I adored photographing this family last year when they were just a couple with a fab 2-year-old who ate two popsicles at the same time while wearing awesome dinosaur shoes. Now they’re a family of four! Skye and Rui just welcomed their newborn daughter Bennett into the world a mere handful of days before Tye was set to turn 3. I was on hand with them this particular weekend to help document all the family who flew in to celebrate Tye’s birthday, as well as to snap a few shots of Bennett, and Skye’s sister Ashley’s pregnancy. It was a ton of fun meeting all their family members! They’re such a supportive group of people. Skye and Rui will be moving out-of-state shortly to be closer to them all, which breaks my heart, but I’m so glad that I got the chance to meet and work with them during this time in their lives. Tye is a smart, hilarious little kid (who sang birthday songs in multiple languages while I was there!) who wants everyone to know that he’s 3. He also loves car washes so much that he burst into tears after receiving a mini one as a gift. He had a joyous birthday surrounded by those who love him, and who could ask for more? Thank you to Skye and Rui for having me in your lives these past two years, and I wish you nothing but love and success in your new home!

At-Home Family Session.

I’d been in conversation with Mom about doing photos of her sweet family at home that weren’t “cringe-worthy” (my kinda client) and weren’t painfully posed or orchestrated for Dad or Baby Girl. She wanted to do the photos at home (yay!) and I am SO GLAD SHE DID because their home is gorgeous!! They have a beautiful color scheme that’s filled with colors and textures and I just love it. Plus they have insanely great carpets. Like, the softest and fluffiest of all the carpets. So on these carpets I photographed the preciously cute Baby Girl army-crawling herself around, wide-eyed and curious, and eating some book pages while her parents tried to read to her. She also liked to eat her Mom’s necklace a lot (teething stages, amirite) and stare fixedly into the camera (she is a great model). PLUS LOOK AT THOSE PANTS. I would 100% wear those sweatpants now even though I am 90% confident I already had some iteration of them in the 80s. Mom and Dad enjoyed cuddling with Cool Sweatpants Baby Girl a lot and turning her upside down to make her giggle. When they’re not doing turning their kiddo upside down for giggles, Mom is an incredibly creative and stylish woman who enjoys decorating their home and writing. Dad likes video games, technology, and cooking. I absolutely loved working with all three of them – we bonded over lots of similarities, but mostly our deep and undying love for October. And October people stick together.

I met Paul+Emily at a party for one of our other client friends and I was so excited to hear from them when they had their second child! First, I must say, that the entire family is adorable. Like – ADORABLE. This was my very first session with an accordion AND banjo playing toddler. And when I mean banjo playing, I mean he can actually play! He knows songs! His strumming is far better than mine is! AND he does all of this while playing on his front porch in front of his vegetable garden. Literally all he needs is suspenders and he will be the cutest bluegrass child in the entire continental United States. He occasionally would get really excited and speak to me like one does to a very small cat that you’re extremely happy to see: high pitched, squeaky, squinty eyes. His name is Isaac, and I’m his #1 fan.

New to the family (and new to both accordions and banjos), is his little sister Clara. While she doesn’t have the fine motor skills to play old timey instruments yet, she DOES have banana pants, an avacado blanket, and a book called Frida Catlo which details Frida Kahlo’s life as a cat. I am 100% positive that she will also be into gardening and old timey instruments. She is super duper cute, and did a good job lying on various patterned surfaces while being adorable. The brother-sister shots on the quilt toward the end cracked me up. VERY CUTE CHILDREN. Also Ruby – the dog – also very cute, and excellent at smiling for portraits. So happy to have photographed this crew. Isaac played me a goodbye song on his drum as I drove away.