He Loves Me...Not!

Meet Mr. E. He loves playing at his Grandma's so much that even the thought of hanging out with me isn't fun. :) We did get some fun shots but he was not happy to see me, by any stretch of the imagination. The progression of these emotions makes me giggle.

Starting to catch on that he's going to have to give us something to work with. Two adults and one child. We will win. We must stick together, but we will win. 

We really just wanted one good shot to hand out to friends and relatives with his older brother and sister's school pictures. I think we finally scored. Thanks for your persistance Mom!

To see more of our work, please visit www.csquaredphoto.zenfolio.com

Familiar Faces

You may recognize these handsome boys from a session last year. They are pretty awesome little dudes who love playing outside, and much like my previous session, have beautiful blue eyes.

We had a great time playing in Grandma's backyard and then headed to their house to run around a playground bigger than a lot of parks. I think I'll go back just for fun!

I love fall colors and we've had a beautiful autumn, but when I started turning these to black and white, something struck me. I love everything about the story in this picture and watching the relationship between these sweet boys.

Awesome little brother.

Awesome big brother.

To see more of our work, please visit www.csquaredphoto.zenfolio.com

Mistelski, Family of Four

You've seen these blue-eyed babes on the website before, but they brought their parental units along for pictures this time! I love the way these kiddos are looking at each other in this shot. I have a feeling Miss K thought the idea of a brother was a lot more fun than the actual experience. But he loves her anyway. :)

Mom. Dad. The sparkly blue eyes on your kids is astounding. Beautiful!

 

This was just before Miss K's 3rd birthday. She ran us pretty hard, but we got some great shots eventually!

I love the way dads look at their little boys. Just do.

Thanks for a fun afternoon!

To see more of our work, please visit www.csquaredphoto.zenfolio.com

Matt's Senior Session

I've been waiting for the right football player to try out a shot like this and I'm pretty excited with how it turned out. Matt has some pretty mad skills on the field and he spends the winter months in the wrestling room. I was happy to work with him on his senior photo shoot. 

Matt and his mom had some great ideas for the session and he was up for just about anything - as long as we were quick enough to save time for homework :)

Wow to the eyes - nice work! I think its great when seniors infuse their personality and town into their pictures. We went to the Petrified Wood Part for some of Matt's shots. 

Ever have a shirt that you just can't get enough of? Maybe it has a few holes in it and smells like a gym locker? I think Matt wins the award for shirt with the most character. It also brought out his best smiles of the day. Thanks for a fun session and good luck at the Homecoming Game tomorrow night! Go Cowboys!!

To see more of our work, please visit www.csquaredphoto.zenfolio.com

The Many (at least a few) Faces of Gage

You probably already know this, but I am madly in love with three people. Today, however, is all about Gage. I'll save the lovey dovey Jack + Kim love story for another day because really, who needs that on a Saturday morning? And Max's birthday is coming up and he'll have his own special post before long.

But Gage. G-Mac. A kid who I referred to as "Little Man" for a really long time until recently when I was reprimanded and corrected because he is a "Big Man". The kid who hates sleep so much, last night he had nightmares about sleeping. (No lie - you can't make this stuff up.) He is a rockstar. Gage launched us into parenting and basically swept the unvacuumed rug right out from under our feet. No book, no video, no class, nothing could have prepared us for Gage. Think you've figured him out? He's ready to throw a wrench at you. (He's only ever thrown a real wrench at me once. Twice at the dog. But never at the babysitter.)

Though challenging at best, he shows us everyday what its like to go full speed ahead from dawn until dusk. And then some. His zest for life is unbelievable.

Let me show you a few faces of Gage.

He likes to control the "clicker" - the remote for the camera. Hey, whatever works to get me a face like this one. Need a recipe to melt a mother's heart? See below.

Here Gage, hold this up in front of you. :) He followed the directions exactly. The trouble with his listening skills is that I tend to (from time to time) be a little teeny tiny bit sarcastic. It will definitely come back to bite me in the ass someday. And possibly quite literally and probably sooner rather than later.

