Lego themed birthday party!

My two youngest boys were born 6 years and two weeks apart so it only makes sense that they share a party date, at least for the time being while they don't mind. Oliver has a Valentine's Day birthday so it is a tradition that I bake him a heart shaped birthday cake. He started off his morning opening up his new present- a mini-trampoline! Needless to say, it was a big hit!

The mustache... he had it painted at school but I love what it adds to the picture!

This year I made my own Lego invitations. Here is what I used (everything is available at Michael's):

12x12 primary color card stock paper
Recollections brand 1.5" circle die cutter
ArtMinds brand pre-cut foam mounting tape or foam mounting dots (found in adhesives aisle)
Crayola colored pencils

Each 12x12 sheet makes two invitations. My invitations measured 6"x 3.75". A paper cutter is a huge timesaver for this project. I cut each 12x12 in half creating two 6"x12" strips. Then I cut the 12" side down to 7.5". With the 4.5" scrap portion, I used the circle cutter to punch out the 6 dots that will mount to the folded invitation. I used coordinating colored pencils to write "Lego" on each dot before mounting them.

The computer fonts I used for the invite were: Claire Hand (main body) and Helvetica ("Ages 2+8").

Each 12x12 could produce three 4"x4" invitations if you chose to design 4 dot Lego blocks. I liked the look of the 6 dot Lego blocks.

Each party guest received a custom made Lego block of soap that I purchased from this Etsy store. I cannot recommend them enough! They were so great to work with. They packaged them individually and created these cute little tags which were a nice surprise.

I knew I wanted a cool Lego cake and although I love to bake, I decided to leave this project up to the professionals! I booked Sweet Simplicity Confections. She is Ellen Bartyzal and she is based in New Prague. She did such a great job of taking the internet photos I found and brought them to life!

These cake pops were so delicious! So delicious that they inspired me to try my hand at them. I recently purchased some cake pop supplies to give it a try (this will be another blog post).

Ellen presented them in this fun Lego block carrier. Her husband drilled holes into the bricks to push them through. I love how hard core that is!

I loved how the cake turned out! Thanks for everything Ellen!

As fashion obsessed as I am, the boys had to have a cute birthday outfit on! I found these customized Lego logo shirts at this Etsy store. They turned out so cute! I spent the morning doing so many photo shoots that I neglected the fact that I had to feed twenty people! Oh well, everything turned out and the photos were more than worth it!

A rare smile from Aidan. By rare, I mean RARE. I love my boys so much!

A great time was had by all and I had so much fun running with the Lego theme. Party planning is so much fun! Do I smell a new business venture? Ha- I sound like Tori Spelling.

Thanks for reading!

Canon to Nikon --> this girl's plan

I'm dreaming of a new camera... only it isn't the rumored new Canon 5D Mark III (although I am very curious about that!), it is the new Nikon D800. Yep, I'm switching to Nikon. Why? I'll admit it, I never in a million years thought I would switch to Nikon. I have always been a Canon girl. When you buy your first camera you ultimately have to choose. For you non-photographers, Canon and Nikon are like Ford and Chevy. Which one is better? That's tough to say, but most photographers feel strongly either way. For me, it started with almost everyone I know shooting Canon. Once I got to know more photographers, a Nikon shooter would pop up here and there. Now that I am good friends with two different Nikon shooters, I have fallen in love and am excited to make the switch! In my eyes its the best and I have to have the BEST!

The Nikon D800 is currently on pre-order and available next month. I recently priced out all of my equipment for sale and here is a list:

Canon 5D w/grip- pending sale
Canon 30D w/grip
Canon 20D
Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L
Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L non IS
Canon 50mm f/1.2L- pending sale
Canon 85mm f/1.8 w/hood- pending sale 
Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro w/hood (non L)- pending sale 
Canon 15mm f/2.8 fisheye- pending sale
Canon 550ex Speedlite- pending sale

pending sale means that there is a buyer for the item but the item has not yet exchanged hands. 

Please contact me for a full price list. Serious inquiries only please. I need a realistic look at my funding for the new Nikon gear. Some of the gear is available for purchase now, but since I am still shooting, some of it isn't available until next month.

Thanks!

Crewcuts | 40% off sale!

What is my favorite? An additional 40% off sale items at J.Crew! A certain handsome little 7 year old of mine is going to look dapper in this Italian chino suit and bowtie for his First Communion this Spring!

Our duck!

We have a new neighborhood pet! She's a muscovy duck and I have no idea where she came from, but this species originates in South America. My boys started noticing her hanging around their bus stop at the corner and she can be seen in a couple of other neighbor's yards including ours. She's not timid and the boys often "follow" her home as she walks the street like a pedestrian. I love her! I hope she sticks around!

