This family is certainly no stranger to the Pinkle Toes blog and when mom first contacted me about their upcoming session, she mentioned that they wanted to do something different and fun. Over the years, they have set the bar pretty high (exhibit A), so I was a little nervous that we would be to do yet another session that would highlight this dynamic crew properly. But when mom brought up the idea of using color powder, I knew it would be a huge hit with the kids and make for incredibly bold, colorful, and creative family photos for them.

On the evening of our session, before breaking out the color powder, we started with some traditional family portraits:

And then we had a costume change to serve as a blank canvas for the colorful splash we were about to make! We picked a place where the sun would shine through the trees and allow the vibrant colors to contrast beautifully against the natural Texas landscape. Mom had a great idea to put the powder into squeeze bottles and on the count of three, everyone squeezed their bottles into the air creating a burst of colors that looked simply magical. Kids and grown ups alike were screeching and giggling and having an amazing time, and I could tell that this was going to be an awesome session.

One of the things I loved most about this shoot was how unpredictable it was. You never knew exactly how the colors were going to mix, and every photo turned out differently. It was a welcome challenge as a photographer to capture these ever-changing and fleeting moments.

Even their wonderful nanny jumped into the action!

The leaf-blower was the icing on the cake for me :-).

It’s safe to say that their color powder family photo session was a huge success, even if it took quite a while to clean the powder out of our hair and teeth. We were all thrilled with the photos, but I think the memories created will have an even deeper impact. I can’t help but to imagine these kiddos all grown up, flipping through an album of these images and talking to their own children about this awesome day where their parents willingly let them make a gigantic mess! I can’t wait to see what other creative ideas my clients will come up with for their own family photos.

P.S. As promised, a behind-the-scenes look of the aftermath:

Honestly, I cannot even wrap my head around the fact that I have photographed ALL four of these precious children as newborns. Each of their sessions have been memorable, joyful, beautiful, and unique. I can recall little moments from every single one. I really should take the time to dig up the blog posts on each of them, but I worry that my heart couldn’t take the bittersweet sting of nostalgia.

Baby Scarlett’s session was no exception to the rule of gorgeous newborn photos. But there was plenty of *spice* here, too. I will give you one guess as to who kept us all laughing non-stop :-). I love it all. I love the amazing red hair (always a sucker for red hair). I love the breathtaking love and tenderness shown to this sweet baby girl. I love her chubby cheeks and perfectly pouty lips. I love the gangly folded knees and elbows. I love the upside downs and right side ups. I love the special bond that is visible between the sisters and between the brothers and among the individual siblings. Each person in the family is a crucial puzzle piece. Each person has something to contribute and something to gain from one another. It is and always has been a wonderful dynamic to watch blossom each time I see them.

In case you missed it on Instagram, be sure to check out the image we worked SO hard to recreate from a past newborn photo session :-).

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!

Having been a family photographer for FOURTEEN years now, it’s quite common for me to say, “I’ve known these children since they were little babies!” Same is true for this family, near and dear to my heart. I have LOVED watching their children grow up through the years and photographing the process as they remodeled their home, too. I’m going to tell you…mom has an incredible sense of style and design. Her decor and wardrobe has constantly inspired me. Another fav HERE.

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.

On April 22, 2020, we were fortunate enough to celebrate TWENTY years of marriage! I had been planning our 20 year anniversary celebration for a long time with lots of events and sweet surprises. But of course, like pretty much everyone on the planet right now, life shut down all of those plans with one swift blow. I knew I was going to have to let go of everything I had originally had in mind and figured we’d just pick up some take out and maybe a bottle of champagne.

Yay.

I was admittedly disappointed, but I think we’ve all gotten used to that over the last few months. And truly, I am still grateful for the health and well-being of my family and I do not take our marriage for granted. A  romantic vacation or a big bash isn’t required to appreciate our relationship or the family we’ve created together.

But then, about 7 days out from our anniversary, I had the idea to move forward with a different, more intimate, and ultimately more meaningful ceremony in our own house…just the five of us (well, seven, including the dog and the cat). With just a week of planning and creating, I think we managed to pull off quite a magical little DIY 20 year celebration and it turned out to be *just* as special to me and all of us as our initial wedding day!

We had pretty much everything needed for a 20 year wedding celebration/vow renewal, including a happy couple, twinkling lights, rose petals from the yard, and even “professional” photography!

My bouquet, courtesy of Whole Foods.

Baby girl did my makeup 🙂

I had originally thought I would wear my wedding dress, but the Quarantine 15 (or more) had other ideas (ooof). Snagged this gorgeous number on sale from Joyfolie instead. It. Has. Pockets.

The morning of the “party,” I got up extra early to transform our dining room into a reception hall:

We may or may not have spray painted some plasticware to look extra fancy. Also, check out the hand- monogramed “fine linens” by my daughter!

