Image #13, Caroline!!!!  Congratulations to her and her mom & dad!  I have your print ready to enjoy!

As an adoptive mom myself, I love doing these sessions.  If you are not familiar yet, I’ll explain.  Once a month, I will donate a session to a family who has adopted a child within the past 12 months.  This is Gary and Melanie’s family.  Gary, Melanie, Connor and Camryn welcomed Chloe into their family just about a year ago.  She has had to adjust to a new family, new culture and new language!  By God’s amazing grace, she is doing it very, very well!  This family is just awesome!  I really enjoyed our afternoon out shooting!

So, because I had so many that I liked, you better sit back with a cozy blanket and some hot cocoa or a cup o’ joe, ’cause this one’s going to take a while! 

Enjoy the pictures!

Some of you may recognize a few of the family members in this session.  Two years ago, I photographed Gavin as the MDA Junior Ambassador and then followed that with a family session with his entire family.  Their family is undoubtedly one of my favorite clients.  So, when Gavin’s mom, Mindy, called me with the request to photograph all of the cousins for a Christmas card set up as the Nativity scene, I couldn’t turn her down.  No, it’s not what I normally do, but I love this family and would do just about anything that Mindy asks. 

One of the kids was sick and feeling pretty yucky, one was shy and the rest were just having a good old time!  Trying to wrangle all of them was something to see, as all of the parents were there helping me along!  I’m pretty sure there’s video out there somewhere with the outtakes and the behind the scenes action!

So, here was the one of the Nativity shots:

The precious angel…

keeping watch over baby…

and comforting her brother, who was feeling pretty rough that day, poor little guy…

After we got the Nativity shots done, Mindy wanted some casual candids of all of the kids.  We found a fun spot and had to also take one shot with all of the parents and the wrangling.

The Taylor family came into town to visit with family for Thanksgiving, and thankfully for me, we have a mutual friend who referred them to me for this great session!  We met at Beth’s brother’s house in Collierville and walked around the fantastic property to find lots of great little spots.  I really enjoyed my time getting to know them, their fantastic kids and their exchange student from Germany.

Here are a few fun shots!

I photographed Jay with his mom & dad, Joe & Vickie, at home last year for his first birthday.  This year we wanted to do something different.  So, since Jay loves to run around outside, we decided to shoot at My Big Backyard in the Memphis Botanic Garden.  Jay was struggling to adjust to the time change and was off of his game.  He fell a few times and ended up with a slight fat lip.  So, we opted to re-shoot and decided to stay close to home.  It turned out to be perfect!  He gave us all a great work out keeping up with him as we walked the trails behind his house in Harbor Town!

So fun!  Here are a few faves!

I think this shot definitely shows just how much his parents adore him!  I love it. 

Julianne and I go way back.  Back 10 years to be exact.  10 years ago when she was a counselor in our first adoption.  So, now I had the opportunity to photograph her super cute family and I just love them to death.  She and Chad are obviously (you’ll see in their pictures together) still completely in love with each other, and all 3 girls just totally crack me up!  They each have such different personalities and are so much fun.

We went out to Schilling Farms and the weather and lighting was perfect for their session.  I wish we could have that kind of warm weather and soft, beautiful light all year round!

(Note to other photographers: Schilling Farms is private property and is not open access.  Please do not trespass to shoot there.)

Now on to the uber fabulous images!!!!

My favorite B/W from their session

Thank you Chad, Julianne, Emily, Caroline and Abby for all of your beautiful awesomeness!  :-)  I love you guys!

I am excited to share that my favorite kid’s store in Memphis, Little Posh in the Regalia Center, is celebrating it’s first year anniversary with an Open House on Saturday, November 14th.  They will be having a huge sale of buy 1, get one 50% off!  You won’t want to miss out on the clothes, the deals, the door prizes and the fun!  There will even be a weekday session with me as a door prize!!!!!!  Plus, spend $200 and bring me the receipt and you’ll receive $50 off your session fee so that you can have your kids photographed in all of those cool new clothes!!

Here are a few super cute girls in a few of Little Posh’s adorable outfits!

I love photographing kids between 5 and 12, but not many people think to have their kid’s portraits done during those years.  But, what a great time as they start transitioning to being bigger kids.  Thomas & Emery’s mom called me last minute to photograph the kids while Thomas still had his two front teeth out.  So stinkin’ cute!  Really!  I love toothless kids and they are adorable in photographs!

We shot in their beautiful East Memphis home and I think I could’ve spent all day finding new ways to add in their fun furniture!  Thomas is lively and fun to hang out with.  Emery is thoughtful and just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside.  These two kids are just fantastic and their personalities really came out in their images.  I wish I could show them all to you, but had to pick some favorites!  Here they are~

Thank you Tommy, Sloan, Thomas and Emery!  You are a wonderful family!!!