But sometimes you meet that couple that is just A M A Z I N G, and you are super grateful to be chosen to capture their love.  Everything about these two is just that…it’s about them and their love…not about their wedding!  I was so impressed as they shared about their upcoming day because it was all centered around their upcoming marriage and committment to each other, and not about all the little things that make up a wedding.

You can see their love is so beautiful and I can’t wait to photograph their special day next month!

Thanks Sara and Zach!

Thanks Chad and Jill, I hope you like the result =)

Sometimes I REALLY hate you.

It seems as though I’m not alone.

This was a B I G year with Dawson finally going to Kindergarten @ his big brother’s school.  All plans and expectations for the tears and dramatic holding for dear life on the leg were thrown out the door.  This kid was ready, brave and walked himself alone right through the gate to his new life of S E V E N hours of school!  Thankfully since he didn’t cry, neither did I…but my heart did hurt a little as I sent him on his way HOPING he would do ok and cope well.

“Yes mom, this smile is as painful for me as it is for you…now can I go play?”

Brennan…he on the other hand is an old pro at the school stuff.  The camera/posing/smiling stuff…well, he’d rather have none of that…after all it was “TOO BRIGHT” and “Mom, I really want to go so I can play basketball.”

This is our new life, Dawson = no concept of time/fast/schedule/bell/recess. Brennan = DIES if we are not there RIGHT when the gates open.  I know, you’re jealous you can’t spend mornings with us =)

Well of course we are Equal Oppertunity around here.  Where one gets a backpack…so does the others =)  (oddly enough she’s the one that isn’t going to school and yet was the only one to get a NEW backpack this year. I let the kids use their old ones cuz for once I realized…they REALLY ARE JUST FINE…and hey…this one was only $5!). The boys can get new ones this year when the old ones break…I’m sick of having a million backpacks. =)

Stylin’

No boys today? Of COURSE I’m excited MOM! Maybe I can actually PLAY with my dolls without someone grabbing it or throwing it.

Our SUPER SHORT…but INSANELY HOT walk to school =)

While the boys are away…the girls WILL play.  A few photos before we headed out to lunch with friends.

And no First Day of School is complete without homemade cookies and  some milk…

And yes, Dawson IS mad at me in this photo…what he most definitely HAS NOT adjusted to is being happy/nice/respectful when he gets home…he is tired! Hopefully, over time this will improve. In the meantime the cookies sure help…both of us =)

So we don’t want to let the day go without a big shout out to the man of the house…these are the presents you didn’t know you got today…

The boys loved you SO much, they asked as soon as school was over if you were home yet.

In fact, Dawson loved you SO MUCH he threw his first big tantrum at school that he was going to miss out on giving you his present and that he was most definitely “NOT STAYING HERE” and absolutely going to “RUN OUT OF THAT GATE!” Once informed the gates were locked he screamed that he would just “GO THROUGH THE OFFICE THEN.”  But then once the teacher said, “please stop yelling at me, I’m not yelling at you” he started crying and then settled for a call to mommy and making a card for you at school.  See, I told you he loved you…oh but you knew that already didn’t you?

We worked REALLY hard to make sure you could tell our home was full of love today. So that’s why the sink is still full of dishes…cuz it’s a reminder of those sweet kids you gave me. And the laundry you tripped over? Rest assured ONE load of it was washed and EVEN PUT AWAY TODAY! We KNOW that’s a present.

Emery sure showed you her love when we showed up to your office to have lunch with you and she would have nothing to do with you, cried loudly when you picked her up and only wanted Mommy.  She just didn’t want you to have to carry her down to the car since we know sometimes that gets old.  But she was sure happy you could give her that candy since she was magically your friend again after that.

And you know those REAL presents you got? Well, the truth is, those presents weren’t your ONLY presents because I KNEW you’d be more excited about this one.  YESTERDAY…AND TODAY your air was kept all the way up at 81!  It really started out as a mistake, but then it became a challenge…and it was a challenge I conquered (except for yesterday when at 5pm I turned it down to 78 for awhile). I just know how happy the summer Electricity bill makes you so I conserved two days of energy keeping the temp at 81.  And now I’m glad your birthday is over, cuz you see, I am NOT doing that again.

And tonight when, if you ever go to bed…IF…when you snore…I’m not even going to hit you or yell at you. And I’m going to try REALLY hard not to KICK you too.  Unless you don’t roll over like always…then I make no promises.

Happy Birthday!

Wish I could say this image was taken on our recent (soon to be blogged) trip to St. Lucia.  But since I couldn’t pack my favorite photographer in my bag, or convince her to come…this was a beautiful image taken in Newport last year as we vacationed with them =) Thanks girl.

Kelli is BEAUTIFUL. She’s such an amazing person, a good friend, a sweet mother, hilarious, good at embarassing herself and others and really she’s just a woman of strength and courage. I’m so glad to call her my friend…now some 18 years later (seriously, I can’t be old enough for friendships that long). Kelli…thanks for braving the ELEMENTS for these sweet pictures!

What? What’s that you say? You want a closer look at those shoes? Yeah, me too! So dang cute!

At one point during our shoot we encountered this guy…I know he’s not THAT big…but big or not, I don’t care for the “Snake” kind. EEK!

1…2…3…4

F O U R T H baby…yes if only I could look this good with my FIRST much less my FOURTH.

Yeah…me too.

It’s like sometimes you think, “well I didn’t even notice you were gone, since I just read my google reader when you’re here.”  =)

And in light of that dislike…I can’t help but say…

I’m in a transition of my lovely nanny moving up for college and me awaiting back to school (next Monday, yay) and a new day care situation for my lil’ one.

So…hate this post or not…there’s your explanation. =)

I hope to be back to my irregular, unscheduled posting soon.

HUGS =)

I leave for a week and I come back to find this cute lil’ thing has used her time away from Mommy and Daddy wisely.  At 2 years 5 months it has never dawned on her to climb out of her bed…but it finally hit her…and thus the beginning of the end…now she will determine her schedule a little more than I will…

Can’t you just see the little snicker in her face…”ha ha mommy”

Since we were super smart and didn’t buy a bed that converts into a toddler bed, this newfound experiment has me a little busy figuring out a new bed for her this week. In the meantime I didn’t want to forget how cute she was as a toddler in her baby crib…

I’ll miss greeting this face in the morning and after naps as she waits for me to get her up.

She would NEVER let her brothers get her up, only mommy or daddy or a sitter.

How could you not just love this face?

Her smile brightens my day…so many times a day.

I love these shots with mom and dad…

CONGRATULATIONS Jason and Meghan, he is so precious!