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).

I know in most parts of the country right now, fall means lovely golden foliage and crisp temps. Here in Austin, it’s a little different, but just as beautiful, I think. So excited the timing worked out where we could use these beautiful purple flowers (such a short window as they are all gone now) and play outside without having to be bundled up. And this little girl is just a ball of beautiful energy! She just radiates joy, doesn’t she? FAV family image can be found HERE.

completely modeled after her:

Don’t you agree? I mean how could you not love all of that adorableness???

It was a little over a year ago when I first met her and she was a newborn baby at the time. Normally, when I see newborn clients for their one year birthday session, I recognize them right way, but I admitted to her mommy, if I saw this little girl on the street, there is no way I would peg her as the same baby I had photographed last year! I mean, I guess now looking back, I can see some similarities, but wow! She changed and grew and matured so much! She was cute back then and she’s cute now, but she does not look like the same kiddo to me, lol.

I really enjoyed getting to hang out with her and her amazing family for this fall-like session (even if it was like 110 degrees outside that day). Most of all, I loved listening to little miss chatterbox tell us all kinds of stories. And, an added treat: we were able to re-visit one of their newborn images (which I noticed was proudly displayed in the house) and LOVE how it turned out!

My little sunshine has been under the weather for the past few days and I’m anxious to start seeing this smile of hers again. Every year on our land, the Gayfeather (aka Blazing Star) comes into bloom and it always makes me think back to 5 years ago when I first photographed my daughter in them. I always think about revisiting that shoot, but somehow it never works out. I was determined to make it happen this year. Doesn’t even seem like the same little girl to me. Well, her beautiful spirit hasn’t changed 😉 [My absolute fav HERE].

Then:

[Austin baby photographer]

It was not very long ago at all when this little man up there was being represented by a small bunch of balloons secretly tucked away in a box. It wasn’t all that long ago when I was prepping mom and dad about the planned cake smash for baby girl’s first birthday and warning them that sometimes kids aren’t that into their cakes. It wasn’t all that long ago when we all got to be part of the surprise gender reveal for little man AND baby girl proved us very, very wrong regarding the cake smash (she takes the cake…quite literally, here). And just like the example his big sister set before him, he took to this whole cake smash thing like a PRO! This brother-sister team is good, don’t you think?

It blows me away to think I was privileged and trusted enough to be present to document three very significant milestones for this beautiful family and exactly as they were happening. We did big sister’s first birthday photo session on her actual birthday. We did the gender reveal that day as well. And we celebrated little brother’s first year of life on his birthday, too! But I think my favorite moments from this session were the very real and very loving interactions between little man and his grandfather. Those looks of joy cannot be put on…those two are connected in a genuine way. Both of these kiddos are incredibly blessed to have grandparents in their lives!

You can catch another one of my favorite images from the session HERE and stay tuned to the blog this week for a special (but not surprising) announcement.

Seriously, 9 months old is probably my favorite baby age. I love it because at this stage, babies are still, well, baby-like, but they are so incredibly aware and expressive. And then of course there’s that delicious baby chub that will sadly start to disappear as soon as she starts running around. I love how the mustard and turquoise and gold and Pinkle Toes pink and red came together to create this bright and bold and atypical fall palette. I would say it’s like a happy little rainbow of all of my most-loved colors sparkling up there. And don’t miss her perfect, charming smile in this pic HERE!

Austin lifestyle family photos

These littles have practically grown up on the Pinkle Toes blog and that makes my heart leap. Each year, we’ve done something a little different from the last (of course, the best was when I got to be there for baby #3’s grand entrance…barely) and this year was no exception. It was great weather to go exploring around this amazing little creek and of course, the kids’ favorite part was getting to splash me! Rumor has it that someone pictured here celebrated a birthday today (September is a great month in which to be born. I should know. So should the little guy 😉 so I hope she enjoys her little birthday surprise! One of my favorite images from this family session can be found HERE.

