The Diaz Family

For those of you who don't reside in San Antonio, just west of us is beautiful Texas hill country. The Diaz Family contacted me to do some family photos and they chose to take them at their home located in the hill country. I was really excited to see this place, and I wasn't disappointed. Their was a dry creek bed behind their house, lots of beautiful Texas trees, and, of course, their awesome home which I was told they built! After a warm greeting, we got to work photographing this family which includes one serious scout and an accomplished violinist. Meet the Diaz family...

The Gooden Family

I met the Gooden Family in their neighborhood park this morning. This is a family who likes to capture their kids in a fun, natural setting. They told me that they used a picture I took last year of their kids pouring rocks on each other for their Christmas card! That's totally up my alley as I have pictures of my kids eating popsicles and being spider man lining my walls.
Little Cooper wasn't convinced that he wanted his picture taken this morning, but after a little bit of play he loosened up. Their dog, Brodie (am I spelling that right?) came along. I was amazed at how much energy he had and how well he obeyed. Unlike Cooper, he was ready and willing to get his picture taken which was great. Here's a peak at the shots I got.

Kids say the darndest things...

Julian says, "My foot won't walk!" He was suggesting that his foot was asleep.

Julian said, "Mom, I hurt my finger." I say, "On what?" Julian says, "On my hand!"

Schroeder: Climbing

Over the last couple of weeks, I've noticed that when I let Schroeder down on the floor instead of crawling away from me he's turning around and crawling up me. At first, I just thought it was because he loved his mama and was getting a little clingy. He does love his mama. (A couple of weeks ago, he was being held by Stephen at a restaurant. We were leaving and I stayed behind to gather our things. When I turned the corner and caught up to the family, Schroeder got this huge smile on his face.) However, loving me wasn't what was making him turn and crawl up on me. He was just excited to climb and pull up and I was the closest solid mass to help him achieve this goal.

Tonight, he pulled himself to standing on the side of Julian's little rocking chair. Julian was eating a little piece of bread, and Schroeder thought it looked good. The kids are getting a big kick out of Schroeder's new achievements. I got down this little car slash push cart from the attic, and they've been having loads of fun putting him on it. He enjoys it as well until he falls off.

Book Recommendation: We're Going on a Bear Hunt

We read a lot of kid books at our house. I really enjoy reading to the kids. I'm pretty animated. I've even tried to use accents (when reading Charlie & Lola) but the kids protested. I usually let the kids pick out their own books, but I have veto power. No, I will not read Wall-E to you. At least not more than once a year. However, some books I enjoy just as much as the kids do.
I first heard the book, "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" by Michael Rosen, at the Library during ABC club. It held my attention. The illustrations are cozy, impressionistic, and beautiful. They alternate between black and white and color. The book, like many children's books, repeats itself. The words are melodic, though, so you can almost sing through them. There's lots of fun sound non-words that make the pictures come alive some of which you just can't help but move to.
Anyway, for those of you reading to kids or are a big kid themselves, check out "We're Going on a Bear Hunt".

The Cox Family

It rained all morning. Then it stopped. Then it started, again. I wasn't sure if this photo session was going to happen. We were all up for an adventure, though, so I headed to Target to pick up an umbrella which came in handy when it began to rain again just ten minutes into our session. The rain and the umbrella also made for some cute picture opportunities!
I've photographed this family on several occasions, and I have a lot of fun each time. Gracie is so animated, and Dylan is so happy. There are always lots of smiles and funny faces to capture. Capturing Dylan's was a little more difficult because he, like most one year olds, is a crazy fast crawler. Here's a peek at our very wet photo session.

Reading

D'arcy is learning to read. She has about 15 sight words that she learned in her first nine weeks, and is now working on being able to spell them. Last night, I used her sight words list to make her a little note. It read,

"I like D'arcy. D'arcy is a good girl. I can read. So can D'arcy."

I, like, is, good, and can are all on her sight word list so she just had to sound out girl and read. I brought it in to her and told her to read it. She immediately told me that she didn't know how to read, but I insisted that she could read this note. She was able to read it pretty quickly, and looked up at me with a big smile. She ran to read it to her dad, read it to herself before she went to bed, and brought it to church in her purse to show everyone how much she has learned.