This family is near and dear to my heart because they are 100% ridiculous and remind me of my own family. They have never taken themselves seriously any time I’ve worked with them, and they keep me laughing the entire time without fail. I feel very at home with them… fake guns and all. Julie and Robert are the parents of Hannah and Ben. Ben is married to Jennifer, and together they have a son named Dalton. There are also three dogs involved… one of which hates when you hold anything in your hand, but thankfully was distracted from my camera by Julie’s assortment of sunflowers, which he promptly and aggressively destroyed. We took these in Julie and Robert’s beautiful backyard where they built large block buildings (that were immediately torn apart by Dalton and his “The Orange One” Ninja Turtle), played hide and go seek, and played a board game that involves robbing people and included fake guns (FAKE GUNS! No one gave a real gun to a child here, people, relax, they’re made of wood). Dalton did not want to be involved in the pictures whatsoever so we had to trick him by making him choose superhero poses for the rest of his family members and instruct them in the front. It worked but only for like 8 seconds. I love these guys.

dog jumping

Ohhhh remember baby Alden from last year who loved to stare into your soul with intense, prolonged eye contact? He turned ONE during this session (happy birthday, Alden!) and now stares into your soul slightly less (disappointing but age-appropriate). Now when he looks at you, it’s quickly followed by a clever little smirk like he knows everything about you from previous soul-stealing baby sessions and is definitely going to use it against you in the future. His smile is hilarious and almost looks like he’s incredibly proud of himself… the type of smile that happens right before you’d get a big head nod and he’d open his mouth and say, “Hey bro,” except he’s a baby. It’s incredible. I’d be confident too if I knew how to successfully fish for cats at the age of twelve months. Also, his parents are Kathy and Andrew, whom we love, so obviously this helps to bolster his self-esteem. He’s cute and charming. We did a lot of activities and so by the time we busted out the adorable water table that Alden’s parents bought him for his birthday, he was way tired, and I can say with hands-down certainty that Kathy was the person who enjoyed that table the most (this may have happened even if Alden wasn’t wiped out… Kathy really loved that table). We’re so glad we were there to document this little future-cat-lover (and hopefully extremely good secret-keeper) turn one.

Little James recently turned one year old, and every good one year old worth his salt has a totally awesome Batman jacket. James came with sunglasses, little adorable canvas shoes, a heavy appetite for goldfish crackers and ice cream, and two fabulous parents who like 90s rock as much as we do and were able to hold actual conversations about The Presidents of the United States of America and the Counting Crows. Also the Batman soundtracks (of course!). We met at the fountain in downtown Cary and walked around with these awesome guys, hitting up a flowering tree or two and doing our best to avoid grass (James, new to walking, has an extreme grass-aversion. He won’t walk on it, won’t touch it, and has a zero grass tolerance policy). There was also much cat discussion (this family has two, named after cheeses) and a lot of airplane noises made in the direction of James in attempts to get him to smile while we were in the vicinity of grass (which worried him). So here are some pictures of this adorable little boy and his parents, celebrating his birthday and his newfound walking skills and shunning grass at every turn. Happy birthday, James!