Every year for Jude’s birthday, we do a joint party with his little friend Jack, who was born just one day before him.  So that joint birthday party of course MUST include a joint photo shoot of the two of them.

Every year, I try to do something original with them that I have not done before and I haven’t done a beach shoot… well… ever! I was SO excited about this one!

I can’t believe my boy is going to be FIVE in just a few days.

Anywho, without further ado, here are the boys (and some bonus siblings!!!)

Oh man, how I love when I get genuine smiles out of this one below.  My little Presley was having SO much fun making sand angels (in her clothes), she didn’t even care I was there with a camera (she normally runs!)

Jack’s mom and I were ordering some prints for his album and couldn’t decide between the bottom two posts, as they were so similar. We asked Jack which one he liked. He very adamantly picked the top one and told us he liked it the best because “it looks like I have poop in my hand!”  Awesome.

A

Aaaannnndddddd… sigh. The gorgeous sunset.

First things first… have you been over to my Facebook page? It’s super neato and I will be posting specials there for existing and new clients. So get on over there and like it!

To say I love photographing 6-10(ish) month old babies (before they can get away from me and while I am still more interesting than the rest of the world they can walk/run to) is a major understatement. I get nervous before EVERY shoot (a good nervous), EXCEPT when my subject is in that magical age range.  This babe below was 6 1/2 months, and the one below with the fuzzy, crazy, wispy (awesome!) baby hair was about 9. Both were repeat and AWESOME clients whose newborn sessions I did not so long ago!

Here she is in the Easter dress that her grandmother made… they tried on Easter Sunday to get some snaps, but alas- a major meltdown reportedly ensued!  So happy we got some awesome pics of her in this!

I think these next three shots should be printed out as a huge collage, because the expression from one shot to the next is priceless!

I

And the shot below. Awesomeness. What mom hasn’t experienced the old earring/necklace/hair pull at least once a thousand times?

She looks like she is thinking “Woman. That earring is MINE. You OWE it to me after all these smiles I gave you and I will have it. Thank you much. Buh-bye.”

Love the random duck walking by!

And here is my next sweet little peanut with the fuzzy, awesome hair.

A rainbow!!! It was SO faint in the sky, I wasn’t sure it would show up well in the picture, but it did!

Baby Bitter Beer Face.

Nom, Nom, Nom…

You’ve probably seen these kiddos a few different times on my old blog, but this is the first time the parents have made an appearance! My first shoot with them was the little’s one year shoot… we shot this session on his third birthday (one day after MY own birthday).

Loved this beautiful, peaceful property out in the country… even though I got a text on my way home that Grandpa killed “a big fat snake” under the oak tree (the very oak tree we were shooting under) right after I left!

Oh, and the kitten she is holding in the picture below? One day old. So stinkin’ cute.

The last time I saw these twin teenage boys, it was the back of them as they zoomed right past me in the Woodlands Marathon. The entire family (with the exception of the little one) ran the 1/2 marathon with crazy fast times. I see Mom occasionally in my Bodypump class -lifting about twice as much as anyone else- and making it look easy… and Dad has done about a zillion Ironmans (and participates in pretty much every swimming, biking, or running race that comes into the area). This family is truly an inspiration, staying close-knit through athletics and sport. Plus they are just fun to hang out with!  I really hope one day my family can compete together in events the way this one does!

My little ray of sunshine. I am going to ask all my kiddos these questions every year on their birthday. Should be fun to see how they evolve, and grow, and inevitably change and mature.

Hopefully the Justin Beiber craze will phase out sometime in 2012!

I am a couple of months late in asking these questions for her 6th birthday, but I can’t let myself worry too much about that…will have to just do the best I can!

She’s from the Caribbean, and he’s from Texas, and together they made some pretty awesome kiddos. We went to Kemah for these pictures. Silly of us to choose Spring Break to do it- there were about 1,000,000,000 people there! We had to do some strategic positioning so their pictures weren’t filled with strangers.  I love, love, love all the color and energy from this family!

Well, I have to make this post short- meeting these parents for an early mutual birthday celebration!

They say everyone has a celebrity lookalike.

Or is it just me that says that?

Anywho- I can’t decide if her celebrity look-alike is Wonderwoman or Tiffany Amber Thiesen from 90210. Either way, they are both gorgeous. You notice this seniors eyes the second she walks into a room. Huge & green , and so expressive, the girl has got  K-I-L-L-E-R eyes- the kind photographers just dream about!

I could seriously post every one of her pictures- there were SO many. I actually took more than usual thanks to a “wardrobe malfunction” requiring mom to run home and grab a pair of jeans, which gave us some extra time to shoot while we waited!

and I can’t forget about their 6 month old golden retriever – what a sweet dog!

more on this little peanut later! Got some speghetti boiling over and yes, I know I spelled speghetti wrong, but it’s one of those words I can’t spell! My Italian ancestors are rolling in their graves right about now.

Happy Hump Day to ya. Although it never really feels like a true hump day to me cause I work a lot on the weekends.

Harumph.

Here are my peanuts + my awesome niece.

Sooooo, if you have been under a rock and/or haven’t logged onto Facebook in a few days, you just might be wondering how the marathon went.  Weeeellllll, I ran. I finished. And I beat my goal time by about 3 minutes- YAY!  When people ask how it was, the only thing I can think to compare it to is childbirth. It was grueling, painful, and mentally exhausting.

The moment I saw that finish line- none of that mattered and it was completely and utterly exhilarating.

Jesse told me when he saw me limping away from the finish line with little tiny baby steps because my feet and hips felt like they were on fire, he knew I had left it all, everything I had, out there on that course.

So everyone is asking- will I do another?

Absolutely.  Cannot wait to do another.

I started running about a year and a half ago and I have gradually learned to love it. It was NOT love at first sight like some runners describe.  It was a relationship that took some time to build and nurture.

And there are plenty of days I still hate it.

I saw this poster and believe with every ounce of my being that it holds true:

It motivates me. I don’t have to be the fastest. Or go the furthest. There are always going to be people, a LOT of people, faster, stronger and with more stamina than me.

Just run. Period.

I’m going to have to remember this tomorrow:

if all goes as planned, I’ll finish my first marathon tomorrow morning.

I had this long post planned out in my head (which I planned out while on a long run) about motivation and running. But right now I’m just a bundle of nervous energy and can’t think.

I know I’ll need a mantra to get me through it… and this is it.

(p.s. if anyone knows the source of this poster, please let me know so I can credit appropriately!)