I just have to tell a funny story on myself in sharing these images. Check out this gorgeous kindergartner in the first picture. I was so impressed with her gorgeous hair and her older brother told me that she (with the help of her mom) irons it every day (is that the right terminology?). I said, “WOW! Would you believe that I don’t ever brush my hair?” They looked at me and without missing a beat, they answered right back in unison, “yes!” I love my super short messy hair, but I guess one byproduct is that it looks kind of like a bird’s nest on my head. Yes, I’m letting it all hang out here today!

For instance: is that baby in the pink really giving me the finger?

Yes, I played peekaboo.

So funny to watch little sibs getting kisses and hugs from their big brothers and sisters. The hugs were not always welcome.

And how about the cheeks and lips on this first baby? I could have kept her all day long.

That’s just some of the fun I had. I have a really funny story to share, but I’m going to wait for the next post. It involves some really good hair and I want to show her picture when I do.

Some sneak peek images have already been posted on my facebook fan page–stop on by! Mamas, if you are on facebook and would like to have any of your images added to that album, add me as a friend and I’ll get one in there!

Last year, he presented me with a challenge: he called and said that for the 2008 shirt, he wanted all five (at that time) grandchildren on one shirt. The problem was that not all five grandchildren had been in the same state, let alone the same picture (we were in California, then Florida; my brother was in Vermont). He airily said, “Oh, you can come up with something, head shots or something like that.” Which immediately put me in mind of sorority collages. I came up with a nice layout, actually, and cannot seem to find it on my computer (could be anywhere at this point)–long vertical strips and we did use head shots.

Apparently, of all of his fantastic grandchildren tees, this is the one that gets the most comments, so this year, he asked for another composite shirt even though all six grandchildren were in the same state and house for a week! So one night after dinner I pulled all the kids out on the back porch, sat them down next to the grill (yes, the grill) and got their head shots. And here is this year’s shirt (we joke that I have to put the names on for when my dad is old and senile):

The funny thing to me is that although we did take a picture of all six children together, I much prefer these because at this age it’s a lot easier to get one child to look instead of all six together. I will say that the baby was probably the most cooperative for the group picture!

Special thanks to Nathan Holritz of Photographer’s Edit for developing the presets which are the basis for these conversions (if you use Lightroom, click the link and get them!).

I have been having so much fun looking through these pictures this week. I wanted to do another blog post and had a hard time deciding between pretty faces, funny feet, and babies. Babies won. Check out some of the under one crowd:

I just finished a three day marathon shoot for a local MOPS group. It was really exciting and really tiring all at the same time. I don’t know yet how many families came through in those three days but I’ll just say I have quite a lot of pictures to go through! I’ve actually made it through one whole time and pulled some of my favorites… some are outtakes, some are funny, some are just fun. There’s probably not any rhyme or reason to why some are my favorites and some didn’t make the cut, but these were just too good not to share.

Mamas, I’ll be sharing these on facebook, too, so if we’re not friends on there yet, friend me and I’ll be able to tag you in your pictures!