Project 354 - Day 184. On The Water | Okauchee Family Photographer

We had a really nice afternoon out on Okauchee Lake.  We don't get out on boats often so it's a real treat for all of us.  It was fun to see two of my client's homes from a different perspective, too!

My mom, Corey, Lilly and Clare braved the waters...Rob and I stayed dry with sleepy Emma.

And this was our Captain...Mom's friend, Lary, who graciously hosted us for the afternoon and gave us a great tour of the lake!!   Fun day and now lots of tired kids (and grown-ups) around...

Project 365 - Day 181. Our Summer Ritual | Delafield Children's Photography

I definitely do NOT have a green thumb.  I've mentioned this before but just in case you've forgotten...it's true.  There are no live plants in my house.  Hence my immense pride in my veggies.  Last year I attempted hanging flowers and....well....it didn't end well.  

This year I tried again.  Really...it's just two plants and they look so nice!  How hard could it be!?   I'm taking this commitment VERY seriously because there is no doubt in my mind that if I kill these off before school is back in session that I will definitely be cut off from purchasing any annuals ever again!

So each day I take my little helpers (Clare and Emma) and we the girls have some nice watering time while I deadhead my plants.  I'm proud to say that after about 4 weeks, they are going strong!!!!   YEY!   And the girls and I have some nice times with it too so that makes it all worth it!

Project 365 - Day 175. Craft Time | Delafield Children's Photography

It's not every day that bedtime goes smoothly.  And with my husband away for 9 days and my mom busy working a crazy week, this is the part of the day I dread the most.  Today, Clare and Emma were quite tired so they went down a bit earlier than Corey and Lilly and I was really pleasantly surprised to see that the activities they chose to do were a wood bead craft and then a game of Sequence.  They (usually) have a great relationship and I love to witness these spontaneous moments of niceness.

Project 365 - Day 161. Taming The Beasts | Delafield Children's Photographer

I had the BEST Mommy day today.  Truly.  I mean, I have a lot of good moments with my kids but it's not that often that I get a full day of FUN with my kids that I absolutely enjoy from start to finish.  True, I got no work and no housework done today but at 7pm, my house was quite and everyone under this roof had a smile on their face.  Perfect.

It was Corey and Lilly's last day of school and they had early release so we spent the afternoon at the Zoo.  We hadn't been in a long time and really it was the first time Emma's been since she was old enough to "get it" and WOW...did she get it!   She loved every minute...as expected.  She's a real animal fan anyway but when she saw those spider monkeys swinging back and forth and got to look a cheetah in the eye? ...pure joy.   We went out for a nice dinner afterwards and all enjoyed a nice drink (4 kiddy margaritas and a beer, please.) and some great time together.   We sang loudly in the car.  Laughed about silly butt jokes.  Nothing special and yet....something SO special.    Wish Rob could've been around to share it with us but in every other way, an absolutely perfect day and a great way to start the summer!

I sure love these guys!!!!

Project 365 - Day 159. Movie Time | Hartland Children's Photographer

We're in the countdown to the end of the school year.   Today, Lilly's class had a "movie" that one of the Dad's from class created with the kids.  It's such a nice keepsake for the kids and a good laugh!

Project 365 - Day 155. Mixing It Up | Hartland Event Photographer

As my regular readers (sometimes called stalkers or voyeurs :-)  know, I like a new challenge and events are a great way for me to expand my skills.

Tonight I had a chance to use "the beast" quite a bit while taking shots of a group who came together for a good cause and some fun tennis.  The tennis mixer was sponsored by Four Winds Subdivision and was held at Lake Country Athletics to raise money for the community's Relay For Life team.  

For any locals...they're also holding their garage sale in support of the same cause so check it out Saturday if you get a chance!  I'm planning on heading over.

Here's a couple shots of one of the organizers of the fundraiser.  Oh, and she's also a great friend and a regular reader....

Project 365 - Day 152. Playing With The Big Boys | Delafield Headshot Photographer

Not surprisingly, I love kids.  I love to play with kids.   I love photographing kids.   

However, I must admit that getting a chance to photograph grown-ups is a really nice change of pace.  It's not that kids are hard, but adults are incredibly easy, relatively speaking.

Today I had the opportunity to photograph a few local executives.   They were looking for headshots for their website and marketing materials.  It was a straightforward job, a nice group and no one cried or had to be bribed with a dum-dum.  

Turns out playing with big kids is actually pretty fun, too!