I’ve been an Austin family lifestyle photographer for how long now? Eight years? In all that time, with all of the photo sessions I’ve done, I have never had to bail in the MIDDLE of a session because of rain. Never. Let me tell you, we tried SO hard to push through the first morning I got together with this family. Kids were adorable, everyone was cheerful, we were excited to play (and for me, I was excited to explore a place in Austin I’ve never really been to before). We had all gotten up insanely early that morning to make this shoot happen and things were going SO perfectly until…

…we were a good distance from our cars (and umbrellas) when the skies just opened up on us. No lightning (thank goodness), but a rain shower just strong enough to drench clothing and to threaten my camera equipment. I raced back to my car to grab a supply of umbrellas and all-Macgyver-style, craft a shield for my camera/lens using a grocery bag and a headband. By the time I got back to this poor family, everyone was pretty much soaked. It was at that point, I knew we were not going to be able to recover to finish the session properly. Kids were starting to get tired and wouldn’t you know it, the clouds (in a rather untimely manner) completely cleared to leave us in a full, too bright, and much too hot Texas summer sun. So, we let the boys play in the water a bit and decided to cut our losses and try again another day.

And I’m so glad we did! I would not have traded the fun pictures we got on day one, but day two was even better! It was like we got to have two sessions in one, even throwing in some shots with the iconic “I love you so much” wall so synonymous with Austin now:

I want to thank these guys for being such troopers and hanging in there with me, even when Mother Nature turned against us. I know it takes so much effort to get yourself ready at the crack of dawn, let alone a family of five, and I know nobody wants to have to do it TWICE, but they did and they did not complain. And I got to have two very fun and very different little mini sessions with them in the span of just a few days.

See a collage of my favorite interaction between oldest and youngest HERE ;-). It was such a random moment, but it was REAL and sweet and 100% love.

THIS group…my oh my! I’m not sure I have ever laughed so much at a workshop. Some super witty ladies in this bunch and I’m quite impressed we still managed to accomplish all of our lifestyle workshop objectives in between our constant brainstorming and amusing conversations. I think that’s what so amazing about any workshop group, actually: when you get a group of women together with so much in common, there is a bond, no doubt, but we all understand we still have work to do and are incredibly eager to do it! Did you see I even earned my own Ryan Gosling “Hey Girl” meme? P.S. My underwater “assistant” would probably kill me for that last pic up there, but I couldn’t resist. I won’t out her here since you can’t tell who she is, but she knows. Oh…she knows.

Day one was spent talking all things related to the business of photography complete with headshots in the now infamous Wal-mart parking lot sunflower field:

The next day, we headed over to my sister’s house for our in-home newborn photo session demonstration. I was honestly a little afraid to use the twins as my subjects for this workshop because I knew it would be hard for me to keep my emotions in check. Sure enough, as with pretty much ANY photo session I do for my baby sis, I started out so choked up, I couldn’t speak, but we worked through it:
Aren’t my twin nieces  just so deliciously adorable? And have they not changed SOOOOO much??? Oh, and did you see they’re kinda locally famous now, lol?

That afternoon, we headed out to one of my favorite spots to cool down and photograph a dear friend of mine and her beautiful family in the creek:

And then we all got up before sunrise the next day to do a little practice maternity session at the greenhouse along with a bit of underwater photography:

It was a fabulous end to the summer Texas workshops! I haven’t looked at all of the posts yet, but I can’t wait to start going through the images in our blog circle from this group. Make sure you hop over and see Beth’s take on the Pinkle Toes Workshop:  The Queen B Photography – Houston Family Photographer!

I mean seriously, look at all of that cuteness and personality! But of course, it’s not surprising since her big brother is just as charming! We could not have had more perfect weather for their family session in at my greenhouse at the studio. Actually, the spoiled me and fooled me into thinking the weather would still be as kind to me in June. Not so ;-).

Mom’s beautiful hair and makeup by my pal Katie with Modern Muse Beauty in good ol’ Austin, TX.

Super fun outfits styled by Shelley with Shell Styling!

Another session fav on the Pinkle Toes Facebook Page!