L-Bow Gloves and Mittens

I try to plug these every year, but it's only because I think they're such a great product. If you live in MN and have kids that love to play in the snow these are a MUST! Do your kids end up with frozen wrists because the sleeves of their jacket go up while they're digging in the snow? That always happened to my kids and then I discovered these awesome gloves! The sleeve of the glove pulls up over their jacket sleeve and keeps their poor little wrists warm and dry.

Best of all, they're invented by a Minnesota mom and made in MN so you'd be supporting a local business. Check them out! With the long MN winters, these will be the best investment in winter fun you can make!

I just had to order another pair for one of my boys after I discovered that we had lost one since last year. We had a snow day today so there was no school and the boys wanted to play out in the snow. Aidan had his L-Bow gloves on and Owen had on two pairs of gloves and some baby leggings that I had rigged to try to keep his wrists warm. He kept having to come back inside so that I could fix his gloves because snow kept getting in his sleeves. I was on the computer in a second ordering another pair of L-Bow gloves!

Gap kid

Are you sick of seeing this little face yet?

Schedule announcement

It's a busy time of year for everyone, especially photographers! I just wanted to remind my clients to please wrap up any 2009 orders by the end of the year, this includes senior wallet orders, CD orders, and online gallery print orders. I hope to have everything wrapped up by mid-January so I can focus on getting ready for baby! I don't know what the future of my pregnancy will hold, if I will go into labor early or be put on bed rest so I'd like to take the necessary precautions so that I have a clean slate. Please take this as a "heads up" and that if orders don't get placed in time, I may not get to them until March or April.

I look forward to some time off and also to work on my business plans for 2010. New pricing, an updated website, and possibly a new blog are all in the near future. I'm so excited!

Free nursing cover!

For you nursing moms- go to uddercovers.com and receive a free nursing cover. Enter the promo code "planning" and you will receive $32 off your order, you only pay $8.95 for shipping. You can use the code more than once - you just have to open a new browser/window to do so.

Code is courtesy of PlanningFamily.com

Olivia's Favorite Things

I can't really call these my favorite things because I don't actually own them but I get a zillion catalogs in the mail and wanted to post a few things that caught my eye.

Williams Sonoma:

Oreo cookie cake pans- oh my goodness I need to have these! A giant Oreo cookie cake!
Hot chocolate set- mmmmm....
Bed, Bath, and Beyond:

There's nothing like a nice, relaxing bath. This looks so comfy!
I don't have a teakettle but love this Paula Deen one!
Amazon.com:

Love this show.
I've heard good things about this cookbook. I'd love to get back to more cooking from scratch once my schedule settles down.
Of course I've been in baby mode these days. I love this Buddha belly maternity tee!
I never really made my own baby food with the boys but came across this system on Williams Sonoma.

Thinkgeek.com:

Not a paper cup. An environmentally friendly ceramic coffee mug that looks just like a paper cup.

Mini shopping cart desk organizer- cute!

Feel free to share your great holiday finds!

Aidan | at his own request

I've created a monster. I'll be the first to admit to it. Aidan, my 5 year old, is very much into his clothing and actually has a good eye for it! One of our favorite past times is online window shopping. When I get all of my children's clothing catalogs in the mail, he loves to look through them with me and points out what he likes and even goes as far as to tell me which pants he would wear with what shirt. He's conditioned to know that buying special clothes means taking pictures and he's more than willing!

Well, this wasn't a special outfit by any means. He was poking around in his closet last night and found these brown shoes I had bought for a shoot last year. He remembered that he wore them for pictures and to Joan and Mike's wedding in Chicago. Then he found the brown sweater and pants, and added the hat he's been wearing for the past month. He had the outfit all set aside last night and said he was going to put it on first thing in the morning!

Sure enough, my other son got up for school and Aidan got dressed into his outfit, including the shoes. For the rest of the morning and afternoon, he begged me to go outside and take pictures. Not just in our yard though, at an antique store 20 miles away! I had a doctor's appointment and he came with and wore his outfit. My doctor complimented him on it which was just added fuel to the fire! By 2 pm, I gave in. I mean, how could I say no to my son WANTING to do photos, right?
I'm sure glad I gave in. This photo made it all worthwhile.

