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a bad few days…

I know several of you are waiting on some previews, I’m so sorry to keep you waiting.  I have been stricken with strep throat and have been down and out the last few days.  Finally saw the doctor yesterday and have had 2 doses of penicillin which has me feeling a bit better (at least now I can swallow without wincing!).  I promise to work hard the next couple of days to get things back on track.  To those of you who’s sessions I had to reschedule thank you so much for your patience and kind words. 

Stacy

Introducing Melvin!

So I was outvoted on the name Hershey for the new puppy and Melvin was voted in.  We’re all still getting used to the name and the puppy.  We have made large strides in the last week though, from being up all night and sleeping on the floor next to his crate he slept through the night last night from 11-6, I’ll take it!  He’s already grown so much too this week!  It’s amazing how much one puppy can change in a week. I took some pictures on Wednesday of him with my 6 year old.  For comparison I also shot one or two of him sitting next to my 7 year old’s tennis racket… yup folks that’s a child size tennis racket on the ground next to the puppy!  It’s certainly been a full week but we’re all so in love with him already.  I’m very excited that my children will be able to grow up with this little guy!

Melvin 6 weeks….

weather and a new baby…

strange title, I know… it does all tie together though as this poor family had to drive through down-pouring rain just to get here this week.  The L family has come to me for two maternity and newborn sessions in the last 2 years both resulting in beautiful portraits and two gorgeous little girls.  Remember Miss R ?  She’s officially a big sister now and I can already tell her little sister is going to be just as cute as she is! 

on to the weather part… I have many clients residing all over Wisconsin, many of them from the area between Oshkosh and Milwuakee and several between Oshkosh and Madison.  With this crazy weather we’ve been having if you have suffered any loss due to flooding and  your images were part of that loss please contact me, I will do what I can to replace them for you.  We have my sister’s graduation party in Oshkosh tomorrow, please say a little prayer that the ground stays dry.  We managed to get the tent up tonight on their very soggy grass, now as long as it stays dry in the next 24 hours we should be ok.  I will be out of the office for the next 2 days while helping with and then recovering from the party.  I’ll be back in touch on Monday!

happy it’s finally warm out…

So we maybe have had our fair share of rain the last week or so but at least it’s warm enough for shorts!  For a while there I was worried we were going to skip summer altogether.  Thank goodness for the warmer weather, it means I can get outside more for sessions.  I have had more than one child in the last few weeks come into the studio and just not be themselves.  I think they know it’s nice out and don’t want to be confined to the four walls of the studio space, so we’ve improvised and outside we’ve gone.  While *L* would have been happy having his pictures taken anywhere his little sister had other ideas.  The flashing lights and large camera were not her cup of tea, who could blame her some days I get headaches from all of it.  So 10 minutes into the shoot we headed up the stairs and out the backdoor hoping the openness of the yard would make a difference, and a difference it did make.  Immediately you could see she was more calm and happy, no more staggering baby (really!  every time the studio lights went off she would stagger around for a moment or two like a little drunken baby), just a smiling, happy girl.  We have a big, plastic Step2 play thing in our backyard that I was planning on selling in our rummage sale in 2 weeks (still not even close to being ready for it!), but I’ve used it for portraits so much in the last few weeks that I may have to reconsider!  Here are a few sneak peeks from C & L’s session. 

summer is in full swing…

but judging by the weather spring has finally shown up with it!  Uhg, I hope all of this rain goes away quickly, we have my sister’s graduation party this weekend and it needs to be dry in my parents backyard or we may end up with a very crooked tent, not to mention really muddy shoes :(.  I know for many Wisconsinites that is the least of their worries.  As with most of the rest of the country we have had some wicked weather in the last week or so.  I hope everyone has dry basements and homes to return to.

