Elizabeth’s mom and I went to school together maaaaany years ago. Thanks to the powers of Facebook, we reconnected recently and I was ecstatic to both see her again and photograph her sweet cherub! It just warms my heart each time I meet a family who treasures one another with such love, and these three are just incapable of hiding their adoration for one another! Love, love, love.

Enjoy Miss Elizabeth and her sixth month old baby session!

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Annabelle started school last week. As she shook me awake at 6:01am on Thursday, the first day of school – which, I might add, doesn’t even start until 9:30am, I suppose her words summed it up very well: “Mom, Mom, wake up, I hafta get ready for Pre-K school. I’m a grown up girl!”

This summer has been bittersweet, as I’ve known that I’m going to miss my little dumpling while she’s at school. (It’s only two days a week, but STILL!) Yet her excitement is so contagious, and she’s been feverishly playing school for what seems like months now.

I’m going to miss our daily impromptu photoshoots.

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Blueberries always make me think of Spring, too. We are getting excited to go berry picking – soon!

If you’re interested, Kansas City has LOTS of u-pick farms. Here are a few we plan to check out!
The Berry Patch located just south of Kansas City, near Belton, MO.
Duncan’s Berry Farm located in Smithville, MO.
Wohletz Farm Fresh located near Lawrence, KS.
Berry Good Farm, Inc located in Ottawa, KS.
Happy Valley Farm located in Desoto, KS.

Hope to see you out picking, too! Aside from supporting local farms, I love for Annabelle to have the opportunity to experience choosing food that comes directly from the earth (instead of already packaged at the grocery store). And it’s just a fun springtime tradition!

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So, to cheer myself up, I started looking at family pictures. One thing I love about my husband is that he’s such a great dad. He and Annabelle have a daddy-daughter date every week, and one thing they love to do together – which makes me giggle just thinking about it – is bowl. I am SO not a bowler, and about the last thing I want to do is go sit and watch people drop heavy balls down a slippery lane, but every once in awhile my husband cajoles me into coming along for the ride. And I’m always glad I did.

If anyone has been to Retro Bowl in Liberty, you’ll immediately notice the blinking florescent lights – and the “retro” feel is certainly a tad dizzying……… but the NICEST people are usually around to cheer on my little bowler, and that alone is pretty fun to watch – though mostly I just like to see the two loves of my life having a wonderful time together. Retro style.

(The photos below are from October of last year.)

Obviously, Annabelle has a natural gift when it comes to technique…

But then, sometimes THIS happens… because even bumper bowling isn’t fool-proof? Who knew! Tears threaten, but she looks for Daddy…

And I love how all he has to do is come stand beside her, and she is ready to go for it one more time. A little moral support!

Eventually, it’s time for french fries. Because a date with Daddy always involves french fries.

Yummy. I love these two.

