Okay gang, for whatever reason, all day, the sun was shining and it was fairly warm but the second we got together to do our photo shoot in downtown Austin that afternoon, the wind kicked up and a front blew in and it…was…c-c-c-c-old!!! Mr. man put up with about as much as he could handle and we finally just had to call it a day. He was an amazing sport and I learned three very important things about him that day: 1) He loves his soccer ball and 2) He LOVES his mama and 3) He LOVES when his daddy reads to him about New Orleans! (Another favity fav HERE.)

P.S. Gee, thanks, mom for turning me on to Kendra Scott that afternoon. You wear it well. And now I do, too, much to my husband’s dismay 😉

while pregnant with TWINS–wait, let’s stop right there. I could never look this good at all, period:

Let me tell you it was fa-reeeezing in Austin the morning of their maternity photo shoot and in between shots, she was huddled under a blanket trying to stay warm. Such a trooper! I think she has such an incredible smile and to watch the two of them together was amazing. I cannot wait to see their transition into parenthood…times TWO. I have not a single doubt that they are going to be outstanding parents! {Follow THIS link to see an image not shown 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).

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).

Since I literally just finished putting the finishing touches on the prize session for the family that won last year, I figured we ought to go ahead and kick off the 2012 Pinkle’s Pic of the Year contest!!! If you had a session with me at any time during 2012, you should have received an e-mail from me with the contest details and how to enter. If you did not get that e-mail, let me know ASAP as the deadline for entries is Jan 27!! I’ll be posting here and on Facebook once we have the first round of entries all lined up ;-). Meanwhile, enjoy these sneak peaks from their prize for winning last year ;-).

…I can’t even begin to tell you how refreshing it was to get to work on this session today. That little girl up there is crazy, super loved and her warmth and energy and charm is 100x more palatable in person than even in these pics. She might just take after her mommy  just a wee bit ;-). Two other favs HERE and HERE.

Those of you who follow my blog, facebook, or Instagram know that this past week+ has been very trying for my family. I am getting back into the swing of things with work, but it’s taking some time and will continue to do so. Thank you so much to my clients and friends for being incredibly understanding. Thank you to Kelly here for being so amazingly patient waiting on her images. I’m normally a stickler for deadlines and timeframes, but even the best planning can’t stand up to life’s challenges sometimes. I feel amazingly blessed to have experienced so much love from my clients and the online community and my photographer friends.

Many of you have been asking about how you can help regarding my brother-in-law. We are currently working on a project that I hope to launch on Monday that might give you that opportunity AND you could probably score a last-minute holiday gift if needed. I don’t want to say much more because there are so many facets yet to be worked out, but please, check back Monday afternoon to see what we’ve come up with. And thank  you a million times again.

*Someone* had a birth day today ;-). I’ll give you a hint…you can’t really see him in these pics ;-). I found that to be incredibly convenient because this someone + his family happen to be the models for the in-home newborn photo session demonstration at the first January workshop! There are two–yes, only TWO–openings left for the Austin lifestyle photography workshops in 2013. I do not have any more Austin workshops on the calendar at this time, so please don’t miss out if this is something you’ve been thinking about attending. You’ll need to complete the contact form on that page to get the dates, pricing, and other details.

Meanwhile, I’ll just wait around here until I can get my hands on him for his newborn session part A in the next week or two ;-).

Everything about this session was giggles, sparkles, wonder, and true family contentment. I don’t think we could have had a more perfect session if we tried and it was so much fun getting to know and work with this family. There’s one pic up there that should be viewed larger, by the way.

Speaking of sparkles, you may have seen my little teaser the other day: well, we’ve been hard at work creating the set for the 2nd annual Pinkle Toes Holiday Mini sessions!!! These kids-only minis will be held starting at the end of this month at Gro Boutique and the mini + one file is FREE when you book a full session with me for 2013!! If you’d like all the details, please let me know and stay tuned to the blog and Facebook where I’ll be posting more sneak peeks of this year’s magical set. Last year, these sessions filled very quickly, so don’t miss out.

I was just a teensy bit nervous that #1 her mommy is an excellent photographer and #2 they flew in from Minnesota for this session. Uhhh…no pressure, Michele.

But, this is definitely going to go down as one of those sessions where everything just floated along perfectly and she could do no wrong. There was such a cool vibe with the session and so much joy and excitement shared between mother/daughter for this trip together to Austin, for this monumental milestone of her upcoming graduation, for the fact we were celebrating all of these things with a timeless photo shoot. They totally inspired me to do this for my own kiddos when they reach this point. I think it would be amazing to take a weekend trip one-on-one with each child and have pictures taken where they chose.

K…you are a remarkable, confident, beautiful, glowing young woman…incredibly self-assured and completely comfortable in your own skin. Never, ever lose that. It is going to serve you well when you venture off to college and beyond.

This little dude and I have been hanging out for a few years now, but this session was probably one of my favs. Basically, we just let him explore and do the things he wanted to do and we followed along. He loves his parents. He loves is little go car. And he loves apples! {Still my FAV from this session}

Oh man…just realized I never shared the images from his session at the Pinkle Toes photography workshop earlier this year! Silly me!

And some super fun behind-the-scenes pics from that day:

[images by myself, Claire, and Michelle]

What fun it was to look back at these images! Fantastic group of ladies and so much talent, it was unreal! Oh, and it rained like you wouldn’t believe. So much so, this happened. Miss you girls. Miss your humor, too 😉. In case you wanted to visit it, here are pics from our newborn session from this workshop. Oh, by the by: one of these ladies from this workshop is actually hosting the Charlotte, NC workshop!!! Awesome!!!!

While we’re on the subject of workshops, just wanted to remind you (or let you know if you didn’t already know) that today, November 1st, is the last day to qualify for the $100 discount for reserving your spot in a 2013 Pinkle Toes (only) workshop. If you need the full details (dates, pricing, etc.) fill out the contact form on this page.