[Family] Special | Kennett Missouri Photography

Grab a tissue. I mean it.

GRAB A TISSUE RIGHT NOW! I'll even give you a minute to do so.

Last year, before I had my precious baby boy, I decided to hold a contest for a deserving family. (Go read it and then come back here. And have your tissues handy.)

After receiving their nomination, I just knew that in my heart, I wanted them to win, but I kept my wishes to myself since I would be having some other folks decide on the winner.

And let me clarify, every nomination that I received touched my heart. Sometimes, as humans, we forget that so many in our community have such pain and tragedy in their lives. I have to admit that I lose sight of it, being busy with my own life, as we all are. Each of the nominations were completely worthy of winning the contest and maybe someday I can offer more of these sessions.

Through varying schedule conflicts and weather mishaps, my session with this family took place in July. I have to admit that I was nervous in meeting this family. Probably more nervous that they would think I'm just off my rocker and nuts!

We met at a nice field on the south side of Kennett, Missouri. (Yes, Sheryl Crow's hometown. And yes, I'd like to meet her someday.) The sun was glorious and when everyone got out of the van, I wanted to just cry. Not out of sadness, but just knowing that this family was meant to win this session.

These kids are totally awesome. Fun-loving, polite, full of personality, gracious, well-mannered, adorable, cute, sweet, well-mannered. Yeah, I said it again, because I can't stress how great these kids were. And the parents, well, you know God placed these special children with these parents for a reason. Patient, kind, loving, funny, oh Dad, you were a hoot and I bet there's a lot of fun to be had at your home!

After delivering their order, I received the following message from Michelle on my Facebook page:

"Ok so I'm so glad I didn't open my pictures in front of you! Girl you are AMAZING!!! Of course all of the pictures are just perfect but the one you did of my babies.....BEAUTIFUL!!!! It's just perfect, it made me cry. I know that's silly but it really did! I have to take about 100 pics of my little 2 year old to get one of her looking anywhere near me. Nobody can believe that you didn't have to ask her to look the way she was in that picture. The teenagers, well I hardly ever get a real smile from all three at once, YOU DID IT!!! We all just love all of them so much and want you to know how much we appreciate you! The contests you do are so neat and so sweet of you to do for people! Thank you so much!!!"

All the more confirmation that I love what I do. I love the feelings that are evoked when my clients view their images. And most of all, I love knowing that they are proudly displayed in their homes as a reminder of that special time in their lives.

To the J family, you left an impression on me, on my heart. When I have days of struggling in the parenting department, I've thought of you all and the daily challenges you face. I know it's not easy, but I know there's no greater reward than to see the smile on your children's faces and to hear their sweet words and to have their loving arms around you. You are in inspiration to parents everywhere.

And to the children, you can't imagine how much I was impressed with you. From your sweet, loving gestures to your kindness to one another to your constant laughter and smiles. So many lessons could be taken from each of you in this day and time. Kara, I hope you had a great first day of high school, and you know, you've got two older brothers to watch out for you! Keith and Kevin, you guys rock! I hope have a rockin' year in school! And Miss Alayna, don't give your siblings too much trouble! Thank you all for being so awesome!

[Family] For the Love | Southeast Missouri Photographer

Meet this adorable little family.

Something tells me, though, that Dad may have to be giving the smack-down on a few boys in about 10 years. And Mom, well, I'm sure she'll be fielding a lot of calls from giddy girls calling past bed time.

We decided on shooting at the urban setting for this family's session. Mom and I discussed our session and made a quick collaboration of perfectly coordinated outfits. Perfect for them, perfect with the backdrop. And since this was their first session as a family, she couldn't have done a better job.

The little ones were a little shy with me at first. But you know, once kids get used to my jolly-good-time personality, it doesn't take much to start crackin' smiles for me. Oh, and have I ever mentioned my mad dance skills? You know, version of the throwback kind. That always gets a laugh or twenty. Even with seniors. Who me? Embarassed? Never.

You guys were too much fun and the kiddos were pure sweetness. Thank you for an awesome session! Enjoy your back to school days!

[Sneak Peek] Family | Kennett Missouri Photographer

I've got another one! These kids were too cute!

[Children] Fun But Hot| Hayti Missouri Children Photographer

First let me apologize for the long absence in blogging. I try to keep up, but with a job, 4 kids, vacation, business, and such, it gets hard to keep up. I've also been in the process of designing a new blog for a few months now, but again, I have too many irons in the fire. For now, here's a recent session.

My session with these cuties took place on one of the hottest days of the year! Late afternoons in the Bootheel are not pleasant. And I certainly looked the part, with my red face and slick arms!

These two cuties enjoyed being in front of the camera, well Miss M did, especially when I showed her some old school dance moves. Little man wasn't as interested in me as he was the surroundings, so we played little games and that seemed to keep him interested in me, the gal with the big ol' camera.

We later hit up a field for some family shots and I just love the processing on them. And though it looked like a storm was brewing, we managed to get our session completed without anyone getting drenched. However, I wouldn't have minded since I was literally a hot mess! (But the equipment would've suffered big time!)

