A Day in the Life of Liam Cross

I read a blog post today from Kelly Moore and it challenged me to take more photographs of my children on a day-to-day basis. So today I got my "big" camera out and photographed Liam doing his thing.Sadly, this kid doesn't have as many pictures of him as he is the second child. Benson has tons from this age. (first child probs) So today I am fixing that problem and capturing the little moments of Liam's life. He keeps me on my toes. He is such a busy body. I mean, he IS four years old. He is seriously like the energizer bunny from the moment he wakes up, to the moment he falls asleep. We have to tell him about five times to "go back to bed", "quit getting out of bed", "if you get up one more time..." haha I love this kid. And then I grabbed a couple of Benson when he came home from school while he was being so studious and doing his homework :)

And yes, this is all from today.

You can read more about the "9 Tips For Better Photos of Your Kids" on Kelly's blog here and also enter a giveaway: http://kellymoorebag.com/blog/2016/02/nine-tips-for-better-photos-of-your-kids/

Mini Session with Benson

It's a rainy day and Benson let me do a mini session with him. I'm so glad he did.I'm loving his little style with matching orange headphones. Happy Sunday.

Texas Pool Party

A few weeks ago, we swam at my parents house to cool off from the hot summer day, and the boys were showing off their jumping skills. Check 'em out :)

Studio Mini Sessions with My GAP Model, Benson

I'm testing the lighting for the mini sessions tomorrow and I love how they are looking, especially with my litle GAP model, Benson. I decided to switch to the gray background this time instead of white. I hope you don't mind :)I am looking forward to photographing so many sweet faces tomorrow.

Benson's Mini-Session

Benson told me this morning he had lots of things to do today, and getting his picture taken was one of them.

My Boys As Of Late

I am doing headshots today, and I used my boys to test the light. Benson is 5 yrs old

Liam is 18 months old

My Oldest Valentine

Benson is five. Really? How is that even possible. He has grown into being one of the sweetest, most compassionate little guys.Just the other day for example, I made him pancakes for his birthday breakfast. I handed the plate to him and said, "Benson, I give you my heart." He stopped what he was doing and without any words, he stood up in his chair and wrapped his arms around my neck and gave me a tight-squeezing hug.

Then this morning, he tells out of no where, "thank you for sewing up the holes on my stuffed animals." He wanted to tell me this last night, but I was gone. It meant so much to him that I have done that in the past, and he didn't forget he wanted to tell me.

I mean, seriously. Do they get any sweeter?

Ben and I are so blessed for our two February babies.

Experimenting with Confetti

While Liam is sleeping, Benson and I worked a little project. I've been watching a little creative live today and videographer/cinematographer, Hailey Bartholomew was showing great work playing with confetti. I wanted to try it out too. I would love to do a video of Benson and confetti, but for now I want to share the fun confetti photographs we got this afternoon.

(below) This one makes me laugh.  He looks like he is terrified of the confetti falling on him :)

His birthday is coming up soon and he will be five.  He kept saying, "Its my birthday!!", while tossing confetti in the air.

Prince Benson on Film

A few weeks ago I tested out shooting film on Benson. It was one of the best decisions I could have made that day.More to come!

Shot with pro 400H fuji film

Benson, my colorful child

What was my life like before my little boys? I mean really! This little guy, who will be 5 in February just blesses my heart. He teaches me things, and I love learning from him. For example, trying to photograph your own kids can be a bit challenging. Sometimes I get impatient with him, but if I would just sit and observe his sweet spirit he will show me something better-way better than the idea I had. Last Sunday I was in Lubbock where my parents live, so my mom helped me do a mini photo shoot of Benson. I shot mostly with film, and I'm waiting to get it back, but here are a few I shot with my 5D Mark II.

