Max Turns One!

Maxwell, my youngest grandson. What a character he is. And how happy I was to do his One Year Old session! He is all about being a clown, and he's good at it. Happy 1st Birthday, Maxwell. We love you to infinity, and beyond . . .

Lexi's Senior Session

I got a call from my niece in September asking if I could come out to California in October to do her Senior session. My schedule was a little too booked and I was unable to at that time. She found a fantastic photographer who took great care of her and she got some outstanding images. I was able to clear my calendar to take a trip end of November and, while there, captured a few of her. Lucky girl, two senior sessions! We had a blast and here's the shots of yet another gorgeous niece!

Jayden's Session

Poor guy - having a Nana as a photographer he gets NO passes. He is so photogenic, how can I NOT take this guys pictures!! We went over to the ball park to play some baseball on one condition - Nana gets pictures. After his eye rolling, he was all smiles . . .

WATER FIGHT!

It gets HOT in Texas. And when it gets hot, it's time for a water fight with POP!!!

Jayden's In Town!

I love this time of the year when I get my oldest grandson for the whole summer. It's this time when I can act totally like a kid and I don't care! Oh the places we will go. Normally he arrives right after his birthday, but this year we were lucky to have him for his birthday. He picked out his cake, because it reminds him of his favorite time with us - 4th of July - and chose the stars and stripes. What fun. I can only wonder what his wish was before he blew out his candles! Happy 7th Birthday, buddy!

Nieces Senior Portraits

I flew to California in March to capture my beautiful, gorgeous niece, Kennedy's, senior pictures.  We travelled to the wine country to a couple of wineries, as well as Old Town Sacramento, to do her session.  Beautiful weather, beautiful girl and a fantastic session.  Couldn't have asked for anything better.  Congrats Kennedy!!

Justin's Session

A little over a week ago my youngest son, Justin, came up to me after a session and asked if he could do a shoot. Justin NEVER likes his picture taken. I have to struggle to get him to pose and then try to say something funny just to get him to break a smile. He’s such a handsome guy and has a fantastic smile; I don’t know why he’s shy about his having his picture taken. Here’s one I grabbed of him a few months back right before a client came in:

Jayden's Trip to the Trains

I thought I would make Mondays my day to post something about me. Or my family, or travel, etc. I have it on my calendar as a ‘project’ to do for Mondays, and I do plan to stick to it! Sort of my forced time management. Ha!

It’s been a busy summer. Besides photography, I had my grandson visit for “35 days”, as he puts it. Trying to come up with things to do with a 5 year old when your summer is one of the hottest ones on record – days and days of 100+ degrees, and trying not to run out of things to keep him entertained, can be a challenge. It taught me several things: (1) make sure I’m in tip top shape to keep up with a 5 year old; (2) make sure I’m in tip

Jaydenism

Kylene picked up Jayden from daycare today. This is their conversation:

Jayden: Mommy, I can count to 10 in Spanish!

Kylene: You can?! Let me hear it!

Jayden: UNO, DOS, TRAYS, WAFFLES, CHEETOS, SAYS, DIETE, OCHO, NEW WINNERS, DIEZ!

LOL!

Railroad Tracks

I had this vision for a while to do a session like this with a little boy. Problem was, parents eyes would bug out when I said "railroad tracks". And I do fully understand their concern. Hard to describe this scene when you have no images to show a sample of.

I have been waiting for the perfect weather to take Jayden out for a similar session. Of course, not too hot, and not too cold, but also wanted a cloudy day. Two days before they were scheduled to move back to North Carolina, my prayers were answered.

With a pair of overalls in hand, his little red fishing pole, and a red bandana stuffed with newspapers tied to the tip of his pole, we drove up to the railroad tracks.

We had a wonderful time, and caused quite a bit of a traffic jam. One guy yelled out "That's cute, I really like that."

Here are the

Kyleneisms

My daughter, Kylene, has her share of ‘isms. And believe me – they leave you scratching your head! She did one today that was just too good not to blog about.

Past ones have been from a story about her “modeling group heading to ‘PHONE-X’” instead of “Phoenix”. Or an incident where it was so traumatic “that my life flashed between my eyes.”

Today, folks, she topped all the previous Kyleneisms she has pulled in the past.

