Melissa emailed me a while ago about a family session and since shooting families is my new favorite thing to do, I was pretty pumped. Since all of the family was in Michigan for Christmas, we planned the shoot for the day after Christmas. I figured it would be snowy and, you know, look like family Christmas photos.

Well, not this year! I have lived in Michigan my whole life, much of it up north in Muskegon and I have never experienced a Christmas without any snow. For me, I was pretty happy because It’s not as much fun to shoot when it’s absolutely freezing out.

It was just such an amazing day. The sun was out, the sky was blue. For December 26th in Michigan, I couldn’t have asked for a nicer day. It was a bit chilly with the wind but they were all troopers when I made them shed their coats. :)

I just love working with families like this. It’s so rare to get everyone together sometimes and I think quality photos of everyone together is just one of the most important things to photograph.

haha Most awesome hat EVER. 

The last time you saw Dexter he was in the womb. If you missed that post, you can jump over here to catch up. PARSONS MATERNITY

Well he is now out in the world with the rest of us and we are happy he is here! Kim might be the most happy as she was really running out of space should he have decided to stay and grow for a few more weeks. :)

I think it’s official that I love black and white photos. It’s a tough balance for me because I also embrace color so much. I wanted to do this whole post in black and white but just couldn’t handle it. I’m still taking baby steps. :) Thus, I figure half and half is appropriate. It’s so interesting how different the vibe is from color to black and white.

haha oh this one is one of my favorites. I would love to know what he is thinking. However, he was under a week old at the time so really, what could he possibly be conspiring. Perhaps he had to poop. 

…and after a long dang of being handsome, Dexter made sure everyone knew he had enough! haha. I absolutely love his cry face. It’s sad that he is upset of course, but c’mon, it’s still adorable. Smiley memories are not the only precious ones. :)

Family newborn sessions are so much fun to do. There is a lot of controversy going around in the photography world about putting newborns in glass vases and other potentially unsafe and weird poses and places. As a creative person, I find my lack of creativity in family newborn sessions to be what I love about doing them the most oddly enough. I think there is a time and place for super creativity. A fragile newborn baby with insanely happy parents just doesn’t need it. There is enough cuteness, happiness and love to create wonderful images. My family newborn sessions are simple, relaxed and showing life just as it is. No shoving the baby in places and poses that make them angry or could hurt them. Just simple happiness is sometimes all you need.

To recap, here are all the awesome images of Hope and Evan —> WEDDING IMAGES —> MATERNITY IMAGES

Slouchy hats together! So so cute.
Possibly my favorite…It was a LONG shoot for everyone. Sleepy time. :) 

OH! And I can’t finish this off without showing off her cute little nursery. They actually just bought a house so the nursery is pretty simple, but gosh darnit, I really enjoy simple these days. That rug was AMAZINGLY soft and I adore the stick with the clothes. So so cute.

More blog posts to come – I’m so on top of everything right now it feels a bit unreal. I don’t sleep much and never leave my desk, but my goodness things are finally getting done!

As much as I’m working like a crazy woman to get everything done in time for Christmas, I am starting to realize how weird it’s going to be then. I might actually miss all of this so as hard as I’m trying to get it all done, I’m still trying to drink in all the fun work I’ve done. They are SUCH a happy little family and I just loved working with them.

Ok this picture just kills me. His little hands hanging on to hers is just the cutest thing. Warm fuzzies all around.
I feel like this just screams “Hey, look at my cool pants!” hahaSo super windy cold weather might be worth it for such cool looking storm clouds? But then again, I wasn’t wearing a summer dress. haha
Someday, he is going to look at these photos and be so embarrassed about them smushing his face with love. :) Standing like this didn’t last very long, but gosh darnit, the little guy tried! Does he like this? Hate this? I’m not completely sure.
Favorite!!! They brought along lots of cool things! These lanterns were amazing. Kristen has a really cool style so I was really excited for the end of the shoot with the twinkle lights. If we would have had more time, warmer weather and about triple the lights this could have been even more awesome but I’m still happy with how it turned out. You really can’t go wrong with twinkle lights in my opinion.
Oh…my word. Isn’t he just the cutest?! I love his little almost mohawk and those huge blue eyes! 

