You gotta go with the flow. I LOVED mom’s idea to shoot at the newly revitalized Union Station in downtown Denver. Neither one of us made the connection that being the Saturday before St. Patrick’s day, downtown *might* be a bit crazy. Oh my word! The sea of green when I walked into the train station that afternoon was craziness. I almost texted her to tell her that the best way to spot me was to look for the only person in the station NOT wearing green, lol.

But in spite of the crowds, we were able to make it work just fine. These Austin transplants are doing so great in Colorado and it was nice to be able to capture them in their new town. Big sister and big brother were incredibly patient and so full of energy. Baby sister wasn’t quite sure what to make of me at first, but in the end, with the help of her older siblings, we were able to get a few giggles!

Such a sweet moment with his mama!

She was non-stop giggles!!!

Loved the little flower shop inside the train station!

Freckles sprinkled with perfection.

Hammy.

She’s not too sure about all this snuggling 😉

Flare! YES!

Sweeties.

He was being so adorably silly.

 They actually had me cracking up with them.

I guess this Pinkle Toes gal isn’t so bad after all 😉

I am so glad we stuck it out and made Union Station work for us. What a neat little place and what a beautiful family to play in it! (One more HERE).

Like, literally chillin’ – as in what is up with this Texas weather because it was reaaaaaally cold during our session. But that’s okay, the girls managed to have fun and let their true, energetic, sparkling personalities shine through the brisk wind that followed us up and down the streets of Georgetown.

I love this giggle shared above between Mama and baby girl, who, by the way, I guess isn’t a baby anymore because we were technically celebrating her ONE YEAR BIRTHDAY! My, my, my, how Baby Q has grown since her newborn photo session:

 This series above cracked me up. I told her mom there is no shortage of personality in any of these images!

 Cinderella kept losing her shoes 😉

Sometimes, I enlist the help of older siblings to get mom and dad to relax while I’m taking their photos. Usually it results in a photo bomb or two:

 Such a sweet moment!

And really, it’s a toss up between this one above (look at Q’s face…she is SO done with us) and THIS one as my fav family image from the shoot. Thank you again, guys, for having me document these days for you. Your family has grown into such a beautiful, fun little brood! [And once again, hair and makeup rocked by Katie with Modern Muse Beauty!]

I’ve had the joy of working with this family several times over the years and every session has been magical to me. Our evening at McKinney Falls in Austin was no exception. I’m embarrassed to admit that I hadn’t been there before, so it was amazing exploring a new place in Austin. So many different types of landscapes…walk a few feet in either direction and you could be standing at a creek, in the woods, atop a waterfall, or on a rocky limestone expanse with neato reflecting pools hidden here and there.

While location is certainly key to helping set the mood and provide a fun, engaging, beautiful backdrop for a family photo session, is is definitely the subjects that give it passion and energy. Watching these four interact they way they do–full of love and joy in life–is inspiring. That’s what makes pictures emotional and beautiful, so thank you guys, for letting me hang out with you once again. [Session FAVORITE!]

In case you missed the announcement, I will be in Denver, Colorado for a couple of days in March and am accepting a very limited number of family photo sessions. If you would like more information (dates, etc.), let me know as soon as possible!

For the past couple of years, this family has graciously traveled to Austin for their family photo session, but this year, seeing as how they welcomed the “caboose” of their family, it was my turn to pay them a visit when I was in Houston last month. It was pretty cool to see that this very colorful mama has an equally colorful home, FILLED with happy pictures of her bubbly family! She is such an inspiration to any photographer who also happens to be a mom because oftentimes, we are so busy taking care of printing everyone else’s photos that we don’t take the time to print our own. I should have taken pictures of her displays because wow! She did an amazing job creating them.

Of course, the real star of the photo session was their brand new baby boy. He. Was. So. Good. I guess he is already pretty used to his brother and sisters bouncing around him and he wasn’t phased one bit by our little photo shoot. He fits in perfectly and it’s quite impressive that his older siblings have welcomed him with such love and affection. By the way, how anyone can look that good after just having had her FOURTH child is beyond me. Like I said, an inspiration!!

