My time so far...

A "few" of my favorites from the past 2 days:

(I can't tell if he's intriqued by the movement or the size...)

"Hey, Mercer...Mercer.....MERCER!!!!

"I'm looking for a smile, buddy...NO...don't eat that leaf. Don't eat the ... fine. Eat the leaf.

"No, no...I'm just doing that to make you laugh. No sense in you copying me!"

Ahh....there we go...

Good boy...you continue to look adorable and I'll continue to take "candids" of you. (No. These shots were not set up. Not one bit.)

And, (after 20 minutes of putting on the hat, Mercer throwing it off, putting on the hat, Mercer throwing it off, getting creative, Mercer figuring it out and throwing the hat off, finally tricking him with "come get me!" so that he forgot the hat was on his head) my favorites:

Prepare yourself for a thousand more to come...

Oh, and this super fun family I took pictures for today...

California Living

Today is my first of a ten day trip to the gorgeous bay area of California. For the next nine days my calendar is full of showering my niece & nephew with kisses, chatting with my sister (not over the phone!) about nothing, while drinking lots of wine, and taking pictures for six families. That's a whole week full of stuff to be happy about. : ) Stay tuned for lots of pictures to come...

Blog Hiatus

Okay, I have been struggling with my blog posts lately. It's spring fever, I guess, but it's over and I'm back. :)

This next family is so very near and dear to my and my husband's hearts. I had the treat of taking their new family photos (maybe their first ones??) over Memorial weekend. They're the kind of family that make good photography easy as can be. Oh, and their little girl...well, you'll want to eat her. She's that adorable.

LOVE Pedipeds...

Ten Reasons {Why I Love Him to Bits}

{1} He is who he is and he's not changing for anyone.

{2} He's ridiculously funny and has no problem setting his pride aside for the sake of a good laugh

(and he has incredible discernment as to know just when a good laugh is needed).

{3} He has always made me believe that the world is my front porch.

{4} He honestly makes everything more fun.

{5} He's not afraid of his feelings.

{6} He's reasonable, level-headed and wonderfully well-rounded.

{7} No matter if I'm being goofy, in a foul mood or doing the ugly cry he thinks I'm the cutest girl in the world. I know I'm not, but when he tells me I often times believe him.

{8} He's a lot cooler then he thinks he is.

{9} He's always allowed me to be an individual all the while encouraging me to continually discover who I am as I grow older.

{10a} He's incredibly determined, driven and insanely intelligent.

{10b} He always knows just when to wrap his arms around me.

Happy 5th Anniversary, Babe. Thanks for taking life as seriously as it needs to be taken...even when we run out of gas on the highway.

I love you forever.

ig·no·rance

The condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed.

If you have a heart for social justice or are simply interested in our world, read this book. Jean-Robert is a fascinating writer. I'm not much of a reader, but I read this book in less than a week. It's excellent and very well written. But, be informed - it will make your heart ache in a way it maybe never has before. Personally, I'd rather walk around with a heart that's aching for suffering children then an ignorant heart believing that the world is just as I see it. An aching heart forces me to do something about it. An ignorant one allows me to be content with shopping malls, iPods, laptops and DVRs. I'll take an aching one over an ignorant one any day of the week.

{Click on the picture to order the book.}

for more info visit: The Restavec Freedom Foundation.

Thank you to all...

...who are such faithful blog checkers even when I go MIA. Unfortunately, for me the ol' blog can take a backseat when things get busy. Don't get me wrong - I'm not really all that busy, but it's spring and that means less time in front of the computer - not much less, but a little less then when there was a foot of snow on the ground.

(deep breath)

So, anyway...I'm here and still incredibly happy that it's spring and that there are people that entrust me to capture their families on camera. I've said it before, I'll say it again - I honestly feel overwhelmingly humbled every time I get invited (and paid) to spend some intimate time watching a family interact with one another. It's something I don't ever want to take for granted.

Thank you, M's, for letting me hang out with you Tuesday (& Friday, too.) It's been a blessing spending some time with your kids. They are a fun-filled pair of people...actually, anyone can tell by these pictures that you all are. Oh, and congratulations, C. (for all you blog readers, he's finally gonna be a real live, paid-in-full pediatric radiologist. and, it only took him an extra 10+ years of post-grad training to get there. oh, the joys of becoming a physician...)