I have known this family for.ev.er (since their eldest son was a wee babe) and I have loved every chance I’ve had to play with them. But I must say that this particular session has been my absolute favorite to date and here’s why:

1. It was at home (duh. You all already know how much I go giddy for lifestyle photo sessions at home).

2. The boys are so much fun! They really have come into their own and there is so much personality and spunk and vitality…they inspire me.

3. Those. Curls. My word!!!!!! I could have stared at them all day. LOVE.

4. Mom and dad = so chill. I love that they went with whatever direction the boys took us in during the shoot. And they loved and snuggled and played with the boys. And didn’t bat an eye when I asked them to get into the pool with the boys.

5. The underwater portion of our photo shoot. Oh man! This was a blast! SOOOOO many favs, including THIS one.

Yeah. It’s not hard to see why I loved this shoot so much!

You truly cannot go wrong when you #1 let your family photo session take place at your own home and #2 you let your boys just be themselves and do the things they like to do. It creates an opportunity to capture their childhood in such a real and authentic way…an invaluable gift to give your children that they may not fully appreciate until years and years down the road. These boys are beautiful, yes, but their smiles are genuine because they were genuinely having a wonderful time and the love is visible because their parents were so incredibly relaxed. And then you add the underwater photography and yup, perfection all around. Check out the black and white version of one of my favorite color images blogged HERE.

This little man’s arrival was much anticipated and I must say, his newborn photo session did not disappoint. I mean, I can count on maybe 1 finger how many times a newborn baby has smiled during the very first 5 or so shots taken. He was cuddly and snuggly when we wanted him to be and he treated us to his beautiful eyes at the end of his session (we had to work for that just a little bit). What a handsome and sweet little baby boy. He is the perfect addition to their family! In honor of Father’s Day, HERE’s my favorite father-son image from the session.

From his beautiful mommy…

1) Tell us a little bit about your family… Geoff and I have been married for almost 5 years and just had our first baby, a boy named Fisher.
2) What made you decide this was the time to do a photo session? Were you marking any special occasion, etc? We knew we had to have Michelle document our new baby.
3) Where was your session held and why? Our house. A place we feel comfortable and convenient with a newborn.
4) What did you like about your session location? It was easy!
5) What was your favorite part of your session? All of the creative ways Michelle photographed Fisher. it was so much fun creating different backdrops and places to put him.
6) Was there anything you were nervous or worried about before the session? If the baby would cooperate for long enough to get all the shots we wanted.
7) Any funny stories or interesting happenings during your session? Fisher was out like a light for most of the session. He wasn’t even phased by all the positions and places we put him.
8) Any advice to other families before their photo sessions? Trust Michelle!
9) What made you choose Pinkle Toes Photography? My family has used her for years (she even did my bridal portraits) and her pictures turn out perfect every time. Her eye is incredible and she really knows how to capture those sweet and special moments you don’t even know are happening.
10) What do you hope your kids/family will say years down the road when looking at these images? I’m so glad we have these!

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Don’t forget: If you are expecting and due this fall, you might want to check out the Pinkle Toes Summer Baby Shower!

I love that she greeted me at the front door in her mommy’s heels. I love that we got to hang out at their home and just do the things they like to do at home. I love all of the snuggles that took place (especially THIS one). I love that the sun came out for just the last few minutes of our time together. I love red hair. I love freckles. I love mom’s necklace. And I love that she wanted to do this session for the three of them (well, four counting the pupster). What a special thing to have captured…the love between a mother and her children.

