Books

My little girl LOVES books. I love books, so seeing her reading gets me pretty excited! Here are a couple pictures from today's trip to the library.

Picking out her books

Reading in the car on the way home

Heading down the slide

It's hard to get a picture of a moving subject, but when you do, some of the shots are just classic. I've gotten a few of kids going down playground slides and wanted to share them. Remember when we used to get a thrill (whether happiness or fear) from going down them?

Sliding Glass Doors

They're so much fun for little kids. And fun for me to watch, too!

Em's New Backpack

The diaper bag was starting to fall apart, so when I saw this adorable backpack at The Children's Place (and on sale!) I knew I wanted to get it.

It's a little big, but that just means it will fit her for a long time, right?

Splash!

Just got back from a great vacation with a darker tan and over 1000 pictures to edit. As I was looking through them, this one jumped right to the front of the editing line.  I'm sure I will be posting more in the coming days, but for now, enjoy this preview.

My niece was splashing grandpa with the pool noodle and it splashed her right back in the face. Talk about karma =)

Because I like to make people hungry...

I LOVE to take pictures of food. I think I inherited this trait from my mother =) I also love potluck BBQ's.

My New Lens

Just got a macro lens today and I've been having lots of fun with it. Here are a few of the pictures I took around the house.

Spiders in the roses in the backyard.

Some ants fight for survival in my neighbor's yard (where the sprinklers are on full-force)

The remnants of our sad garden.

Eva

Just finished editing these pictures of my niece from a recent BBQ. Isn't she cute?

Cute little laugh!

Riding on a reindeer

Enjoying the tree swing

First Pro Haircut

Em got her first haircut at a hair salon last night. She's 19 1/2 months, and has had her hair cut by me 5 or 6 times already (buzzed it as early as 2 months, started trimming with scissors around 8 months) but Keith thought it would be a good idea to take her in somewhere that specializes in kid's cuts so she could have an actual "hairstyle".

She did really, really well. She wasn't happy or anything, but she did sit pretty still and didn't cry. The scariest part of the whole experience was probably the blow dryer. I've never dried her hair before.

Before. She liked sitting in the pink car and "driving". Oh, and she was watching Sponge Bob on a TV in front of her.

She loved holding onto her hair!

Getting her hair blow dried and styled

The back has a couple layers

The end result.

 I think that the bangs are a little too short, but those grow quickly. The back is cute and looks more like a bob than I was ever able to achieve. Overall a great experience!

And I found some pictures from Easter...

I found pictures that I hadn't edited yet from two months back and thought it was fun to look back, so I'm going to share them here. These were taken after Easter dinner when we were all relaxing in the backyard.

She loves being chased by Daddy

Chillin' with her cousin

Learning the in's and out's of this little playground can be very fun.

Daddy gives Em her first driving lesson.

I'm ready to go!

Shampoo

Being the sadistic mother that I am, I love this shot I got of Em the other day. She is NOT a fan of getting her hair washed.

Sipping from a straw, part 2

Had to share our experience the other day. I gave Emily a juice box and she LOVED it. Of course, it was empty all too quickly, and that got her thinking... what else can a straw be used with?

Mmm! Blueberry Muffin!

Garden

Keith came up with the idea of planting a couple of things for Emily to watch grow. I couldn't find much at Lowe's that would work, but then stumbled upon these and thought they might be worth trying for only 97 cents each. It was only two or three days later that I noticed them actually growing, and quite a bit for that quickly. Emily doesn't seem terribly interested in it, but I am =)

Newborn Shoot

It's been a while since I've taken pictures of a newborn, and I was pretty nervous. This time I decided I need to be true to myself as a photographer and go more with the lifestyle-type shots. I really love how they turned out! I haven't edited them all, but here's a preview of this cute little family and their new baby boy.

Mom cuddles baby boy before we head out to do the shoot

The family

Big Brother

Love Dad's expression here!

Totally feel like those eyes are a window to his soul in this pic!

Daring Little Boy

Em and I went to the park with our neighbors. It was such a fun afternoon! This little friend of Em's is so cute and so daring! I've never seen a kid her age go down the slide head first like him before.