Well, it’s official.  My son Ethan is turning 6 years old today.  We took him to Sea World yesterday to celebrate and he’s having a little party at school today, then it’s off to Chuck-E-Cheese for our big birthday bash tonight!  I made the famous chocolate chip waffles for breakfast (everyone in our house gets ‘em on their birthday, with chocolate syrup instead of maple!) and he already tore into all his presents…so I think he made out pretty well.  But what it comes down to is this…it’s not about the presents, the cake, the parties, or the chocolate chip waffles.  It’s about letting my children know just how much each of their births has meant to me, and what Ethan brought into my life the day he was born is indescribable.  He has been a source of wisdom, compassion, freedom, understanding, and unconditional love to me.  He has taught me things in his 6 years on this earth that I could have never learned otherwise, and out of it I’ve found my best pal, my oldest son, and my window to the future.  And with that…a little glimpse into the past 6 years…Happy Birthday big man!!!

2003

2004…

2005…

2006…

2007…

2008…

And the offical “6 year” portraits…

This little guy brought a Christmas tree to the beach…what a cool idea!  I’ll have to remember that for next year and get my own little portable tree.  The lighting on this one is a little off, but I LOVE this image….

 I got the oppurtunity to work with these awesome ladies and one of them happens to be super-mom to twin baby girls.  They are so beautiful (all of them!) and my favorite part was taking multi-generational photos with mom, aunt, grandma, and the babies.  We did a little of everything- Christmas portraits, black and white bare baby photos, some with the cool fabrics I have, etc…it was so hard to choose which ones to put up!   

This is Jack…isn’t he totally adorable?  I haven’t seen such a mellow baby in a lloonnggggg time!  Mom put him in the grass for most of our shoot, where he pretty much just hung out and hammed it up for us.  We managed to grab a few family shots as well, so here are a few sneak peaks:

So I got the privelege of working with my chiropractor and his family for their portraits- they are a super fun group and his daughter is soooooo cute.  Such a little princess- and you can tell thast they totally adore her.  We got so many nice shots I had a hard time choosing, but here are a few of them…. 

 This little girl was so totally precious and super easy to photograph…and LOVED this family, they were so much fun.  They were a family divided- half Gators fans and half Seminoles, so it looks like Gators won out for the photo shoot!

Today is another day when I can’t help but remind myself how much I love my job, and how lucky I am to get to work with such a variety of really cool people and families.  I hope everyone has a very wonderful holiday season and you’re not stressing too much with gifts, cards, cooking, and all that stuff…just enjoy it and soak up the warm fuzzy feelings that the season brings =)  If only there were snow….

Enjoy your portraits and thank you for being patient with me!! 

I just wanted to give you all an update…if you haven’t gotten your proofs back from me yet, DON’T WORRY!  I am still working on the last of my Holiday sessions.  There is still time to get disks and prints back before Christmas week, and I will be finalizing all card orders next week.  Turnaround time for prints and cards is 3-4 business days right now- the most time consuming part is editing prints and creating your custom pieces!  I appreciate your patience- in previous years I have done a moderate number of sessions during the Holiday season, and we took a HUGE leap this year doing over 40 portrait sessions during the months of October, November, and December.  Please understand that right now I am a one woman show and I’m working as fast as I can…you won’t be disappointed!

MERRY CHRISTMAS and THANK YOU for making 2008 such a successful year!!

 I got the pleasure of working with my hubby’s boss a few weeks ago, and they also happen to be friends of ours.  These little ones are soooooo cute!  Check it out…all decked out for Christmas (and a few regular ones too!)!!!

 I just love this one in Sepia, it looks awesome…and Miss E is so adorable too, she just hammed it up for my camera!