A word on our dining room window: this was left from a project by my nieces a while back. We loved it so much, we decided to keep it up.  Honestly, I may never wash it off! (Check out how it looks at night outside at the bottom of this post).

The train from my original wedding dress was used as a table cloth.

The day before the celebration, the five of us made our own miniature wedding cakes. That was quite the task, let me tell you, as we let everyone decide on their own flavors and decorations for each individual cake. It will be a long time before I bake another cake again, but this was one of my most favorite parts of the whole event…I LOVE how they all turned out! After dinner that night, we each got to have a tiny taste of every little cake :-).

Since I never had professional pics from my own wedding, I thought I’d squeeze in a ring shot. Oh, and check out our super handsome ring bearer:

The kids each played integral roles in the ceremony. Our daughter was my Maid of Honor…

The eldest was our “Officiant.” He did a fantastic job! I dug up the original copy of our wedding vows and he read part of that for us at the ceremony.  Then Virgil and I wrote new vows to one another.

Our middle son was the Best Man AND videographer at the same time. His Best Man toast made me giggle and cry. Sigh…my handsome boys…

Oh yes! During quarantine, our daughter decided to learn how to play piano. She worked SO hard to learn the Wedding March and she absolutely nailed it as I walked down the aisle!

My hubby was in charge of “catering” and he did not disappoint. The take out from Gusto Italian Kitchen was absolutely incredible and we are very much looking forward to going back to dine in there very soon!

A little behind-the-scenes from cake making the night before.

That night, we showed the kids our wedding slideshow…on a VCR! The kids had never seen it before and the most common comments were, “You guys look like babies!” and “I can’t believe how much life you lived together before us!” The kids also made up their own version of The Newlywed Game and we laughed until we cried while playing.

I honestly could not stop smiling the whole evening, I swear you could probably see little hearts beaming out of my eyes. I told my husband in our vows that I am not only in love with him, but I am in love with our family. Quarantine has been trying for sure, but also a precious bonus gift of time together under one roof.  It made me appreciate not only the fact that we were even able to have a wedding all those years ago, but that we *still* have each other. We aren’t perfect people and we don’t have the perfect life or the perfect marriage, but we do have and we do love and we do keep choosing to move forward together and we will keep moving forward together as long as the universe allows.

Sorry, I can’t help it! Especially when I had the chance to experience this family’s breathtaking holiday decorations last year! They are just too magnificent not to share. More HERE.

Gosh, I think I’ve known Sabrina for almost 5 years now, which seems like so long and also not long enough. She is INSANELY talented and has an incredible eye for color and design–as evidenced by her gorgeous home that they completely renovated in mere months. I was so overwhelmed by the beauty and attention to detail in their home…there are so many stories to tell and very personal and thoughtful details throughout. I am amazed at how it all came together, how hard they worked to make all of these visions come to reality.

Sabrina is a funny, warm, easy-going person and I feel incredibly blessed call her a friend. We were treated to the most delicious meal (her hubby is an excellent cook) and relaxing evening at her place and I don’t know if I could ever thank them enough for that. She also happens to be a fantastic travel companion and I’m hoping to figure out a way to run a destination half marathon with her in the very near future (hint, hint).

Thank you so much, Sabrina, for inviting us into your colorful, loving world and for even thinking to document this time with your kiddos as their mommy. They are pretty lucky to have you!

I figure since it’s already the 2nd month into 2019, I might try to dust off the old blog. This session was from a while back, but I’m just going to go ahead and make an attempt to start catching up, little by little. I’ve been working with this awesome family since he was just a few days old. I love that mama isn’t afraid to use color and she made this photo session so authentic to their family with the sweet moments in the house, riding bikes, and sweet, fun treats at the end!

This sweet baby girl is the newest addition to their family and she was a complete angel throughout her debut newborn photo shoot.  She has even taught her parents how to get her to smile on command (by rubbing the top of her head). She was all about the snuggles with mom and dad…

And facing stiff competition from her big brother, her wallpaper game was on point!

I LOVED all of the beautiful and eclectic details in her nursery that were so unique!

But most of all, I loved seeing how her big brother really got into his role and was such an entertaining and sweet part of this photo session!

“Come here, Mommy! I want to show you something!”

Even snack time (all around) made for some cute photo ops!

Squishy back and sweet smiles! Oh yeah, did I mention her precious chins?

This blog post begins #1 of “40 B4 40” = 40 blog posts before I turn 40 ;-). Technically, I don’t turn 40 until 110 days, but I’m not about to commit to 110 days of blogging and 40 B4 40 sounded nicer and I gotta do something to force myself to try to make a dent in all the blogging I have left to do. Wish me luck!