Three years ago I was charmed by big sister. At the time, she was one of the most well-spoken, pleasant, intelligent 1-year-olds I had *ever* met. She is still one of the most well-spoken, pleasant, intelligent children I've ever worked with. She has a GREAT imagination and loves to entertain. I'm glad I get to say, "I knew her when..."
Enter little sister. Just as joyful, a little timid at first, but you can see it didn't take her long to warm up to the idea of exploring this amazing Austin park at sunrise. The fog that day was mystical and although we battled slight drizzle, no one seemed to mind. We were just there to play and celebrate what it's like to be a happy family of four.
A little birdie told me that butterflies were among this little beauty's favorite things. SOOOO, I enlisted the help of my boys to round up a collection of butterflies for their family session. I was so eager to show her my surprise for her, but much to *our* surprise, she was quite afraid of them :-(. Well...she was cool with it when mommy or daddy was holding them, but if one landed on her...oh my. At least we were lucky enough to get that one lovely shot up there.
But my personal fav is the one I caught of dad hanging on the monkey bars. So glad we went to the park so he could have some playtime, LOL!
When mama completed her client questionnaire, she was quite detailed and had tons of ideas for her session. I like that. It gives me something to work with. We always have the understanding that's it's most likely we'll only get to one or two, but I think she and I were both surprised we checked pretty much everything off her list...and then some.
First on the list: "Welcome to Austin"
Check.
Next up: snuggles, togetherness, and painted toes--even on big brother:
Check. Check. Check.
Sidewalk chalk, rainbows, and bubbles:
Check-ity, check, check.
Grand finale: A sign that says "It's 5 o'clock Somewhere." ??? That one stumped me. But mom came prepared...
Big ol' check + the added bonus of a "juice box happy hour" (phrase coined by Dad). I loved it. I absolutely LOVED it!
When he came to visit a few months ago, his mommy brought along a fun little surprise: her entire collection of albums we created to represent his first year of life...
Wow! It was really cool to see them all together like that. Our year's worth of work had come to fruition. And now they can look back on it any time they want. Awesome!