Jim and I spent last weekend in Phoenix visiting some of our family. We really didn’t have much of an agenda except to relax in the sun & hang out at the pool (oh, and eat lime-flavored tortilla chips silly!). So I took the opportunity to photograph our beautiful niece Jenn and her four adorable children. Dad Andrew was away for the day, so I decided that it was a great time to focus on some "Mommy and Me" shots – lord knows that one-on-one time is very precious when there are four kids this close in age! I SO SO SO wish that I had images like this of me & my kids when they were little, but, sigh…I feel happy that I caught these for Jenn.
Here’s Shelby, the oldest at 7:

Aidan:

Holden:

And baby Quincy (she’s 1 and 1/2):

Jenn with all:

Even though we’ve been living here since October, I have to say that we really sort of treated it like we were just on vacation, and not actually permanent residents or anything. After all, we still had our house in PA and we could go back anytime we wanted to. But now that the house is sold and we really, seriously, can’t go back there after February 28th, it has occurred to us that we probably should do something about becoming official SC residents. Especially since we are signing a building contract & applying for a mortgage this afternoon. And both of our car inspections from PA are expired, which could be a problem when we go up there next weekend. So this week, we were all like, HEY we need to get South Carolina car insurance and vehicle registrations and drivers licenses and voter cards and change social security addresses and all that. I’ve actually been busy this week for a change. I’ll be catching  up with all of you soon!

I think you might recognize this little girl…she is currently featured in my Blog header above, with the furry hood, and she is all over my website at various ages. Her mom and I go way back, and Abby holds a very special place in my heart – let’s just say that she is the answer to a prayer, and living proof of how all of us are entwined in ways that we can’t even begin to imagine! These are some of my favorites from her session:

Nothing more contagious than her laugh:

A little ‘tude:

These eyes:

I have been spending a lot of time working on ways to let everyone here near Lake Keowee know that there is a new option for South Carolina family & children’s photography in their area! I will be placing a pretty big ad in the community newspaper that everyone reads, and also something on our own little Channel 15, which is Keowee Key’s own TV channel – kind of like a continuous slideshow of community events & ads. Then in March I will be doing a direct mailing to everyone here, an oversized postcard with all of my info on it. Hopefully that will get the ball rolling! Meanwhile, I am still booking sessions in PA…have 3 to do in January. Stay tuned as I release more weekend dates for PA in the late spring as the weather improves!

My grandchildren are THE hardest kids in the world to photograph. They are very aware of the camera when we get it out, and they are very determined NOT to cooperate. Genevieve always promises to let me take her picture, gets my hopes up, then blatantly makes the most bland pitiful faces you can imagine.

Except when she’s running away -

Although I did sneak in this one -

I thought I might be able to get one of Gavin happily playing with his firetruck, his most favorite toy in the world:

But I just completely annoyed him by trying to get him to look at me -

And this is mostly what I got if I didn’t go away with that camera:

Sigh. Maybe in the spring!

I was trying to think of a title for this post, and the word "treasured" came to mind immediately when I think of these children. Mom had them bundled up nice & cozy so they could be comfy during our outdoor session in November, and not only did they look like little colorful jewels in my field at home, but you could just see how cherished these little ones are! and photogenic…!

Isabella was such a delight to photograph – the apple of her parents’ eye who quickly worked her way into my heart as well! Sweet, smart as a whip, and sooo well behaved and polite, I could seriously just keep her all to myself. But I think it’s clear that she prefers mom & dad as her first loves:

And is there anything cuter than a little girl missing her front teeth?

Oh my gosh, look at these adorable tights!