Hmmm…..remember when Daylight Saving Time meant getting an extra hour of sleep?  That doesn’t seem to apply when you have kids whose bodies are programmed to pop out of bed at the exact same time every morning.  It just means tired and cranky kids (and mommies).  Why do I bring this up, you may ask?  Clearly, my state of exhaustion has finally affected my brain because this was supposed to be a mini-session sneak peek for this family, but I inadvertently sent them their entire gallery before posting their sneak peek on here.  Oops.  Oh well – I still love their images and wanted to share them, so here goes!

I just love this outtake that I captured of the three of them – can’t you just hear little sister thinking, “C’mon boys – get your acts together!!”  Love it.

I did capture a great image of the three of them smiling and looking at the camera, but since it may make it’s appearance on a holiday card, I’m keeping it a secret!  Here’s a few that I just couldn’t keep secret though – I am just loving that soft, golden autumn light in these!

Over ten years ago, in our first year of marriage, my husband and I decided to venture into the world of parenthood – except we were pretty sure we weren’t ready to be responsible for another human being.  So, we started out with plants.  Lo and behold, most of them survived.  But, they were kind of boring.  So, we got our first dog – our first baby.  Quincy is still with us today – he is almost 11 years old and sleeps most of the day, but he still gets that puppy dog spark in him every now and then, especially when the two year old decides to go for a ride or throw him a ball.  I’ll always remember him as our first baby.

That’s why I love that this couple wanted to capture some images of the two of them with their first babies, two beautiful Shiba Inus.  I don’t have very much experience photographing dogs, but once you’ve chased a toddler around trying to get his attention, a dog isn’t that much different!

Ok, I admit it – I’m running out of ideas for titles for my blog posts.  I’m trying to get creative here, but with eight mini-sessions left to blog,I now realize that I maybe should have just stuck with the boring “Mini-Session #1, Mini-Session #2, etc.”.  If anyone’s creative juices are flowing, I’d love to hear some ideas!  Meanwhile, on to the next set of sneak peeks!  It’s another of my wonderful neighbors!  This mom’s best quality is that she doesn’t laugh at me (out loud, anyway) as I am trying to recreate her fancy dance moves at the Zumba class that she teaches! Besides being an awesome zumba instructor, she is also the mom to FOUR great kids, who have not had a professional picture taken together in…a while. Hopefully these will make up for that!

My guess is that when this mom ventures out to the grocery store with these three blondies in tow, she gets a lot of “Wow, you’ve got your hands full!”  Don’t you just love it when people say that?  There was no shortage of energy abounding during this session – but in a good, stick-swinging, leaf-crunching kind of way!

This dynamic brother and sister duo could not have been more delightful to work with.  They were so well behaved and cooperative, but at the same time, kept me in stitches with their facial expressions and exuberant personalities.  You could just tell that they were one of those families that laughs a lot together!

Two blog posts in one day – that’s right, people!!  I’m cranking out these mini-session sneak peeks like crazy!  This is my next door neighbor’s sister’s family (did you follow all that?) – a super fun and easy family to photograph.  As much as I love photographing the little ones, it’s always a nice break to get kids who I don’t have to chase around – and you can’t much better than red hair and freckles!

Almost five years ago, we moved to Yorkville in the dead of winter.  Not a fun time to move, in case you were wondering.  On our first day in our new house with the kids, I remember looking out the window and seeing our new neighbors romping around in the snow.  We hadn’t even officially met yet, but I remember feeling this sense of excitement, wondering if they would like us, hoping that our kids would grow up to be the best of friends.  Well, five years later, these kids are like my own kids.  They are like brothers and sisters to one another.  They run from house to house and yard to yard like it’s one big commune.  In the summers, we sit on our patios and watch as they run through sprinklers, swing on swings, ride on bikes, and chase down the ice cream truck.  I can’t imagine not having them as our neighbors and friends – I hope I never have to.

What gorgeous weather we had for our day of mini-sessions!  This family had the first appointment of the morning, when there was still a bit of chill in the air, but I think we all kept warm chasing their 2 year old around!  It’s going to be hard for me not to share the best images from their gallery, but since we have some serious holiday card contenders here, I’ll have to hold back so as not to ruin any surprises…..

Before diving into mini-session sneak peeks, which I know quite a few clients are anxiously waiting for – I feel an obligation as a mother to blog about Halloween this year.  Just a few quick words before getting to the fun stuff – the pictures!  It was the first year that our two and a half year old really got into Halloween.  We had been practicing for weeks the whole “trick or treat” routine, while her older brothers felt the need to teach her the whole “trick or treat, smell my feet….” song.  They think it’s hilarious when she says stuff like underwear, fart, poop, you get the drift….. I forced all three to sit on the front porch for the traditional picture before the boys dashed off in a mad sprint from house to house, attempting to fill up their pillowcases with enough candy to rival the nearby Wrigley factory.  That was pretty much the theme of the night, until Miss Ladybug and I retreated to the warmth of our house – where she quickly learned that it is just as fun to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters as it is to trick-or-treat!  These pictures are nothing special – in fact, some of them are downright bad quality-wise, but you take what you get when you’re up against candy-hungry children!

And finally, if there ever needed to be further proof that my six year old son is indeed my child – this is what he chose to do with his Halloween candy the minute he arrived home from school today…..

Just in case it isn’t clear from the picture, he sorted all seven pounds of his candy into piles, then proceeded to make a chart recording the number of pieces in each category.  Ummm….that’s normal, right???

I happen to know that the handsome little guy in this post turned ONE today.  I’m pretty sure he’s been snoozing for a while now (hopefully!), but for his parents who might be checking the blog for a sneak peek, here’s a little birthday present!  This family just recently moved to a farm where they run their landscaping business, so little T is no stranger to large piles of dirt or loud machinery – you’ll see what I mean…..

Mom and Dad are both big fans, but who wouldn’t be with those big blue eyes?