It’s our pleasure to welcome the always wonderful Cat+Mitchell into the CSP 4-Timers Club, and their son Cameron into the 2-Timers Club! Somehow Cameron has gone from infant-wearing-headphones to toddler-wearing-headphones practically overnight, and in that span of time Cat and Mitchell have really upped their A-game on the glasses front with Mitchell now sporting a mint green and Cat wearing ones with gold glitter. When Cat and Mitchell aren’t being great parents, they’re out being great friends to us. They’ve picked up obscure Coheed records for us on Record Store Day, and bought us tiny little striped toy cats from Ikea, and have always gone above and beyond on the friend front. We love and appreciate them very much, and are so happy to take photos of them and Cameron.

There were many wonderful little family moments during this session: bed jumping, book reading, Cameron texting while operating a feet-motorized vehicle, eating ice cream, finding and identifying every canine within a 10-block radius and shouting “DOOG” in its general direction, and splashing around in the city waterpark. But the best moment (at least for me personally) was Cameron getting onto their bed and seeing a little framed photo we took of Cat and Mitchell at their wedding. And he pointed to it and said, “Momma! Dada!” and took the frame down and held it and pointed to it and looked happy. >> insert sentimental Carolyn monologue here >> I have always operated under the assumption that someday our photos will be passed down to kids or family friends or whoever. Who doesn’t love looking at pictures of their parents on their wedding day? They were younger, more awake, well-dressed in their wedding clothes, and somehow you didn’t exist when the photo was taken. It’s hard to imagine your parents without you, so I think wedding photos always carry with them a sort of strange mystique and awe to kids of all ages everywhere. It is a great feeling knowing that Geoff and I are the ones who took those pictures. We’re enabling the kids to get a glimpse into their parents at a different time of life. I love imagining kids looking at these pictures later, and it was so so so so SO great seeing Cameron do that in front of me. >> ends sentimental Carolyn monologue, wipes away tear. >>

So anyway – we love these three guys and Biscuit the dog and June the cat and are so happy to have them in our lives as friends and clients.

This family goes back so, so far with us and for that we are seriously grateful and humbled. We’ve changed a lot since we first started and to have them all stand by our side through all of our changes has been amazing! Dottie and Jon were one of our first ever wedding couples, and we bonded so well with both sides of their families at their wedding that we’ve all become Facebook friends and kept in touch ever since. :) So when Dottie’s parents (step-mother Betsy and father Donald) asked us to join them out in Wilmington for an oyster roast at Donald’s childhood home, we happily agreed.

Dottie and Jon would be joining them, along with their two children (Patrick and Ellie), and Dottie’s sister Mich and boyfriend Tony. Thug the Pug also showed up, sporting a sweater. Everyone hung around outside on a beautiful late winter day and let ourselves be amused by the (quite active and humorous) Patrick. Ellie was very cute, but gave me a profound frown 99% of the time (don’t let these pictures fool you – she didn’t like the camera one bit). Despite the baby not realizing that her family is cool with us, we had an absolutely wonderful time reuniting with this friendly and ever-happy group of people. It is SO COOL to see everyone’s family grow and change and to feel part of the family at the same time. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much for always embracing and supporting us, Betsy, Don, Dottie, Jon, and Mich… and to Patrick, Ellie and Tony – we hope we didn’t traumatize you too much, and we’ll see you again soon. :)