The other day, my eldest read about the durian fruit in a book and he's been obsessing over it since then. Things you should know about durians:

Naturally, we had to try it. Durians are not easy to find here in Austin, TX, but we do happen to have a wonderful Asian grocery store, MT Supermarket, and I read that they carry durians. For a homeschool lesson, we ventured out to MT Supermarket in search of durians and we DID find them...frozen, of course ;-). It was about $20 (eep), but we just had to find out it if was as bad (or as good) as everyone says.

After letting it thaw for about 12 hrs, we were able to give it a go. Um. Yeah. I'm glad we tried it, but I think the pictures say it all. Unique and beautiful on the outside, absolutely disgusting on the inside. I'm still trying to get the stench out of my mouth :-(. The little princess, by the way, preferred to keep a safe distance and munch on Jell-o instead. Smart girl.

At any rate, our $20 "trip to the other side of the world" was fun and worth it, even if it was gross, gross, gross.

Having been there for his brother's birth and newborn sessions as well as his own birth and newborn sessions, it was so interesting to draw comparisons between the two boys. Upon just being born, big brother was wide awake and always looking at the world around him...little brother was very, very sleepy and mellow. I remember at big brother's newborn session, he was equally wide awake and looking at the world around him...and much to my surprise, so was little brother. Every now and then, the baby would make a face and I would say, "Oh, he looks *just* like his older brother!" But every now and then, he would do something that would be so completely different and he wouldn't look like him at all. Isn't it amazing that two boys could come from the same parents and be so very different and then in many ways, exactly the same? It fascinated me with my own boys and I loved getting to see it happen again with her little ones.

  

Well one thing is for certain: the mood of his one year photo session was *vastly* different than his newborn pictures ;0. Watching his mom and dad go from proud, emotional, somewhat nervous and unsure new parents to happy-go-lucky, joyful, exuberant, relaxed, fun-loving and experienced parents was quite the treat! LOVED the joy and love expressed by everyone at this session.

Last Wednesday, we got a call that Pop (my husband's father) was taken to the hospital for a suspected septic infection and our whole family rushed down there to be by his side. Please read up as anyone can get sepsis and it is an extremely dangerous condition where early diagnosis and treatment are critical to surviving. Without going into too many details, it was bad. It was really, really bad. Pop is a very loved and vibrant personality in our family and seeing him suffer like that pained and panicked us like nothing before. 

By some miracle, he turned the corner a few days ago. Having been one of the few who pulled through this, he still has a very, very long road of recovery ahead of him. This has been an extremely difficult week full of the lowest lows and the strangest highs (hearing him talk again!) and I've been out of the loop work-wise. I just returned home last night to be with the kids and to catch up on work, and believe me, I have a lot of catching up to do. Thank you so much to my clients for being so understanding and allowing me to reschedule sessions. Thank you to everyone in advance for their patience as I begin returning phone calls and e-mails. Thank you to those of you who are waiting on proofs from me. Thank you most of all to everyone who prayed for our Pop...I truly believe he would not be alive right now were it not for his own will to live, the love and care of his family and doctors, and all of the positive energy you sent his way.

I *knew* we were perfectly matched the second I read over her Client Form. She had a unique and specific vision for her senior pictures and it was as if she could read my mind. I've been dying to do something like this for such a long time so you'll have to indulge me while I share nearly every image from her session. I am proud of this one for sure and she should be, too. She carried it off perfectly!

[Most images shot at the wonderful, mysterious, beautiful amazing Eponymous Garden house. I am forever grateful to Debora and Lorne there who have been so gracious and accommodating to me and my crazy session ideas.]

Attention Class of 2012: I can squeeze in two more senior sessions in April if you want to have your images back in time for graduation announcements, etc. Contact me ASAP to get the session information!

Class of 2013? It's definitely not too early to start thinking about and to schedule your own senior portraits. Take a look through my gallery and if you think we're a good match, let's talk!