Introducing Ray, Amanda, Raeanne, and Isabel…

These sweet four are precious friends and I am so glad I had the honor of capturing their family.  I have known this couple for over 20 years watching the one become two, then three, then four.  So many memories…

These little part Scottish darlings are near and dear to my heart.

My first true memory of Raeanne was when she was about four months old.  We were all in an Easter play and somehow I managed to kidnap her and pretend she was mine for a few minutes while I acted out my peasant part on stage.  She was all bundled in a purple blanket and these enormous and beautiful eyes were staring up at me.    I wanted a RED head and I wanted a purple blanket. God made sure I got the first but the second had to wait several years until Tori was born (but Amanda did make sure I got a purple blanket eventually).

My first memory of Isabel is of her as in infant sitting in a little infant swing hanging on a tree on one of our annual family camping trips.  All this curly hair and red brown eyes.  Ray and Amanda hit the jack pot twice – TWO auburn haired girls.

Ray has a deep love for Scotland (for obvious reasons) so Amanda wanted to use his Scottish blanket in the shoot (plus it was pretty cold that day but they steamed the place right up didn’t they hee hee?)

Amanda and I have long laughed at the looks we get when us dark haired mama’s go out with our red headed babies.   When Amanda and I are together, it’s double trouble.  Neither of us get credit for giving birth to our little reds and we both would get slotted for Tori’s mama.

I loved this shot of these two just being playful and loving each other.

And a quiet (and rare) moment of serenity…(Miss Isabel is a ball of energy so don’t be deceived).

My first memory of Ray goes all the way back to early High School.  We were on a youth group outing up on the top of a hill and Ray was praying.    Something about that prayer caught my attention.   We have been lucky enough to be invited over for dinner on occasion and Ray is a GREAT cook.  If you ever get that invite, jump on it!  :)

Amanda was in high school when she and Ray started dating (and subsequently, when I first met her).  She has become a precious friend over the years and I am so glad to know her.

Had fun spending the day with you all!

Want to know what it is like doing family shoots with more than one toddler involved?  I would equate it to herding busy (albeit adorable) puppies!  Hee hee!   Toddlers have notoriously short attention spans so you might get 15 to 20 minutes (if you are lucky) of their attention but after that you have got to be prepared to bribe, plead, beg, stand on your head…and chase em’!    Catching them looking at the camera without the motion blur of toddler activity involved is a great feat for both the photographer and the partnering parents.   Whooooooiiiieeeeeee…it can be a challenge…but so worth the efforts.

You can just see the sparkle of mischief in Roman’s eyes can’t you?  Love him.  He is all things a three year old boy should be.

Baby brother Roman decided that portrait sessions were a more serious affair this year.   His little cute poker face didn’t fool me though.  The giggles were in there begging to be expressed.

Awwww…there that grin is!  I did Carson’s newborn pictures and it was so fun to see him at 18 months.

Thank you K and S for having me photograph your family!  It was great to see you again.

I first met Tammy about 8 years ago at BSF.    We both had two kids and were hoping for more in our future.  A few years later, we reconnected again at a Homeschool PE group.  I was excited for Brian and Tammy when they made the decision to adopt from Ethiopia.  Adoption is a remarkable journey all by itself.  Add another country, and the adoption of older kiddos to the mix and it is interesting indeed.    I have been following Tammy’s adoption story via her blog and was thrilled when she asked me to do their family pictures.  I wanted to take part in this celebration and capturing them all together was a blessing for ME.

Preston and Taylor are sweet and beautiful teens and great older siblings.  I enjoyed watching how the younger ones  related to them.

Milkanu and Tadesse stole my heart right out of the gate.    They could not be any cuter.  Not even possible.

I love sibling silliness and these two were a riot.

Milkana (older brother), was as charming as could be.  He was my little assistant and really helped me gain the affection of little brother (as you will see below who was playing with me adorably).   Taddy started off on the shy side but warmed right up.

International adoption has challenges.  All those hearts learning to love one another – that is quite a journey.   There is so much at stake…and so much to gain.  To see these two beautiful boys wrapped in the arms of love was a precious site to behold.  I prayed I would capture this time in their lives in a way that would do justice.

I love the quote that says “A baby fills a place in your heart that you didn’t know you had.”   Tammy and I had the opportunity to talk through what we thought the building of our families was going to look like years before God revealed His ultimate plan.   I think we would both agree, that God filled our hearts in pretty amazing ways and we still stand in awe of it all.  Who would have thought?  Only God.

Look familiar?  I wanted to recreate a shot from the pregnancy shoot now that little Miss Eden is here and 4 months old already.  J and S have TWO little darlings now and they did great for a sunrise shoot!

Such a beautiful family…

Just look at that sweet big sissy shushhin’ her baby sister.  Adorable.  She was singing her Twinkle Twinkle too and I wished I had been video taping.  Cutest little voice ever.   I am a big fan of Miss Kennedy.

It’s been so fun to get to watch these two little ones grow.