First things first, I’m so proud of my 3 little fishies! They swam like crazy in San Antonio and were incredible travelers! And yes, that is my baby girl in the middle there, swimming *on her own*–well, okay, my hands are there to pick her up as needed. The girl just kicks like a little mermaid and holds her breath so well under water! I guess it shouldn’t surprise me. She was quite literally born that way. ;-)

But, on to the travel announcement:

I will be traveling to my home land in December…Washington, D.C. and the Richmond, VA area!  If you are interested in a session, perhaps a mini session, or if you are a photographer and would like to work together in some way, please shoot me an e-mail. We will be there for a short time and it will be a tight schedule, but I’d love to see if there’s any interest and what we could work out!

(By the way, if I’m coming out to your place to do a session and you have a pool or access to a pool, I’d love to do some underwater photography for you. You just gotta let me know so I can come prepared.)

Heading out of town for a bit for a little family time and to meet up with "Mr. Romeo" again, himself (I cannot *even* believe he’s going to be TWO!).  Until then, I leave you with a few peeks from our Mini Maternity Sessions at Baby Coco last month:

And just for fun, just to keep this post totally random, just to see if she’s paying attention, just to let her know I’ve been thinking about her…Miss A…remember this moldy oldy?

great. she’s mobile. ;-)

I’m ready for winter.

Partly because I got our electric bill today and almost passed out from shock.

Mostly because I want to stuff Amry into this outfit from Boden.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!!!!  I am going to treasure these forever! We met up with Margaret (Gruesbeck Photography) and her fam to trade sessions again tonight. I’m so excited over these, I could just pop! I think any photog mom would agree that getting images of you with your kids is a rarity.  Such a blessing to have been able to work with such a talented photographer.  So excited I got these on my memory card so I could stay up super late tonight (even though I *should* be in bed) and process these right away!

She’s got most of her images on her memory card, but here’s a few I can share right now, starting with Margaret (and my hubs) in action:

And then M with her beautiful, patient, and sweet baby boy:

Thank you again, Margaret. For as much trouble as it can be getting my boys dressed and out of the house, this is definitely worth it.  I hope we were able to get some images that you enjoy as much as I’m loving mine right now.

Brace yourself.  This post is chock full!!!  You will want to read through all of it to get through the hodge podge of information, including a special holiday offer! ;-)

First, some incredible news I got today!  See that adorable baby girl in the heart up there? Yeah.  Well she took home FIRST PLACE in the humorous category for the annual Miller’s Baby and Child Contest.  I’ve never submitted any image before, but this year, on a whim, I decided to give it a go.  I am so very happy for her and her family. Congrats to you all!!!  (Click HERE to see the rest of the winners!).  This would be the "over the moon" portion of my post.

Second, I got some incredible deliveries on my doorstep today (which would be the "out of this world" portion), starting with this STUNNING Platinum Album:

If you could see their house you would notice that it matches their decor PERFECTLY.  I’m thrilled that mom thought outside the box in the design of this album!

It’s been like Christmas around here, people.  Here’s another set of books I shipped off today…matching maternity and newborn.  These are SO adorable together:

And then, I got this gigantic canvas too:

Of course, we had the AWESOME mini maternity sessions at Baby Coco this weekend.  A quick sneaky peek here:

And here’s a pseudo sneak peek of the newborn session that has been postponed and rained out and postponed again (LOL, V, I promise we will get to his newborn session while he’s still a newborn):

(I promise to explain the boxes later.)

And finally, some pics of the biggest reason why I’m sooooo behind on blogging:

I’ve got the theme from Flash Dance running through my head.

Okay, there you have it. That pretty much sums up the past week or so.  What??? It’s only been a week?  Wow! July is almost GONE! 

Which reminds me, if you haven’t booked your family holiday photo session yet, the time is NOW! September is pretty much booked, October is on it’s way, and in November we reach our holiday card/product ordering deadlines. As a special incentive, I am offering a set of 24-5×7 flat holiday cards with CD purchase to anyone who holds their holiday session in August (you can choose from a handful of designs).  This offer is good only while openings are available, so jump on it NOW! (If you already have a session booked in August, you can receive these cards. If you’ve already booked your holiday session for Sept, Oct, or Nov, and move it to August, you can take advantage of this offer, too, but again, only until August books up.)

Thanks a bunch and stay tuned for LOTS of sneak peeks coming up over the next few weeks! 

I love him.

(p.s. I’d like to add that I’ve had that backpack since my JUNIOR year of high school.  I love that backpack. All my good friends signed it, but of course, the marker has worn off. But I still have my autographed backstage pass from Bush sewn on the front. ;-))

Virgil and I woke up this a.m. to the sound of the boys running the vacuum cleaner. We all know, that’s never a good sign (remember the blueberries?). But much to our surprise when we got downstairs, they were cleaning…for no reason. 

Let me repeat that: cleaning.  For no reason. 

Just doing something nice. 

Without being asked.

The entire downstairs was spic and span.  All toys put neatly away. Crumbs freshly vacuumed.  And the two boys were seated at their play table playing with Legos.  Playing together.  Not fighting.  (Okay, there was one small scuffle…T didn’t want L to run the vacuum just yet because he didn’t want to wake us up.  Awwwwwwwwwww!)

Pinch me.  I’m dreaming…

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I know, I know. Two days in a row of my kids, but I was designing my "Thank You" cards tonight and I just had to share this one because it made me say, "Aw."  And while I was searching for this pic, I came across these snaps of the frightening sight that greeted me when I arrived home from a session:

Yes, folks. Don’t look now, but it’s Iron Man and Wolverine. My husband got a little too creative with the cardboard, methinks.

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I just need to ramble on for a minute.

She’s 7 months old.  Which is only 5 months away from 1 year.  Which is causing me great emotional pain. Gosh, it was almost a year ago when we found out we were having a little girl. I was so incredibly excited to get the chance to have a daughter, but I had no concept of just how much of a blessing she would be.  I also had no idea how much she would change her big brothers.  Her relationships with them are so unique, so close, and so special already…

…T loves her.  In a big way.  With his entire heart. Unconditionally.  She can do no wrong in his eyes.  He’s extremely protective of her.  Every morning he comes into our room and she’s the first (and sometimes only) person he acknowledges.  He has a certain voice that he uses with her and only her.  Their bond is deep.  It goes beyond what I can comprehend.

Then there’s Logi Bear.  Their relationship is based on good times and good humor. It’s jovial. It’s light. It’s effortless. He can just look at her and she cracks up. They love to laugh together.  I envision many dinners filled with witty banter and laughing until we cry. 

 And I see many hugs of support and encouragement and strength and love.

Family.  Nothing sweeter.