When he came to visit a few months ago, his mommy brought along a fun little surprise: her entire collection of albums we created to represent his first year of life...

Wow! It was really cool to see them all together like that. Our year's worth of work had come to fruition. And now they can look back on it any time they want. Awesome!

I have completely enjoyed my little break so far, hanging out with my kiddos and doing all of these holiday-like things with them each day (in spite of being sick). It has been so nice to get offline and off the computer and out of packing tape to play board games, watch movies, look at Christmas lights, snuggle, laugh, bake sweets, and soak up every thing I missed while I was caught up in the holiday photography whirlwind.

Pinkle Toes Photography will continue to be closed until January 9th (well, still got some sessions and still have workshops coming up), but please be patient as e-mails, facebook messages, and phone calls will likely not be returned until after the 9th.

Clients...I will be sending you the details of the 2011 Pinkle's Pic of the Year contest. Changing things up this year to make it more exciting and the prize is even bigger! Be on the lookout in your e-mail next week and if you don't get something by the 1st, let me know!!!!

I will try to catch up on the blog sometime next year (ha!) to share all of the incredible holiday family sessions and beautiful cards from this year. I have so enjoyed getting all of your cards in the mail!!! Gosh, there are a lot of beautiful happy families out there and that make my heart happy. Meanwhile, if you didn't get a copy yet, here's a peek at our holiday card this year:

I hope you ALL have a WONDERFUL holiday season and are spending lots and lots of time with the ones you love, enjoying old traditions and creating new memories. 

Much love,

Michele

9 to 11 months is THE best age to photograph! I love it because they're still very baby-like, but they have SO much personality (and they can't run away from me...yet). If I had it to do all over, I would have done a family session with each of my little ones at this exact age. But alas, I don't, so I'll happily live vicariously through my clients ;-). 

[Kinda bummed...I just realized I never took pictures of this album :-( Boo. This was number 4 in the series and it looked super cool. Oh well, I'll just have to be better about it when his 1 year album comes in.]

Even though I'd spent hours going through the images and designing the album, my heart fluttered with both sadness and joy as I flipped through the pages when it arrived on my doorstep. The album features the maternity pictures, his beautiful birth day photos, and his perfect little newborn session (below). While it was incredibly rewarding to see it all tied together like that, it also meant that that particular "trilogy" was over.  I've mentioned before that this beautiful family is leaving Austin soon and I don't know why, but it really hits me hard when I think about it. I've been working with them since before the birth of their first baby a few years ago. Feels like I'm going to be saying goodbye to good friends. *Fortunately,* I get one last fix this fall before they're off to make a new life up north. And equally fortunate, we can stay in touch via Facebook.

Okay. I'm done moping now. Here are a few photos from his newborn session...

I've been anxiously awaiting the time when I could show these off and now, here we go! I'm so excited to offer these hand-finished beautiful wood frames to my clients in 16 styles, available in 50+ colors. You MUST see them in person...they are divine! I love the idea of mixing matching the various styles and colors to create wall collages, too, and I'd be thrilled to help you design something for a specific space using the images from your sessions with me.

Speaking of sessions, did you know I only have five openings left for holiday sessions right now? And, they are all in September. October and November are booked solid. If you have been in contact with me about securing a family holiday session but haven't actually reserved the session yet, I strongly encourage you to do so now.

Can't wait to see what kind of beautiful wall creations we come up with using these new Signature Frames!