Brothers and Sisters | a rant

Today, while with one of my boys I was asked by a stranger if I was having a boy or girl. When I replied "a boy" and told her that it would be my third boy she nonchalantly said, "Awww, too bad, I bet you wanted a girl, huh?"

Too bad? I was so offended by this! I have had this discussion with my best friend who has 3 boys of her own. What makes people think that a perfect family includes children of both genders? Every child is a miracle all on its own, ask anyone who has ever miscarried (myself included) or desperately wants a child and can't conceive.

I am SO excited to meet this little boy that God has chosen to bless me with. My three boys will have a wonderful bond of brotherhood and our family will continue to grow in love.

I had to post these of a recent family I got to work with. Three beautiful girls! How blessed they are!

Bennett | 5 Month Old Studio Shoot

5-9 month babies are one of my absolute favorite subjects to photograph! They're sitting up but can't crawl away, they are smiling, and they have soft flawless skin (and sometimes cute little chub rolls!). If you were to invest in only one set of baby photos I would have to say this is the perfect age. I should have just told Bennett's mom to drop him off for the day because I could have photographed him all day long!

Typically, I don't like a lot of bulky clothing on babies this age, but this was such a cute outfit!


Isn't he sweet?! I can't believe I get to have another one of these soon! :)



Ha- if you look closely in the ornament you can see me and my big belly shooting him.

Madeline | Shattuck-St. Mary's High School Senior

I had the pleasure of working with this family once again. I shot Samantha's senior photos back in March and now it is Madeline's turn. It is funny how some siblings can look like twins and some look totally different. It was fun working with both of them because they were so photogenic. I seriously couldn't take a bad shot.
The beautiful Madeline:


I had a hard time converting any of them to black & white. Her coloring is so beautiful and we had really nice soft light. Of course Blogger doesn't do them justice. Once things slow down I will be looking into getting a new blog and changing some things up. I'm ready for change and a fresh start!





I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and enjoyed their extended weekend! It's hard to believe it's December already and everyone is in full holiday mode. I am doing great and enjoying being healthy. I started the third trimester of my pregnancy and the belly is growing larger each day! It's great to feel him moving around so much, it's just a reminder of how excited I am to meet him!

I'm alive!

I am finally starting to feel better and of course now am frantically trying to catch up. I just wanted to assure my waiting clients that I am getting things done as fast as I can. I know you all have holiday deadlines in mind. I can't believe that Thanksgiving is next week!

I checked my baby countdown calendar and there's just 90 days until my little guy is due! Wow, where did the time go? If you happen to be planning a winter shoot, I will only be scheduling until mid-January so that I can go into February with a clean slate. I plan on taking a couple of months off with everything resuming in time for Spring!

I really look forward to the new year. I plan on having a light summer with only a limited number of weddings and sessions booked. I really want to enjoy this new baby because I know all too soon he will be grown up! I had such a busy and amazing year but next year will be about simplicity and getting back to family and calm. Look for lots of exciting new business changes!

Thank you all for your continued support!

Just one photo of a recent cutie:

Sick of being sick

With my weakened immune system after the flu, now I caught a horrible cold. It wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't already run down to begin with. I've been coughing my head off for 3 days and to make matters worse, I tore or pulled a muscle in my abdomen from all of the coughing so now every time I have to blow my nose or cough (which is every 3 minutes) I'm in severe agony. It really doesn't get much worse than this, I'm so weak and haven't slept or eaten much. I really don't think I've been this sick in my entire life! It's been a horrible past month!

Just in case you've been wondering what happened to me, now you know. I really hope to feel better soon. I feel like throwing a party or something the day I stop coughing, it will be a joyous day!

Anne and Ryan | Engaged!

I had the best time photographing Anne and Ryan! They are so in love it's hard not to feel it when you're around them. Ryan's playful personality came out right away and kept Anne and I laughing almost the entire time. I cannot wait for their wedding next May! Here's a sneak peek, it was hard to narrow it down to just a few.


v

This needs to go on my baby... STAT! :)