Boise Lifestyle Photographer | Glimpses Week 22

This is one of those images that is really a snapshot, and yet sooooooo much more. It really tells quite a story--maybe not to anyone else, but definitely to this sappy mama. At first glance, you see the big sister reading to little sister. I love, by the way, the enthusiastic expression of MJ reading. I can almost hear her. She uses a lot of inflection in her voice and is quite fun to listen to.

Looking deeper though, this image captures other details that may seem insignificant, but do matter and will fade from my memory over time. I see the cup and the Gatorade bottle on the top of the bed. E didn't like the pain medicine she had to take so I let her follow it with the flavored stuff. She really likes drinking water out of the new horse cup she received from Nana for her recent birthday. She's sucking those middle fingers; a habit I hope we can break her of soon, but still such a part of who she is right now. She twirls her hair too. Next to E is her favorite baby monkey. When I was expecting little brother, she went with me shopping one day, and spotted that monkey in the store. I let her carry it around while I tried some maternity clothes on, and then, of course, couldn't resist when she asked to take it home. She also has her favorite monkey blanket given to her by her Aunt Michelle for Christmas. Finally, there in the right-hand corner of the image is another detail, a small one to some and not too obvious as the image is in black and white, but it sums up the story here. E had an accident at gymnastics and broke her tibia. She's in a cast from her toes to her thigh. She's handling it all really well, considering. Her purple and pink cast is quite the sight to see; she resembles the Cheshire cat a little bit. :0) She even has bright pink toenail polish to match! MJ has been so helpful and compassionate through this whole thing. It's nice to see her showing so much concern for her little sister. This wasn't the plan we had to spend the first part of our summer, but we're rolling with it. And hopefully, she will be all healed by the end of the month. Until then, this little incident has caused us all to slow down. It's caused me to spend more time catching moments like this. And for that, I will be forever grateful.


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A few more details so I don't forget. We had recently moved little brother downstairs to a bigger boy room. He actually is in a bigger bed too. He's very excited about it. This room will be redecorated to be the nursery for baby sister. The timing was good because Little J had spent enough time in his room that he was perfectly fine with E needing to sleep in his old room/bed (thus the Cars sheets). It's right next to our room and I knew it would be best to have her close in case she needed us in the night. The first night was pretty rough on both of us. I ended up staying in the room with her. Even after she had her cast, she had a few nights where she woke up. But, now she's adapting well and we're all sleeping better. We had just gotten a tablet and J found some videos on it for her to watch. She spent the first few days in bed watching Angelina Ballerina, Thomas the Train and Bob the Builder, reading books, working on her letters and numbers, and napping. It's been a week and half since it happened and we've been able to venture outside a lot more to enjoy the warm weather. We just put her in the wagon and pull her around. The kids also spent the night with the grandparents last week and even slept in a tent. Good thing she's a kid; I don't think I'd handle a cast nearly as well. :0)

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Journaling, photo taking and storytelling have always been a part of me and who I am. I hope to catch up some of our personal scrapbooks now that we're finding more activities to keep our hands busy since E can't run around yet. I know I've been sharing a lot more personal work on my blog lately, but instead of apologizing for it, I'll embrace it. My children have always been my inspiration and the little details I pick up when photographing them translates perfectly to when I photograph clients. I can capture the moments and details that happen in between all the other images we're taking. I'm also putting the final touches on my new blog (yay!!!) and am waiting to share some client sessions and albums in the new format. So until then, enjoy another glimpse into our lives...

My Thinker ~ Glimpses Week 20 | Idaho Children Lifestyle Photographer

 

She looks older here, too old for me, really. But behind that serious look is a heart of gold, a big toothy grin and a girl I love more and more every day. I saw some great light in our living room, so I grabbed her for a little impromptu lighting practice. Love playing with light and shadows! I have plenty of her smiling too, but this one just strikes me. She's my thinker.

For more Glimpses, check out Chic Critique Forum

Glimpses Week 19 | Boise Lifestyle Photographer

 

Daddy: "Little J, do you want to watch a movie with Daddy and eat popcorn?"

Little J: (Jumping up and down with fists clenched, grinning ear to ear-his really excited reaction.) "Yeah, Daddy!"

Daddy: "What do you want to watch?"

