The Pinkle Toes elves are back at it again, busy creating a warm, cozy, inviting set for our “Holiday Chalet.” The 13th Annual Kids-only Holiday Minis and Toy Drive will be held at a gorgeous, cabin-like retreat in Central Austin (make note of the earlier dates this year). As always, the only way to snag this FREE mini session for your child(ren) is by booking a session for 2025. If you’ve never experienced a Pinkle Toes session, this is a perfect way for us to get to know each other while also creating adorable holiday photos of your kid(s). Or, if you haven’t had a Pinkle Toes session in a while, this is a great opportunity to come back and see what’s changed. Everyone who brings an unwrapped toy to their mini for our annual toy drive will receive an additional free file! I say it every year, but these holiday minis are always a hit and a sure way to help everyone get into the holiday spirit! Please drop a line to learn about the 2025 session options and score this coveted mini session for your child(ren). Openings will fill up quickly!

Here are some images from last year’s sessions to give you an idea of the kind of images we get at the minis:

Warning: you are about to be inundated with photos that are full of preciousness and Pinkle Toes!

The light, the richness of the colors, the peace and beauty of the entire family, the EXTREMELY cooperative children all made for a morning where I actually did not want this newborn photo session to end!

This one right up here. Can you even believe how perfect this moment was????

The second I saw this rug, I knew I wanted to incorporate it somehow. See what I’m saying about the richness in the colors?

And, for nostalgia’s sake, let’s see mom and dad celebrating the upcoming birth of their second son during their maternity photo session on a warm, breezy day in downtown Austin:

Somewhat unrelated to maternity and newborn photos, if you are wanting holiday family photos, believe it or not, NOW is the time to book those! This month is already full, September and October are almost full as well. With all of this wonderful rain in Austin, I am hoping for gorgeous greenery throughout Austin to last us through the fall. Let’s take advantage of that! Contact me to get session information soon!

This is your (my) little reminder that there are *still* wonderful things happening in the world. I cannot wait to meet this little miracle very soon!!!

And so my posts are all out of order. But like so many things over the past year, I’m just going to have to let that go. I’m going to have to focus on blogging photos that make me happy…even if they are older or out of chronological order. I want to celebrate and look back on these beautiful moments I spent with so many families, like this one. I am reminded that I’m definitely going to have to make a follow up post to share their absolutely *fabulous* holiday session, too. But meanwhile, join me in looking back on the expectation of and arrival of their 2nd daughter.

It won’t be long before we get the good news that baby #3 has arrived. And it is still hard to fathom that this little Maverick has risen from some of the most difficult times this family has ever faced. However, it was nothing but smiles and joy on this evening as we celebrated this incredible blessing (well, except for the part when we had to duck into a building to hide when the tornado sirens went off ;-)…false alarm).  I know his big brother and sister and mom and dad and all the rest of us are very, very, very eager to meet him. One of my many favs HERE, as well as HERE and HERE.

Our first attempt at capturing their adorable little baby bump was met with quite the challenge. I had been watching the weather *all* day and was starting to see the storm chances increase greatly right at the time we were supposed to start our photo shoot at Mueller Park in Austin. So I had the bright idea of moving the session up a few hours…to beat the storms. And instead, THIS happened. We waited, and waited, and waited…I mean, we were already there…everyone was already made up and looking gorgeous. Finally, it looked like the storm had cleared, so we ventured out. We hadn’t even taken 10 pictures before it started raining on us AGAIN :-(…just out of nowhere! Fortunately, we were able to kill some time in Lick Ice Cream, but we still had to wait and wait and wait some more. I have to say, the soon-to-be big sister held on as long as she could and was quite the trooper, but when the sun finally did come out that day, we had already lost our window and we had to call it. Even I was surprised to find we actually were able to get quite a few fun images on our first day, but I was glad everyone made it back AND there was no rain on the second day:

Favity fav is HERE. I’ll be seeing this beautiful family *very* soon when their new baby decides to make an appearance!

We were barely able to squeeze in this maternity photo session in the GORGEOUS Texas bluebonnets before their precious baby made his way into this world. And, we happened to hit this field right at peak season with perfect temps and a perfect sunset to go along with it. Another FAV HERE. I hope that every year when the wildflowers come out, they’ll remember this time of anticipation and excitement over the miracle that was about to grace their lives ;-).

Speaking of whom, would you like to meet him?

Yes…he is *really* cute and I very much look forward to getting my hands on him again soon to properly appreciate his squishiness ;-).

{Psssst…the bottom one on the right up there? Her son took that! Loved the way he caught his mommy looking at his daddy. Well done, little man!}

I figured I had better get these maternity photos posted because I’m thinking this sweet baby girl will be arriving any day now ;-). You guys, I am not even kidding when I say it was the windiest day on which I’ve ever done a photo session. And it wasn’t a gentle, warm breeze that would lightly tousle the hair. Oh, no, this was a “constantly blowing, wind gusts that could knock you off your feet and why is it also so cold?” kind of wind. Thanks to that, this may have also been one of the fastest photo sessions I’ve ever done because dealing with that wind and trying to keep her sweet boy warm and happy was exhausting.

But on top of all that, everyone still managed to look happy and Rebecca still managed to be positively GLOWING! I seriously don’t know how she has done all that she has done in the past couple of years…opening up TWO Pure Barre Studios (Cedar Park and Round Rock), keeping up with a very busy little boy, being a wife and mommy, AND growing a baby at the same time. Hats off to you, my friend! You are the very definition of Super Mom and you are already setting quite the example for both of your kiddos. [One of my favs HERE].

If you are in or near Austin, Texas and are pregnant and due anytime now through December, you can take part in the first-ever Pinkle Toes Summer Baby Shower! Those who book their Pinkle Toes newborn session will receive a complimentary 15-20 minute mini maternity session + 10 digital files + an 8×10 mounted print of their choice from the maternity session! Drop a line to get full details on newborn sessions as well as the dates/times/locations of the mini maternity sessions.

I met them a couple of years ago when they were expecting their very first baby. They had planned this lovely “babymoon” in Austin and oh, my goodness, it was like we chatted forever about so many things after we finished our session. I love when you get to feel a connection like that to a family. Naturally, when I saw them again for holiday pics at the end of last year, I was ELATED to learn they were expecting again. She mentioned in passing that they thought it might be twins, so I kinda fell on the floor when it was confirmed a short time later. I mean, can you EVEN believe there are two babies in there???? My favorite maternity portrait HERE. She was positively glowing when I visited them a few weeks ago. I cannot get over how amazing and happy she looks thanks to some inspiring health changes. And it’s been such a wonderful thing to watch them on their journey to parenthood and now into twin parenthood. They are going to do amazingly well and big sister is going to LOVE those sweet babies so much. I cannot wait to meet them and of course hold some twin babes again ;-).