Elizabeth last night were some of the most memorable conversations I have had in my life.  Seriously.  Your gifts to this world are innumerable.

xo

A

Three years ago, at age 37, Amy was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer.

She has defied odds and continues to fight with courage in her heart and a smile on her face.

I want you to meet her because she is not a statistic.

If this encourages just one woman in your life to do a monthly check or receive an annual mammogram, then that is great.

Amy’s breast cancer has metastasized to her lungs, but she does not let her “cancer” define her in any way.

She is Amy.

She is a mother.

She is a wife.

She is a daughter.

She is a sister.

She is an aunt.

She is a friend.

She is beautiful.

She lives for these kids, and if she can be here an hour, a day, a month, a year longer,

she will be.

This is Cody.  He’s still growing up.

And appears to need a strong motherly influence.

This is a family that strategizes together.

And plays together.

And is together.

I get the sense that this one likes to relax a little.

Just have to say, this is her own pose.

And, in fact, her own request for a picture “here” “like this.”

She made me smile.

And, in fact, Amy’s children all made me smile.

They’re dealing with a lot.

A LOT.

And they are simply the most sweetest most lovingest children.

And, you know what else they do a lot together?

Laugh.

And that, I think, is part of their successful fight.

All this little guy wanted was to get a family picture with everyone doing “bug eyes” just like he had been doing for many pictures.

Amy obliged.

And you know, this may be my favorite picture of the day.

Is it a beautiful picture for the wall?

Probably not.

But, it’s a moment of love.

Between a mother and a son.

It’s a laugh.

Shared.

It’s life.

Embrace it.

xoxo

A

P. S.  And here are a couple more for Amy and her friends and her family.

P.S.S.  Here is a link to more images of Amy and her family.

First, breakfast in bed.  Incredible.  And delicious.

And then?

A whole DAY of NO plans.  No sports.  No birthday parties.  No playdates.  Nothing.  Nada.  No how.

What to do?

What to do?

After a little research, we decided to take the kids to a Flying Circus ~ of the old airplane variety.

It was a drive of a little over an hour, but Virginia is beautiful (it’s for Lovers, have you heard?), and a drive in the country with some lazy fun afterwards sounded just great.

We arrived though and were dismayed to find the sign:

“Air Show Canceled Due to High Winds.”

Change of plans and FAST was necessary.

The whines were starting (“Are we there yet?” “I’m hungry.” “My bottom hurts.”).

Good times.

Thanks to my handy-dandy iPhone though, I was quickly able to locate all kinds of fun within a 1/2 hour radius.  But only one thing caught my eye:

WooHoo!  It’s Mother’s Day!!

The rest of the day we had fun.  Or at least I did.  Which is most important on MOTHER’S DAY!

My crew.

K-Lo came.  She cracks me up.

B skipped stones into the lake pond.

Love his little hand on dad’s back for support.

There was a large chess board.

Unfortunately, two former members of the Oakton Chess Club battled it out on where to put the king.

I enjoyed this:

And these little people:

This one is a little like me in some ways:

I had a grand time.  And it only took about 70 shots to get a picture of my kids and I looking at least 1/2 way decent.

A little history about the Old House Vineyards.

On Mother’s Day 1998, the Kearney Family found the 75 acres and abandoned farm house at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  They restored the 1800′s farmhouse and the formerly overgrown alfalfa fields are now a vineyards, producing six different grape varietals.

I loved this place.  Lots of character.  Beautiful setting.

And the Wicked Bottom red is really quite good.

May all your wishes come true today.

xo

A

When you just wish things would stop moving forward and you could hold on to the moment forever…

Hold your children forever.

Your spouse forever.

Your life forever.

Hold them.

xo Amy.

More sneak peek coming soon.

A

And I had to take her picture.  Lots of times.  Isn’t she the cutest?

Meet J and R, Darby’s buds, a.k.a. owners.

Don’t they look so serious here?  I had to ask them to say silly words to get this:

Much better.  What a time we had!  I’m actually putting together an “outtakes” post because some of the images are just too stinkin’ funny.  But, today, you see the boys in all their little-boys-and-their-dogs glory.  And boy do they love this little girl.

