I feel like this family is my family. We’ve been working together since before big sis was even born. I remember each session vividly. Baby sister’s newborn session, however, has been my fav so far. It was so relaxed. Mom and dad have settled into parenthood so gracefully…with so much love. It just radiates in this family. It’s obvious that mom and dad have been wonderful role models because big sis completely adores her little sister. (My personal fav from this newborn session is HERE).

Very soon after our photo session, big sis got very, very sick.  It broke my heart to read about her hospital stay…thinking about how her mommy must have felt caring for a newborn and worrying so much for her eldest daughter…thinking about how her daddy had to stay by her side in the hospital and keep everything together for his family. She is fully recovered now and they are finally all back together under one roof. I hope I know they are all very much cherishing their time together right now.

I never got a chance to blog their maternity session…a time before they even knew they were having another little girl (I envy families that can keep it a surprise until birth). Oh, this morning was soooooooo hot and muggy, but I’ll take that beautiful light any day…

(My personal fav from their maternity session is HERE.)

We went in early this morning to get all set up for the Back-to-School mini sessions at Gro tomorrow! If these are just the test shots, I’m pretty sure we are going to have a BLAST!!! For now, I’m off to the last round of the outdoor apple tree sessions tonight…

Oh. Yes. We. DID! Round one of the Back-to-School Mini sessions was OUT OF THIS WORLD! Here’s hoping the rain gives us a break for the rest of the outdoor sessions. Could these kids have been any cuter?!?! We don’t have any more openings left for this weekend/week of sessions, but, if you drop a line anyway, I’d be happy to put you on the list for possible future dates.

I probably get more nervous when I photograph a repeat family…repeatedly (I can’t find the links to all of the sessions right now, but I think this makes 5). I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself to come up with something new and innovative and exciting and different. What I tend to forget is that families are constantly changing and therefore, any session with them is going to be new and exciting and different by the very nature of it. This is one of those sessions that will go down in my memory as perfect.

The children were perfect, mom and dad were perfectly happy, the weather was amazing, and everyone seemed to fall into the good light without even trying. My favorite part of this session, though, was not captured “on film.” It was the 30 min. or so I stayed after we had finished taking pictures to listen to the oh-so-amusing story of how these two met and fell in love. I think I could have stayed all morning just listening to the two of them reminisce and watching their eyes sparkle as they told their stories. Thank you for that moment, guys. It was a wonderful memory for me.

P.S. Those little toes you see peeking out from behind mom/dad’s arms w/ the peach stripe shirt on my home page slideshow? Those are his. 😉

P.P.S. My personal fav HERE.

So when his mommy told me that he was on the move and full of energy, I thought, “That’s cool. I can handle that.” But see that little sweaty-boy-head? Trust me, Nina and I probably had it 10x worse trying to keep up with him, LOL! I like a challenge, though, and I like having to think on my feet and move quickly to capture what I’m seeing and anticipate what I’m about to see, so thanks, little man, for making sure we were on our toes!

This was session #2 of my one-on-one photography coaching session w/ Nina from Singapore. So funny how Austin was in this long, horrible dry spell until all of a sudden, I need to be shooting outdoors and then it decides to POUR! Lucky us, we had a small break in the storms this evening. Lucky us, the rain cooled things off a bit and provided a bit of a reward for us all at the end of our session.

Behind-the-scenes:

And one more here.

After our busy day of shooting and talking and all things photography, Nina and I treated ourselves to a fab dinner at Chuy’s (she had never had Tex-Mex before!). As we were pulling into the restaurant, the sun came out and we had the most wonderful light. Couldn’t resist:

Isn’t she purdy?

Well this one will definitely go down in Pinkle Toes session history as the coolest spot EVER. I will admit when I first heard the idea, I was a bit skeptical. I just couldn’t envision two small kiddos in a giant stadium. But then I thought, “Two small kiddos in a giant stadium? That’s AWESOME!” When we first got there, we had to kill a bit of time to wait for the players to finish up with their practice. We had a nice time hanging out on the grounds, but the kids–wait, who am I kidding?–we ALL were dying to get out on the field. It was everything we could have possibly imagined and then some. Wow! What an experience for these little ones! (Did you see my personal fav?) And before anyone asks if we can do their session here, let’s just say we had some special hook ups 😉 for this one, okie dokie?

Unbeknownst to me, their auntie was doing a little behind-the-scenes work while I was rolling around on the field:

 Oh, yes. BEHIND the scenes, indeed ;-).

The way the water was sparkling in the creek that day was incredible and while it was a wee bit humid that day, we were lucky enough to get a little breeze. This mommy said she used to do yoga classes at sunrise out here by this creek. Wow…what a great place to do yoga. If I lived closer to it, this would become one of my favorite hangouts for my own children. About the ducky…we had given it to little man to play with while we were taking pictures, but just like any normal toddler, the second he got hold of it, he chucked it right into the creek! Fortunately, a family friend was with us and spotted in the creek…this pic was her idea. Glad we got it! And oh yes…my personal fav from this session can be found HERE.

Note: Just 4 more openings left for the Back-t0-School mini sessions (Friday Aug 17th in the p.m. at my studio)!

I was more than just a little thrilled when I happened to drive by this super cool spot on my way home one day. I’d been trying to think of the PERFECT location for this family with two active little boys and wouldn’t you know it, this place had it all! Trucks, a school bus,…a dinosaur. Yeah. We were all a bit giddy…

…your idea is bad ass.  Love it.  Let’s light this candle.

That note from dad had me laughing until I cried. I knew this was going to be a killer session!

But wouldn’t you know it, the kids weren’t nearly as excited about the dinosaur as we were. In fact, they were pretty much terrified and we could barely get them to go near it. We tried and tried and tried, but we only managed a couple of shots. After all my years of doing this AND as a mom, you would think I would understand Murphy’s Law is king when it comes to the wee ones ;-). So, I let my dino dreams sour and we opted instead for drawing, playing on the playground, making music, trucks, bike riding, and just exploring the area. I happen to LOVE those images so much more than anything I was imagining with the dino. He was silly looking anyway 😉

[Wanna see my personal FAV from this session and some amazing eyes? Click HERE.]

You should be. But…if you have a child age 3+ in the Austin or surrounding area, you might want to go ahead and block out some time in your calendar August 17-21st. I’ve got something that I think is going to be OH SO FUN in the works and you will probably want to take advantage of it. Details on the blog very, very soon. That is all.

These two weren’t thrilled to be up so early in the morning, but once they got to exploring, they didn’t mind so much. Are you kidding me with those lace outfits at the beginning? Dear me. Too cute! At their newborn session, it wasn’t tough to tell who was who. Still holds true at one year! [Don’t miss the ultimate portrayal of motherhood outtake HERE.]