Nolan's 6 Year Pictures

I updated Marissa and Melayna's pictures on the wall a couple of weeks ago.  One night while we were finishing dinner together, Nolan looked up and noticed the changes.  He mentioned that he wanted to take new pictures as well since he was now a year older.  (I really liked last year's picture and wasn't sure he would sit still and cooperate so I hadn't bothered requesting a new one).  

I said, "Okay.  We can do that sometime, when do you want to take them."  

He said "right now" and jumped immediately down from the dinner table and ran downstairs to change his shirt.  He came upstairs wearing this Old Navy sweatshirt and he mentioned that he had also combed his hair.  Noel laughed and said that he and the kids would clean up the dinner dishes because I better go outside before Nolan changed his mind.

Once we got outside, Nolan mentioned that he wanted to have a couple taken of him on the trampoline and then we just took it from there.  After a couple of pictures, he would run off to a new location - all of them involving the trampoline or playscape.  'Not necessarily my idea but giving him control must have worked.  He sat still and smiled (sort of) and I got some really fun ones to choose from.

The first two pictures are the same pose.  I just left one as it looked coming off the camera and the second one, I edited it with a fall finish so the colors are a bit richer.  

I did the same edit with these next two.

After I loaded them all on the computer and let Nolan look at them, he told me that he wanted to pick his favorite for the 8x10 to hang on our wall.  Boy was I surprised when he showed me his favorite!!  So, here is the photo that will grace our dining room wall for at least the next year!!  But really, should I expect anything less from this guy??

Marissa's Newest Pictures

After a two year hiatus from having her picture taken, Marissa finally agreed to let me photograph her last week after her school graduation.  I know she's not the most comfortable having her pictures taken, but I love quite a few of these.  

If only she believed me when I tell her how beautiful she is!

Silly (and Sweet) Siblings!

Last week I was trying to update the kids' pictures.  (This was the same time that I actually captured pictures of Nolan for his five year).  

Surprisingly, Morgan and Marissa were both dressed up and they said that they wanted a couple of pictures together.  (What?!)  After I got over the initial shock, I told them where to sit and we started. Leave it to Morgan to start us all off laughing though... and then we couldn't stop.  Well, one would stop laughing but then the other would start.  Then they would switch roles.  Finally I was laughing so hard at them that I couldn't keep the camera steady either.

Anyway, I LOVE these pictures and this night reminds me of why I love taking photographs so much!  These are definitely pictures for the memory books!!

And just when things were going SO well...

Melayna didn't want to get her pictures taken and was hiding out inside when we did this little mini session.  I only wish that she had been outside because these pictures would have been the best.

Maybe we can recreate them soon.

Updating Nolan's Pictures

Nolan is such a goof-off.  

Anytime I get out the camera to try to take serious portraits of him, he covers his face or sticks out his tongue.  It's nearly impossible -- and so because of that, it's been almost two years since I've updated his pictures.

Last week however, I was outside taking his sisters photos and he kept trying to jump into every one of them.  I finally told him that if he sat down and took a few serious pictures for me, I'd let him "ruin" as many of his sisters as he wanted.  This got him laughing of course and it's just what we needed to get him to pose for me and get some really fun pictures.

So, without further ado, here are some of my choices for Nolan's five year old portraits:

Beautiful Nights

I took these pictures the other night after I finished a family photo session.  

It was a purely magical night!

Friday's Favorites / Morgan's 13 Year Photoshoot

WARNING:  Picture overload!!

My poor kiddos.  Every time I need to practice some new photography technique or want to improve my editing, I drag them outside and make them pose for me.  And where some kids only have to stand there five minutes to get a yearly photo taken, my kiddos are subjected to a full photography session complete with wardrobe changes and a drive to a new location.  LOL  Okay, so I might be slightly exaggerating, but the end result is the same.   Tons and tons of pictures to edit and choose from.  

Since this is our scrapbook/photo album, I've put my favorites of Morgan's 13 year pictures here. 

Enjoy them if you want, or just quickly move on!!  LOL