Little J: "Bob the Builder!" (He doesn't get to watch it much as it only comes on as we're headed out the door for church on Sunday mornings.)

Me: (Thinking to myself) I have the sweetest boys ever. Not going to miss this moment!

For more Glimpses, check out Chic Critique Forum.

Glimpses Week 16 ~ Flowers for Mama | Idaho Children Photographer

Children give us a gift we sometimes don't even know we need. The gift of innocence. The gift of seeing the world through fresh eyes. The gift of Dandelion flowers... 

I have to admit I'm not a big fan of Dandelions. In fact, they seem to have just exploded in our yard this spring. Boo! Hopefully the fertilizer application this weekend will help slow them down. :0)

However, I do love, love, love that my little guy got so excited the other day when we walked out in the yard and he saw all of them. "Flowers, mama! I pick you some flowers!," he exclaimed. Then he proceeded to run around the yard grabbing up fistfuls. I ran inside and grabbed the closest camera, my little P&S because his innocence and what he sees through his fresh eyes is exactly what I needed to remember, and capture...

To see more Glimpses, check out Chic Critique Forum.

Glimpses ~ Week 15 | Idaho Lifestyle Photography

Pure joy...

I captured this moment of my girls while out location scouting the other night. It's funny how I struggle sometimes with photographing my own children-at least when trying to take one of all of them together. I love photographing kids, and can handle just about anything they throw at me. I can capture moments of them showing their true essence the parents don't even notice until they see the final images. But, I seem to put a lot more pressure on myself with my own because I go back and forth between wanting that "perfect" pose and then also capturing their true essence. I should know better by now because my style really is photojournalistic and storytelling in nature.

Well, this night there was no pressure. It was windier than all get out, and getting quite chilly. So, we hopped out of the car really fast, ran to a spot I wanted to try and I told them to get close. They were being silly and sweet all at the same time. I had no expectations except to see what kind of light I had. And because I was completely relaxed, I captured one of my girls that makes me smile and fills my heart with pure joy....

For more Glimpses, check out Chic Critique Forum. 

Glimpses Week 14 & Wordless Wednesday | Idaho Lifestyle Photographer

 

Chic Critique Forum "Glimpses"

Glimpses Week 11 ~ Idaho Lifestyle Photography

 

It seems I do post quite a few images of my little guy. And this week I couldn't pick just one. He's such a part of my every day though, and he loves these blocks he received for Christmas and his birthday. I love that you can almost hear him making his little sounds as he plays. And he was so interested in playing, he didn't pay any attention to me. He's not going to always be this little, so I want to continue to preserve as much of his childhood as possible.

To check out other Glimpses, visit the Chic Critique Forum. 

Glimpses ~ Week 10 | Idaho Lifestyle Photographer

Oh I've gotten a little behind on my Glimpses of Everyday posts, but I hope to make up for it. This is a pretty typical scene around our house these days. J loves to put on his boots, hat and chaps, about every day it seems. One afternoon, I could hear him playing, then things got pretty quiet. After a few minutes I decided to investigate and found my little guy all tired out from all his hard work. To see more Glimpses and to check out the new CHIC magazine launched by Chic Critique Forum head on over there. I can't wait to get my issue in the mail!! Happy Wednesday everyone!

Glimpses ~ Week 6 | Idaho Lifestyle Photographer

We celebrated our little guy's 3rd birthday on Feb. 5th. How appropriate to have a football themed birthday party when it was also Super Bowl Sunday?!

I always have fun making the kids' cakes. This one was really easy. I just baked a chocolate cake, then carved the edges off to make a football shape, and frosted it to match. I had found some fun football napkins, and a tablecloth that looked like a football field. The day before I had run into the grocery store on my way home from town, and found some awesome mylar balloons in the shape of footballs. They were perfect! I don't like to spend a lot on the paper goods, but there was just enough to make things festive.

I tried a new recipe, Spicy Pop Pulled Pork, from the first episode of The Pioneer Woman this season. I also made Ree's Cilantro Cole Slaw recipe (sans cilantro because I forgot to put it on my list, boo, and sans jalepeno because we were serving kiddos). I made my mashed potatoes recipe. The secret to it is the cream cheese. Yum!

Josh's family came over for the afternoon. It turned out great. Little J loved everything-the party, the presents, the cake! Can't believe he's already 3! Just love this little boy so much!



