Okay gang, for whatever reason, all day, the sun was shining and it was fairly warm but the second we got together to do our photo shoot in downtown Austin that afternoon, the wind kicked up and a front blew in and it…was…c-c-c-c-old!!! Mr. man put up with about as much as he could handle and we finally just had to call it a day. He was an amazing sport and I learned three very important things about him that day: 1) He loves his soccer ball and 2) He LOVES his mama and 3) He LOVES when his daddy reads to him about New Orleans! (Another favity fav HERE.)

P.S. Gee, thanks, mom for turning me on to Kendra Scott that afternoon. You wear it well. And now I do, too, much to my husband’s dismay 😉

So anyhoo, some things you should know about HIS one year photo session:

• Those boys have tons of energy, but are as cute as can be. Duh.
• Could not believe we were able to get the first pic. Could not believe it.
• Loved the pic of little guy driving…he’s like, “I got this. No really. I got this.”
• The pic when baby boy is smiling at me while mom rushes in to keep him from crawling off the bed? I die. 
• The connection mama has with her boys…especially her Valentine’s Day baby is tangible.
• Another example.
• When dad could actually play, his music was really, really good. What a joy to listen!

That little baby boy was just as perfect as he could be! Laid back, easy going, didn’t make a fuss. His big brother, on the other hand, is super duper fast and you gotta be quick to keep up with him. The best part of this session was right after we had finished up with all of the family pics and began to work on baby bro’s individual shots. Big brother didn’t want much to do with the shoot up until that point, funny enough, but when he saw his little brother getting all of the attention:

It was actually pretty sweet because when he decided he was ready, he motioned for us to put the baby in his arms. Precious! Just precious! Baby brother’s reaction to all of this fuss can be found HERE ;-).

Bless his little heart, mom had brought him the most beautiful set of balloons to use on his session. I ADORED the colors and they just complimented his bubbly personality so well. But…helium floats. And right in the middle of doing those awesome shots of the whole family walking up the hill, we lost our beloved balloons. Fortunately for all of us, it was probably only me who was the most heartbroken, but I did not cry ;-). Little man, instead, was happiest when he had a cup full of Cheerios. You can see in most of the images toward the end, his little chipmunk cheeks were stuffed full. He was irresistibly cute!!! (Another fun shot HERE).

I was chatting with some photog friends today about sessions gone wrong. You see, I had big plans for a special Valentine’s Day image with all three of my kiddos, but because of all of the struggle and fighting it took to get there, I just can’t look at the pictures without thinking about how miserable our shoot was. Instead, I posted THIS ONE for today because it was more authentic and in the moment and not forced. I don’t understand why it’s so hard for me to photograph my kids together. Individually, I’m good, but the three of them together and it just ends up with me being a manic maniac and my kids in tears. I don’t like that. I don’t want them to hate the camera.

Time and time again, I remember that the best images are usually the ones that are unplanned (like the one from this morning), but it is my nature to plan. A lot. To a fault. And when things don’t fall in line with my plan, I shut down. When you have three children, you *do* have to plan. Someday, I hope I will learn to plan enough and at the same time, be flexible enough with my own kiddos to adapt. I can do that with my clients. I do it ALL the time with my clients. I preach about it over and over again at my workshops. And yet, I can’t apply it to myself. I started to go down memory lane of all of my personal photo shoots gone wrong (this one in particular comes to mind) and I suppose I’m thankful for those images, too. But I don’t know…I just wish it wasn’t such an ORDEAL whenever we try to do a shoot.

All this leads up to these images that follow up to her four year photo session. I had big plans for the shoot. In my head. But unfortunately, her birthday falls in line with holiday season…the busiest time of year for family photographers. It had been nagging in the back of my mind for weeks, “I have to get those 4 year pics taken! I have to make time for that! I have to have the perfect dress! The perfect shoes! Must have 4 balloons! I need NO rain and beautiful light!” Etc, etc, etc. There were other things going on, too…I was trying to get ready for the Holiday Mini Sessions, my grandmother was very sick, and we were very worried about why my husband’s brother had become so suddenly ill.  My mom (AKA MeeMaw) was in town to help out and I was spilling out all of my worries to her. She listened patiently, like she always does, and she said, “Let’s just go do her shoot right now. Why not? Let’s just do it.” But I wasn’t ready. I hadn’t finished planning. Where would we shoot? I was planning to drive out to this wall downtown, but even if we left right away, we would never make it before sunset. This would be a disaster!

It turned out to be a beautiful evening with my mom, my baby girl, MeeMaw’s pup, and a delicious golden sunset right here in our yard. It was all of 15 minutes. Tear free. And some of my favorite images of my little girl perfectly captured at four. I needed to go back and look at these images tonight. These were taken just days before the holiday season turned into heartbreak for all of us. It was pure joy. It was time spent with my mom. It was perfectly unplanned. It is a nice reminder to me today. Just let go, Michele. Let go and enjoy these moments enough to capture them how they deserved to be captured.

Each of these families will receive a FREE Pinkle Toes photo session! Congrats to these families and thank you to everyone who participated and voted. I love looking at how these come together year after year. (In no particular order, these are the winners from the popular vote, judge’s choice, and random drawing).

I feel very fortunate that this family moved to Austin not so long ago. I got to document big brother when he was just 9 months old and then at one year. And now, I had the honor of meeting his sweet baby sister (whose name I ADORE). I love watching families who love one another. Everyone is relaxed and happy and content and it’s evident in each of their photo sessions. And Calla fits in so perfectly. Couple more fav’s HERE and HERE.

Just after Christmas, we managed to squeeze in a few maternity pictures out here at the studio. It actually wasn’t as cold as it looked that day, but mama’s accessories totally inspired the wintry feel of this photo session:

We had decided on a particular location for their photo session, but I was yearning to try something new. I’ve been so tired of the dull, lifeless, brown grass thanks to the cold temps and drought conditions. We needed life. We needed color. And so I asked the kind folks at Green ‘n Growing if they would allow us to come in for a few to shoot in their store. They could not have been more kind and accommodating and the greenhouse and plant life were so very beautiful. It’s actually one of my eldest’s favorite garden stores (when he’s shopping for plants and trees to attract butterflies). Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area!

But, I owe most of this to a beautiful family willing to try something new ;-). That little girl couldn’t have been more joyful and more pleasant to work with. She absolutely sparkles and it’s quite obvious that her parents are enamored with her, too. The bubble pics were my fav, of course. In fact, there’s another one posted HERE if you want to see.

Since I literally just finished putting the finishing touches on the prize session for the family that won last year, I figured we ought to go ahead and kick off the 2012 Pinkle’s Pic of the Year contest!!! If you had a session with me at any time during 2012, you should have received an e-mail from me with the contest details and how to enter. If you did not get that e-mail, let me know ASAP as the deadline for entries is Jan 27!! I’ll be posting here and on Facebook once we have the first round of entries all lined up ;-). Meanwhile, enjoy these sneak peaks from their prize for winning last year ;-).

This was my first official photo session of 2013 and I must say, I think we kicked this year off just right. This little guy was a complete angel and watching how easily he has fit into his family was such a blessing. Truthfully, I didn’t want to leave that morning. He was so snuggly and adorable! And the bubble chair? TDF. I definitely need one of those in my house STAT! [My personal fav from this session HERE].