Just a reminder my summer schedule is Tues/Thurs/Fri.  The last week has been very hectic with the kids finishing school, my sister graduating and we finally brought our new puppy home.  I promise to share pictures of the puppy in the next day or two but first I have to get caught up on some long over-due emails and phone calls plus some sneak peeks for a few very patient parents :). 

tagged…

I have been tagged by the amazing Amy McClave of Pretty Pear Designs.  For those of you unfamiliar with this, it is a blog “game” of sorts, where you tag 7 people of your choosing, they in turn have to post 7 interesting facts about themselves and then tag 7 new people. 

1)  I am not a picky eater, however I really can not handle the food on my plate touching!  I used to eat one thing at a time on my plate, first eating the vegetable, then the starch and lastly the meat (if those were the items on my plate).  I would do it in that order because the veggies always seemed to cool the fastest followed by the starch and then the meat.  Once I had children though I realized that if I ever wanted a bite of hot food I had better take a bite of each while they were still hot, which pretty much broke me of the each item in full before moving on issue.

2) When making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches the peanut butter MUST be on the bottom (or right side of bread when I spread it), I won’t even scrape the extra peanut butter on the other piece of bread, freaks me right out. 

3) Judging by my house some days you probably will have a hard time believing this one but here goes… I have to have things hanging in order in my closets.  Meaning any shirts with spaghetti straps first, then tanks, then sleeveless shirts with collars, then t-shirts, then short sleeve shirts with collars, then long sleeve t-shirts… you get the idea.  I used to make them all hang in color order too, but again I lost a bit of that OCD when I had kids, not enough time in the day to worry about color order, but man do not put a t-shirt in front of a tank in my closet!

4) I played cello for 6 years.  I wouldn’t say I was great at it, never held first or second chair but I did ok.  However now if I picked one up I’m certain I wouldn’t be able to make anything that sounds remotely like music come out of it… sad really when you think about all the hours of practice that went into learning it.

5)  I attended 3 elementary schools, 2 middle schools and 2 high schools growing up.  I think this helped mold me into the person I am today.  I had to be outgoing in order to make new friends.  I find it very easy to meet new people and have never had a problem introducing myself to anyone, any where… just ask my friend Angie who I met while shopping at Baby Gap.  She was new in town as I overheard her telling the clerk and she had a little girl just a few months older than my daughter.  I trapped her in a corner, introduced myself and invited her to have lunch some time, we’ve been friends ever since (over 7 years later!).

6) I love to sing, I’m not saying I can sing, just that I love to.  My own kids ask me to stop.  When in the car by myself the music is loud and I sing so that nobody else can hear me (thank goodness for AC or summer driving wouldn’t be nearly as fun). 

7) Some of my favorite TV shows were designed for young-adults… I guess I grew up with 90210 and just can’t let it go.  One Tree Hill (CW) and Instant Star (The N) are two of my favorites…

I’m sure I could continue with at least 7 more odd facts about me, but I’d really like to still have business so I’ll stop there.  I am tagging my mom (is that weird?), Sarah Baldwin, Brenda Eckhardt, Kathy Wolf, Nanette Gerrits, Meggan Jacks, & well, coming up with a 7th one is stumping me for now… I’ll add it once I come up with it :). 

cousins…

I spent my day yesterday with 2 beautiful newborn boys, one adorable nearly 3 year old and 2 fantastic moms.  Baby H & Baby M are cousins born just 11 days apart.  Baby M lives in Colorado but traveled to WI with his mommy to see family.  H’s mommy called to see if there was any way I could also do pictures of M at the same time.  Normally this isn’t something I would attempt, 2 babies under 6 weeks could be quite the undertaking, but I knew M would be heading back to Colorado before I could sneak him in for his own session.  I figured we could tag-team the babies (sounds horrible doesn’t it!), while one was being changed and fed the other one could be in front of the camera, turns out that was the perfect plan.   Of course these little guys were wonderful little subjects, showing me their big beautiful eyes for a while and then peacefully falling asleep.  At the very end I grabbed a few images of the boys together, bound by a single pink bracelet signifying the family’s unity in the fight against cancer.