I had been looking forward to the Simcox family shoot for a while. They just adopted two little girls from Ethiopia and they are ADORABLE!

The whole family was just joyful and happy and it made what we did not feel like work at all. I love families who are good at expressing their love for each other outwardly.

I absolutely loved the way Brent talked to the girls and just his overall attitude. I’m sure he is an awesome dad. I’ve said it before and I’ll never stop saying it, but I’ve got a weak spot for fathers who are crazy about their daughters. I just think it’s one of the greatest and sweetest bonds you can ever have.

Angela really seems like she has it all together. I bet she might laugh when she reads this because none of us really feel like we have it all that together but from the outside, she looks and seems super organized! To go from having one daughter to having 2 additional small girls is quite the change in routine and a lot to take on as a mother so I really applaud her and brent for taking such a responsibility on. Those girls are extremely lucky to be a part of their family.

I asked them to write out their adoption story since I think it really adds a lot to the images. It’s wonderfully written and such a powerful story of how our life and plans are not our own but with faith, things turn out just as they were meant to be.

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ADOPTION JOURNEY:

For some- life’s mission becomes crystal clear.  That is Angela’s story.  From early on in her teen years she knew her calling was to be a Mom.  Angela dreamed and desired of a home filled with children that she could nurture and love. It wasn’t long into our second year of marriage that we desired to have our first child.   Our home was filled with excitement thinking any month we would celebrate the news that we were pregnant.  We did the typical thing soon to be parent’s do- we tossed around baby names, talked about room themes, and thought about what he or she would look like.  As the first months went by without conceiving we had little alarm or worry as to when we would conceive, we just assumed it would be the next month.  We took that position through the entire first year or two of our trying.  How quickly the months that followed turned into years.  We never dreamed we would be a couple that would struggle with infertility.  As the months and years went by we often questioned why God would not fulfill the desire we both had to bring children into the world and raise them to bring delight to Him.  We shed lots of tears during those years.  Often Angela would think about her desires and wonder if God was leading her to care for children through adoption.  The decision to adopt didn’t make it pass the thought stage as after five years of trying- God gave us Haley. She was everything we dreamed of.  Every thing was perfect!  She brought such great Joy into our life and taught us that miracles do happen.

We had heard stories of and from friends who struggled with conceiving until they had their first and then just looking at each other would seem to lead to additional pregnancies.  That was our hope.  A year after Haley was born we began trying for more children.  The years to follow would be some of the most difficult trials a marriage could face.  Sorrow, anger, and anxiety filled our lives.  We felt like we had failed, somehow we missed our calling.    Little did we know the reason we did not biologically have more children would be unfolded in the years to come.

Ten years after Haley was born Angela’s heart was once again pulled toward adoption.  She had been praying and was feeling this was Gods plan for our family’s expansion.  I would say that early on in our discussions I was not on board as I wasn’t sure if I could love a child that was not my own.  Angela convinced me to take the next step of attending an informational adoption meeting.  It is hard to describe the peace and sense of direction that overcame both of us that night.  As stories unfolded from both those who had adopted as well as those whom had been adopted, we both knew God had made his plan for us crystal clear.  We were going to adopt!

So began our journey.  Not long into the adoption process we met our friend’s daughter- whom they had just brought home from Ethiopia.  We knew beyond a shadow of a doubt this was were we would be adopting from.  We hired an agency and began fulfilling the requirements for legalizing an adoption from Ethiopia.  We had finished our home study and were working on the next step of completing our dossier when we learned of potential issues between the Ethiopian government and our agency.  December 9, 2010 we received a call from our agency that the pace of adoptions in Ethiopia has slowed drastically and we were potentially looking at another year or more before our adoption would be possible.  We felt as if the wind had been kicked right out of us.  Did God bring us down this path just to have us wait more?

