Taking more lifestyle photos...

I know it's been soooo very long since I last posted. Let's call it part winter blues, part just plain lazy. One of my New Year's goals is to take more photos of my kids and friends. More lifestyle photos of just enjoying life. I want to get back to picking up the camera because I want to capture a particular moment, so I can remember the little things and not just the big.

On this particular day, the sun was finally shinning. And the light was beautiful coming through the windows. My daughter was playing with her cat, Bella, (not real!) and probably a little annoyed that I was interrupting her. (She takes her cat everywhere she goes - on a leash I might add.) So I grabbed my camera and snapped a few shots before the moment was lost. And I'm so glad I did!

A girl and her horse.

Marlee has been obsessed with horses for some time now. She wears cowboy boots almost daily - whether she is wearing shorts, dress, tutu, pants, no matter. If you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up, she will say a cowgirl.

Every year I do a little photo session for each of my kids around their birthdays. While I was looking for locations, I found this great little farm with horses not far from our house. The owner was kind enough to let us take photos there with one of her ponies.

The minute Marlee saw "Bella" she was enamored. I couldn't keep her attention for anything! When I would tell her to look at me and smile she would say "Mom, leave me alone, I'm riding the horse." Hence, very few photos with smiles and her looking at the camera! She was in her zone giving ALL attention to Bella.

But, I love the photos either way!

Here are some of my favorites...

Every kid needs a rope swing...

It was a beautiful, sunny autumn day and the kids were enjoying some outside time. They love to play on the rope swing that their dad built. Of course I had to pull out my camera! I snuck up on them and captured them in the midst of their adventure. Apparently they were playing some sort of "civilization" game, building and attacking... It was adorable!

These moments are so fun to photograph and remember. They go by so fast! So go out and get some photos of your kids... playing, sharing, and just being themselves.

 

Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins!

The kids had been buggin' me for days to go to the pumpkin patch and pick out pumpkins. So I finally loaded them up and headed to Honeypot Farms. They have great pick-your-own apples, pumpkins and a small animal farm. Oh, and of course, the mazes! My kids love the tunnel maze and the hedgemaze.

This year I told my kids they could only get a pumpkin that they could carry. I was NOT going to haul all these huge pumpkins to the car! So they went throughout the patch and tested out their strength on different pumpkins. They did very well! Especially my 8 year-old!

Now we just need to carve them!

 

The Adorable "C" Family.

I love Fall. The beautiful colors. The crisp air. The excuse to drink hot chocolate once a day. Fall photo sessions are ALMOST my favorite to shoot. Especially when you have an adorable family like the "C" family!

I have to say, the little ones gave me a run for my money, but I like a good challenge! Usually it's the husbands/fathers that are a trial ("Is this over yet?"). Either way, the pleasure was all mine.

Some of my MOST favorite shots from the session...

The stunning Miss Sarah / Senior Portraits

I noticed right away what a sweet and beautiful girl Sarah is. She literally radiated! We started out with the more formal shots - can I just say MAH-DEL! Sarah was so easy to pose and the light was simply stunning.

It was hard for me to choose my favorite photographs, since there were so many I absolutely love!

Here's a few of them...

A camping we will go!

Last week I realized we hadn't been camping yet this summer. My family loves to camp, so it came as a surprise that summer was almost over and we hadn't spent one night under the starry sky next to a campfire.

So we packed up our camping gear and hit the road... on the busiest camping weekend of the year. Labor Day. I was lucky to find a campground that still had a site available, so I reserved it a few days before. After a quick three hours in the car with three kids and a dog, we arrived at our campsite on Ossipee Lake in NH. Much to our dismay, the campground held mostly RV's - that's right, it was that kind of campground. My husband was determined to find some wilderness with no RV's in site.

We stumbled upon a canoeing outfit that had a camping sign out front. When I asked the man at the front desk if he had any sites available he said "How rustic do you want to go?". Hmmm. As in no running water and only one "Lutrine" rustic. I said "Sure, why not." I've become spoiled over the years with running water, bathrooms and showers so I was a bit skeptical.

After driving down the rode a bit, we found the campsite and set up camp. We were surprised to find that we were the only ones camping there (I'm skeptical whether it was an actual campsite or not!). We camped right on the river and enjoyed 3 days to ourselves. The kids ran free. The dog pooped wherever he felt like and we sat by the fire enjoying starry nights.

Now summer can officially come to an end. (But please no winter weather yet!).