I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends.
I wish my lack of blogging was because I was away in some fabulous far off destination, instead I have been buried in work and am having a hard time finding time to come up for air. I am in holiday card design phase overload. I have a strong love/hate relationship w/ this time of year. I am not a designer but each year I put pressure on myself to give my clients one of a kind cards that will make them so excited to put them in the mail and give them rave reviews all season long from their friends. Each year I go into my design phase very nervous that I won't be able to come up with new, fun, fresh ideas but now that I am working my way through the fray I am so excited for my clients to be sending cards out. Maybe one will make its way to your mailbox this year.

Fortunately I haven't been shooting too much but I do have families still waiting to get a sneak peek from recent shoots.
This first little girl was a trooper in the cold. She was so cute!!

The last sitting on my day of fun in the sun was of a little 6 wk old girl and her spunky brother. They had already done fall pictures so their mom was hoping for a little urban spin so we avoided the leaves and thanks to the INCREDIBLE easygoingness (okay I know that isn't a word but it is so fitting for this little girl) of her newborn we were able to get a little urban texture. At two, Jack has already developed a deep love for the football and it was fun to see him so thrilled about what he could do w/ the ball. At the end of the shoot he was great letting go of the ball for a few minutes and exchanging it for holding his sister...he did such a great job.

Another reason that I loved the SD special is that I got to photograph a little boy that was one of my first when I returned to Seattle 4 yrs ago. I still remember the shoot because his mom let me just wander down some streets w/ cool walls and textures not worrying about where the heck I was leading them. And little Nobi was such a hysterical little guy. When I got an email that his mom was interested in a spot for that afternoon I was so excited to see him again and meet his little brother. And they definitely lived up to my expectations of a fun shoot. These boys had me laughing the entire shoot. It was so obvious how much Nobi's little brother adores him and I think the little series of black and white can't help but make anyone smile. Check out how cute these two are...

Because the "Sunny Day Special" was a last minute deal I was impressed that this next dad rallied from work, got a handful of outfit options & his adorable son all together and met me just in time to take advantage of some gorgeous light. You would think it couldn't get any better but then little Dylan turned on a stunning smile as soon as I put my big black camera in front of him. The stars had aligned and I am excited to share some of his cuteness here because it will be the first time his mom gets a glimpse of how great he (and dad) did.

The gray rainy days have sadly set in and it makes me that much more happy I had the sunny day special a few weeks back. I think I thrive and spontiniety and always approach things w/ little or very low expectations which I think enables me to live a pretty great life and saves me from wallowing in disappointment. And it was so much fun to have 4 families join me for the beautiful sunny day. If you were to look at a few of these next images out of context you may think it was spring or summer but I added a few at the end to prove we found a stunning day amongst many rainy ones. These girls & I had loads of fun running all over the neighborhood. And I love that their mom just went w/ the flow at the end of the shoot and let her girls play in the puddles!

When I met these next little ones they were a little weary of me and what they were going to have to do. But as soon as the chasing began they started beaming and the fun began. Even the littlest one shared some smiles (I have some cute ones w/ dad too but I just loved the collection w/ her mom that I couldn't resist sharing them all).

I cannot begin to describe how much I enjoy photographing this next family. I first met them last year and I came away from the shoot having immensly enjoyed myself. Well, this year was no different. These kids are so courteous, respectful, joyful, funny, loving and full of life. It is obvious how much they care for each other, seriously, the way the older two worked to get their little sister to do all that was asked of them was amazing. Their parents are great too...they need to pass on their parenting notes to me because they are definitely doing something very right!! And it doesn't hurt that they passed along some great genes, their combination has created beautiful kids!

I know this next family is wondering if there were many good shots from our sitting as the boys had enjoyed a Halloween party right before coming to visit me and they may have been more up for a quiet nap. But I knew in between the tired looks there were some real gems. Hopefully she will agree...

Yesterday ended up being so much fun and I am so happy I was able to get out and shoot some adorable kids as today the rain has set in and it is gross outside. It was so fun having clients be spontaneous with me and I cannot wait to work through all the images. I may have to do another spontaneous shooting day or two next year.

The first shot from this next family makes me laugh it is definitely not your typical portrait picture but I love it...it may have been the face she gave me when I asked her if she was excited about being a big sister or what she was going to be for Halloween...Her brother is just a few weeks old but he was wide awake for our shoot. I can't wait to see if he ends up with the same amazing eyes as his sister!