A few years ago my friend asked me to photograph her family.  I have been blessed to be able to get together with them each year and take new family pictures.  The kids grow and change so much, but it is when I take their pictures and begin editing them that I realize how much they have changed.  This beautiful young lady is a prime example!  (Click here to see last year’s pictures)

I love her adorable expression in this one:

Daddy’s girl:

We tried to get pictures of each parent with each kid (this was mom’s great idea–how fun for each kid to have these pictures to look back on someday!):

What a good sport, taking some affection from mom!  (These kids are so sweet, if you can’t tell by their pictures):

Some fun family and sibling ones:

And couple of the little men:

I could post pictures of these guys forever!  More of Mom & Dad to come soon….

I spent last weekend in Brainerd photographing two families.  The first family I took pictures of lives in a beautiful new home on a cool old farmstead.  It made for fun photography!  Here are some of pictures from the day:

  

Perhaps because I am the mother of two little girls, I admit that I am a bit partial to photo sessions with little girls, especially when their mother has fun clothes and accessories for them to wear!

I enjoyed this smiley 5 year old, who wasn’t a bit camera shy.  She was so easy to work with!

There is just something I love about this picture…maybe simply the fact that I “caught” it when she was paying attention to me (those are usually my favorites!).

Although they were itchy, she was willing to wrap up in the feather boas for a couple of minutes, at least!

And here is the baby sister who is three months.  She has changed since I took her picture as a newborn but as adorable as ever!

I LOVE this next one….look at that fun expression!

Nothing like a baby in a basket….

This flower was big sister’s idea….I loved it!

And some fun ones of the sisters together:

Okay, so baby sis isn’t super happy in this one, but I loved the red wagon and big sister’s attentiveness too much to discard the picture.

Do pictures from April count as archives?  I’m not sure.  These pictures were taken for a Father’s Day gift for a friend in Iraq.  His wife arranged to have the pictures taken and mailed to him in time for Father’s Day.  I never posted any of them on here for the slight chance that he might come across my blog and have the surprise ruined!  So here they are, even if “archived” already.

This first picture cracks me up…..can you just feel the sibling love?  I can relate to this all too well!

 

I know that my favorites may not always be a client’s favorites, so I am admitting that I am posting these only selfishly as my favorites!  These kids are so gorgeous–it makes it so easy to get fun ones!  The first one of the little guy makes me smile…..

The rescheduled family session included some great shots of a funny and busy young man.  I knew his mom would be happy to see these.

A thoughtful look….

Just for fun…

Doesn’t it seem like this has been a gloomy summer in Grand Rapids?  I had a family session scheduled this last week and of course we encountered thunderstorms!  We tried to squeeze in as many pictures as we could under the circumstances.  This family is incredibly photogenic….look at the great smiles and laughs from these kids!  I don’t think I have ever taken pictures of kids who are so good at sitting and smiling for the camera!

I had to “ask” them to be silly, which of course they were good at, too!

A few individual pictures:

I have some family pictures, too, which I will post soon!

Well, if I can even count taking pictures of one of my favorite families as working….

The cute blondes again!           I love sneaking shots like this!

Thank goodness they know how to be silly!  It makes for so much fun!

Still in love….

Look at the little guy’s face!

Thanks to all of you for such a fun photo shoot!  Families don’t get much better looking than you guys!

These siblings made for a fun photo shoot in Brainerd. We took some pictures at home and then went to some cool old railroad buildings to get more pictures. What a fun place! There are some family pictures that I’ll post later.

Here is the big sister. She is a sweet girl with a sweet smile and mature beyond her young years. Her little brothers are pretty lucky to have her!

Here is the big brother. I couldn’t have asked for a better subject….he never once complained about all the pictures I was taking and was so patient. What a great guy!

And here is the little man. Kids this age are a blast to take pictures of (if you can keep up with them!). We caught a lot of great pictures of him just being himself, which are always my favorite. These two pictures totally represent the full spectrum of toddlerhood….sweet to crazy! LOVE it!

What a cool kid! We had to get a picture hanging out with Dad!