This little lady’s mama said she had been stalking the blog forEVER before she finally decided to take the plunge and have her own family photo session done. I’m glad she did. I’m pretty sure she is, too!

It was an honor to spend such a lovely Austin afternoon with this family and I can’t wait to see these puppies printed up in their "awethome" coffee table album soon!

Speaking of puppies, did you know that TODAY is the last day to VOTE FOR PINKLE’S PIC OF THE YEAR?????!!!!! 

Yeah. It’s true.

Winners will be announced tomorrow.

So let’s get your vote on:

You are all beautiful. You are all patient. And you are all wonderful for braving the cold that day. [Sigh...this was the only Xpressions session in VA that didn't get completely snowed out :-(.]

There’s so much to tell, so many pictures I want to post, but time at the computer is so rare amidst all of the visits with family and friends.  So, here is our holiday card from this year and here’s the latest from VA:

1. Hearing, tasting, seeing, and smelling *real* snow again has been heavenly.

2. Watching my boys have a knock down, drag out snowball fight with their daddy and the three of them loving every minute of it was even better.

3. Rosy-red cheeks and sweaty hat hair is just about the cutest thing ever on kids.

4. I am feeling blessed beyond words to introduce this place that was such a huge part of my childhood to my own children.

5. The hospitality shown by my Great Aunt and Uncle and the rest of our family here just warms my heart.

6. Tomorrow, we hit Colonial Williamsburg to have our session with my good online friend and rockin’ photog, Patti. Can’t wait to finally meet her and her family!

7. So far, this has been one of the best Christmas holidays ever.

8. I hope my kids feel the same way.

9. And, I hope this holiday season is just as wonderful for you!

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I started this post before we left and had already included a preview of our annual calendar (our gifts to family). If you wanna flip through here you go, but Mee Maw and Nee Nee…NO peeking!  (Also,before anyone asks, this is a template I put together using several other design elements for my personal use, but it is not for sale/distribution): 

Hope you all have a WONDERFUL holiday and enjoy your time with family and friends!

I feel as though I’ve known them forever. We’ve had many, many sessions together but each one has been so unique…so different. And now that baby number 3 is on the way, I just can’t wait to see what changes this will bring to their loving family dynamic.

It was such an honor to be invited out to their beautiful place to photograph their family…as they are: down-to-earth, energetic, funny, and full of love!

Love.  As in, "I would have LOVED to have a pic like this of me and my sis growing up." As in, "I LOVED these colors." As in, "I LOVED this session!"

Deadlines. As in, we are going to be closed for the holidays starting December 16th, so if you have last minute orders for holiday gifts, it needs to be done by the end of the week.

Oh, and who bought out all of the winter coats and boots in this town??? I’m getting ready to go to D.C. and I’m going to freeze! I swear the whole "snow in Austin" thing was just huge marketing ploy.

But he gets even cuter:

Driving out to his house today to drop off some stuff, I realized that I hadn’t blogged his session yet! Gasp! Especially since out of all the sessions I’ve had with his family, this was my absolute favorite. The first time I met him a few years back, I dubbed him Mr. Cool because no matter what I did (and I know a lot of tricks) he was soooooo serious!  He was just a baby at that time and I could not figure out what he could possibly have to be so concerned about. Mr. Cool has always plays it cool.  So, I was a little nervous this time because I was out of fresh ideas to break Mr. Cool. But evidently, Mr. Cool is now Mr. Giggles.  Seriously, he was laughing and giggling and cracking us all up the whole time. I think we finished up the entire session in less than an hour, he was so easy to work with!

Check out the sweet mom and dad time. By the by, I had to take these shots with Mr. Cool Giggles on my back to make sure he stayed safe. It was a kick butt location, though.  Definitely want to go back here!

Lurved this shot. He’s such a sweetie! Thanks again guys for such fun and relaxed session. (Now hurry up and finish that tree!)

It’s "Sneak Peek Sunday" again, so thought I’d share a carnival-themed image followed by a parade of other little sneaky peeks from the past week or so. The holiday rush is *almost* over, whew!

We held our last round of the Austin 2009 Xpressions Sessions today and all I can say is, "Wow!" I cannot even begin to tell you how beautiful all of these families were, how wonderfully charming the kiddos were, how kind and patient the parents were, and how absolutely outstanding my baby sis/assistant was. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of you who made these Xpressions sessions FANTASTIC!  As always, the images shown have only received basic edits to enhance contrast/color, but no full retouching.  I’ll show you an example of the difference at the end of the post.  Also, before I forget, if you’re pregnant in the Austin area and want maternity portraits and are due in February, March, or April of 2010, you can get a FREE mini maternity session (kind of like these Xpressions Sessions) in January. And, I *still* have a few spaces open for the Xpressions photo sessions in Washington, DC and Richmond, VA in December.  Meanwhile, to continue these awesome sneaks:

And to illustrate the difference between the digital negatives (the files that are sent on CD with the Xpressions sessions) vs. the files that are fully retouched (prints ordered through me or those that are available as part of a Premium Session):

Oh, I cannot wait to go through all of these images! Today was a great day all around. Thank you all again!  I’m so honored to get to do this for you.