From Mama, herself:

1) Tell us a little bit about your family… I have two ridiculously amazing kids – Jackson (7) and Kennedy (4.5). We have a rescued Boxer named Teddy Roosevelt. Collectively, they are my presidents and we live in the White House that just happens to be brown.
2) What made you decide this was the time to do a photo session? Were you marking any special occasion, etc? The past year was full of challenges for us all. I had a medically necessary hysterectomy, my grandmother died, our first family dog died suddenly, and my ten year marriage ended in divorce. As the wedding pictures came down, I decided that wanted to do a session like this to fill our home with photos of our recomposed family. It’s up to me to set the tone for this next phase of life, and I want my kids to have prominent visual reminders that we are still the happy, silly, loving family we have always been.
3) Where was your session held and why? Our session was held at home – partly because of yucky weather, but it turned out perfectly.
4) What did you like about your session location? My kids were relaxed at home and had fun showing Michele all of their favorite things.
5) What was your favorite part of your session? I loved that Michele never asked us to do anything that felt unnatural or staged. She went with our flow, even when my kids got seriously silly, and that made for the most authentic part of the whole session.
6) Was there anything you were nervous or worried about before the session? I was definitely worried about getting the house “camera ready.”
7) Any funny stories or interesting happenings during your session? I bake and the kids love to help me in the kitchen. I decided to incorporate that into our session, and I’m glad I did, but I should have saved the chocolate batter for the end! I was wiping the kids’ faces right to the very end!
8) Any advice to other families before their photo sessions? Relax! Michele’s got this!
9) What made you choose Pinkle Toes Photography? As an amateur photographer, I’ve always admired Michele’s style. I knew she would give us a fun session and amazing images.
10) What do you hope your kids/family will say years down the road when looking at these images? I hope they’ll say that these images are evidence that, even in our most difficult time, we were full of joy and love. I hope these photos reflect what I most want them to know about life in general – we can’t control what happens to, but we can choose how to react and move forward, and that makes all the difference!

He is caring, curious, clever, and creative. He is adventurous, a voracious reader, a talented writer, an excellent artist, has a wonderful laugh, is SUPER fast, loves his mama and his pup and his father, and it’s a pleasure to get to hang out in his world each year for a little bit. I love that he totally wanted to create *with* me and he was so into our experiment with the prism. Look out for him one day, world, because he is going to do amazing things.

I never know what to expect when I’m working with a newborn baby + a sibling, but I must say that BOTH of these girls far exceeded our expectations for them at the photo session! I know mommy thinks that her eldest was running around like a crazy person the whole time (and yeah, that may have been true for a few minutes), but honestly, she was a joy and I really loved watching her dote on her baby sister. They are very lucky to have one another.

See another version of this POV of big sis peeking up HERE. Also love this adorable behind-the-scenes shot by mom HERE.

It was pretty funny because as usual, the minute we tried to work with the baby by herself, big sis wanted to be part of the action. And we let her. And it was precious!

I really loved this moment. My daughter sucked her thumb, so I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for thumb-sucking. But I think it’s the contrast between her being the big sister and comforting her baby sister while comforting herself that really drew me to this image above.

Look at baby sister’s eye contact!!! Priceless!

From Mom:

1) Tell us a little bit about your family… We’re a family of four now (I can hardly believe that!) with two little girls and our two crazy rescue pups. We live a pretty simple life here in Austin and spend our days cleaning up messes, tripping over toys, laughing, and wishing for more sleep, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
2) What made you decide this was the time to do a photo session? The arrival of our second daughter, Emily!
3) Where was your session held and why? Our home, because that’s where we spend most of our time and it’s where we’re most comfortable.
4) What did you like about your session location? We didn’t have to load everyone up and go somewhere and we could just be ourselves.
5) What was your favorite part of your session? Watching our oldest daughter, Elisabeth, love on her sister and laugh at Michele talking in a crazy voice behind the camera.
6) Was there anything you were nervous or worried about before the session? I wondered what kind of mood our daughter would be in that day and what on earth I was going to wear, since I’d just given birth a week before.
7) Any funny stories or interesting happenings during your session? Our daughter was running around like a crazy person in the background for half the session.
8) Any advice to other families before their photo sessions? Don’t worry about a thing. Just let Michele take the reigns and work her magic!
9) What made you choose Pinkle Toes Photography? Michele is simply the best at what she does. She photographed the birth of our first daughter a few years earlier and those pictures absolutely mean the world to us.
10) What do you hope your kids/family will say years down the road when looking at these images? I hope they will be grateful that we had the pictures taken and I hope they will see how much our girls mean to us.