Thank you, G family! I had a great time at our session and I enjoyed getting to meet and play with your children!

[Family] Pretty Girls | Caruthersville Missouri Child Photographer

Since I've started back from maternity leave, I've had two baby sessions and the rest have been 2010 seniors. What I love about my photography business is that there are different types of sessions I shoot, which fuels my creativity with the various subjects.

Last weekend, I got to shoot a true lifestyle session. A lovely family whose precious little girls made the shoot even more sweet. Mom wanted me to capture images in their beautiful home. We started in the girls' room, playing with toys, reading books, and we even had a tea party. Miss I was nothing short of a hoot! (Since I have a daughter her age, I knew exactly how their imaginations and spunk go hand in hand!)

Baby girl M was an absolute doll, so incredibly sweet and calm throughout our shoot. You can feel that I is a great big sister and she's very connected to her baby sister. Afterwards, I captured some casual family images out on their back patio. We dealt with some major wind after the storm from earlier that day, but I managed to get some beautiful images of the girls in their front yard on a blanket.

I thoroughly enjoyed our lifestyle session and I hope that some of my future clients choose to have this type of session too. It's a very laid-back, calm approach to capturing images of children in the comfort of their own home. Thank you L family for welcoming me into your home and I hope you love, love, LOVE your images!

[Sneak Peek] Family | Caruthersville Missouri Family Photographer

There's something about seeing a beautiful mother with her beautiful girls. I'll let the image speak for itself. Happy sneak peek!

[Family] The Henfling's | Dyersburg Tennessee Children's Photographer

Liz talked with me about getting some images of her new precious addition, Knox Walker(dontcha love the name?). She has two other boys, Jackson and Riley, and it was quite evident at our shoot that they are in luuuurve with their new baby brother. How sweet is was to get them all together for pictures! Like I mentioned in my previous post, there's something so special about the bond between mother and son. And in this case, the bonds between mother and sons.

Liz's boys are sweet and handsome and polite. I know they will grow to be the same way and make some girls very happy wives someday. (I think Liz just had a heart attack to think of her boys growing up!) They are also very sweet on their Nan, Liz's mother, whom she brought along for ride. Oh Nan, er, Mrs. Gardner, how you ever put up with all of the kids at your house, I'll never know, but you were always so patient even when we were holy terrors, up all night watching Def Comedy Jam and scary movies and laughing and prank calling every one. Except me. I always feel asleep early. Darn narcolepsy.

Liz, I'm so glad that you wanted me to photograph your sweet boys. I think you look fabulous as you always have and you have a beautiful family of which you should be very proud. And I'm glad we got to have a few laughs. Oh, how I miss your everyday witty humor.

And thanks for the awesome bibs and wipey case. Much love Hooch.

[Sneak Peek] Henfling | Dyersburg Tennessee Child Photography

Momma and her boys. Her sweet, handsome boys.

This is my other BFF. (Can't believe I'm using that acronym seeing that I'm no longer in high school. Or college. Or my twenties.)

Liz just had her 3rd boy in September, but I have a quiet longing for her to have another baby, keeping my fingers crossed for a girl. I don't figure she'll grant me that wish, since I won't have to raise her. Ah, hope floats.

Anyways, I just wanted to post a sneak peek of my beautiful friend and adorable boys. Stay tuned for my images!

[Lifestyle] Family:My Children

This past Saturday, my scheduled client had to cancel due to sickness, so I decided to take my children out on a photo session. I mean, come on, I'm a photographer and I've yet to "schedule" a shoot with them. Mostly because it can be a nightmare trying to get all three of them ready - which turned out not to be so bad - and then I have to contend with them over shooting because, you know, I'm their mom. And with that being said, they took full advantage of my desperation to get some good shots of them.

Bribery works best, I've found.

So, the morning was extremely humid. Like a fat pig sittin' in a sauna. That kind of slick sweatiness. That's what I was feeling.

And of course, my kids got cranky and when they don't want to pose or give me a natural smile, they just don't. Flat-out. Even bribery wouldn't give me an edge. However, I managed to pull some rabbits out of my hat with some funny things to say, when I wasn't aggravated with the stubborness they put up against me.

I have to say that some of the images I captured are some of my favorites ever. I'm sure because these are my babies, but it's my photography, I can do what I want to. I hope you all enjoy my hard-earned efforts in trying to get Haley, Brennan and Aubrey to strike a pose. Trust me, I sweated worked my hiney off to get the following!

[Lifestyle] Family:Jake & Kade

Yesterday I posted some sneak peeks of two brothers, Jake and Kade. As I said in that post, they were up for anything: trains, laying in chalk, and especially the corn field. Because that's how they roll: farming.

Today, I'm posting more images of the morning in hopes of making one proud momma very happy. I hope! Again, I enjoyed shooting these dudes and had a great morning.

On one side note: Happy Father's Day to all the daddies. I didn't have a daddy in my house growing up, but I certainly have a great daddy for my children, whom they adore. We are going to get our fun on today, since it is beautiful and oh so hot, and make sure to let your daddies know how much you love them. Happy Father's Day, Daddy Tom! Have a great day!