That's better! I've been a tad stressed lately because the child who once loved reading books all day, eating fruit snacks and cooking (ok, he still LOVES cooking) is now almost exclusively into playtime killing, shooting and violence. I blame it on The Power Rangers. It probably has more to do with testosterone. I was more into dolls and fairies growing up, so I'm still devising a plan to foster these new tendencies carefully. I think it will have to do with taking more pictures like this. And praying.

"Hey Gage, can you make a sad face?" Obviously...not possible. We do get grumpy once in a while. Like when he has to share something sacred with his brother. Golf clubs anyone? If he's upset with you, you will get a "well you aren't my friend anymore." Seriously? Where do they come up with this stuff? And really, isn't he like 18 months old? What? 3-1/2? You're kidding me...

Ok, make an "angry Gage" face. That eyebrow trick? It's prevalent on both sides of his family. I've been known to make it a time or two but I think we'll send attributes to Great Grandma Nora.

This little ditty? This face? Stone cold. Ok, kidding. I shared this on Facebook recently but its worth repeating. We like to watch The History Channel and Discovery Channel with Gage. Among his favorites are Mythbusters and Dirty Jobs. He has taste! We found a great show called Pawn Stars recently and while watching it they threw out a very obvious, "Damn it!" which he promptly repeated, and we ignored. Flash forward a week to story time (at home, thankfully). Me: "Rotten luck. Can't go. My truck is stuck!" Gage: "Damn it!" Props for using it right Little Big Man! Let's not do it again though, k?

Back to cooking. He can make Jello and Pudding without reading the directions. He's great at stirring batter, pouring ingredients and licking spoons. He also recently put all of the toppings on a homemade pizza. And loved every minute of it. He's actually very good help in the kitchen. I think I'll teach him to chop onions. I hate chopping onions.

Gage you are a rockstar. We think you're pretty neat. Stay cool k? Oh, and let's not swear at daycare. Love, Mom

Cousins!

These one year old cousins were full of energy for their combined photoshoot. Talk about busy!! Elijah was really into the camera when we first got started. He'd run out in front of me, sit down nice, fold his hands and smile. Perfection. Then he decided he needed a peek inside the lens. Love it!

We had to explore some interesting antics to keep the kids entertained. I think we were chasing a butterfly when I snapped this little gem. Doesn't he look ready for preschool?

Aleyna is equally as cute and busy, just a bit smaller. :) She really liked this rocking chair.

Unfortunately, so did Elijah. And I only brought one.

So we distracted him with bubbles. Who needs suds and a wand when you're a pro at blowing them yourself? I was impressed!

While we captured some great shots of each kid, our biggest challenge was getting one of them together. By this point, he was done with us and ready to chase Grandpa around the yard.

Can you say cute? Love this!

But I like this too.

I had a great time kiddos and hopefully the rest of your pics will be ready soon!

Logan's Preview!

The baby girl with one million smiles was really confused when I showed up at her house to take pictures. We (meaning her Mommy, Super Dad and our BFF) worked extremely hard to get a few precious smiles. Grandma showed up right at the end to bring out a few more. Smiles or not, we had a great session with this little dumpling and have loads of great pictures for her. Enjoy!

I loved that denim "Princess" jacket in the first shot, but coming from a house full of denim (and dirt) I ate up her pink wardrobe. And seriously with these headbands - love them! Her mom said little girls have to wear these otherwise they just look like little boys dressed in pink. I think Logan looks all girl, but would keep her in headbands anyway. :)

They had so many great ideas for pictures and it was fun to use what was available in their house and yard. The apples? From a tree in their backyard. I'm not sure which parent deserves the credit for this idea, but you definitely earned a gold star.

Logan, your Mom and Dad are CRAZY out you and its pretty easy to see why.

 

For more work by CSquared Photography, please visit www.csquaredphoto.zenfolio.com