If you’ve ever attended one of my lifestyle photography workshops  or if you’ve ever been a new parent talking to me about when might be the best time for your baby’s newborn session, you may have heard me go on and on about how much I LOVE working with older newborns. And this beauty featured here is a perfect example of the kind of images you can get when baby is around 7-9 weeks old. I love that she was so alert most of the session and was actually making eye contact with her family AND with the camera. And those smiles!!! It’s really fun to get that kind of feedback from a little baby. I was also really struck by how much she looks like her big sister. I just kept seeing her as a newborn over and over again. It was crazy!

She was really, really, really awesome with her baby sister. I think we were all amazed!

See what I mean about the eye-contact and beautiful smiles?

We snuck away to spend some time with big sis in her big girl room and it was precious to watch her play with her toys. They were having full on conversations. We don’t know what about, but it was pretty deep.

(Love. That. Book. It’s a classic in our house).

Ohhhh. those lashes. Those cheeks. Those lips. Sigh. THIS one might be my fav from the bunch.

I spy Pinkle toes 😉

At the very end of the session, as I was ready to leave, mama asked for a pic of her and the hubs together. After we shot the serious image, they surprised me with the high-five, celebrating a hugely successful photo session. Right on! They do make a wonderful team!

From mama:

1) Tell us a little bit about your family… We are a family of four! Scott and I have been married for 7 years and we have Blake Lynn, who will be three in August and we recently welcomed Blair Marie.
We love the current stage our little family is in and spend as much time as possible together.
2) What made you decide this was the time to do a photo session? Were you marking any special occasion, etc? We were celebrating Blair Marie joining our family 🙂
3) Where was your session held and why? Our home- so much easier with a newborn
4) What did you like about your session location? It’s our favorite place to be
5) What was your favorite part of your session? How cooperative Blake was, she was so happy to show off her baby sister
6) Was there anything you were nervous or worried about before the session? Tantrums! The last session we had was full of tears [but it still turned out pretty nicely ;-)]
7) Any funny stories or interesting happenings during your session? Blake loved the puppet that Michele brought along!
8) Any advice to other families before their photo sessions? Michele is the best, so you are in good hands and no matter what your toddler is like, she will capture absolutely precious memories
9) What made you choose Pinkle Toes Photography? Michele is the best!
10) What do you hope your kids/family will say years down the road when looking at these images? Look how little we/they were

I can’t quite put into words how I feel when I’m working with certain families. It’s just that sometimes (or luckily in my case, many times) you meet people and while you’re “working” you feel like family. You share in their joys and celebrate when wonderful things happen. And that’s just how it has been watching this family grow and I couldn’t be happier to meet their new beautiful baby girl!

Two things I want to mention about this lifestyle newborn photo shoot:

1. Yes, any time you are dealing with a young older sibling, you never know what’s going to happen. We must be very patient and very willing to go with the flow and by we, I mean myself + the parents. I really want to give credit to mom and dad on this one for being SO incredibly laid back and allowing their eldest daughter to just be herself, even down to the band-aid she insisted on wearing the entire time. I asked mom if she wanted me to take it out or leave it in when I was editing and I grinned ear-to-ear when she said to leave it in. YASSSSSS! She gets it! How wonderful to acknowledge this phase in her daughter’s life and having the foresight to commemorate it forever in photos. Excellent decision!

2. Along those lines, notice the gloves in the series of the sisters together? Well, we decided to give big sis a little break and focused on baby sis for a little while. I was concentrating so hard on photographing the baby that I freaked out a little bit when all of a sudden, these gloved hands appeared in my frame:

But once again, we decided to roll with it. If big sis wanted to be in the photos with her baby sister, I wasn’t going to stop her and nor were we going to try to take away the gloves ;-). Turns out, I believe she was merely copying me because I often wear gloves when working with newborns so my touch won’t startle them. I started laughing so hard when I got to these images in my camera roll during editing! I’m so glad we have them!