To check out more Glimpses, check out the Chic Critique Forum!

Glimpses Week 5 ~ Idaho Lifestyle Photography

So I was looking around my house this week and not feeling too inspired by some of the stuff that makes up our every day, but then I realized I have done a few interesting things outside the house this week. Most of my clients know, but some of them may not that we live and work on a ranch. We raise registered Angus and Hereford cattle with my husband's family, which means we raise the parent stock (bulls and females) that cattlemen use to raise the beef that goes on the dinner table. In fact, before I started taking people portraits, most of my subjects looked more like this. This week, we were taking photos for our upcoming bull sale in March. This guy will be one of the highlight bulls in the sale.

Hope you're enjoying the "glimpses" into my life. To check out more see the Chic Critique Forum

Glimpses ~ Week 4 | My desk

I'd love to be able to say my desk rarely looks like this, but that wouldn't be real-and I want to be real-so I admit it. My desk is usually piled pretty high. I'm a piler. Not sure if piler is really a word, but I'll go with it. Now I'd like to think I'm still a pretty organized person. I do have files and other various ways of keeping track of information, but because I'm usually working on several projects at once, my desk looks like this a lot. Right now I'm finishing up a magazine issue, as well as trying to catch up on blogging some sessions from the end of the year. Both of those tasks will be finished soon, and the desk will be a little clearer-at least for a little while. Sometimes I have to take a few minutes to just get it all cleaned up, then I'm ready to roll again.

I love my desk. I picked it out a few years ago when we moved to this house. It has file drawers on both sides, you know for staying organized, and is big enough to have everything I need within reach.

After the girls are headed off to school, and J's busy playing cars or cows or both, then I grab my mug, lately with Green tea or sometimes Vanilla Chai, and head to the place where the magic happens. Well, maybe not magic, but this is my command center-where the work gets done. Sometimes I feel I am on the computer too much, but at the same time, I'm thankful that my office is in my home, and I can get up whenever I need or want to-to make lunch for my hubby, or play with my kiddos, or grab my mug and a good book to read.

Yes, I do love my desk. I love to sit at it, editing photos for my wonderful clients, writing a story for an upcoming issue and putting the finishing touches on the layout of the magazine. I also love getting to walk away for awhile, knowing my desk will still be here waiting for me.

Glimpses Week 3 ~ Waiting for the Bus

This is part of a typical morning-the girls all bundled up and waiting for the bus. Since it's still winter, it's cold and dark outside. They stand at the window and watch the bus go by first, then a few minutes later when I see it coming back from the other direction, they go outside to meet it. So far, they both love riding the bus. I'm sure that will change one day, but for now it's working out well.

They always look so little walking toward it--at least for now they look little. I'm sure that will change one day too. Little brother and I stand at the door waving to them. I think he misses them when they are gone all day. At least they all get really excited to see each other after school, so I think they miss each other. Really hope that never changes.

Oh, and I realize I really need to wash those windows! Ugh! Can you tell that's where my kids stand a lot to look out the window. LOL!

Just another "Glimpse" of my life. Check out the Chic Critique Forum to see more!

Glimpses ~ Week 2 | Idaho Lifestyle Photographer

Here is my second week "glimpse" of our everyday life. I realized that a lot of these images are probably going to include my little guy as he's such a part of my every day. I'll have to make a concentrated effort to capture his older sisters either before or after school and on weekends, as both are gone throughout the day. I really miss having them around too. I must admit it is sometimes easier only worrying about one at home when I've got a busy work day, but I love my girls so much that having them gone all day every day makes me sad too. Just another reminder to grab all the little moments I can and hold on to each one.

Part of J's morning routine is getting to watch a little TV while I get ready for the day, check email, have some quiet time, etc. His favorite shows include "cowboy TV", which is anything on RFDTV or The Pioneer Woman on Food Network. We have all those episodes DVR'ed so he asks to watch them. He also really loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I love that he has a favorite blankie he cuddles with too. Each of my kids has their blanket. They don't usually take them from home unless staying somewhere overnight, but they can be found with them around the house. Ahh, glad I'm writing down these little details because I know I'll forget them someday. If you would like to see more glimpses into some other photographers every day lives or you want to play along, check out the Chic Critique Forum!

Glimpses ~ Week 1