The Beard’s have been visiting us since they were expecting Baby J (you might remember mom in hubby’s firefighting turnouts in her maternity images).  When they told us they wanted to do something a little different for their second Bebe session, we were all ears.  They mentioned their pea coats and wanting to go to historic Roseville; we were excited!  We just loved those shots, but were just as excited about photographing J in dad’s turnouts.  We photographed him in his helmet as a newborn and they want to continue the theme throughout each of his first year sessions.  Can’t wait to see him standing in the boots next time around!  Meet the Beard family (again):

Today our “baby” turns 5.  It’s hard not to get sappy and sentimental at times like this.  It’s so cliche to say how time flies and in the blink of an eye babies turn into young ladies, but it’s SO true!  Five years ago today we had no idea who this baby girl would become; what her personality would be like, who she would resemble, and the role she would play in our family.  Well, we have learned much about her in five years.  Our Teagan is so full of life, energy, humor, wit and compassion.  She is the funniest kid I’ve ever met, can be so stubborn, but the next minute melts your heart with love.  We keep asking her why she’s growing up so fast, and her reply is always the same: “Because I want to grow up.”  Slow down, sweet Teagan.  Enjoy each day (and she does!).

Here is her actual birth announcement we sent out; the photograph was taken when she was 3 weeks old.  The images below are very recent.  In fact, the ones outside were taken just a couple of days ago.  She was modeling some dresses for the Silver Spoon, so the session also became her five-year portrait session.  She did a great job but was much more concerned about the little ladybug she found and was holding in her hands most of the time we were out.  The last couple in the hat were some fun outtakes from the mommy & me promo session the girls and I did last month.  As much as I love every one of these images of her for different reasons, James and I both agree that the last one pretty much sums up our little girl.  Happy Birthday Teagan!

Our first portrait session with the Wagner’s was a bit delayed because sweet R was under the weather the first date we scheduled, so we tried again, and with great success!  We get to see so many different babies with so many varieties of hair (or lack thereof), and R was no exception.  He had one of those heads I couldn’t resist rubbing!  As happens all too often, we had another “small world” moment upon first meeting the Wagner’s, when we discovered that dad had helped on our major kitchen remodel 3 years ago.  We had a great time with this lovely family and can’t wait to see them back for Mr. R’s second Bebe session!

This sweet newborn session was extra special because little Miss M was joined by her cousin, Mr. J, another one of our Bebe Collection members.  We thought little J was so sweet peering over the basket at his darling little cousin, but when the families saw the images for the first time, they cracked up because they thought it looked like J was contemplating jumping into the basket and eating her! (a joke, of course…J is just a little big for his age and looked especially big to them next to the tiny baby).  Both beautiful babies for sure, and a lovely family we are blessed to work with!

Little C is the second McVey baby we’ve been lucky to photograph in the past few years.  We love working with this family and look forward to each time we see them (both boys were part of our Bebe collection).  It’s so funny because big brother barely had any hair, even up to his first birthday, and little C, as you can tell, is not lacking in that department!  Before long he’ll be back for his one-year session….they grow up so fast!

Little Mr. G and his parents came to visit us for his final Bebe session, and it’s always bittersweet for us.  In this case, we met the Cameto’s and started photographing them for their maternity session, and then continued on capturing baby G’s first year.  We come to know and love these families that we are fortunate enough to spend so much time with, and then it’s well, sad, when the baby turns one and we know we probably won’t be seeing them quite as often anymore.  G was one of the easiest baby’s to photograph in my recent memory, and we could have continued shooting forever the day of his last session.  He was so darned cute in his “little professor” outfit as his dad called it, and I still just want to squeeze his cheeks every time I look back at these images.  Thanks for a great year, Cameto family!

Last Sunday we took the girls over to our friends at the Silver Spoon children’s boutique to photograph some of their brand-new spring arrivals.  We all agreed that some of the outfits definitely needed live models; enter Reilly & Teagan.  While the ladies pulled outfits, I styled the girls in and out of clothes as fast as Superwoman changed into her digs.  The girls had so much fun trying on all of the super adorable clothing, and even insisted on choosing a new hair accessory from the store’s vast assortment for each outfit.  Enjoy a peek at some of the Silver Spoon’s gorgeous new selection!

We knew from the first consultation that this was going to be a fun maternity session.  S mentioned that she really wanted to go outside and by the railroad tracks with the bridge, so our minds immediately switched gears from a “traditional” maternity session.  S & J had some of their wedding photographs taken by this very same stretch of tracks near our studio and thought it would be fun to go out there again and document this next exciting stage in their lives.  We still did some studio work with them, and that was a blast, too.  You can see below that we turned the “fashion fan” on her to help bring out her inner diva. Our favorites from the day, though, were definitely the last few images we got by the tracks.  I just love the connection you can see between them, anticipating the arrival of their baby boy.  A few short weeks later they welcomed their son.  Meet the Bierer’s…

We’ve been photographing this family since big brother was 2, I believe, and now little sis is going to be 2 later this spring!  They came for their annual family holiday portrait, as well as to capture Miss G’s new skill–standing!  We always have the best time with them and are so thrilled to see them each and every time.  The kids are always in a good mood….I wonder if there are good bribes involved?? Just kidding…they’re awesome kids no matter what!  Meet the Pham family (again):

Miss K is one of our Bebe Collection cuties, and she was especially adorable for this session.  The looks she gave us seemed far beyond her age, seeming to have some “secret” the rest of us weren’t in on.  Maybe that secret had something to do with the fact that she was faster than all of us and kept me and her parents on our toes!  While I love all of the images from her session, this first one on the sofa gets me every time I look at it!