Project 365 - Day 151. In Memory Of | Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Photographer

Today is obviously a day to remember.

In a special way, I'm also remembering one of Heaven's newest angels, baby M. who was born into eternal life this morning.   My thoughts and prayers are with her family tonight.

Project 365 - Day 147. Rules Shmules - A Sneak Peek | Germantown Newborn Photographer

It's gospel in newborn photography, truly, that the session MUST take place within the first 14 days of babies life...really the first 10 days is best and the sooner the better.   Why?  Because newborn babies sleep A LOT and they're also very curly in the early days so easier to maneuver and get into lots of cozy, cute poses.   It's the rule and you won't find many photographers who stray from this.

Well...rules shmules!   Today I had the wonderful honor of photographing this GORGEOUS little newborn girl and (gasp) she was born on May 4th!  That's right, people...she's over 3 weeks old!   But, hey...life happens and it's where we were so we went with it and you know what?!   That little sweetie slept the entire session.  She let me move her, put hats and headbands on her, and only opened her eyes for about 30 seconds at the end so I could get a really quick shot of her eyes.   Her skin was flawless and everything about her was dreamy.   I loved every minute of it!!!   Thanks for sharing your beautiful new daughter with me, Jenny!   Enjoy your sneak peek...

Project 365 - Day 135. Sneak Peek of my new BFF | Delafield Children's Photography

I'm off for a date night but wanted to post a quick sneak peek of my FIRST BFF!!!    I had a great time playing with you, Z, and am so happy that I'll be lining your families home with more beautiful photos of you and your big sister!   Thanks for everything, Laura!   Enjoy your sneak peek!

Project 365 - Day 70. Friends & Neighbors | Delafield Childrens Photography

Rob's on a rare day trip away today and Corey & Lilly had a half day so we were looking for an outing!  They tolerated me stopping off at a few businesses to distribute fliers for the charity event next week and I rewarded them with their first basketball game!!   Our good friend and neighbor was playing in a tournament and the kids really enjoyed checking it out.  Even Emma.  Even me.  They're good friends.  They're neighbors.  And they're becoming family to all of us.

This little beauty is Kelly...

Project 365 - Day 69. Wednesday Again. | Delafield Childrens Photography

Yes, it was definitely Wednesday again.  Crazy, exhausting, high-mileage Wednesday.  And I'm glad I don't have to see you again for a whole week.   Phew!

Another car shot with the iPhone.   Edited, of course.   Not bad for an iPhone shot of a kid in a car seat though, right?   I know, I know...forgive me.   Wednesday.

Project 365 - Day 66. Sweets & Sweeties | Brookfield Event Photography

This afternoon I photographed an event at a large, local church.  It was a mother-daughter Christian-based bonding event and I took a photo of each of the families that attended as well as some candids through the evening.   It was a really lovely event and while I would have preferred to have been there as a participant with my own daughter, I still had a great time.

They had a VERY impressive "candy bar" across the back wall of the hall.  It was so fun, not to mention gorgeous!  I had a good time playing around with shots there but you're only getting one because my hands are tired from 5 hours of photography.  :-)

Project 365 - Day 64. Movin' On Up | Delafield Children's Photographer

Corey & Lilly are 18 months apart and Clare & Emma are 18 months apart. Since Corey and Lilly didn't share clothes though, I'm just now realizing now how close in size those two ages are. Yesterday Clare put this Dora sweatshirt on and I said "hmmm...I think that's just a tad small for you Clare." Today, Emma put it on and it fits her just right. I still want to believe that Emma is my baby and having her wear Clare's clothes is making that very difficult for me to do. :-(

Project 365 - Day 63. Lovely Lilly | Delafield Children's Photographer

Yesterday Lilly had a field trip to the hospital where she was born and she told me about how she got to see a newborn baby girl.  Hard to believe it was almost 6 years ago that I was taking Lilly home from that same hospital.  And now she's a reader, a drama queen, a helper, an entertainer, a great big sister, a great little sister, a fashionista (in her own Pippy Longstocking kinda way), a babysitter, a silly girl, a true friend and my lovely Lilly.

I looked at her this morning as she caught a few minutes of Tom & Jerry before heading off to school and just felt a heart full of love for that girl.

Project 365 - Day 61. How I Spent My Morning

All of the kids have loved trains and Emma is no exception.   Santa brought Clare this Mickey Mouse Train but it's Emma's new favorite toy.  We had a good time sending it back and forth across the room.   Until they decided that riding on my back would be more fun than watching the rabbit ride across the room.  Not sure I agree but it was a fun morning anyway.