But we did have a lot of this:

Until next time ….

xo

A and Darby

(I may just need to get me one of these cute little things…)

This is one of those weeks where Hubs is traveling for work.  Tonight, he is hanging out on Lincoln Road in South Beach, probably smokin’ a cigar.  Maybe not.  Definitely a glass of scotch on the rocks.  Or two.  Tonight, he is “working.”  Widows of the traveling-spouse, you know what I mean.

So, I have the four kiddos to myself.  Get ‘em up, get ‘em fed, get ‘em ready for school, get ‘em out, then 8 hours later, get ‘em in, get ‘em fed, get that homework done, get ‘em showered, and GET THEM TO BED.  Bedtime for four kiddos takes approximately 2.25 hours.  I don’t know why.  But it does.  It is hard work.  It’s like herding cats and trying to play whack-a-mole all at the same time.  Tough work.  And I don’t mean “work.”

At the end of the night, when it’s been all mommy all the time and daddy has been away, those four kiddos sometimes (and here I mean ALL THE TIME) like to get on each other’s nerves, generally bug each other in whatever way possible, like to whine about how I pay too much attention to one or the other sibling, like to generally misbehave.  If you’ve met my kids, I know you may find this hard to believe, but it’s true.

I will just say that tonight was “one of those nights.”  Do you know those nights?  Right now I know there are at least two or three moms nodding along….  A glass of wine would be great tonight.  If I hadn’t given up alcohol for Lent.  Tonight I don’t drown my sorrows.  I endure and feel the emotions.  Darn.  And that perhaps should say “darn” with those air quotes, but you know what I mean.  Oh, woe is me.

So, I came downstairs after finally locking all the kids screaming in their rooms getting the children calmly asleep after nicely enjoying stories together while taking turns politely reading.  I’m exhausted.  I’m stretched mentally.  I just feel like I need a break.  I’m frustrated with my kids.  I’m frustrated that the kitchen is a mess, that the laundry isn’t done, that toys are spread everywhere throughout the house, that I just stepped on a chewed piece of gum (don’t worry Hubs, all on the hardwood, got the whole thing up no problem), that my photography work is sitting over THERE while I need to take care of these things HERE.  Just spent.  Do you know that feeling?

And this is what I found on the counter, next to my purse:

And my heart melted.

THIS.

THIS IS WHY I DO THIS.

Those words, that note, right there in front of me.

They love me.  THEY LOVE ME.

And I love them.

Dearly.

So, as my friend Tracey reminded me yesterday in her great post, find these moments and embrace them.  Let the music sing.

xo

A

PS.  I should add for accuracy that I’ve never met or spoken with Tracey.  We’re FB Friends (that’s FaceBook for all you out-of-touchers), and I stalk her blog.  Oh yeah, I follow her on Twitter too.  Now doesn’t that sound rather stalkerish?  And, oh yeah, I’m taking her online photography course starting next week.  So, yeah, we’re buds.  Like this || close.  Internet friends.  Well, just one step below internet friends.  Acquaintances?  No, we’ve never been acquainted.  Hmmm.  Oh heck.  I don’t know her.  But if I did, I bet she is super cool.

PPS.  Just so I don’t hear it later, I just want to say that hanging out on South Beach is not the norm for Hubs’ business travel.  He works very hard, travels alot, and tries to be home as much as possible, even if means some crazy flight arrangements or flying the red-eye after a long day of meetings.  Business travel and being away from family sucks.  Well, sometimes I’m sure it’s nice, like last night, but otherwise, it stinks.

Upon further investigation and questioning of my children as to which one actually wrote the note (I had my suspicions because one of them is always sweetly leaving me love notes), it turns out the note was actually written by my six year old neighbor who was here to play the day before.  She left the note “because she loves the Reillys and wanted them to think that a leprechaun wrote it).  Totally love her.  I have no doubt that I didn’t “see” this until I really needed it.   xo A

The year before my oldest daughter was to attend kindergarten, I went to our local elementary school to attend their “back to school” night.  There were two kindergarten teachers, and I wanted to check them out.  I’m a little anal that way.  I used to be a Girl Scout you know.

