{i.heart.faces.best.face.of.jan.2011}

Just when I thought that business would be pretty slow for January, God showered me once again with ample opportunities to meet fabulous people and capture their precious faces for a few sweet moments in time. As always, I have such a hard time choosing!! Here's one of my faves! This BEAUTIFUL little girl had me smiling the whole time - isn't her smile contagious!?! Head on over to http://iheartfaces.com for more amazing faces . . . Oh, and it's "people's choice" week, so you can vote for your faves!

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{any.day.now}

On an INCREDIBLY FREEZING afternoon last Saturday (it actually SNOWED that morning!!), this beautiful, brave expecting momma headed out with me to a super windy beach to grab a few pictures of her cute belly. (How come mine wasn't so cute??) Anyway, the main reason that she wanted these pictures was to show her hero of a husband, who is currently serving in Afghanistan and, sadly, won't be home to greet his new baby boy until May. I am so very grateful for the brave men & women who sacrifice so much for our amazing freedom. He should be awfully proud of this gorgeous momma-to-be!

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{location.location.location.and.a.beautiful.little.girl}

I'm constantly scouting around for new photography locations. I love color, old buildings, stairs, anything broken down . . . leave a comment if you have any suggestions! Anyway, this particular location was found through no scouting of my own. It was a STUNNING, AMAZINGLY GORGEOUS plantation, complete with ruins, a line of oaks, a duck pond, and about 10,000 other fun spots. As soon as I pulled up, I was in love and, had the sun not gone down, my sweet little client may have been out there for hours. :-) I could totally shoot out there ALL OF THE TIME. Thank you, thank you to the owners for letting us tromp around on your grounds. I felt just slightly cool. AND can you stand how BEAUTIFUL this little girl is? LOVE her pink cowboy boots, and her dress is just plain FABULOUS. Can you stand it??

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{i.heart.faces.innocent.wonder}

So this theme could be played out in any number of ways, and I only picked 20 or 30 that would work. According to rules, however, just one picture is necessary, so here's the one. :-) I love photographing kiddos that are around 2 years old (minus the tantrums and constant need for a snack) because they are the picture of innocence. I can play all kinds of games with them, and they never roll their eyes or think I'm crazy. For this particular picture, I asked this {gorgeous} little fella if he thought anyone was inside the building. And, could he find a key? Well, he went right to wondering about who might be in there and where in the world was a key. And this look in his eyes is just full of innocence and wonder. When did we stop thinking that maybe, just maybe, something wondrous could happen, even when it just looks like an old, white door? Add some wonder to your day by heading over to http://iheartfaces.com.

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{playin' in the rain}

For Addy's birthday, both girls received the most ADORABLE rain gear from our sweet Mimi. So, of course, at the first hint of rain we had to don all of our gear and get on out there. (Never mind Addy had been throwing up that morning. Apparently, she recovers quickly. Me not so much.) Now if only someone could explain to Addy that, no, rain boots do NOT go with everything. :-) (No, seriously, she's been wearing them every day. With sparkly leggings. Because sparkly leggings go with everything too.) Pick your battles, right?

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{'cause it's my birthday}

So I'm two days late, but be assured I didn't miss a moment of my baby girl's FOURTH birthday. Yes, FOURTH. I almost choke every time I have to say how old she is. For heaven's sake, didn't I just bring that child home? Oh, but it would be hard to forget Addy's baby years, as she hardly slept so we had plenty of time to bond. While my little Addy has always been a bit of a challenge, it's in that challenge that we have found the deepest love possible for our little blond headed bomb shell. She's the one who will wear the same outfit multiple days - no weeks - in a row just because she wants to see how long she can go before I'm completely irritated. Currently, she's trying to see how many days she can wear her rain boots - even though it's completely sunny outside. They go with everything, you know. She's the one who refuses to follow the crowd because there isn't any fun in that. In fact, she'll see what everyone else is eating at lunch - and then choose something totally different. She's not a people pleaser - she really could care very little about whether you like her or not. But if you win her love, oh, you'll never want to let it go. She has the most beautiful laugh - one that, even if I've absolutely had it with her, I can't help but join in. It's like music that you want to replay over and over again. And there's the love of books that I just can't get over. I really have never seen someone so into books as my Addy girl. Her books are her treasures, and she tells the most fantastic stories as she flips the pages of book after book after book. This birthday, Addy really got that is was HER birthday - and she milked it for all it was worth. "I should go first," she'd say, "'cause it's my birthday." "I should eat this lollipop BEFORE breakfast . . . 'cause it's my birthday." "I should behave horribly and not get in trouble . . . 'cause it's my birthday." "I should tell everyone what to do . . . 'cause it's my birthday." Yep. She totally got it. If she could only stay little.

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{dance, dance, dance}

So for Christmas this year, we asked for help in paying for dance lessons for our two little girls. (Dance lessons in Bluffton are, well, not cheap. Apparently if you live near Hilton Head, you must be wealthy. So.not.true) Anyway, several of our precious family members stepped up to the plate to contribute to our girls' dream of donning tutus and ballet slippers! So, of course, I tried to snag a few pictures on the opening day of dance class of each girl, despite their bouncing-off-the-walls excitement. As I told the dance director, we're not looking for professional dance scholarships. We're just looking for an excuse to get all dressed up and make lots of noise while some precious teacher tries to maintain order in dance class full of giggly girls. Enjoy!

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{i.heart.faces.smile.week}

For those of you child photogs out there, you know that a smile doesn't always come easy . . . especially from your own children. It seems that the camera loses its magic when seen daily. :-) (ANYBODY??) BUT, praise God for my two girlies who LOVE to smile and who have such joyful spirits . . . most of the time. Before our very first dance lesson last Monday, I was grabbing a few photos of my oldest daughter, all decked out in her dance outfit, when my youngest decided to steal the camera for a moment. And steal she did. Can you stand it? This is her new smile when you ask her to smile. At least we know she has all her teeth!! Head on over to www.iheartfaces.com for more smiling than you can stand. I bet ya can't resist a smile of your own!

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{relax}

Often when a photo shoot is scheduled with a family for the first time, someone shows up tense. Nervous. Uptight. It's usually the mom. Why? Because moms are hoping for perfection but realistic enough to know it's not likely. But once a family knows me and sees what happens in a typical shoot, it's so much fun the next time around. This precious family has been so supportive of me from the very beginning, as each of the kiddos birthdays is consistently marked with a photo shoot. And so now everyone just shows up, no one's stressin', and it's just a ton of fun filled with genuine pictures. So relax. Your pictures will be perfectly imperfect. Just the way they should be.

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{embrace.the.chaos}

I love this family. They are so much fun to be around, and I don't feel so pressured to get "the" shot, as they happen to like the chaos. Which is good. Because it was chaos with five grandchildren, four parents, and two grandparents just days after Christmas. But doesn't it look like a blast. They may have left stressed out, but I left absolutely lovin' what I do.

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