Yesterday the littlest one went off to preschool to join her big brother. I can’t believe how grown up she looks in these pictures! These shots show me just how much she is growing up! Luckily for her parents, having her big brother in the same Montessori school made for an easy transition yesterday. She did great and was so excited to finally be going to school! So here I sit, home alone for the 2nd day in a row. Hopefully it will mean lots of productive work-time for me!

Here is my baby. (Check out the awesome bokeh in my front yard! Who knew?)

I almost can’t believe I’m writing this, but my oldest baby started Kindergarten this morning! Really, I cannot believe how fast those last (almost) 6 years have flown by. They really aren’t kidding when they say life is short, are they?

In any case, this Momma was the only one with a heavy heart this morning. He was beyond excited, armed with a brand new haircut (by yours truly…) from the weekend, and a TON of energy stored up over the summer.

I can’t wait for all the fun stuff he will learn at school this year. He’s already starting to read and his writing has gotten so great! Big summer filled with learning to swim, lots of playdates, losing his first tooth (not sure if the missing tooth is visible in any of these), traveling and playing. He was very excited to see his old friends and get back into the swing of things this morning! Such a big boy. <3

Here are some pics from this morning as we were heading out the door, such a big boy!

This next one is probably one of my faves ever…

I’ve got a ton of client work coming up on the blog this week (thanks for being patient everyone!) so stay tuned! Busy week for me (and the other one starts preschool Wednesday…yay for me!)

If you are a parent of a child older than about a year, you know how difficult it is to take photos of your child. Well, if you are a professional photographer and your kids have PCS (photographer’s child syndrome) then multiply this difficulty by about a million. That’s how excruciating it is to take pictures of your own kids that you actually want to hang on your walls.  My kids in particular are so sick of the camera that anything, even a speck of dust, is more interesting than me behind it (usually making really funny noises…come on kids, look over here, isn’t mommy funny? — that usually results in the blank stare).

Anyway, around where we live just south of Denver are these huge fields of gorgeous yellow weeds wildflowers. I’ve been eyeing them for over 3 weeks, but we’ve had company in town and have had a ton going on around here. Driving the kids around to their activities I even spotted THE FIELD. It had the perfect exposure, perfect light, and a sidewalk for easy access (since I’ve heard there can be snakes here in Denver, and I’m deathly afraid of snakes).

So I decide that tonight is the night. I get the kids fed early, make sure their clothes are clean and ready to go, and I have a bribe for when we get home (aka, strawberry shortcake they would have had for dessert anyway, but might as well use it to my advantage and get some photography out of the deal, right?)

So, we load up my new favorite prop, my red chair, and the kids and my husband assistant hop into the car and off we go to my perfect field. Only, where are those flowers? Why are there TRACKS where my field used to be? That’s right, someone has mowed down my weeds wildflowers, within the 48 hours prior. I was JUST here, it was gorgeous. The sun is setting and I’m in a panic. Luckily my husband assistant kept driving around and our area is still flush with these lovely weeds wildflowers. So we found a pretty unassuming spot and I had to make due with less flowers than planned.  But luckily, everyone was in a good mood, I got what I wanted, and they got strawberry shortcake.

A successful photo shoot indeed! And I got the shots I’ve wanted ever since we moved here.

Here they are. Aren’t these kids just the cutest?? I just love them. xoxoxo.

I love Mother’s Day because it’s the one day I feel like I can just relax and enjoy without the normal guilt of all the things I “should” be doing instead.  I made a little extra effort today to do something I keep reminding myself to do (and yet not doing regularly) and that is, taking pictures of me with my kids.  Much of the time I don’t do it because I don’t like my hair or my weight or don’t have makeup on or…you get the idea. There is always a reason for me to not jump in front of the lens. Being the photographer of the family, it’s very easy to get into the routine of never having your picture taken. I feel safe behind the lens, and exposed in front of it.

But as my kids have gotten older I am realizing that what they will cherish the most as time goes on are the pictures of them with their mom, not just the pictures of them that I took.

So today I decided to get in front of the lens and capture my kids and I and how I felt on this mother’s day. My husband doesn’t usually get to use my big camera, but I gave him a little quick instruction, and he really did great! I love these!

Five on Friday! (stuff I’ve been meaning to blog for a while but have been too busy–the big kid was home from school sick most of this week so it’s been a crazy few days).

1. I am officially a soccer mom, my guy is the one in the red shirt, and I couldn’t be more proud!! He is loving every minute of being on a soccer team and having a blast this season! His dad is also the coach which is fun for them both.

2. I am also a ‘ballet’ mom! My little princess started her first Ballet class a few weeks ago. Check out the pictures…what more do I need to say? She is SO incredibly excited and proud of her outfit, the shoes, all of it. The best part was watching her watch herself in the mirror…I think she was in disbelief at both the outfit with the skirt AND the other girls all dressed up. I wish I could bottle up her joy and keep it forever! Melts my heart it was so cute!

3. Um…we I officially have spring fever this week in a big way, with being sick and waking up Monday morning to about 3 inches of very wet snow on the ground. In late April!! This is our first spring in Denver so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but this is kinda crazy. By noon it was gone (and I was very thankful I didn’t have to shovel the driveway). And then I was thankful for the two gorgeous days that followed, as are the little seedlings the kids have planted which are finally coming up. Then today, it snowed again. When people said that Denver had some wacky weather, they weren’t kidding!

4.  Obviously this was from a couple months ago. First sledding experience and I think it’s safe to say they LOVED it. I love their faces in this photo…it’s so them. The big guy has no fear as is snickering, and she is kind of half smiling, half grimacing out of fear. So totally them…love love love.

5. My sweet baby had her 3rd birthday in March and we had a nice little party with our new friends here and her grandparents who flew in from Arizona! Here are some quick snaps from her actual birthday during the week. Flourescent lighting and all.

A few fun snaps from egg dying yesterday! The kids took this very, very seriously, so I was really only able to get a few shots with eye-contact.

Also sad to report our outdoor egg hunt didn’t happen due to rain! The eggs were a little smashed up after the dying anyway, so we did it in the house and it was a big success!!

Love him.

Now this is what I live for…

Those rare moments of sibling harmony that are often gone in an instant (not only because usually if I run to grab my camera I will hear a scream from the other room before I’ve had a chance to get back in there and take the picture, but also because these two kiddos are SO active that they rarely sit still long enough for me to take a picture of this!)

I got lucky the other day with some lovely afternoon sunshine, and a big brother with a book. Not to mention, how sweet is it that she has her arm around her brother’s shoulders like that.

Total mommy goggles, but these are the moments that make it all worth it!

I’m not doing this photo-a-day challenge right, because I’ve realized it’s impossible with two active preschoolers to pull out my camera every single day. So I’m going to just post ‘em as I can, and it will be fun at the end of the year to look back and see how many I posted. I might make them into a cute book or something!

Feeding the Ducks at Laurelhurst Park

We are back from our trip to CO, and I have to say the weather there was just amazing even for February!!! Such lovely big skies and amazing scenery…

Here are a few from the trip and most importantly, from my new 5DmkII camera! Whoowee…I’m really loving the full frame clarity! I can’t wait to start using it on sessions.