And now, from mom (by the way, my fav image from the session happens to be with her and her new baby girl, shot through the prisms of her chandelier which she worked so hard to put together for their new house):

1) Tell us a little bit about your family… We are a family of 5 counting our dog Lola. My lucky husband is surrounded by 4 girls; Myself, Lauren: 2.5 yrs, Marilyn: 5 weeks old and Lola: 6 yrs. We are a very active, loving, fun, silly, caring, kind and Christian family. We love to be outdoors and going all the time. We rarely stay home and we love spending time with our extended families.
2) What made you decide this was the time to do a photo session? Were you marking any special occasion, etc? Newborn photo session! Introducing Marilyn Rose Kalb, born March 13th.
3) Where was your session held and why? Our house; for convenience. 😉
4) What did you like about your session location? Convenient and comfortable
5) What was your favorite part of your session? Pictures of Marilyn Rose and Lauren
6) Was there anything you were nervous or worried about before the session? My 2.5 year olds compliance and getting her to focus. 🙂
7) Any funny stories or interesting happenings during your session? My daughter totally ruined her dress from the photo session right afterwards. Like hugged a pole with black tar on it and ruined the entire $75 dress. Stinks!
8) Any advice to other families before their photo sessions? Relax and enjoy cause you’re not in control of your kids’ photogenic outcome.
9) What made you choose Pinkle Toes Photography? Michele’s amazing work
10) What do you hope your kids/family will say years down the road when looking at these images? Sweet, silly and loving family.

I have visited this family out at their ranch several times over the last few years and each photo session is gorgeous and so much fun. This year was no exception. Really loved how we started this one off!

That dress, Mama. Yeowza!

The sweetest sisters! SOOOOOO lucky to have each other! 

My fav from the hammock HERE.

But then feeding Nilly was definitely the highlight of the evening!

From Mom:

1) Tell us a little bit about your family… A tight knit family where little house on the prairie still lives!
2) What made you decide this was the time to do a photo session? Were you marking any special occasion, etc? Knew the grass would be nice and water would be pretty.
3) Where was your session held and why? Family ranch
4) What did you like about your session location? Familiar and meaningful
5) What was your favorite part of your session? Feeding Nilly!
6) Was there anything you were nervous or worried about before the session? No
8) Any advice to other families before their photo sessions? Be comfortable!!!! Not hungry or tired! Let Michele lead littles!!!! 🙂
9) What made you choose Pinkle Toes Photography? 4th year. Easy and painless for kids, and husbands! :))).
Michele is a total pro!
10) What do you hope your kids/family will say years down the road when looking at these images? Favorite times of our lives!

[I am crushed right now as I had a very detailed and lengthy and heart-felt post all written out here but when I went to publish it, all of my text was lost. I am going to go ahead and post this without my beautiful, long passage to accompany the images right now because mom has waited so patiently to see her sneak peeks, but know that I am sulking over here and thinking very bad thoughts about the internet in general. While I pout like a 2-year-old, I hope you will at least enjoy these images of a family that is dear to my heart and maybe you can make up your own stories behind them. Favorite session image HERE ;-)]

[This was the only text that was saved, so I’ll keep it in:]

Now, I have to tell you the story behind these jars. This was a gift she put together for her husband one Christmas and the amount of thought and planning that went into this idea just blew me away. Each child has two jars…the pennies in the left-hand jar represent the number of weeks they have before they graduate high school and essentially, leave the nest. Each week, she takes one penny from the child’s jar on the left and places it in the right. Our three children are almost the exact same age breakdown and let me tell you, it crushed my little mommy soul to realize that there are not really that many pennies remaining in that left-hand jar for either one of our oldest boys.