Interestingly enough, my first two photo shoots of 2017 were for 3rd babies named “Asher.” This dude was pretty much wide awake during his entire session (mom told me zonked out the second I left), but it allowed us to get wonderful images of interactions with his doting big sisters, snuggling parents, and adoring grandparents. And his sparkly hazel (?) eyes! I wonder if they’re going to stay that way? I loved the way his sisters loved on him with all their might. I loved his perfect little back rolls ;-). I loved his long, curly toes. I loved how I could see already how much he looks like his middle sister, who in turns, resembles her father. I loved how his mommy breathed him in every time she picked him up. Most of all, I love that his grandfather was able to make him SMILE *just* as I was packing up my stuff, getting ready to head out. Lucky catch, there!

I’ve had the extreme honor of photographing the newborn sessions for each of their 3 babies and I had to giggle when I walked in for this little guy’s debut photo shoot because his basically a carbon copy of his brother and sister ;-).  I LOVE that they all seem to have inherited that beautiful red hair, but they still have so much of their father’s features in them. This guy in particular. He was a perfect little doll the entire session, doing exactly as the third baby typically does: putting up with the antics of his older siblings and being totally chill about the whole thing. Mom and dad are an amazing parenting team and this sweet baby is going to have no problem fitting in with the rest of his fam. A perfect summation of their lives right now can be seen HERE.

Hair and makeup by Katie of Modern Muse Beauty in Austin, TX.

It was nearly 10 years ago when I first started working with this family…he was just a baby, then. I am so impressed with the intelligent, caring, funny, creative young man that he has grown into. His mommy and daddy should be very, very proud! I am honored to know ALL of them ;-). One of my favs HERE.

For one reason or another, we kept having to push back this family photo session date until we were right on the edge of the holidays. But, it didn’t matter because it turned out that the day we were finally able to shoot was completely perfect. The boys were in great moods and SO hammy for the camera (didn’t they pull off their dapper purple velvet suit coats so wonderfully?) and the entire family looked oh-so posh and ready for a night on the town. People kept looking at us while we were shooting…trying to figure out if this family was famous (of course they are!) or if perhaps we were shooting an ad ;-). I’ve done so many sessions with this crew over the years and this one will definitely stand out to me. I know the years are numbered where mom is going to be allowed to dress up her guys and I’m glad we were able to do this at least once more. THIS image makes me laugh every time I think about it.

My work is typically focused on smaller, immediate family groupings, but I do marvel at the importance of and beautiful interworkings of the extended family. It is quite a special thing when families from all walks of life, joined together by marriage, are able to create such a peaceful and loving and fun little unit as this family has been able to do. And I greatly enjoyed the opportunity to witness their bonds in action and see the magical little world they have created for all of their grandchildren and hopefully, future great-grandchildren.

Sabrina (an extremely talented photographer in Fort Worth) is not often the one in front of the camera and I know how hard it is to switch from being the photographER to the photographED. But, I have to tell you, she did quite an amazing job coordinating all of this and then stepping back and letting the session unfold. That is *not* easy to do (I’m not very good at letting go myself), but she and the entire group were an absolute pleasure to work with, rolling with whatever hurdles came our way (say, a baby that refused to nap that day and unpredictable weather) with grace and a fantastic sense of humor.

I have lots of favs from each of the groupings, but HERE’s one in particular of Sabrina and her lovely daughter that really grabbed me.

I can’t believe I’ve known these cuties since they were in their mommy’s perfect little tummy and their newborn session seems like forever ago. But, watching these girls grow up through the years has brought me so much joy and laughter. Every photo session with these twins has been fun and memorable and unique, and getting to share in a bit of that magical glow just before Christmas definitely fell in line with the wonderful memories of past photo shoots. They are beautiful little people and they crack me up with their energy. But they also melt my heart with their love…for life, for their mama, and for one another. I’m so lucky to know them!!! Loved this sweet little kiss HERE.

Note the “heart” pic up there was a nod to a little something we managed to pull off during their newborn session all those years ago:

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?]

I was blown away by the gorgeous outfits she put together for her family and this incredible location we visited. It was made even better by the fact that this spot is *very* special to their family and it was an honor to get to photograph them there. Her children did AMAZING for their photo shoot and I was so excited that she even thought to bring some fall leaves for everyone to play in at the end of the session. We even managed to find a bit of fall color when we were exploring that afternoon ;-).

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 ;-)).