Category Archives: Kids

Aug 9

Slugs and snails and puppy dog tails…

I’m not going to lie. Sometimes getting the right shot just means getting your ISO, aperture and exposure set, taking 30 frames and hoping one works out. When you’ve got four busy boys (one of which wants nothing to do with having his photo taken) you sometimes just have to shoot, shoot, shoot and hope you get the right shot. Luckily in this case, it worked. I’ve photographed the two youngest boys, Malcolm & Xavier before but this was my first experience with Bradley and Jacob. It was lots of fun.

Linda (Malcolm & Xavier’s mom) hired me to go out to Sandy Hook to photograph the boys with their grandparents. It was a 40th wedding anniversary gift and I got some great shots for their mantle!

May 19

I can expense that, right?

A few weeks ago Erin and I braved an 8.5 hour drive to Saskatoon with all four kids (my two snotheads and her two turdballs). I had a regional hockey tournament to attend (yeah, we’re that good).  I managed to convince Erin to join me because we’ve got lots of family there. My aunt/godmother, Judy, moved there 30+ years ago and raised her family of 4 there. They’re all adults now and they all still live there and now they’ve got a few kidlets of their own. So we threw some lunch in a cooler and packed Erin’s VAGON (she won’t call it a van) full of books, blankies, diapers, wipes, toys, and a BLESSED portable DVD player and ventured out. The drive out went so swimmingly that we knew the ride back could not be without a few glitches…in the world of literature that’s what you call foreboding.

While visiting, Erin took some photos of Cooper (our cousin Adam’s little guy), Jessie and Tegan (our cousin Jenn’s two cuties) and I took photos of Izzy and Kennedy (our cousin Jo’s ‘kids’). Newborn Kennedy is the cutest newborn I have EVER seen…even cuter than my own adorable poop machines were at birth. She was just two weeks old when we met her and she was so strong and was already genuinely smiling. I know farts and I know smiling. She smiled.

We lost all three games in the hockey tournament (okay, so we’re not that good) but got an amazing visit in with everyone. It rained all weekend. By the time we left on Monday morning the kids missed their dads, their beds, and had been cooped up for 3 days. We knew we were doomed. The first half of the ride went without any real problems but seemed to drag foreeeeever. Erin’s oldest, Willem, takes 30 minutes to go the ‘bathroom’ and he did that twice. We stopped for an hour for lunch and then again for 30 minutes to let them get their beans out. So 9+ hours into the drive we (stupidly) turned the DVD player off and tried to force them all to take a nap. Didn’t happen. At all. In fact there was an uprising and the hostilities between the warden and the inmates became such that Erin and I laughed/cried for the last hour and a half of the drive.

Still worth it. We took photos on the trip, so I can expense it, right?

Here are some of the images we took of the girls of Saskatoon:

This is Jessie. She's the 'thinker'.

Tegan took some time to warm up to us but once she did...all hugs and cuddles.

Kennedy. Are you kidding me? Freakin' adorable!

This is Cooper. We think he may still be teething. 🙂

Izzy's SUPER excited about her new baby sister, Kennedy!

Jan 16

Na, na, na, na, BLOG, BLOG…

I’m still waiting on Erin to put up her first post but thought I’d throw a little post up to prove to her that you don’t need to spend 3 hours proofreading the text!!!!

In light of the horrible earthquake that rocked Haiti this past week I urge all (twelve) of you to cut back some of your usual spending for a month (maybe make your own coffee and do without Starbucks or eat out less) and make a donation to the American Red Cross (click here). Every little bit helps and Haiti certainly deserves a hand up.“With annual per capita income of less than $400 and an average life expectancy of 53, Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Eighty out of 1,000 Haitian children never see their first birthday, and nearly half the population cannot read. As much as 80 percent of the population lives in poverty. The problems are compounded by a heavily eroded natural resource base and the spread of HIV/AIDS, which now afflicts more than 5% of the population. There are already some 163,000 AIDS orphans in the country.” Need more proof that Haiti needs your help? Click here.

January and February are always our slowest months. Clients who book sittings in January, February, March or April will receive $50 in prints with their sitting fee! (Tell your friends!) I just filled an order for a shoot I did in November. The kids are adorable and little Jacob (the older of the two boys) kept a little piece of my heart when I left that day. He’s quite the charmer. He and I spent time building a fort in the family room and I was snug as a bug in there until he let one fly! They should have this kid searching for Osama Bin Laden!!! He’d smoke him out of his hiding place in no time! Both he, and his little butterball brother Ethan were a joy to photograph. Near the end of the shoot Ethan was so tired that he looked nearly catatonic in the family photos. Poor monkey!

Look at this (not-so) little cherub! I could spread those cheeks on toast!

HEART BREAKER!!!