dakota at 3

We thought about doing this session outside but it was just a touch too cold and wasn't very green out. Dakota wore his cowboy boots for me though and showed me exactly how loud he could stomp his feet. :) We also got a chance to talk about "Mater" (from the movie Cars for those of you who don't have a 2-6 year old boy). He kept me entertained. :)

Some of my favorites of the session were from when we had his sister, Jordyn, join him. They both had the giggles and we got some true sibling interaction shots. :)

miss rylie

I had a blast shooting this session with Rylie. She recently turned three and is a BALL full of energy. :) Towards the end of the session she cracked me up by very carefully going toe by toe to make sure there wasn't any toe-jam between her toes. What's even funnier, I have pictures of her from her 2 year session doing almost the exact same thing. :) I think I'll tuck those away in a safe spot for when she graduates.

Thanks for coming Rylie and Tessa!

miss gretta

Miss Gretta lives next door to us. My children have been in love with her parents (especially her dad) for a while now. Before Gretta, they enjoyed mornings where they actually got to sleep past 8 a.m. ... all while my house was already out in the backyard and swimming in the pool. Ryan and I liked to give them a hard time about how their life would change once they had kids.

Enter Gretta. She's just over 6 months now and it's obvious that she has changed their lives. But really, who would have a hard time getting up if you were waking up to smiles and hair like this? :)

Happy Birthday Jack!

When Ryan and I decided to build a house in the middle of a bunch of empty lots in Byron, we never knew how our life would change. We've been blessed with the most amazing neighbors. A few months after we moved in we got a call from our builders wife (also a neighbor) saying that they had someone who was interested in our floorplan and would it be okay if they came through to show them our house. Understanding how hard it was to envision space in a house from a drawing on paper, we told them to come over. Little did we know that the couple walking through our house that night would become not only neighbors, but become some of our best friends.

They've since moved (and left us ... *sniff*) but came for a visit this past weekend. Between lunch and taking the kids to the Mall of America, we managed to get a session in for their little boy who turned one this month. Jack is a little cutie and is such a calm baby. He hung out with us all day and hardly ever cried. The one thing he DID do? MOVE. The boy is on a mission once his legs hit the floor. :)

Mr. Jack gave us some interesting faces. Ha ha.

We couldn't let big sister, Grace, get by without a few pictures. I'm in love with her hair and her eyes.

And finally, the funniest picture of the day. This is how we ended. This is the only time I heard Jack cry all day long ... but I'm thinking Grace is used to his crying. The fingers went right into the ears.

Even funnier? Take a look at the second picture ... taking almost one year ago to the day of Grace and her brother when I did his newborn pictures. I see a pattern. :)

If you've placed an order in the past two weeks ...

... and did not receive confirmation from me, please let me know. I've heard from one family that an order was placed but it never actually went through. Now I'm hoping that there aren't more of you out there. Please contact me if you placed an order but never got a confirmation e-mail directly from me.

Thanks!

Norah ... 11 months.

Once again ... the beautiful Miss Norah. I personally LOVE this months photos of her. I was able to capture both sides of her this month ... the serious thinker and the giggly little girl. :) And those EYES ... ugh ... they just melt my heart.

Enjoy!

Our First Baby ...

I don't think Ryan and I were home from our honeymoon to the Wine Country of California more than 2 or 3 days before we took the plunge into parenthood. I had always wanted a dog ... but childhood allergies had pretty much wiped out that option for me.

While browsing the internet, we found a breeder that said it had puppies available. So we took off that day to go look. They first brought out an 11 week old yellow lab who just seemed so big already so we asked to see the younger litter. Out they brought (soon to be named) Pumba. He was SO gosh darn cute. I instantly fell in love.

He was a skittish little thing. We had to hand feed him on the carpet for the first couple of nights because he wouldn't walk on the hardwood floor. When we took him to see my brothers family he hid from the kids in one of the plants. And later on, whenever I'd vacuum, he'd pee. :)

Well, almost 7 years later, we have a huge dog who is still as hyper as a puppy. He's calmed down a little but just can't control himself when someone comes over. For the longest time, people in our neighborhood referred to Ryan and I as, "Pumba's parents". Pretty much everyone in the neighborhood had met and remembered him.

He's a bit strange ... he only likes water in it's frozen state. Take him near any kind of water and he'll FREAK OUT ... tail between the legs with this look like, "ARE YOU CRAZY!?" ... but once the first snowfall hits, he's out in the front yard rolling around in it.

My point with this whole post? Don't forget to include your "first baby" when planning for family pictures. I know it's hard to give the four legged babies all the love and attention they got before the two legged variety came along ... but don't forget how important they are to you.

Anyway, catching snowballs is one of Pumba's most favorite winter activities. Last weekend I shot a few pictures of him while we were out building a snowman. So here he is ... Pumba. (And because I know someone will ask ... he's a pure bread Lab. His monster head always throws people off.)