December 12, 2010 everything came together like a God formed plan with a late evening phone call.  My buddy had reached out to me as he knew we were in the adoption journey.  He had just come back from visiting friends who had adopted two girls from Ethiopia and were putting them up for re-adoption.  He had thought we might have interest in pursuing.  We ended the phone call with “If you’re interested I can facilitate the introduction with the other family”.  I remember trying to catch my breath so I could share the opportunity with Angela.  After sharing what details I had we knew we would not be sleeping unless we had more information.  Within an hour we were on the phone with the other parent sharing stories together of both our journeys.  God’s marvelous touch was all over the conversation- we developed an immediate connection.  Our night ended with our first glimpse of Mabrae and Mekdez through emailed photos.  I remember sitting and crying with Angela as we knew Gods plan was unfolding more beautifully than we could ever imagine.

Every waiting day, every hurt, every tear all made sense in this one moment.  God held off our conceiving because he knew these two special girls would need to become part of our family.

April 29, 2011 Mabrae and Mekdez legally became Mabrae and Mekdez Simcox.

Thank you God for loving us enough to gift us these two girls who we Love more than words could ever say.

Brent & Angela Simcox

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I knew I wanted to take clips throughout the session because movement is just so different than photos and they both hold a lot of value. Kids grow up too fast and looking back at something like this, well, I know that if it were me, I’d love it. :) I’m really happy with how it turned out. I just wanted to show how happy everyone is and how much they love each other and I think it does just that.

This is what it takes to prepare 5 people for photos…hahaTurns out, random things that look like mini apples do NOT taste like mini apples. Lesson learned. Everybody with Everybody…this one got a little confusing… :)I just adore their personalities. I sort of expected them to be a little more shy but no….definitely not shy. One of my favorite shots! I don’t know where Dezi ended up. Perhaps on top of me haha. 

Just in case you don’t remember, Hope and Evan are awesome. See their wedding photos here.

When they booked with us, we included an engagement session but didn’t have time to do it before they got married and they were fine with that since everything was pretty short notice. We had planned to just do it sometime after the wedding. Evan works on movie sets doing video work, I’m not sure of his title exactly but that job takes him all over the place so with all the traveling plus our traveling, scheduling a time to make that session happen just never worked out. We had it planned once then the weather was bad.

So when I emailed hope again this year asking about planning a date she informed me she was pregnant! Thus, we decided to plan WAY ahead and make the session a maternity one. Since they were so patient I went all out on this one.

I’m so incredibly excited for their little boy to get here. I’ll be doing their family newborn session so you all will get to see him soon as well. :)

Just being around them makes me feel good. Being in the presence of people who love each other so much and are just such a perfect fit is just the best. Some people just have contagious personalities and Hope is one of those. I highly doubt there are people out there who don’t like her. Evan is super laid back and just a wonderful compliment to her more loud personality. :)

This is a BIG blog post. I tried for it not to be so much but I couldn’t. I realize I say that every time but it is what it is. I should just learn to accept that it will keep happening.

I hope you all love the photos as much as I do! She has the cutest pregnant belly and I’m sure the rest of us are super jealous, but lets just all try and live through her. I think that sounds like a good idea.

Whoa! FAVORITE!!!!Also another big favorite. You just can’t pose moments like this. They are so wonderfully natural together. I should have made this little series by the crates smaller images put together or something but I loved them all on their own so much. Please don’t get bored with them, embrace them ALL!!! I LOVE sessions that are full of laughing. There were some points where I had a hard time shooting because I was also laughing so hard. Ok seriously? I adore this. Those little baby faux tom’s are just the cutest! Of course I had to do one of these :)
Hope has such an awesome style which is another reason I enjoy shooting her so much. When she showed me this cape thing, I about died. I really love this for belly shots. It’s different…mysterious. Is it weird I’m ending on my favorite image of the shoot? Perhaps. I consider it a treat for those of you who made it to the end. :) I practically want to get this printed huge for my own house.

I just had the most spectacular time with you guys again and I’m feeling so restless for Renn to get here! I’m sure he will be just painfully adorable. I hope to be taking family photos for you guys for many years to come. :)

We finally found a time and decided to include Dave in this first mini session since they just told everyone they were pregnant and it’s exciting and whatnot. :) From here on out, it will just be Lacey until she is about 8 months then we will do a big shoot and I’ll have Ryan shoot that one with me.

I’m working out all the details of my new portrait business so for now I’ll just post these here. I’m far too impatient to wait till my new blog is up. :)

She is 15 weeks now. It’s just unreal to me how much things will change in the next month let alone 6 months from now. Growing babies is just fascinating!