Oliver | Twin Cities Live Cutest Baby Contest

I cannot believe I will soon be the mother of a 2 year old! Oliver turns two this Valentine's Day. He is not talking much so I still feel like he's a baby and I will probably cling to that until he goes off to college! :) But really, how does 2 years go by so quickly? I am always telling new moms (especially first-timers) to truly cherish every moment. I think we constantly wish their lives away- especially if they are going through a challenging phase. With Oliver (knowing he's our last child), I am a lot more lenient this time around because I know how quickly it goes by!

Twin Cities Live is hosting a cutest baby contest so I thought, what the heck, I will enter Oliver! The catch is, professional photographs are not allowed. What?!?! So I had to dig through my point and shoot camera and I found this photo that my 7 year old took and thought it would be funny to enter. Oliver seriously loves these red heels of mine! He digs them out and wears them all of the time. You can click here to view his entry. There will be 5 finalist chosen and then it will be opened up to voting to choose the winner. The winner ends up on the cover of Savvy Magazine in February, a guest appearance on Twin Cities Live, and a $250 Amex gift card.

Here is the original photo, taken by Aidan:

Wish us luck!

My Dream Shoot | Hot Air Balloon Photo Session

I never got around to blogging this last year even though it was such a big event for me last summer! In my defense, when it is busy, it is BUSY and I always feel like I'm in survival mode. Blogging seems like a luxury during those times.

So, this all started with a dream of mine. I am constantly thinking up "dream shoots" and challenging myself to think creatively. I became obsessed with the idea of shooting an engagement session during a hot air balloon launch. The more I thought about it, I loved the idea so much that I quickly turned the tables and realized I would want these hot air balloon photos for myself! I never looked into it until one day in July I had some free time and started Googling. I had to find a hot air balloon festival that had at least a dozen balloons ascending for the full impact of the concept. There were quite a few all over the country and then I ended up finding one in Indianola, IA during the week of my birthday! I remember that evening vividly... I ran downstairs to excitedly announce to my husband, "I know what I want to do for my birthday!" I told him about my concept and being the wonderful, supportive man that he is, replied, "Okay." I could NOT sleep that night. I knew I wanted to ask my friend Tasha to shoot it for me but I began to worry if I'd be able to pull it off.

The next morning, as soon as I knew I wouldn't wake her up, I called Tasha to pitch the idea. I was barely three sentences in when I asked her and her reply was, "I'm in." We began plotting and she happened to have a few days open that week in between shooting weddings. It all ended up coming together and I could not have been more excited!

This is not my first photo shoot so I completely understand what it's like to be in front of the camera. I think that as a photographer it's important to put yourself in your client's shoes from time to time. The stress of putting together coordinating outfits not confident what will photograph well, and to communicate with your photographer your vision and what you want to capture is a priceless experience! From my end as "the client," I was stressed about looking my best and hoping for the best captures knowing this is a one time shot!

August 3rd, 2010

The balloon ascension was at 6 pm and we could not get any closer to the balloons than being behind this fence. If this launch didn't work, there was another ascension at 6 am the following morning. This was our only opportunity!

I did not expect, however, for my children 10 minutes into the session to start complaining that they were hungry and that their new shoes hurt their feet. Thankfully some after session rewards did the trick!

Let your one-year-old have a sip of pop to keep him happy? Sure! Why not?! There was far too much on the line for this not to work out!

There was a night glow after sunset so we stuck around for that. This photo looks so peaceful but little do you know that Oliver was crying and we were all getting eaten by mosquitos!

With our family session wrapped, I couldn't help but feel jealous for Tasha being able to shoot those amazing balloons... I pitched the idea to her about me shooting her and her husband Tony the following morning at the 6 am ascension. They were up for it so it was my dream come true x2! I got my family photos and I got to shoot as well!

The lighting that morning was not what I envisioned. It was my first sunrise shoot but there was no sun! It was cloudy and gloomy. When we got to the launch field the following morning, there were no balloons! We asked the officials what was up and they said that the morning ascensions were competition driven and since they have to follow the wind pattern, they launched from a field far away and would float over the launch site vs. starting there.

Here we are waiting for the balloons to come...

Here they come!

Is Tasha not the cutest?!

My FAVORITES:

It was such an amazing trip and my kids still talk about it to this day. I encourage all of my future clients to search your soul for your next photo shoot. What do you want to capture? There is no dream too big and I would be so excited to make your dream come true!

I once heard a great quote from Jennifer Hudson who was giving a future young singer some advice:

"If someone tries to discourage you, it's because they just don't dream as big as you."


Words to live by!

My boys | Christmas Card Session

I've been so excited to share these! They now fill my walls in my home because I was so excited about them. We shot these at a local Christmas tree farm on what I thought was going to be the last nice day of the fall. Little did I know that it would stay 40-50 degrees through December!

 What handsome little dudes they have become... I couldn't be more proud!