Friends of the Children

Last week I had so much fun meeting and photographing some special people. I had been asked to donate work for Friends of the Children to use in a fall fundraising benefit. I learned a little bit about the program and was excited to work with them. The program identifies "children facing challenges - from poverty, homelessness and poor academic performance to family histories of domestic violence, substance abuse and prostitution" from kindergarten and they are then enrolled in the program until high school graduation. Each child is paired w/ a paid mentor for 12 years. If the child moves mentors follows them so long term success can be acheived. I am looking forward to attending the benefit in October. If you are interested in donating to this wonderful program or attending their benefit please let me know. Now for the photos. I am going a little overboard w/ my posts on this one but these kids are so beautiful!

With their mentors...

And finally the theme of the benefit is Every Minute Counts so we had fun w/ clocks

At the end of their Seattle visit we managed to squeeze in time for family photos of the Festersen/Crawford relatives before they headed off to the San Juans. We had a few tears and boys that really would have preferred jumping off the dock than sitting for pictures but in the end I think we got a few keepers.

The Millar Family

When we returned to Seattle last year life was a little chaotic having a baby before our moving truck arrived & needing to get my business up & running ASAP. If you are from Seattle & have little ones you know how difficult it is finding childcare. Wait lists are the standard so I felt like I had won the lottery when the "school" that came w/ the highest recommendation had one opening specifically for a boy. We snagged the spot for Cooper & felt so fortunate to have him there. Lori and Brooks Millar created an amazing atmosphere for toddlers to fluerish.
This was Millars Place last year as Lori & Brooks are returning to their home in Michigan. I was so excited to get to meet Larson Alden Millar the day before they departed. Larson is 8 days old & obviously very much loved by his sister & mom & dad.
Sister Kilee was all smiles and full of hugs and kisses for her new brother.

Although Larson's eyes are closed I like this next image because his smile is precious.

We went to Gas Works Park as the city scape epitomizes the beauty of Seattle.

My camera had a tough time staying idle w/ my husband's cousins in town. With amazing weather kids were running in all direction at every gathering. Here is a rare moment when we had all the kids' (excluding one napper)...popsicle time!!!




Cooper was probably the slowest in the bunch but with the head start he granted himself he clinched the win up the hill.

I love this last one because you can see how hard Cooper was working to get the big W.

If you have time on your hands here is the slideshow...

Scarlett Emerson 2 days old

I had been anxiously awaiting the news that Scarlett Emerson had arrived. I will think of Scarlett every year on her birthday because Oscar shares the same date (June 27). She is beautiful and I absolutely loved her full head of hair!

Congratulations Kristin and Rob!

Benjamin Jack is 6 months old

I met little Benjamin when he was just 2 wks old. Here is his birth announcement we did.
To see him 6 months later was great. He was full of smiles and his blue eyes are stunning.

Oscar's First Birthday!

These pictures are nothing to write home about but I wanted to post them for family that could not enjoy the messiness first hand.


Cooper was more than happy to do a little stuffing himself.

Then he got a little confused thinking it was his 21st not his 1st birthday...

Often I have mothers forewarn me that I will have my hands full and they are not too optimistic about getting cooperation from their young ones. I always dismiss their warnings and am confident I will be able to capture the best in their children. Well I finally met my match...3 beautiful little girls under the age of 3 yrs. Getting pictures of each of them was easy but I had high hopes of getting a great shot of all three of them together. Getting them all in once place we could do but for not more than 10 seconds...and then getting them looking in the same direction was completely out of the question. Unfortunately the challenge remains until the next time we get together. Here are all the Brown girls...