Weekend Warrior

With 3 little hooligans running around, I don't always have a lot of time to put into my photography business. When they are old enough to be a little more self-sufficient I will definitely have more time to invest, but for now I have to squeeze it in on the weekends. But it's always worth the time and I'm always glad I conned some poor soul into babysitting said hooligans for me.

The above were a few shots from a fantastically busy family session with 18 people. It was definitely the largest group (other than wedding parties) that I've ever worked with, and I was really impressed with how well all those good-looking kiddos did. It was a lot of fun, and I'm so glad they let me work with them!

It's no secret that I love sessions with this awesome family. I continue to be blessed to watch this little guy grow up in front of my camera. And now? He has another, equally handsome little brother joining him. This couple knows how to raise some handsome (and ridiculously photogenic) babies! ;)

Yesterday I got to work with another of my fav families. I've also watched this little lady growing up, and she just gets prettier all the time. She was so well behaved during our session...toughing it through several trip-and-falls and bloody elbows and still smiling. A tough cookie who still says 'cheese'? Amazing.

I'm always so grateful to the people who trust me with catching their family memories. I love doing it, and always love getting to know them and watching them make those memories. Thanks for the opportunity!

Personal Petting Zoo

Last weekend we had the chance to go and visit Billy's parents. It had been about two months (too long!) since we had seen them. The kiddos looove going to see Nannie and Pop, and always love roaming/running/climbing all over their farm. Nannie and Pop have several goats (they are working towards having a lot of goats) which provided some serious petting-zoo type entertainment.

I was a little concerned that the goats would bite them. But I'm not so good at animals...I hate dogs and honestly I'm a little terrified of horses. (Hello...they are huge, don't look where they are stepping, and they kick people.) But the hooligans didn't seem to have any trouble making friends. Tirzah was fearlessly feeding them all kinds of scraps she yanked out of the yard, and Merrick looked like he wanted to just climb right in the pen with them. (We also had a problem with him climbing into goat pens at the fair. He seems to have a kindred spirit with goats...probably mountain goats in particular since he's been climbing like one since before he could walk.)

I had one close encounter when I was leaned over the fence taking pictures and looked down to see this. She is probably thinking my iPhone would make a good snack. As far as goats go, these ladies were pretty good looking. I've seen goats before, and cute was not a word I would have used to describe them, but these guys kind of won me over. But don't expect to see me on any horses anytime soon.

Hooligans are Rad.

I'm sure you guys have heard of all the "color" runs and races popping up all over the place. People are running through everything from color to foam to mud to zombies. As a runner, I first turned my nose up at these races since (ohmuhgosh) they don't even have a time clock or mile markers. I realized I needed to get over myself though, and ran one last summer with my sisters and had a blast, gasp, even though I didn't know what my time was. ;)

It was so much fun, in fact, that I thought we would take the hooligans to a local Color Me Rad race. I figured there would be a lot of walking and piggy-backing, and there was, but they ran a good part of the way and had a great time. Merrick did a little of his signature questioning (my child who has to know the reasons and the whys and the schedule for everything) and pouted a little when he got sprayed (the powder they throw was fine) with the liquid color. He ran for at least 1.5 miles though! So proud of those skinny white legs of his. Tirzah didn't care about being sprayed, and her only concern was there was not nearly enough pink color flying around. She was also a bit perturbed that I did not get her a long, curly blond wig to wear like the girls in tutu's and fairy wings she saw run past us. I'll know better next time.

The kiddos didn't actually get race bibs, since they run for free with an adult, so we made them their own. They have seen me race enough to know, "hey...where is my bib?" No fooling these guys. I thought their bib "numbers" were appropriate. ;) Afterwards we took them out to IHOP for some recovery pancakes. Apparently racing gives them a monster appetite since we couldn't fill the bottomless pit that was Merrick. He stood up at one point in his seat and said: "I am HUUUNGRY! I need more pancakes!" We had to leave before he managed to get full...eating his food and part of mine and Billy's. 

I know it's bittersweet watching them get older, but it's also so much fun to do things like this with them. I'd like to think they will look back on their childhood, aside from remembering how deeply loved and treasured they are, and see lots of colorful memories and traditions that keep them steady enough to run free.

I Don't Cayuh.

We were riding in the van the other day and the hooligans just busted out singing this song I wasn't aware they'd even heard before. Complete with matching accents.

Life was crazy this weekend, (Color Me Rad, photo shoots, goats and chickens and children oh my) and there's lots of fun stuff to blog about. But I'm still trying to find which way is up and sort through all the wreckage of the good kind of chaos. So I figured this would do as a good start to the week...but stay tuned. There's always more crazy on this end of the Internet.

Mall Walkers

Around our house, there really isn't any great spot to take a walk with the kiddos. We kind of have to cross a busy road, and then the sidewalk we walk down is right next to said busy road. If you've met my children, you know why this would lead to the complete opposite of a relaxing stroll.

The other night we decided we'd be really smart, and take them for a "walk" at a nearby outdoor mall. Plenty of room and no chance of getting run over by anything other than a few fashionistas who don't quite appreciate shopping alongside the local wildlife.

As you can see, they took advantage of the extra "freedom" to not stay on a narrow sidewalk. I would have attempted to rein them in a bit, but since there weren't many people to bother, I decided to save my breath. (Billy and I kept asking ourselves what they had eaten to make them so wound up...but so far this remains a mystery.) Thankfully no one fell into the fountains, and contrary to one of the above pictures, no one found any snakes in the landscaping either. There may have even been a relay race on the escalator, but this can't be confirmed.

Tirzah is obsessed with flowers, as you know. She even found this flowered  "item" that she wanted to buy in Urban Outfitters. Sorry, kid. Not buying you a flask for at least another 18 years. ;) I'll leave you with this little clip, which will probably leave you wondering how no one ended our trip with a little swim.