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10 Favorite Moments of the Last Decade (that I feel like sharing on my blog for the world to see, in non-descending order).
1. I moved to the East Coast and met my future husband. A dear friend and I made grand plans to quit our jobs here in Kansas City, and traipse across the country to pursue grad school (for her) and a new adventure (for me). She moved out  a few weeks before I planned to follow, only realizing as soon as she arrived that her financial aid package for school would not be enough to sustain her during the year. She made the heart-wrenching decision to come back home, and since we planned to live together and share expenses, this put a slight crimp in my style… but I packed up my ’97 Dodge Neon (freshly out of the shop with a cracked radiator and head gasket replacement) and headed east, determined to have my new adventure. Much to the delight of my 22-year-old fairytale-lovin’ heart, I met my dreamboat.
2. I quickly snatched him up. A few months in, we knew. A year later, almost to the day, we married.
3. We moved to Kansas City and discovered that Annabelle was no longer a twinkle in my eye, but a little bean growing in my belly. After a few years of newlywed bliss – spent mostly on trains and airplanes, traveling and enjoying our time together – we decided the Midwest was calling to us. A month or two after trekking back to Kansas City, we found ourselves delightedly “in the family way.”
4. I learned how fantastic it is to be a mommy. Our sweet Annabelle arrived, making our family circle into a trio. You can read 36 Things I Love About Her… and wait for the 4th birthday installment sometime in late March.
5. I picked up a camera. I have a love and appreciation for artful photography, but I didn’t actually touch a camera until Annabelle entered our lives. I remember the first day she laughed – I was sick, quarantined in bed, and my husband brought her to me. I sat up too quickly, and my ponytail flopped. And then, she laughed. Not just a little giggle, but a hilariously robust LAUGH that went on and on, until she gasped for breath. I quickly laid back down and sat up even more quickly, giggling to myself as she burst out laughing once more. And then, just like that, it clicked for me – I NEEDED A CAMERA! These moments of her childhood are irreplaceable, and I wanted to remember every.little.detail. So, a camera was bought and a photography-addict was born.
6. We bought a house. I think we looked at 45 homes total, mostly because we couldn’t decide where in the metro we wanted to live. We eventually decided to trek northwest of Liberty, and I’m glad we did. Mostly.
7. I became a pet-lover. Back in the early days of our marriage, we used to bask in the knowledge of how LOVELY it was that neither of us were “pet people.” Meaning we could count on each other to remain firmly in the No Pets Allowed camp. My husband grew up without a single pet, and I grew up with just about every pet… and I had no desire for more. Until, that is, our little girl spent an entire year of her life begging for a puppy. Being the weak saps that we are when it comes to her happiness, we caved. And now Sadie and Francie are the littlest members of our family. (Because why get one when you could have two, right? Just ask my husband, who called one day and said, “honey, I have another furry surprise…”)
8. I embraced my inner hippie. Somewhere along these last few years, we began living our life as naturally-minded as possible. (I’ll spare you the self-righteous details.) But it’s changed and shaped my values, and I’m grateful our family found this path.
9. I discovered that friends are the family we choose for ourselves. I am immeasurably blessed by the warm, loving, hilarious and infinitely wise people that God has put into my life over the years. Friendship is truly a warm shelter.
10. I successfully lived without bangs. This was a personal resolution I adopted ten years ago, December 31,1999. I was 19 years old, freshly coiffed, and committed to growing out my thickly fringed bangs. I’m happy to report that this decade has remained bang-free and I’m no longer plagued with the desire to cut my own. Dreams do come true.

Happy New Year!

Blessed Life Photography has many amazing things to come over the next few months, as we continue to grow and expand… so stay tuned for those announcements!

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Two months ago, Annabelle and I were in Target, perusing their toy section for a birthday party gift. We turned into a new aisle and I heard a gasp. Her reactions toward the spotting of any princess gear are predictably joyous, so I didn’t pay very much attention – but she insisted upon getting out of the cart and inspecting a new princess we hadn’t seen before – Tiana. She was very excited to think we had accidentally overlooked a princess, as the stories of Belle, Ariel, Jasmie, Aurora, Cinderella, Anastasia, Snow White, Mulan and Pocahontas are all old hat now. She immediately asked me to find Tiana’s movie (with lots of exclamation points behind the request). After getting home and googling… we discovered that The Princess and the Frog would soon be in theaters… but not for several weeks. It’s hard to wait when you’re only three years old!

We made a countdown calendar and crossed off days in anticipation of the movie release. She could hardly sleep last night, so excited was she to wake up and see her newly beloved Princess Tiana movie. (She calls her Tee-nana, which makes me laugh.) After being awakened at 2am and 4am by an excited little fan who wanted to know if it was time to go yet, I woke up on my own at 6am and found Annabelle in her room, deciding what to wear. She REALLY wanted to put on her new Tiana dress, but after much discussion about there being snow on the ground and all… she agreed to wear actual clothes. (Victory.)

After a long morning… it was FINALLY time to go to Liberty Cinema! Yay. She loved the movie, though she spent most of it in my lap, fearing the voodoo charlatan.

Here she is, ready to go to her movie. A fun day with my sweet little princess. (She calls me Queen Mommy.)

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