A Christmas Dickens moment

Alright, for this one I HAVE to share some background. This was a session planned for one of the gals at Eliza Jane (that fun girly shop in St.Charles). We had set the date way in advance to get the kids when they were out of school and before they went on vacation. Wouldn't you know it, this day was just miserable around here. There was fog and a mist that hung on for the entire day as it turned out-even though it was supposed to be sunny by 9am.
We decided to press on and fought through the weather.
They were dressed to the nines as they do for their Christmas photo, but this year mom wanted to try something new. Between the fog and the traditional dress combined with the fun scenery we found the results all came together oh so nicely. WOW!



But stay posted (ha,ha) there are more to share from this session, and others as I continue to edit and keep working on in the new year.

play time

No not for me unfortunately. I am nursing myself back to health today. Yesterday wasn't any better either. I have lots to do to get ready for Christmas, but today I just need to get rid of this nasty cold & achy feeling.
SO, what better way then to Post!
These are from one of the fall sessions. This big sister and little brother has so much fun just playing together at the park. Doing what they do best.
Football. Their favorite game to play together. just look how he goes for the ball!
he was just so sweet, and had such a fun time playing


Look how she watches over him, what a good big sis'.


She was such a natural for the entire session

FUN FUN FUN!

ok this was a happy accident, I admit. It was just when I played with it later did I notice how adorable his expression was and I had to find a way to keep it in the set.

Oh Baby!

What a sweetie pie! This little guy was just adorable. His big brothers were along too to get in on the action, but this was all about him.

"you're going to put the baby in there??!"

Safe and sound back in daddy's arms.

less than 3 weeks old and look how smiley he is? ADORABLE!
Big brother shots and Christmas card to be posted in January.
Lots more to share, keep checking back.

family time

As promised, I want to share the shots from this fall/winter so what I thought I'd do it is at least every other post; that way I won't feel so behind. I will not let this get like my personal scrap booking which is always a bit behind.
So, these are from a family session on a beautiful fall day. Our goal was "at least one" for the Christmas card. We had so much fun and just letting the boys be themselves and sneaking in a few family shots too.





ok, I'm still figuring out this spacing thing with the pix & text. But, how cute is this family?!! The boys were so excited to show me how they could be "BIG BROTHERS" for this one.









These boys just loved being front and center,but I have a feeling that someone might be stealing the spotlight some time soon...
We did get the "one" (and two and three...), but I think I'll wait until after I know her holiday cards are out before we share those with everyone.

Happy 12th Birthday!!

Well we made it through the birthday adventure.
What started out as a plan to drive downtown and go ice skating at Millennium Park turned into a train ride and a trip through Macy's. That would be due to ice storms, sever weather warnings and the first snow of the season. It really was beautiful to see all the DT lights covered in ice, but the sideways sleet, I could have done without.

As promised, here are some pix for you Juju.

The girls had such a fun time on the train, and who knew it was only $5 ROUND TRIP for me and 5 girls on Metra!! So much better than parking.

Once we got there we took the Trolley to State Street and did the obligatory trip to Garret's and saw the windows at Fields, I mean Macy's.
Saw Santa and a menagerie of life sized stuffed animals in the FAO Swartz toy department.

Then we headed upstairs and saw Martha's Tree (eh. just so-so compared to trees of the past in my book).

Lastly we went over to the Christkindlmarket for some toasted nuts, German Snacks and shopping. (this is not to be confused with the Kindermarket that I originally called it and my German friend thought I was going to sell the children when the afternoon was over!).Way too much rain/snow/sleet to take any pix here, but it was lovely.
Then a run back to the train station for pizza and "Hairspray".

post turkey work flow

What a whirlwind of the past few days. Lots of turkey and work! I finished up the fall shoots on Monday before Thanksgiving and have been reviewing and editing ever since. I'll be sharing samples over the next few days/weeks.
Hope you all had a fun Turkey day. We took the kids to MI for the weekend and feasted on Turkey and shrimp dip -yum!(this link is close but no lemon with dill and hot sauce). No pix since I didn't even have a clean card to shoot with. I had an overhaul of my archiving work flow and wasn't ready to clean off the past images. (Isn't there an appropriate saying about the Cobblers children never having shoes?) Anyway, my mother in law is so ready for Christmas, her favorite holiday, with a professional Santa for a husband and more Dept. 56 houses than you can imagine it got all of us in the holiday mood.
I on the other hand have my daughters birthday this weekend (12-I am so not ready for the next few years!) and can't even think about decorating yet. It is going to be another busy week ahead!

i love fall shadows

I did it! It took a while and two different browsers, but the new blog is ready to go. This should make my life so much easier. The old was was so icky and a very long process of passwords, firewalls and other things I know very little about. So, what have I been up to?? Oh so much since my last post, but I'll just start from now.

I can't believe how fun this past few months have been. I have been keeping so busy and have been enjoying all the new clients I have worked with. I have tons of new work since I last updated the website, so I am planning on this being the place check it all out.

As for this shot... I love the fall lighting and the long shadows that we get. I rarely have clients so purposefully pose, but I couldn't pass this idea up. We had spent quite a while in a beautiful park, then I took one look across the street and saw this falling down building and knew we had to use it. I have more from this session that I will share as they go through editing, so keep checking back and let me know what you think!