I know you must recognize this beautiful family by now as they are no strangers to the Pinkle Toes blog. I look forward to our session together each and every year when they drive in from New Mexico. Meg really wanted to do something in the wildflowers this year and oddly enough, I stumbled upon the perfect place just as my car broke down. I guess it was meant to be. Loved this little undiscovered spot. So much so, when Meg took our pictures :-), we came right back here. Can’t wait to see what Meg created for our family, too! Two more favs HERE and HERE.

We sure did have a lot of plans for our session, but Mother Nature had other ideas. What was supposed to be a lovely spring day, turned into a rather chilly and wiiiiiiiiiindy March afternoon. The wind made it sooo tough for us to hear one another and to keep the hair out of our faces (LOL), but it was quite perfect for the awesome wind chime collection mom had brought for her baby girl to play with.  And she sure looked like an angel in that lovely cream chiffon dress by the creek. I think I could have photographed her all day in that dress if the weather had been a bit more cooperative. This was a different side of L than what we’re all used to…she usually has boundless energy and a million things she needs to do. This particular afternoon, we were privileged to get to capture the sweet, clingy, lovey, “I don’t feel well and I just want to snuggle up with my mommy,” side of her. And I think that’s quite a lucky thing to be fortunate enough to get that on camera, too. [Another fav 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).

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.

Look at little miss’ pinkies in most of these pics. Everything she did was just so delicate and lady-like, and just so. I have about a bazillion more pics of her with that little pinky sticking out. She just makes you want to take a big sigh because all is right with the world. She is a beautiful, perfect addition to her little family. Two other favs shown HERE and HERE.

I don’t think I ever got a chance to blog her mommy and daddy’s maternity session from last year, either:

I have been so anxious to finally get the chance to sit down and go through these images. I knew I would love them and indeed, I do. Here’s why:

– Because mom and I had a total connection from the second I walked in for this shoot. I would say something and it was exactly what she was thinking and vice versa.

– Because of the Avatar tree. Oh my word, that tree! The second I pulled into their driveway, I knew we had to find a way to use it. I pretty much ran into the house and told mom, “Look…we’ve got about 15 minutes left of decent light by that tree. Can we make it happen?” I really don’t know how we were able to pull together a toddler + a newborn for those shots to come to fruition, but I think I cried when we did, LOL. Mom e-mailed me a few days later and said all the leaves had fallen off that tree. Just. In. Time!

– Because I adore this family. We’ve been working together ever since big brother was first born. I will always remember the day mom called me trying to get an appointment. I had promised my husband I would take some time off and I said I couldn’t do her newborn photos. But I felt so, so bad telling her no. So we worked it out. I’ll be forever grateful I did. What an absolute joy to watch mr. man grow up and to see the arrival of a baby sister, too.

– Because she couldn’t be more perfect if she tried. Or funny, too.

– Because she let us do this.

– Because it brings me back to a reality outside what is consuming my mind right now. And it makes me smile. Big.

Thank you to this beautiful baby and her family for being so very patient while waiting for me to give you these images. Their understanding about our family situation has been so moving. This holiday season, I feel very, very blessed to know all of these wonderful people.

Her vision for their engagement pictures was perfectly clear to me…we were speaking the same language. And it was as if the sun and the light and the beautiful weather spoke it, too.

The last time I got to work with them out on their beautiful property, they were just in the dreaming stages of building their dream home. It was such a treat to revisit this fall and see the new house. They did an incredible job with it and I LOVED exploring each room. AMAZING decorating in there! And the girls have grown so much…such amazing, beautiful young ladies. (Another big fav HERE).

This family was selected to be my model fam for one of my workshops coming up in Jan in Austin!!! On that note, I have just TWO openings left for the first Jan workshop. I’ve heard from a few photogs who are waiting around for me to announce other Austin dates later in the year: there are no other Austin dates. Do not wait around or you will miss out! Be sure to fill out the form in the link just mentioned to get the full workshop details ASAP.