It’s been a tradition of theirs to have a fantastic cake smash and birthday photo session when each baby turns one year old, and this beautiful little caboose was no exception! I adore tradition and revisiting elements of photo sessions in the past and I equally love each opportunity to make it unique to the kiddo whose birthday we are celebrating. After her big sister showed her how to properly eat cake (remember THIS image?), baby girl was happy to share her prize with everyone. I LOVED the look on her face watching her older siblings HERE. And I think we can all agree that these children have the most incredible eyes ever ;-). Gorgeous family!

Her 9 month photo session was shot during the craziest time of year for me, but it was a welcome little respite from the hustle that comes along with holiday sessions in the fall. It was perfectly candid, relaxed, laid back, and documentary:

• a sweet little round face peering through the crib in the early morning sunrise
• snuggles and bedhead between baby sister and her big brother before they head downstairs for breakfast
• building Legos on the living room floor
• a shy game of peek-a-boo
• the perfect water spout cascade of pigtails
• clumsy, yet loving hugs from big brother
• dimples in all the right places
• breathing in warm, bare baby skin
• playing in the light and shadows of a warm fall morning in Austin.

My heart skips a beat when I look at the images from sessions like this because if I squint my eyes and try really hard, I can almost see my own kiddos at these ages again. I can almost feel the sticky kisses from a toddler and the whisper of milky baby breath and I realize how lucky we are to live in a time and place where we can take a few moments to document these seemingly “everyday” occurrences and file them away until we need a little reminder of how life used to be and how completely wonderful “ordinary” actually is.

[The black and white image in the shadow grid up there…I couldn’t decide which one I liked better…that one, or color?]

GPS can’t guide you here. It’s hard to believe there are places in Texas that are *that* remote ;-). The directions to get to their family’s beautiful remote ranch involved a number of gates and “turn past the 3rd cow,” but it was 100% completely worth it. My daughter actually accompanied me on this adventure and I felt so blessed to have that little girls’ trip AND to get to spend such a wonderful time with this family. The weather was absolutely incredible and we actually stayed out exploring after sundown. It truly does not get more “Texas” than this photo session…complete with big blue skies, cactus, rocky hills, yellow grass, and wading in a river. Oh, and don’t forget the beautiful family, too! I know I’ve probably blogged way too many images from this session, but I could not narrow it down. I also had a hard time picking a single fav…THIS is just one of them.

Thank you so much to this family for sharing the ranch with my daughter and I, for this incredible photo session, and the wonderful hospitality (with some very, very tasty chocolate chip pancakes the next morning ;-)).

Hopefully, you can’t tell in these pics, but this little guy had us trying everything we could possibly think of to keep him calm and happy. Well, I take that back…he *was* perfectly calm and happy when we let him rest peacefully in his crib, but unfortunately, he had a photo session to attend that afternoon and he was not terribly thrilled about being removed from his comfy little cocoon. Can’t say I blame him ;-). But you know what? He is really stinkin’ cute and I think he’s going to surprise everyone with all of the wonderful images he actually allowed us to take! And I have to say he is quite lucky to have such an adoring and caring and attentive big sister. Truly, a beautiful family all around and I was incredibly impressed with the team work we all put in to make his debut photo session a huge success! My favity fav HERE.

The last time I saw their eldest, it was in celebration of his first birthday! Now he’s a big brother and I can tell those two are going to be the best of friends and be up to all kinds of shenanigans as they grow up together ;-). Love that we were able to capture big bro and his furry bro on their lookout up there. And this one of the whole family together was too cute to pass up.

We were treated to a gorgeous morning in downtown as we commemorated their time in Austin, TX before they go off on a new adventure. I love that there is SO much personality in these images…particularly note that little man is holding something he loves in every single image. So precious! My favorite image from this session caught me by surprise. I was SO thankful I actually was able to catch it. You can see what I mean HERE.