J & S, thank you for sharing your boys with me.  I hope you enjoy your sneak peeks!

First Baby M, then Baby H, the the boys together and finally one of baby H and his big sister.

Fantastic property+2 beautiful little girls+

nearly perfect weather+one business savvy mommy= a busy but wonderful Saturday!  I had the extreme pleasure of meeting Amy of Pretty Pear Designs yesterday morning.  We have had a phone and email relationship for about a year now, trying unsuccessfully to get together so I could take portraits of her two little girls and some images of the amazing cards she creates.  Finally the stars aligned and we were able to get together yesterday at her home.  Can I just tell you how excited I was to be shooting on her (and husband Pete’s!) property.  It’s truly a photographers dream, lots of old buildings, tall prairie grasses, a gazebo, hammock and trees small enough for the girls to climb on and through.  I think Amy thinks I was doing her a favor by coming out to her place, but honestly it was all I could do to contain my excitement.  She’s lucky she’s not any closer or I’d be hauling clients out there for portraits :).  We started out with portraits of the girls as they showed me around to their favorite spots around their home and then finished out with images of Amy’s cards.  Now these are your run of the mill, ordinary cards, no way jose… the beautiful cards are created using amazing fabrics hand picked by Amy.  She offers everything from invitations to birth announcements to boxed sets of blank and thank you cards.  I had the honor of photographing them for her to use on her website, etsy site and blog yesterday.  Go check out her site at Pretty Pear Designs and her etsy site at Pretty Pear Etsy Store.  The feel of the cards is amazing, she uses such beautifful and fun fabrics, from a traditional toile to a bright and sunny polka-dot perfect for a little girls birthday invitation.  I’ve had a hard time narrowing down the images to showcase, but in order to not spoil the entire session, here are just a few favorites of the girls and a few of Amy’s cards. 

all in the family…

This afternoon I had the honor of photographing this beautiful mom to be and her sweet husband as they await the arrival of their first baby.  This wasn’t an ordinary portrait session though, because the mom to be is also my cousin.  I love being able to forever capture the moments in my family’s life.  I had an absolute blast photographing A & K and only wish we had moved outside earlier.  I have many wonderful portraits taken in the studio, but on a whim at the end of the session I suggested we head outside for a few, luckily they were up for it.  For once the weather in Wisconsin was cooperating!  Off we went to one of my favorite alleys just a few miles up the road from my house for a quick few to finish out the session.  I have to admit the 50 or so images I took in that short time frame are already my favorites. It’s not to say there aren’t many beautiful studio portraits, but something about being outside, feeling the sunshine and warmth that really had everyone in a very relaxed mood, perfect conditions for creating the more natural lifestyle portraits.  K & A I hope you enjoyed our time together this afternoon as much as I did.  I can’t wait to meet your new little one!  Here are a few sneak peeks, enjoy!  ~S

2 years old…

This little guy along with his big sister have been coming to me since they were new little babies.  I have many clients that I am very fortunate to watch their families grow, this one is no exception.  I remember when J told me she was expecting again. I think she had some of the same fears I did of having babies so close together, but as I told her, you’ll have days when they’re the best of friends and days when they are the worst of enemies and there is very little gray area.  I was able to witness first hand both aspects of that during this shoot.  J brought W to me for his 2 year pictures but his 3 year old sister tagged along to watch.  She was so funny jumping out of the car and racing over to say hi to me, a little less shy than her little brother.  During the session, which was all about W (thank goodness because Miss L took a nasty spill a few days prior and had a huge scrape on the side of her face!), I saw the interaction between the two of them, from them taking turns on the play-set to fighting over a piece of chalk, totally what a day in my life is all about… although now my kids fight over bigger things, but it’s the same concept.  During all of this I was concernedI may not have capture W in the best fashion, but I need not have worried, looking through the pictures I have many that captured him in all of his 2 year old glory.   PS, ssshhhhh….nobody tell my husband about the dandelion :)