Kylene tells us about her lunch hour adventure at work. She and her friend, Sarah, are having their lunch in the lunchroom and watching Family Feud. The host gives 2 contestants a question one of them must answer before the buzzer rings. While the game on TV is being played, Sarah and Kylene play along to try to beat the contestants.

The question is as follows: Name a State that’s hard to spell.

Kylene: CINCINNATI!

Sarah: Kylene, that’s not a State, that’s a City!

Kylene: Look, (laughing) I was never good at Geometry!

Now I know where Jayden get his ‘isms.

Speaking of Kylene and Jayden, I took them out for a Mommy and Me photo shoot at our local Arboretum. These may be the last images I’ll take of them until our next visit. They leave for North Carolina next week! This month flew by!

Texans vs. the . . . . .

Jayden has his own name for some of the football teams. Many are just the colors. For example "The Black and Gold got the Blue team down!" (translation: The Saints got the Cowboys down!) There's one name he has for the Carolina Panthers that can't be beat: Carolina Pampers.

But, tonight, he has another name for another team.

The Texans are playing the Ravens tonight. He came in my room and I asked how the Texans are doing . . .

Nana: How are the Texans doing?

Jayden: They are loosing.

Nana: Oh, that's not good! They really need to win this game!

Jayden: I know. They haven't gotten any toughdowns!

Nana: Oh, that's too bad. Do you know what the score is?

Jayden: No. I just know that the Raisins are getting the Texans down.

Jaydenism

Kylene, my daughter, and I were watching TV and there was a Salvation Army guy ringing a bell on the news. Jayden, my grandson, gets all excited and says:

Jayden: Oh, I saw something! Nana, can you back it up?

Kylene: No, Jayden, we're not backing anything up.

Nana: LOL - Jayden, I don't know what you're going to do when you move out with Mommy. You won't be able to back anything up on TV.

Kylene: That's right, we live on a budget!

Jayden: I live on Earth!

Many Faces of Jayden

Jayden, my grandson, is happy to be my test session prior to my 'real' sessions coming in. He's such a ham in front of the camera! I just get a kick out of his sillyness! But, in order to get him to be serious, we have to go through a series of funny faces prior.

I Love This Little Guy!

The Coneheads

I ran across a picture that makes me laugh from time to time.

A few years back while visiting my Mom, my brothers and their families came up for a visit as well. I enjoy when our families get together. There's lots of laughing, lots of jokes, and lots of love! My 8 nieces and nephews are a load of fun too. There's never a dull moment with them, they will always come up with something to entertain themselves and to make us laugh.

My nieces, Lexi and Kamryn, were obviously up to something when they came looking for empty water bottles. Only one was available. Lexi asked if I could hurry up on my water bottle so she can have it. I did. I asked what they were going to do with

Jayden’s Trip to the Dentist

It’s that time of the year for Jayden. He’s on his way to get his teeth cleaned. The past couple of months Ray, Kylene and I have been to the dentist. And each time, Jayden has wanted to go.

“I need to go to the teeth Dr. too”

So, today, it’s his turn.
He runs to the truck and hops into his seat. He’s pretty excited to go . . .

When we arrived, I couldn’t get him out of his seat fast enough. As

Superman in the Bubbles

It's a bird!

It's a plane!

It's S U P E R M A N!

Nothing like spending the day pretending to be Superman and run through

Another Jaydenism

Jayden has been learning "Good Choices" and "Bad Choices" at daycare. Some days he comes home with a note that Jayden made bad choices at school, by hitting someone, or pushing someone. When Jayden comes home with a note of good choices, he makes sure every single living thing in the house is informed of his day full of good choices. The daycare sent home a happy face on a stick for us to hold up when he makes good choices, and a sad face on a stick when he makes bad choices.

So now, when he does things wrong, we tell him he's making bad choices or hold up the sad face. Same with good choices.

Here's a conversation between Kylene and Jayden this morning.

Jayden holding up his happy face to Kylene

Kylene: Jayden! Put that happy face down!

Jayden: But I was making good choices!

Kylene: When?

Jayden: Tuesday, at 4:00!

Jaydenism

Hanging up the phone.

Jayden: Nana, who was that?

Nana: That was Pop.

Jayden: Pop the weasel?

Nana: Pop the weasel!?

Jayden: Yeah. Pop goes the weasel, 'cuz the weasel goes pop!