What I found was the organized list-making quiet two-job-working teacher, and the young, cool, like awesome, hip, talkative, crazy teacher.  I’m summarizing, okay?  The first one seemed a bit like me, and well, the second one seemed, well, young.  Like really young.  Really really young.  And really really outgoing.  I’m a bit introverted, so those outgoing souls sometimes intimidate me.  I know, poor little old me.

So I went home and declared that if OUR children were to attend such elementary school, they would be best with (what I equated to) the “responsible” teacher, and not the talkative friendly one.  HA!

Time passes.  Parent matures.  Our oldest doesn’t attend said elementary school for kindergarten, BUT our second does, and do you know what?  I wanted the crazy teacher.  You see, my second child, at that time, was timid and shy.  Hesitant to participate, she, I knew, would be best placed with a teacher who would draw her out and nurture her, not someone to hold her “responsible,” as I was taking care of that very well at home, thank you very much.  I’m the oldest, have I mentioned that?  It will come up later.  Remember that.  I.am.very.responsible.

I LOVED the crazy teacher.  Perhaps I should stop calling her that.  I LOVED the teacher whom my child loved.  And do you know why all the kids love her??  Because she’s crazy that’s why!  She is like a child.  And I mean that in a genuinely nice way.  She is on-the-ground, singing, laughing, silly-dancing, cooking, paint-spilling FUN.  And kids LOVE that.

I loved her so much that when it came time for my third child to attend kindergarten, I prayed every night that she would be placed into the crazy teacher’s classroom.  And she was!  Hooray!  And my third daughter loved her just as much as my second daughter and almost as much as me. 

And then I found out I was having yet another child.  Whew, keeping those public schools in business.  And as soon as I found out, I started praying again, please let him have the crazy kindergarten teacher.  But, oh no….

Something went wrong.  And yet, something went so terribly right.

She got married.  { sigh }

And her husband had a daughter who now made my crazy teacher a mother.  { more sighs }

And then she had a baby.  { even more sighs }

And now she won’t be my children’s crazy kindergarten teacher anymore as she will be staying home to mother her own children.  { more sighs }

But now instead of calling her my children’s crazy kindergarten teacher, I call her “friend.”  { go ahead….  sigh }

So, my friend had a baby and of course, I took some pictures. 

Let me introduce the star of the show, the little baby boy.

Isn’t he adorable?

And here is my favorite kindergarten teacher, now “Mom.”  She’s a natural.  And I had no doubt about that.

Oh my gosh, can you just feel the love here?

That peaceful sleeping baby face.  Melts my heart.  Look at that soft skin.  Precious.

But wait!  His sweet baby life gets even better!  He has a Big Sister!

She loves him dearly.  You can just tell.

It’s all in the protective embrace.  The big sister “I’m not going to let anything happen to you” embrace.

Even though I’d only met her a couple times, I found that while photographing her, I had a special place in my heart for her.  Blended families can be hard.  There are lots of emotions and adjustments involved.  I know because I come from one.  And at the same age that this big sister is, I too became a big sister, to a new baby boy in my new family.  I wanted to capture her in the “now,” in the “this is me at this time in my life.”  She doesn’t know it now, but her life has changed, and she has so much ahead of her with this little brother.  He will be a pain at times, guaranteed.  I know that’s hard to believe from looking at that little sweet face, but trust me on that one.  More than that though, she has found a friend.  This little guy will always look up to her, even when they’re big and all grown up.  And it will surprise her when that happens.  With his birth, she became a Hero, without even knowing it.

When I took this next image below, I knew it would be my favorite of the day.  The lighting, the look, the age, the gorgeous eyelashes.  As if she knows the responsibility that comes with being a Big Sister.  She is humbled to begin.

What fun they will have together!

And what love they will share.

Yes, blended families can be hard.  But they don’t have to be.  And when you have a crazy kindergarten teacher as the Mom, and an adorably cute little baby brother, life is looking good.

Thanks so much for a great morning and for a peek into your family.  Congrats!

And next time, we’ll have to do this when Dad isn’t working!

xo,

A

I’ve been absent.  I think it may be a February thing.  This year in particular, there was a lot of snow.  Add to that, shorter days, being cooped up, and you get a big hunkering down ~ almost as if I’m wrapping up into my own little cocoon.  I’m so happy to see March, and I want to thank the D family for opening the door out.

