Sara's Senior Portraits - Sneak Peek

I know that her friends ("Hi Sarah and Michele") are anxious to see Sara's senior pictures but they're not quite finished. So I thought I'd put up a sneak peek until they're ready. Here they are!

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Lizzy and Lainey

I'm not saying she's not a talkative person. I'm just saying that when Lizzy talks about her half sister she's extra talkative. The conversation is punctuated with various renditions of "she's so cuuuute" or "I lovvvve Lainey". And it's been that way since Lainey was born. The story goes that shortly after Lainey came home from the hospital Lizzy and a friend pulled a chair up to the crib and just sat and watched Lizzy's new sister sleep. At one point Lizzy's step-mom came into the room and said, "Don't you girls want to go do something else?" The answer was evidently "no" because they continued to sit there for a really long time.

Last week for Lizzy's birthday, she arranged for her little sister to come over for a party and I had the pleasure of following them to the playground at Rossman Elementary School for a short portrait session. I know that it'll be very difficult to tell that these two love each other but see if you can't find just a hint of love in these pictures.

An Exhausting (but Awesome) Saturday

On Saturday night I walked around the house picking up half-empty cans of soda and bottles of water. The silverware tray in the dishwasher wouldn't hold one more fork. We had to be creative to fit all the leftovers into the refrigerator. When I finally finished I sat down on the couch and almost feel asleep, exhausted. It had been a great day.

My wife's family came to our house to celebrate birthdays. Everyone is so busy that it had to be squeezed between the morning's football game, the evening's homecoming dance and studying for big exams on Monday but we did it. We had great food and better conversation. And while days like that are always exhausting, they are the best kind of days. Here are some photos.

Sara's Saxophone Birthday Cake








Lizzy's "Chucks" Birthday Cake

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The First Day of School

When I was younger, I loved back-to-school time. Dixon Ticonderoga #2 pencils, college ruled paper and a Traper Keeper could make my day. I can't remember why but I always wanted to shop at the small-town office supply store and not Kmart. My dad would always get to talking to the owner and I could browse protractors and staplers and drink out of the cool water fountain in the back of the store. It's funny but I can picture that store perfectly in my mind today.

Let's just say my son is nothing like me. All he cared about was the Volcom backpack. He was perfectly content to let his step-mom pick out the rest of the stuff. But he was excited about going to school. This was the first year he would be able to live with me during the school year and since he was in the same grade as his step-sister, they could finally go to school together. So for us, the first day of school was something we were looking forward to.

Like every good parent, I forced them to go outside before the bus came to take some pictures. Here they are. I'm off to the store to see if I can find a Dixon Ticonderoga #2 pencil.

Our Summer Vacation

This is going to be a busy summer. A couple months ago my wife and I pulled out our calendars to plan a vacation. In the end there was only one week that our entire family was free. Sara had a job she would be at Monday through Friday the first two month of summer and then Alex started football the last month of summer. We decided to take that week and drive to Michigan to visit friends of ours who recently moved there from Wisconsin. They had a boat and promised to fill our week with fun. And that's exactly what we had. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the week.

Here is a portrait I took of our friends, Carole and Nelson the morning we left.

Noah

My two kids have a half-brother named Noah. Sara was thirteen and Chandler was nine when he was born. They both love him dearly and talk about him constantly when they're not with him.

We picked him up yesterday and took him to the park. Our bribe was that if he would pose for a few pictures we'd take him to the playground. Let me just say that this experience gave me a new respect for photographers who specialize in children. There was nothing easy about this shoot. But I did end up with a few shots that I liked and here are two of them.