matt + katie + sophie

I met up with my friends Matt and Katie and their sweet girl, Sophia, for a shoot on Halloween. I love doing shoots with them. I've had the pleasure of doing a few and its always fun.

They are laid back and fun and well...just a really cute family.I had a vision of Sophie in this chair in a field when planning our shoot and it turned out just how I dreamed it.
my fav....she is so adorable. And that hat!
Thanks guys!

a + m

Once upon a time Allyson was a cute little girl in junior high and I was one of her youth group leaders. I continued to play that role and watched her grow up through high school, and have been blessed to keep in touch with her through her college years. And now....I can't even believe it but she is getting married.

I love those dimples.

I finally got to meet the lucky guy at their engagement session. Mike is so sweet and clearly is in LOVE with Allyson and that makes me very happy.

fav...

I kept thinking..Oh my gosh they are so young! But... Shane and I were just that age when we got hitched.
Love you Allyson! Congrats you two!

the winner....and a tiny baby

Thanks to everybody who left a comment! Its a busy morning around here so rather than wrangling Monkey Pants to pick a name I used random.org to choose the winner. And the winner of one of Jen Hahn's awesome holiday cards is #13.... Angie Bishop! Congrats Angie! Shoot me an email and we will go from there. I love a good giveaway.

To those of you who didn't win you should still head over to Naptime Studio and order your holiday cards from Jen. Such cute designs!

And now for a cute teeny tiny baby. I met little Chase a week or so ago when he came over for his first photo shoot. I love this one of him snuggling with mom...


so tiny...

We tried out a few new props. Love both.


Welcome to the world Chase.

GIVEAWAY Friday!

That's right, its giveaway day! Haven't done one in a while, its about time!

My friend/awesomely talented graphic designer, Jen Hahn, recently opened her own etsy store. Check it out! Nap Time Studio. Love that name!

She has lots of really cute baby announcements and Holiday cards to choose from. And she is trying something new. Instead of buying the actual cards you are purchasing the design to download. Then you take that digital file and print as many as you want at your local photo lab or printer. Genius! No more deciding if you should get 25 or 50. What a great idea!

Now for the great part.... Jen is giving away one holiday card design to one lucky commenter on my blog. You choose the design and she will personalize it with your photo. So come on...leave a comment! I will choose the winner and post it on Monday morning. Good luck readers!

Today...is slightly nuts. I have 4 photo shoots today. Why did I book so many you ask? Because St. Louis has had record setting rain the past month. Record setting rain means lots of canceled and rescheduled shoots for me. Its BEAUTIFUL today so I'm getting everyone in while I can. One shoot down....3 more to go! Happy Friday!

little E

This week we have had a little visitor around. Marlie's buddy E has been spending his days with us.

We've been playing trains in the sun spot...


taking walks...


playing in the park..


and ya know...just hangin out...


Marlie thinks he is pretty fun to have around. And can you blame her? Just look at him, he's adorable...

Thank goodness the weather has been amazing this week and I've been able to get these two kiddos outside a lot. When they are cooped up together for too long they start to bicker and poke at each other. Its kind of funny actually. They fight about basically nothing. They got in to it in the car today and it sounded like this...

M: cookie
E: no, school bus
M: NO...COOKIE!
E: NO...SCHOOL BUS!!!
M: COOOOOKKKIIEEE!!!!
E: SCHOOOOLLL BUUUSSS!!!!

Hmm. I'm not sure who won that debate.

E's mom is also a blogger. Early this week she awarded me two blog awards and my friend Sara did last week too. Thanks ladies!


And now I can pass them on to 6 other bloggers and I chose...

1) Jen at Hahn House
2) Allison at The Yellow Desk
3) Katie at The Schaefers
4) Jen at The Story of My Life
5) Terri and Faith that Works
6) Sarah at The Daily Denny

I also have to answer a bunch of questions with one word. Here goes...

1. Where is your cell phone? somewhere
2. Your hair? flat
3. Your mother? wonderful
4. Your husband? amazing
5. Your favorite food? steak
6. Your dream last night? stressful
7. Your favorite drink? hard cider
8. Your dream/goal? simplicity
9. What room are you in? family room
10. Your hobby? creating
11. Your fear? disappointment
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? happy
13. Where were you last night? burgers
14. Something that you aren't? buff
15. Muffins? pumpkin
16. Wish list item? ipod
17. Where did you grow up? Kirkwood
18. Last thing you did? work
19. What are you wearing? jammies
20. Your TV? broken
21. Your pets? none
22. Friends? awesome
23. Your life? blessed
24. Your mood? tired
25. Missing someone? Sarah
26. Vehicle? Passport
27. Something you’re not wearing? makeup
28. Your favorite store? Anthropologie
29. Your favorite color? aqua
30. When was the last time you laughed? tonight

And now my bed is calling me. Good night blog land.

Charlie 3 mos

Charlie came to the studio last week for the first time since her newborn shoot. She is changing so fast.

Then and now....

If you don't know who this sweet pea is you can catch up here and here.

She still has that great red hair and oh that little face!


Such a cute fam...

I am sucker for baby butt dimples...can't help it...

And we headed to the park for a few..
Thanks guys! She is so stinkin cute!

Hallerween

This year Marlie was a train engineer for Halloween or Hallerween as she calls it. We went trick -or -treating in my mom's neighborhood which is Hallerween central with Mista Nug (also known as the cutest Tigger you ever did see) and his parents.


We practiced saying "trick or treat!", "happy halloween!", and "all aboard!". But when it came down to it she just smiled and said "more candy?" Pretty cute anyway. And yes, those are carrots sticks in her hand. In true quirky Marlie fashion she choose Halloween night as the right time to start eating vegetables.


Marlie may not have had a joke to tell on Halloween (that's what we do in St. Louis), but she really is a little comedian. Last night she was up tinkering around when she should have been in bed. This time when Shane went up to check on her she was had taken her jammies and diaper off and was running around naked as a jay bird.

But the best story of late is definitely what she said one morning last week. Shane was in the bathroom standing in his underwear shaving. Marlie walked past the door and when she saw him said "Wow dad, cool *panties!"

Hope you all had a happy hallerween!

*Let me stress that Shane does not wear panties. This is just what Marlie calls all underwear.