So, the D family.  What fun I had.  The best part of my job is meeting new kids, new little people, new little people becoming bigger people.  I LOVE these ages.  And I love seeing how God has worked his magic in creating different individuals from the same parents, same upbringing, same environment = different personalities, different interests, and different dreams.  Let’s see what I found on this Sunday afternoon!

The little sister, E, and her two big brothers.  Would it surprise you to know that on this afternoon, she had just gotten back from a laser-tag birthday party where she was the only girl in attendance?!  Probably not.  With two older brothers, I get the impression she is not your dresses and dolls kind of girl.  The entire session, she was climbing, swinging, more climbing, jumping.  When it came time to climb high up onto a tree-stand play house, she refused her oldest brother’s help and insisted on doing it herself.

I’ve known E for several years now.  She and my E have played soccer together for about three or four seasons.  I’ve done the team pictures and individual shots, and can I just tell you, this girl is beautiful.  And she gets more and more beautiful each year.  Her eyes.  Wow.  As I shot her on this day, I saw shades of her as a teenager.  Mom and Dad, watch out!

The middle child, R.  This guy cracked me up.  Such a fun personality and great sense of humor.  He was hesitant for me to take his photo, so I had to catch him unawares at times.  It became a game, and I had fun playing.  As the session went on, R started coming up with shots for me to try.  Down below, the Abbey Road shot, all his idea.  I liked his imagery.

A family of gorgeous eyes, as you can see.

I love eyes.  Probably just about my favorite part of a person because there is so much there, so much presence (or not, and that tells you something too).  The oldest here, C, had such genuine eyes, laughing and fun.  And what a smile.

He is a budding actor (just had the lead in the high school play), a talented musician (plays four instruments),  and a great guy.  And as he told me, collared shirts?  Not really his style.  He wanted to make mom happy, but when we were done, I had him change so that I could get a few shots of him as he sees himself, doing what he loves.  And here he is.

R ~ here’s your Abbey Road shot!  Love it.

And then it was time for me to go home, though I would have loved to stay and play Rock Band, but you know, my kids were waiting for mom (my other calling). 

I love this last shot.  The sister with her big brothers.  It was such a natural togetherness.  And though there are differences amongst them, the love, caring and support is unmistakable.

Thanks guys for a great late afternoon.

xo

A

So one morning, I took her kids off her hands for a couple hours.  We went for a walk.  We talked.  We explored.  We made silly faces.  We hung out.  And I got to know those kids in a way I hadn’t before.  And these are kids I’ve known for years.  Let me introduce you to their spirit.

Here they are, just the two of them, older sister and younger brother. Gorgeous brown eyes.

The girl, L, is a friend of my oldest daughter.  In fifth grade, she’s at that “tween” age.  That’s what they call it now.  Somewhere “in between” the younger kids and the teenagers.  In that “in between” of trying to figure out who she is, what she likes,  what’s important to her, how she wants to dress, a whole world ahead of her.

You can look at her and almost see the beautiful teenager and further on, the woman, she will become.

But, she’s still young.  And you can’t forget that at this age.  She couldn’t wait to wear some of her new stuff from Christmas.

She was loving her new black boots!  I remember at that age, I wanted heels so badly.  And when I finally got them, I’m pretty sure I wore them everywhere, whether appropriate or not.  But, L here, she was rockin’ the boots.

And her new nails!

Soon she will leave the “tween” phase and move on to a bigger world.  Where there are bigger decisions to make.  Until then, capture the beauty, the innocence, the way they are, as they move forward and onward….

And then there is the little brother.  This guy, like most boys I know, was a spirit in motion.  Here, there, and everywhere.

Climbing, jumping, running, picking up sticks, playing with sticks, throwing sticks.

What an imagination too!  The sticks were guitars, swords, baseball bats, you name it.  Active, active, active!

I did catch him unawares in one quiet moment of reflection.  But, believe me, this only happened for a brief nanosecond.

After we took some shots, we headed back to their house where their cousins had arrived from Pittsburgh.  It was fun watching them all together and reuniting.

The sun started to set and it was time for me to go home and make dinner for my kiddos.

The boy, well he just hopped onto his pogo stick and continued moving ~ everywhere.

Capture it now, I tell you.  Capture it now.

xo

A