The photos should hopefully speak for themselves, but this is 100% for real what their Sundays look like and that was 100% mom’s intention behind this very special photo session. I’ve been working with these amazing people since before their eldest was born and we’ve done every kind of family photo session under the sun. I know mom has been dreaming of capturing this time when her sons are old enough to play ball in the back yard and young enough to still be tucked in. Oh, I teared up so many times that evening: inspired by how beautifully they work together as a family and wistful for the days when my kids were this little, before homework and after school activities replaced bedtime stories. MK…these moments have now been documented forever and I hope they bring up powerful and happy memories for you and all of your boys each time you see these pics and you never forget that this is what your Sundays look like.

(She’s already seen this one, but my personal fav image can be found HERE.)

Things you should know about this photo session:
1. These may be the most down-to-earth and laid back people I’ve ever met in my life and it is SO good for me to work with people like that. Their calm draws me in and makes me lighten up and see things that I might not have seen otherwise. I’m not sure mama realizes it, but it’s true.

2. The same thing happens when I’m lucky enough to have her as my yoga instructor at Modo ;-). And that’s why I love that place so much!

3. The breakfast tacos were a bit of afterthought, but it was perfect! During session planning, I asked her what they liked to do as a family and she half-jokingly replied, “Eat breakfast tacos.” Well, the early start to catch the sunrise began to take its toll on little man, so we decided to just give in and head over to grab breakfast tacos. I had no idea how CUTE and photographically awesome that place was. WIN!

4. I LOVE big sis’s freckles.

5. I also LOVE this pic totally improvised between mom & dad ;-).

6. That adorable fence where the kiddos are holding hands up there is now gone!!! It was a reminder of how quickly beautiful things come and go and how fast Austin seems to change sometimes.

The post I’m about to show you is probably one of the most incredible homes/properties I’ve ever had the pleasure of working in in Austin. SO much history with this home and it thrills me to think that there is a modern day family with their two energetic and happy little girls living here and enjoying every little charm this place has to offer. My jaw hit the floor over and over again with each little nook we got to explore and I just kept saying over and over again how lucky these children are to get to grow up in such a magical place.

One of the things that really struck me was how kids are kids, no matter what their environment…zooming down this elegant hallway on a stuffed zebra ride-on. How fun is that??????

And then we went outside…jaw on floor again.

Don’t miss my fav pic by this antique cart HERE.

It’s as if that gorgeous light was there as solely to enhance the magic and beauty of these sweeties and the property.

Once again modern + childlike meets historic + natural.

Even the pupsters put on some fun faces for us!

But the ultimate was this majestic old oak tree. Wow. Just wow!

Love that we got to go fishing ;-).

And also love her cute little face up there 😉

As much as I shared their love for this amazing place, I think what I loved most about this session was how down-to-earth and laid back mom and dad were. They were completely engaged with their kids and were game for getting on the ground to play with them throughout my time there. Sure, these girls are going to have wonderful memories in this home, but those memories will be mostly due to the fact that their parents helped make those memories *with* them!

So, a few years ago, I happened to experience on of my most favorite photo shoots of all time with this beautiful young lady and a butterfly ;-). I could not get over the fates at work when, as I was planning a spur of the moment trip to Denver, her mommy contacted me to let me know they were in Colorado and could we work out a new photo session because they now had a baby boy! Turns out that she is just as sassa-frassy as she’s always been.

It also turns out that baby boy is just as adorable as his big sister!

I was very excited to get to work at this crazy colorful spot in downtown Denver…loved it’s modern look with jagged lines and cool shapes. But it wasn’t without it’s challenges. Quite literally after I had taken but a single image, it started to rain on us :-(. We ducked under the cover of various overhangs, hoping it would pass. Eventually, the rain did let up…for a while.

Fortunately, this family doesn’t take long at all to warm up to the camera, so we were able to work quickly and still get amazing interactions with everyone in a short time. So, I wasn’t terribly worried when we saw the clouds rolling in again.

My favorite part of the session comes in the following series of images. Little guy is just learning to walk and he actually took a few steps on his own while I was luckily snapping away!

The looks on their faces says it all! He was so proud of himself and his sister was just as happy for him! It was precious! And sure enough, just as we finished those last couple of images, the storm *really* hit…it was like a Texas storm! Crazy lightning and a torrential downpour that wouldn’t let up! I was so happy we were able to squeeze in some amazing images with them before the storm sent us scattering to our cars ;-).