Benson's First Day of School

Benson's first day of school...I had to do a little photo shoot of him for his first day back to school. He looked so cute. He was so happy. I had to capture this excitement! He is so thrilled to be going to school today. For one, he gets to ride in daddy's jeep and he LOVES that. He has been wanting to start back to school ever since we did the Back 2 School mini-sessions a couple of weeks ago. His teachers this year are so sweet and he is going to learn Spanish! I am so excited, because he is so excited. I pray his first day continues with this excitement. I can't wait to watch him learn and grow this year. My heart explodes with happiness just thinking of how much he will learn this year at school. I am filled with mixed emotions, because this also means he is getting bigger, and will be five in February, and then before I know it he will be in kindergarten. BUT, I need to not even go down that road yet. I need to take it in, and just let time stand still as he attends his second year of preschool. Oh, happy days.

A Preview for tomorrows Back 2 School Mini-Sessions

I can't wait for our Back 2 School (B2S) mini-sessions tomorrow. From 8-11:30 am I'll be out shooting a bunch of cute kids. Yippee yippe yippeeto! Here is a preview of my cutie pie son, Benson with the B2S setup. What do ya think?

Up and Away

Fly high my little guy and touch the sky.

My boys...

...and Liam's 4 month old baby session.He loves to: touch his toes squeal as loud as possible grab Benson's hair be held pound his own belly like a drum-tum jump in his bouncy eat cereal

Date night with a Four Year Old.Clovis Circus

Benson has been into "Dumbo" lately, and has probably watched it a couple dozen times so we thought it was only appropriate for us to go to the circus that came to town today. He loved it. I loved it. We ate popcorn, cotton candy, and a snow cone. We got dirty, smelly, and stained our faces. Good times with my little guy. The best part of it all, as we were getting tickets for the train ride he said, "I love you mommy." And this first photograph is him showing me how excited he was to go to the circus

Benson.Kid Model

Benson didn't take his nap today. He didn't want to. So I told him since he didn't want to take a nap, I was going to do a photo shoot with him. He didn't seem to care. I put on his outfit I had in mind and he started arguing a little. I said, "nap or photo shoot"? He picked the photo shoot. We started shooting and he was a little fussy about it. I said again, "nap or photo shoot"? He picked the photo shoot. And before you know it, he was having fun. My little boy is four and is the best big brother. If you ask him what he thinks about his baby brother he will tell you, "I wuv him. I'm a big bruver and I wuv baby William".

By the way, the cool 80s vest is from BabiesRus and was only $4. Crazy steal, crazy deal.

Liam.One Month

Liam will be one month old this week. The image on the left is one week old, image on the right is one month old

Baby Gender Announcement

Sorry for the wind noise...not a master videographer...but I try.And in case you can't hear it, the last line Benson says is, "lets do it again."

Benson has an announcement!

I've been absent here and there and I promise I have a good excuse. REALLY! Look below and Benson's shirt will tell all.

I am currently 13 weeks pregnant and due in February. We have been blessed and couldn't be happier. Benson is learning a little bit about his new title as a big brother, and having a baby in mommies belly. When we asked him whats in mommies tummy he said, "a tiger". Gotta love that kid. He comes up with the cutest stuff. He even put a baby doll in my shirt the other day, and said "look baby in mommies tummy." Its really cute, because he is really starting to get it.

I have had a good 1st trimester. Little queezy and weak, but I know things are looking up and I will be able to keep up with Benson and have my energy back soon. Yesterday I had a session with a family who has a cute two year old. I was sore after the session, because I haven't been that active in a while :) I have to eat every two hours or I become a Preg-zilla. Its true.

We are so excited and we can't wait to find out what we are having in a month or so! Stay tuned and we'll let ya know too.

Blast from the Past

My parents kept several of my toys and dolls from when I was a little girl. As Benson has gotten older we have brought out a few of those items, some of them being Raggidy Ann and Andy. I think I remember my mom saying my room was decorated in the A & A theme and these dolls were made by a friend. Fast forward 20 plus years and now Benson likes playing with them. His names for them are Annie and Boy. Benson (age 2 or 3), Annie and Boy

And here I am when I was a chunky monkey baby with the dolls. I love recreating memories. ( I think I was a year or so)