Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania this year, driving up to Grandmom and Grandpop’s house the day before, a long day on the road with the holiday traffic and some snow.  Jonathan’s Aunt Anita and Uncle Mark hosted Thanksgiving which included Bloody Marys (my favorite), tons of wonderful food, cheering the Eagles on to a win surrounded by Eagles fans (Fly Eagles, Fly!), and lots of time for Ella and Jack in the game room.  We missed seeing Julia and Brian who were down at Disney World over the holiday, but enjoyed spending time with Jenna, Jamie, and their adorable daughter Cora and Tyler and his girlfriend.  We’re so thankful to Aunt Anita and Uncle Mark for letting us crash their party—it was fun, as always.  I didn’t get my camera out as much as I wish I had on Thanksgiving day—somehow Grandmom only made it into the Instagram pictures and when she wanted to hide behind the kids when I took a photo on Friday morning before we left because she was still in her pj’s (not that you can really tell—sorry for calling you out, Grandmom!  ;) ). 

{we brought some of jack’s birthday fireworks with us—every holiday calls for fireworks, right?}

My Muse

Ella accompanied me on a few photography sessions I’d booked this fall—only for families with whom we’re good friends—because she was interested in the process and wanted to help out.  She handled my reflector (which you’ll see her holding in these pics, but I never used), but her main duties were to help me check out the location before the families arrived (hence these images), carry purses and phones for the parents, and keep the kids smiling.  Ella did an amazing job and had all of the kids nearly in stitches (I think by mostly making fun of me behind me shooting, but, hey, Lauren got her first pic of her son Reese’s true smile with Ella’s help so I can’t complain).  It was fun to have a little helper and, as I don’t often do portraits of my own kids, it was nice to have an excuse to capture this ever-changing beautiful face.  Love this girl.

Us

We were lucky enough this year to book local wedding photographer Cheyenne Schultz for a mini session this fall.  I follow the work of Cheyenne and her husband (www.lovetheschultzes.com) because they truly are artists and, as a photographer, I am inspired by them.  Their work with light and empty space is just incredible.  They only book weddings and, on the rare occasion, newborn sessions of couples whose weddings they had previously photographed so I was thrilled when they offered family mini sessions for the first time this year.  I jumped on booking one—we didn’t do a family shoot last year so we were due one anyways.  Of course, we only had the 20 minutes of a mini session with Cheyenne and not the full-attention, 5+ hours of Cheyenne and Geoff at the amazing weddings they shoot; however, with the time we did have, we had a fun time posing in several different settings, all up at the Davidson Beaver Dam (I’ve never heard of the place, but it was crawling with other photographers).  Husband Geoff facilitated the timing of the mini sessions, keeping it all on track (they were booked, one after another) and he was such an incredibly nice guy, it put us all at ease—good prep for a photo session.  Anyways, so glad to have these images, and the experience of meeting the incredibly lovely Schultzes…and, it was fun for me to see Cheyenne at work, too.

Instagrammin’ in November

I haven’t been as great at documenting the little, everyday stuff on Instagram lately (New Year’s resolution, perhaps?).  November’s look is really just the highlights.  But, there were quite a few of them.  Good stuff.

mother-daughter date night at the symphony. | corn maze fun with reese and zoe. | hanging with some cuteness in atlanta. | ivy’s mastering the art of the selfie already. | happy birthday to my amazing sister! | ella’s first usta tennis tournament. | last soccer weekend for jack. #hattrick | his happy place. #omb | all dolled up for our photo session. | say cheese! | beet burger yumminess. #nanandbyrons | the schultzes instagrammed us! | girl scout skate night. #andbrotherstoo | birthday preparations. | a breakfast treat for the birthday boy. #happybirthdaytojonathan | i like where this letter is going. #spainISabigpresent | off at the crack of dawn for thanksgiving in pennsylvania. | snow once we were in virginia. | dreaming of a white thanksgiving. | it sure is pretty. | worth the long drive for some grandmom snuggles. | a perfect thanksgiving moment. #cardswithgrandmomandgrandpop #cheatinchet | taking in some american history at gettysburg. | these kids were troopers. #3houraudiocartour | can’t beat a great aunt and uncle with a media viewing room. | learning how to make the best paper airplane in the world with cousin michael. | passing right by the virginia mountains on our drive home we decided to cut down our own christmas tree.

Girl Scout Skate Night

The area Girl Scouts council had a skate night fundraiser at Kate’s Skate in mid-November.  Ella has an awesome group of girls in her Girl Scout Juniors troop and just about all of them came that night.  Jack tagged along, too.  It was a fun night—mostly for them as I was in charge of holding the table and watching everyone’s bags—but I think I should get some mom props here because we were in line when the skating rink opened and closed the place down 3 hours later. 

{ella came straight from tennis, hence the skating skirt look.}