While I know this photo session was about baby boy, THIS might have been my favorite little moment.

I mean seriously, could this little guy be any more adorable??? And when mom showed me his fox sweater with his matching fox lovey, I just fell over. I’ve been working with these guys since big sister up there was a newborn, who actually looked very much like this little guy at that age. It was very cool to see her embrace the role of big sister and dote on her little brother the way she did. And he was such a champ for his first official photo session! It kinda looks like maybe he was posing for us ;-). Inspired by one of my favorite newborn images from a while back, we did THIS, too. (Remember our maternity models from the Austin photography workshop this summer?)

Once again, a family photo session at home gets me all warm and fuzzy feeling…especially since it happened to be quite chilly the day of their session and we were all thankful to be able to spend most of our time in the comfort of the indoors! You may remember this beautiful family from their ultra colorful maternity portraits we did in downtown Austin earlier this year. It was so much fun for me to come back and finally meet their new baby girl this fall! Those big blue eyes and that gorgeous gummy grin totally did me in! Love this candid moment, too, during a little exercise to get everyone warmed up ;-).

Just a small peek into what I’ve been working on over the past several weeks. Debating on if I should show more or keep it as a surprise for all the kiddos who are taking part? Hmmmmm…

These kids-only holiday mini sessions are already HALF FULL and I only just opened the sign up last week! Wow! The 10 minute mini session + one FREE digital file of your choice is ONLY available to clients who book a full session for 2015. (Sorry, you cannot purchase the mini session on its own). Also, while I totally understand that grown ups want to play in my wondrous wintry set, these sessions are kids only. If you’ve been thinking about experiencing a Pinkle Toes photo session, this is a GREAT time to take the leap! Please contact us as soon as possible to get the full session and mini session details because there is an EXTRA bonus that comes with your holiday mini for booking early. *hint, hint*

Okay, off to play in the “snow” some more…

Austin newborn photographer

Oh, she has moved in on their hearts and taken over, of that I am certain. What a sweet, sweet baby girl! Even more amazing was that as tough as it can be sometimes to get older siblings to take part in a photo session that isn’t quite all about them, this big brother shared such a sweet and tender moment with his little sister. It lasted a few seconds, but it was a perfect preview of a lifetime of love between the two of them. And doesn’t she have the cutest little pout, too? What a beautiful newborn baby!

A HUGE thanks once again to Katie at Modern Muse Beauty  for taking care of mom’s hair and makeup so she could have one less thing to worry about trying to get ready for their newborn photo shoot that morning. I so wish I had someone to take care of me like that when I was getting my family ready for our newborn photos back in the day. Mom looked refreshed and was positively glowing while gushing over her newborn daughter!

I hope you can’t tell from these pictures, but little buddy just was not having a good day. I think it may have all started when on our way to the cool red barn, he spied a playground and he wasn’t too keen on leaving it. Ever. LOL. They finally pulled out the big guns (his toy plane) and we managed to tear him away from the playground for at least 5 minutes worth of family photos. Oh, we also learned he likes to take selfies 😉

We finally decided to give up on the ol’ red barn and take him over to the creek where we KNEW he would have a blast. And he did. And so did his sister. We even managed to let him play on a more photogenic playground for some pictures at the end of our session and that seemed to make up for separating him from what was evidently, his most favorite playground in the whole wide world (giggle, giggle.) Mom and dad…thank you so much for sticking with me that morning. Little boy blue sure pulled through! (My favorite image of him and his plane HERE).

Our session–and I mean the exact date–had been on the calendar for nearly a year, so of course, the day comes and we were greeted with pouring down rain. Reschedule #1. The next date we selected, sure enough, mom was going to go get her hair done and the rain came in AGAIN. Reschedule #2. The third date, weather was looking PERFECT and I had just sent mom the “all clear,” when my daughter suddenly got really, really sick. I didn’t think there would be any way to pull this session off, but somehow, all of our stars aligned and we finally made it happen! (My daughter is fine now, by the way ;-). R – thank you so much for your patience as we tried to make this work and I’m so glad you stuck with it! Those boys are busy, busy. Lots to do and lots to explore!!! No wonder mom is so tiny!!