Project 365 - Day 60. Looking for a Resemblance?

Ok, so facebook is a great thing, right?  It's an amazing way for people to stay connected or reconnect without a huge amount of effort, IMHO.  People that may otherwise have slipped off my radar are now in my daily news updates and, for the most part, I like that.  I admit that keeping in touch with people is NOT one of my strong points.  I wish it was...but it's not.  I love facebook.  It saves me from losing people and keeps me grounded to parts of my life that could have easily been forgotten.

Of course, with the rewards come the risks.  My oldest FB friend (in time known, not age), is a girl I knew when I was two.  We moved away from that town when I was 7 so there were few people I kept in touch with and she and I did actually lose touch between the ages of 7 and 17 but were reconnected when I applied to the same college that she was attending.  We were friendly through college and then lost touch again until fb.   Did I mention that I love facebook?   Anyway, yesterday she posted a preschool picture.  I was a year younger but still in her class because my mom was the teacher.   Check it out...

I only recognized me, my mom, my sister, the gal who posted it (Andrea) and one other guy who was a neighbor and whose mom was like a 2nd mom to me so we've stayed in touch over the years.  The rest?  Complete strangers.   No CLUE who they are and even with the Tags I don't recognize the names or have any recollection.  Makes me realize that I'm probably not scarring my little ones as much as I think I am.  :-)

What really struck me about the photo though was that when I looked at me, I saw Emma!  Emma is a good year-plus younger than I was in this photo but I still see her when I look at it.  It's the area around the eyes and nose.   Today, I asked my son to pick me out of the group.  The first one he picked was my sister.  The second was me.  I asked why he said that and he said because I looked like Lilly.   We generally hear that the kids look like Rob so it's nice to know there's a bit of a resemblance anyway!!   What do you think??

Project 365 - Day 58. Green Eggs & Ham

Our area hosts a Children's Theater Series each year and my kids love it.  The shows are kind of hit or miss in quality but it doesn't seem to phase them so we always go.  Today was Green Eggs & Ham.  I am a HUGE Dr. Suess fan so was prepared for big disappointment but it was really good!  Definitely the best show I've been to as part of their productions...fun for the kids and me!   I took all four so it was a relief that I wasn't gritting my teeth through the whole thing!  

Isn't their set fun??  Perfect Dr. Suess!   Love it!

Project 365 - day 57. A Treasured Gift | Delafield Children's Photography

Last night I had a wonderful visit from a couple I met last month.   Sadly, I met them as part of my Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep volunteer work.  They were the first couple that I'd photographed on my own, although they didn't know that until last night.  They came by to bring me a thank you gift for the work I did for them.  It was so thoughtful of them to think of me as they're going through such a difficult time and it was such a precious gift and something I will treasure forever.

Literally just a few nights ago I was looking at a stand in my bedroom that has two Willow Tree pieces on it and thinking...I really need a third one of those.  I received the ones I have on two separate occasions from my sister-in-law.  So, I thought I need another because you're really supposed to have things like that grouped in threes, right?   Well, wouldn't you know, that's what they brought me.  It's just beautiful and they said they chose it because it's called "Spirit of Giving - Generosity is your shining gift."   They also gave me a card with one of the images I took on it and wrote the following:

"There are no words that come close to describing how thankful we are and how blessed we feel to have met you.  Your selfless efforts and amazing talents have touched not only R. and I, but everyone who sees your photography.  Thank you for volunteering your time to Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep and for preserving our precious son with such love and care.     Love, K. & R."

Needless to say, I cried.

This sweet couple gave me two gifts.  The opportunity to meet their Angel and now this.  I'm truly touched.  And all three of us are anxiously awaiting our next photo session - when they are expecting their next baby!!  

Project 365 - day 56. Venue 3! | Delafield Children's Photographer

Well here's the third and final potential venue for the March Charity Event that's in the works.  I think it's my favorite choice because it comes with perks...   I loved the other spots too but for this event I'm leaning towards #3.   I'd love some feedback!!!   Please leave a comment or email me...which background would you most like to have for shots of your children??

Again, still finalizing the details but I think you can tentatively mark Sunday, March 21st down on your calendars as the day to get a mini-session with me and a free 5X7 of your choice just by donating to a VERY worthwhile charity!  I'll post more on the charity and the event soon but for now, please weigh in your thoughts on the venues.   I'd love to hear what you think!