This was my first time working with James and Emily, their dog Frankie, and their adorable little daughter! They warned me that she might be slightly shy at first, and while she did take some convincing at first, by the end of the session she insisted on sitting on my lap and making me read to her, rendering me completely unable to do my job but happy to have gained the approval of yet another toddler. She also was quite enamored with my stuffed vampire cat keychain, who makes an appearance in most of the photos, much to my (and her) delight. Frankie, their dog, was a very good model, loyally barking at any dog that we came across in a way that suggested that he’s much bigger than he is, and he kept us all very safe. I clicked with this whole family immediately. We bonded over horror movies and our mutual love of Chapel Chill Ice Cream and Oscar Isaac. I’m so happy I got to photograph this special time in their lives for them, moving to a new city (welcome!) and enjoying the company of this spunky little dog and sweet little girl. Thank you, James and Emily!

I was so happy to reunite with Katy and Jereme and their two kids, who have the #1 eyelashes in the tri-state area – nay – the world. And maybe they don’t appreciate their insanely beautiful eyelashes yet but someday they will be like wow, what a gift. In the meantime, they’re breaking boards apart in taekwondo class, swinging in the backyard, showing me throw pillows in the shape of their mom’s face, jumping on couches and in cribs, playing hide and seek in the yard, and doing kid stuff where they aren’t worried about how wonderful their eyelashes are. There’s also some pretty intense/incredible smiling from Little Brother. And I got to hang out with Katy and Jereme, who are rad people with good taste in sports (baseball) and movies (Donnie Darko) and dogs (Sammy the elderly and precious Schnauzer). It’s always fun to hang out with them because they have a great sense of humor and don’t get offended when their kid only wants me to push him on the swing and not them and then proceeds to make frowny faces in all the photos where they’re pushing him on the swing because I was busy trying to photograph the family together (what can I say? I am a #1 swing pusher).

Megan and Carly’s children continue to amuse and delight another year later! Last time, their son was just a lil baby and Big Sister was all decked out in shark shoes and a variety of different outfits, all of them fabulous. This time, Little Brother has just turned two and loves puzzles and cars and slides and his big sister. Big Sister is four and is incredibly theatrical and loves everything and everyone, and still prefers multiple outfit changes a day into really fabulous clothes. Both of them majorly love glitter and intentionally overuse it in their craft projects. Little Brother, at one point, spilled red glitter all over his blue paints. Big Sister gasped, paused, then said, “I love that for you!” They both looked like they had murdered someone covered in glitter by the end of the project and were quite pleased with themselves. Both love dancing and playground equipment and piggyback rides and racing, although Big Sister can’t help herself regarding early starts. They’re wonderful kids who are joyful and sweet and love each other and their moms so much. I’ve loved watching Megan and Carly’s family grow over the years while watching Megan and Carly remain the same loving, compassionate, hilarious people they were when I first met them years ago.