You Were Loved from the Start

I'm not sure I've ever been so touched by a request for a photo shoot.  When the email came through, I immediately got teary.  After having just announced my new "Life as it Happens" sessions, a woman I met several years ago sent me a message on Facebook, asking if I would be willing to photograph the homecoming of their third child, a little boy who was being adopted from South Korea.  I was truly honored and said yes without hesitation.  Their other two children are beautiful, sweet girls who were adopted from China.  As it turns out, this adoption had been 5 years in the making with more ups and downs and delays and excitement and stumbling blocks: a true roller coaster ride. I was fortunate enough to be a part of a private page on Facebook, as well, that chronicled the family's journey in the past couple of months to South Korea to meet with their new little guy/little brother and their trip back when the adoption was finally final. What a joyful day that was!

On April 12th, I arrived at the airport, ready to go, two camera in hand with different lenses.  Family and friends gathered to await the arrival of Kerry, Dave and little Michael.  There was such an outpouring of support and love around this wonderful event! Slowly but surely the crowd grew and grew....

At long last, the big sisters arrived with their grandma!

After taking this next image, I had to walk away for a moment to get my emotions back in check.  An absolutely perfect drawing!

They'll be coming any minute!

They have arrived!!!

Mom and Dad are back with Michael!!!

Kisses from Mom.

The man of the hour followed by the first family photo!

Surrounded by so much love from family and friends.

Welcome home, Michael! What an amazing community of support and love you have surrounding you.  I am honored to have been a part of your Homecoming!  I look forward to watching you grow and seeing all the amazing moments you have in front of you with your family.  You were most definitely loved from the start!

Last day of Spring Break

Spring Break flew by this year!  We decided to end it with a trip into Chicago to see the Thornhill Rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago.  The One Book One School choice this year was a great story called 68 Rooms. It's about 2 kids who find a magic key that shrinks them down to miniature size and they go into the Thornhill Rooms at the AIC and have adventures.  Such a cool book and I wanted the  kids to see the rooms in person.  It was their first trip to the Art Institute.  If you have seen the rooms close up, you know how cool it would be to be able to actually go inside of them!

They had seen photos of the rooms but it's a whole different experience to stand in front of them in person. We came across rooms that they recognized from the story and those were the ones they liked the best!

The details in each room are amazing and the light is truly fantastic. The lighting is equally awesome in the stairwells around the museum. I could have done a full photo shoot right here in this spot!

We did walk around a bit more after every Thornhill Room has been thoroughly viewed.  We looked at the Impressionists and also discovered a really cool room with armor the knights used to wear.  My little guy, in particular, loved it.

One of my favorite moments was the one below.  The kids recognized this painting from having studied it at school.  It was such a cool moment to see them standing in front of it, excited to see it in person.  I had to find a more creative way to make them stand out, as asking everyone to move while I took a photo really wasn't an option.  :)

What was your favorite moment from Spring Break?

Hand over the camera!

My friends have often heard me say, "There is little to no evidence that I actually exist in my own family."  That's because - 1) I am the mom and in most families, moms tend to be in charge of any and all picture taking.  2) I am a photographer.  So, naturally, I take most of the photos.  Combine those 2 things and I'm pretty much never in pictures.

HOWEVER, we've reached a new milestone!  My kids not only want to take their owen photos but they can now handle my camera.  I'll be teaching them a little bit at a time...for now, I just set the settings for them and they make sure the focus is correct before they push the button. So yay!  Looks like I'll have more of a role in the documentation of our family now.  That makes me happy.

Moms/women out there tend to strongly dislike having their photos taken, right?  But, take a moment to think about how much you love seeing photos of your own parents/grandparents when they were younger. What if, every time someone wanted to take their picture, they said no for any number of reasons (their weight, their hair, their clothes or just any excuse in general to avoid the camera). I'm also going to guess that, when looking at those old family photos, not once did you say to yourself, "oh she should NOT have had that photo taken because of xyz reason."  You are just happy to have the memory to see!  I'd be so sad to be deprived of those images that document my family.

On that note, Friday night, my son had a Cub Scout event which my husband took him to. So, my daughter and I got some girl time together.  After dinner, as a surprise, I took her to a really cute frozen yogurt store. They have this awesome topping called Boba which I honestly cannot get enough of! They are these little balls of liquid that you can pop in your mouth that taste really good.  I put both flavors on my frozen yogurt - passion fruit and mango.  Mmmmm.

We had a great time hanging out, eating our frozen yogurt and giving our opinions on each of the toppings we chose.  (Both of us agreed that gummy bears don't belong on frozen yogurt, fyi).  I took a few shots of her, of course sitting in this really cool window with the pillows surrounding us.  Then she asked to take my photo. So, I let her. Now, I'll be honest and tell you I'm not in love with how I look here but it's a shot she took that captures this fun night we had together so I'm posting it anyway.  I'm looking past the things I don't love and enjoying the fact that I was looking at my daughter as she held the camera and took a photo of her mom.  That's what matters!

After a bit, she got chilly and decided my coat would be warmer than hers. So, she put it on...and tried to keep it.  That forced me to put her coat on.  I must say, she looks FAR better in my coat than I did in her coat. And again, I love that could give her my camera so we could both be captured.  Once she saw how poorly her coat fit me, I got my own back, thankfully!

Make sure you hand over your camera from time to time - to your kids, to your spouse, to your friends so you can have a place in your photographic history too.  Now, if you want to be IN the photos WITH your kids, call me!  We'll capture some great moments together and no one in your family has to hold the camera.  Perhaps a "Life as it Happens" session would be perfect to create a snapshot of this point in time for you and your family. You can see more details on that kind of session HERE.

To make you laugh!

My sweet little girl got her hair cut yesterday. Neither one of us could remember the last time she got a real cut, beyond trimming her bangs.  So, when she got 2 inches cut off and her hair shaped up, it was quite a difference and she absolutely loved it!

Of course we had to go and do a quick little photo shoot in our front room. I've been blessed with kids who are always willing to be in front of the camera and have fun right along with me. Fingers crossed it lasts...

Anyway, she had on her favorite jeans...which you can't see in the picture above. But, you can see them below.

As you can imagine, it's rather easy to spot when she's trying to wear them 2 and 3 days in a row.  I don't love her hole-y jeans but she does, so we compromise.  She just can't wear them multiple days in a row or I'm afraid they will start standing up on their own.  :)

She decided the holes look like eyes so she wanted to create a smiley face. This was our first attempt.

However, it was a little close to the ground for her liking so we did another one.  She wanted to give the feeling of a full face. So she got up on her toes and we took this one.

As soon as she saw it she said, "Oh, now he looks guilty." What?!?!  I love my girl who keeps me laughing and who will always have fun with me and my camera.

Happy Monday!  And Happy St. Patrick's Day!

When March brings you snow, take snow pictures!

This polar vortex has really been something else this year!  We've had more snow than I can remember in the recent past but temperatures that far too cold for the kids to play outside to go along with it.  I do have faith that we'll see Spring one of these days, though, since a few higher temps have peeked through lately.

Two days ago, we received yet another dumping of snow. While we are all so ready to be done with winter, the positive to this snowfall was that it was the prettiest one of the season.  When I got up and looked out my window to see all the snow clinging to the branches of the trees, my first thought was that I had to go out with my camera and capture it. So I did!  I went to one of my favorite places, Cantigny, followed by a visit to St. James Farm.  Beauty was everywhere!

Here's hoping my next blog post is full of colorful Spring flowers!