WE LOVE THIS FAMILY. They eat burgers with us and see Weezer with us and talk with us about friend things and are friends. Cat and Mitchell have been with us for a long time (5 times!), and Cameron has now been with us two times! Together, they all have the best colors of Converse shoes. Cat and Mitchell always have impeccable taste in glasses, and while Cameron isn’t there yet, I fully expect a super cool pair on him at some point in the future, even if they’re fake. Anyway – this year we took their family pictures at the Greensboro Science Center, which was gracious enough to grant us permission for a documentary-style family session there. We followed them through all their favorite exhibits: penguins, sting rays, giant aquarium with a shark who was really good at following photo cues, and a 2001 Space Odyssey style hallway that contained a singular ad for Big Bird which, from what we can tell, is one of Cameron’s favorite parts of the museum. We saw a red panda who defiantly turned away from me once I started clenching my teeth and talking to him in a high-pitched voice about his cuteness. We walked through some colored smoke that made Cameron look like a toddler-God. We took pictures with dinos and green screens and prisms. Then we ate garlic fries and all was right with the world. We’re happy to take pictures and explore with these guys, and so happy to call them our friends.

Halloween is quite near and dear to our hearts. My birthday is in October, and I’ve usurped Halloween as my own personal holiday since I was born. Then Geoff and I were married on the 23rd with a Halloween-themed wedding, and basically Halloween all year, Halloween all the time, Halloween Halloween Halloween. We met Melanie and Ryan some time ago, and they are ALSO Halloween Halloween Halloween in ALL THE BEST WAYS! We were unfortunately unavailable to photograph their wedding but they’ve returned to us now with their sweet daughters Scarlett and Raven and booked us for a Halloween family session and we were SO EXCITED!! Their decorations are quite impressive, and we’ve learned we need to up our outdoor game a bit. They also have the most fabulous and wonderful collection of tiny little Halloween houses that light up and have moving ghosts and they’re all very elaborate and spooky. We had Christmas houses like this when we were little, but had I known Halloween houses existed, my parents would’ve been in trouble.

So we hung out with this Halloweeny crew at their place, checking out their decorations and running around the house playing! Scarlett is a brave and strong girl, who doesn’t flinch when her dad turns the corner wearing a terrifying clown mask, but instead attempts to block him with a Wonder Woman arm maneuver while still trying to hold onto some M&Ms. Raven loves the Zombie Man in the yard, and the giant inflatable spider down the street at a neighbor’s. She also adores the Chucky dolls upstairs in their attic, but isn’t quite okay with the terrifying clown mask yet (we’re working on it). Both children love their Halloween balloons, candy-dispensing mummy head, and the giant rubber rat sitting on top of their play kitchen. They also enjoy telling Alexa to play “This is Halloween” but forget the Danny Elfman part so Alexa plays the Marilyn Manson version and the kids hide. Melanie and Ryan enjoy horror movies (surprise!), getting their pictures taken with Robert Englund, collecting wonderful horror movie art, and being our heroes. Cheers to this spooktacular family of ghouls and ghoulettes! We are so happy to have been a little part of your boooootiful Halloween season.

Guys! Tyler has now gone from a baby to a toddler. How does that happen? Science, I guess, and time. And now that he’s older, he’s starting to show some preferences and affinities that I hope he carries with him through the rest of his life. Namely: his love of cats and his overuse of sprinkles while making cookies. When I say cats, I mean their two pet cats Bongo and Max who stare at us from the top step and then run, and also his orange stuffed cat named Tom who does not leave Tyler’s side. And when I say overuse of sprinkles, I mean that 99% of that cookie is comprised of sprinkles, and I’m really not sure how you’d eat it, but I support it.

Tyler also likes painting his parents, running through bubbles, and looking aggravated while sitting on top of a gnome stool. He also likes making Super Target stores out of sand in his sand box (he is going to be such a catch). We are told that he wants to be a “big fat morning dove” when he grows up, and he enjoys riding his tricycle, identifying dogs on walks, and feeding ducks when they are at the pond. Laurin and Tim enjoy really wonderful art, really wonderful wallpaper, Game of Thrones, and keeping up with Tyler. The best part of taking photos of repeat clients is seeing how they got a large print made of Tyler looking aggravated while sitting on top of a gnome stool. We absolutely adore this family.