August 23rd was an exciting day, Finley was starting second grade, and yet we were all a little sad too. Finley was brave and tried to hold back her tears when we dropped her off, I tried to hold back mine all day. Reagan missed her sister and playmate. But here we are, three weeks later, second grade is going well and we have settled back into our school routine.

I love you Finley girl, and I am so proud of you!

Goodbye summer, goodbye
Goodbye lazy days, they passed so quickly by
Goodbye children, now off to school
Goodbye summer, goodbye

I want to thank Natalie of Butter & Jelly for providing the wonderful cookies for this summer fun photo shoot! If you are interested in ordering custom cookies you can contact me and I will help you get in touch with Natalie.

A couple months ago Finley’s Girl Scout Troop leader asked about booking a portrait session of her children as a Father’s Day gift for her husband, and I was more than happy to help. I was booked through Father’s Day, but Kendra didn’t mind waiting a bit longer and so we booked her session for June 25th. I fell about a week behind in editing simply because our summer schedule is completely over-booked, but again…Kendra was patient.

Thank you Kendra for allowing me to photograph your beautiful children for such an important occasion, and for your patience while waiting for the finished product. You are a wonderful friend, Girl Scout Troop leader, and now client and I hope I get the opportunity to work with your family again!

Derek, I hope you absolutely love the portraits your wife envisioned and I created…Happy belated Father’s Day!

Last Christmas a friend introduced me to Jennifer, and recommended me for the Visit From Santa event she was hosting in her home. After I photographed the Santa event for her and her friends Jennifer booked her daughter Shelby’s six year session for the month of June, and I couldn’t have been more thrilled. It took some time to settle on the perfect location, and in the end she decided to start the session at Sweet and Sassy in Southlake and then finish up around the Town Square. The location couldn’t have been more perfectly suited for the occasion, and Shelby’s personality.

Jennifer, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to work with you and Shelby again. Shelby was the perfect subject, a beautiful girl with a spunky personality, and I had so much fun with this session. Watch out Momma, you have a little model on your hands!

“Love one another and you will be happy. It is as simple and as difficult as that.” ~ Michael Leunig

I know there are those that say Valentines Day was created by Hallmark, and perhaps they are right, but we have fun with it none-the-less. These are the Valentines we made this year, with free templates courtesy of Florabella. You can take a look at their collection here.

We took these pictures on a cold, wintry day when the temperature was in the 40′s. I literally ran outside with either Finley or Reagan, one at a time until the end, took a few pictures and then ran back inside to warm up. They were really good sports about it though, and we got what we needed for their valentines. It is a good thing we did them when we did because the next day we were snowed in for four days!

Finley’s valentine for her classmates and friends

Reagan’s valentine for her playgroup friends

Their valentine for family and friends

This week the theme for the I Heart Faces photo challenge is Hearts, and last week I took my girls out to do pictures for their Valentine’s cards, so I had the perfect photo for my entry today. It was really cold when I took these but my girls were both good sports as we ran outside to shoot for a few minutes, and then ran back inside to warm up with blankets wrapped around them. We repeated that process until I felt like we had gotten what we needed to make their Valentine’s extra special.

It was hard to choose, but I can only enter one photo and this is the one I went with.

Back in August I joined the Trophy Club Families group hoping to meet new friends, both for myself and for Reagan. We were placed in the Tator Tots, and since this was Reagan’s first experience with a playgroup I was anxious to see how it would go. I couldn’t have asked for a more wonderful group of kiddos and their moms, Reagan and I are so blessed to count you all as friends!

In November I set up a photo shoot for our little playgroup at the Botanic Gardens in Grapevine, hoping to give our friends a special portrait keepsake as a Christmas gift from me and Reagan. That morning turned out to be pretty cold, and to make matters worse I had forgotten Reagan’s jacket. It had rained quite a bit the night before so there were puddles everywhere, and then the sprinklers came on right where we were standing and got Reagan wet. So Reagan ended up wrapped up in my jacket and I did the shoot in short sleeves, because yes…I had worn short sleeves under my jacket that day. Despite the many obstacles the kids ended up having a good time, and I did the best I could with what we had to work with.

After that session things got insanely busy with the holidays and all that entails, and so here we are in January I am finally posting these. I hope you ladies enjoy your sneak peak!

Time flies by so fast, and somewhere along the way we blinked and our first born grew and grew until she is now six years old. It is an amazing journey, having kids, and one that I hope I never forget or take for granted. I want to relish each moment as it happens, and so often in our busy lives we forget to stop and do that…to slow down and just live. Before you know it I will be here posting about my baby turning seven, and the thought of it just makes me want to cry.

Here are a few of my favorites from her birthday party.

The cake. She had been pointing out this cake at Tom Thumb for at least six months every time we shopped.

Marshmallow Pops. These were cute and easy to make, but WAY to sweet for my taste.

Pixie Hollow Punch (or Strawberry/Raspberry Lemonade).

The birthday girl!

The tiny edible butterflies were found on Etsy…I love Etsy!

The pinata. I love the sun flare in this shot!

Any more?

Opening gifts. Can you tell she loves Tinker Bell?

Enjoying a butterfly sugar cookie.

Trying out the new easel/chalkboard/whiteboard. We found this at IKEA and the girls LOVE it!

I couldn’t believe when I saw this weeks challenge theme was chalk. I just took pictures of Reagan playing with her sidewalk chalk a couple weeks ago so here goes nothing…my first ever entry in any I Heart Faces challenge! Yikes!! It was hard to decide which picture to enter, and I only get one shot at picking the right one, but in the end this is what I went with…

This probably isn’t the best picture I’ve ever taken, but I love how happy she is so I went with it anyway!