This is my favorite of the evening! We can have lots and lots of smiley photos but if we are just being honest with ourselves, this is who dave really is. haha. Lacey on the other hand, is just really smiley :)…or this might be my favorite too. I just love shooting wide with cool trees. It’s the best!

Hope you guys like the photos! Since I’m just no where near ready for children, I am really enjoying everyone else around me having them. :) Now Nicole, the goddess of motherhood, once Lacey has hers I expect you to be preggo again so we can keep this cycle of fun photos :)

I find it hilarious that unborn babies current size always equals to fruit and vegetables. Based on my very reliable source, Lacey’s baby is an orange. Oranges are awesome so I assume this is a magical time.

Yesterday, Dave sent me a text about putting together a video for facebook to tell everyone. They needed to have it by early today so it was crazy last minute. I came up with the idea of milestones and we decided to do it from their cat’s (gizzy) perspective of their way of telling him he is going to be a big brother! hahaha. We shot it at night so it’s only the house lights which is why it’s a bit dark, but what can you do.

I typically don’t just throw things together, but it was a matter of doing the best with the time I had or have nothing so I guess it is what it is. :) I figure it’s better than just a status update on facebook. My big winter project is to learn more about video and editing and such. I’m sure this time next year I’ll look back and have a great laugh at this, but it’s memories regardless.

Anyways, enjoy!

]]> http://www.mudeyes.com/lacey-dave-and-gizzy-and-a-baby-the-size-of-an-orange/feed/ 1 http://www.mudeyes.com/ella-foster-newborn-family-photos/ http://www.mudeyes.com/ella-foster-newborn-family-photos/#comments Mon, 27 Jun 2011 05:41:38 +0000 Holly http://www.mudeyes.com/?p=3247

Ella is finally here!! Eli was born two weeks early so Nicole was kind of expecting something similar with Ella, or at least prepared for that at least. Well, that came and went…then her due date came and went. Some babies just need some extra time before coming into the world. I can’t blame them, the womb is safe and the world can be scary. :) I was a month overdue and I will forever be grateful to my mom for sticking it out and not taking me before I was ready. :)

After the awesome maternity session’s with the Foster family and months of craft nights with Nicole working on Ella’s nursery, I have gotten pretty personally involved in this whole process and pictures are my gift to their family. This is actually my first FULL session I have shot by myself. I shot Eli with Nicole a couple weeks before Ella was born so I guess thats good practice for flying solo. So not only was I feeling some pressure to do something great because Nicole and I have been anticipating awesome photos for months now but also because Ryan wasn’t there to catch me. He likes the photos, so it feels good to have his approval of my solo work haha.

Since Andy has two weeks off of work we certainly wanted to get family photos done early with him. I feel like there are never enough great photos of newborns with the father, it’s always so much about the mom. So I made sure to get a lot of really cute photos of Ella and Andy together. They are actually some of my favorite photos of the whole day. I think doing family newborn photos is so incredibly important. Yes, beautiful newborn photos of just the baby are amazing to have, but there is just something special about a new part of a family. It’s not just the baby thats new, everybody in the family is new to a certain extent so I think it’s important to include everyone. This session is all about them as a new family of four. Ella’s official “newborn” photos of just her will be coming next. Yeah, if you thought this was the last you would see of her your very wrong. She is getting five star treatment, GAUPER style!

I honestly didn’t know this first photo happened. I tend to get really over excited when everything falls into place for photos so I just take tons of photos frantically because I don’t want to miss the moment. Weddings have made me this way, so it’s funny to have that translate into a session like this which is so different. Either way, I’m super happy this didn’t get missed because this moment is perfection.

Now a family of four. 8 feet, 40 toes. Thats a lot. Arms full of babies!
The following series of just Ella and Andy is my favorite. I’m just overwhelmed by the sweetness. I’m a bit of a daddy’s girl so that could be why. I would just give anything to have had photos like this taken of me and my dad when I was born. My only newborn photo (that I know of) is a Polaroid with my dad and I adore it.
Ball of baby! She is sooo so tiny.It was a long shoot, and everybody was verrrry sleepy. :)

I hope you guys love the photos! I hope I did your family justice. :)

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