So, at our house, messy play is encouraged.  Okay, perhaps encouraged isn't the best word, perhaps necessarily tolerated is better.  I know it's something my boys need, but if I'm completely honest, I only ever do it if I am in the right mood.  This is because I know that if I'm not in the mood to clean up and get messy, I probably shouldn't let my kids even start.  It won't end well for anyone.  That said, when I am in the right mood, I really do love watching them dig into something ooey, gooey, muddy, dirty, slimy and gross.  I love watching their faces as they find new ways to make something more disgusting, more messy and more malleable to their will! 

This activity wasn't particularly messy (though a bath was taken afterwards) but it was fun to watch them.  It started out innocently enough.  See:

However, after a few minutes of dabbing the paper (which wasn't working very well - guess that's what I get for buying the cheap Paint Dabbers), they moved onto something much more fun: their own little bodies.

It quickly became apparent this wasn't nearly as satisfying as this:

(Ha ha!  I love the look on their faces!) 

After a while, my youngest decided he'd had enough.

While my oldest could've done it all night long!  Love the mischievous look on his face as he continues to find new things to dab paint on!  That said, the photo session was over quickly when he came for me
and the camera!

If you haven't tried messy play with your kids, I can't recommend it enough!  Though, like I said, make sure you are in the right place to enjoy it too cause you are bound to end up with something on you!  Mud, paint, baking soda and bottles of colored vinegar, pouring stations, play doh -
if you can think of it, I promise your kids will love it! 
Seriously, take time to make a mess today
(then make your kids clean it up cause they'll have fun doing that too)!

There is pretty much nothing about this beautiful baby girl to not fall in love with!  From her sweet cheeks to her chubby belly to her crazy masses of dark hair, she is gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!
See what I mean?

I don't think she could have been a better subject!  She hardly moved the entire time.  I could have cuddled her the entire day and I'm pretty sure she would have been okay with that!
Just look at the sleepy satisfaction on that face!

This beautiful little girl has an older sister who I'm pretty sure likes her a lot.
Just look at Seneca's face!  Love it!

I have the privilege of knowing this family pretty well and it was wonderful to spend a chunk of the day with them capturing their new daughter, both their daughters together and all of them as a family of four! 
I wish them all the best with their new little family and can't wait to see them again for Lucia's 6 month pictures!  It will be here before we know it!

People always remark to me that it must be wonderful to have the skills to be able to capture every event and milestone on film.  I suppose it is wonderful, but honestly, it's not something I do often with my own family.  The reason being, I want to be in the moment, I want to enjoy it fully and I never feel like I can do that if I am behind the camera.  Photographer me is very different from mama me or wife me or daughter me and unless it is a specific shoot - like a one year or grandparent session - I rarely even take my camera with me.  I just can't stand being in work mode when I want to have my child's hand in mine or when I would rather be laughing next to my family as we're doing something fun and goofy.

If you're like me then you've dreamed of being able to relax and enjoy your child's birthday party without the stress of being behind the camera.  As mentioned above, I constantly find myself in the dilemma of wanting pictures to preserve the memories of the day, but feeling like I miss out on being with my kids and just enjoying the moments because I'm trying to snap pictures.  I was thinking about this one day and realized that this is a service I would love to offer to people.  How amazing to be able to do this for clients, to allow them the very thing I would love so much. 

So I did!  I will post the link below, but if you have an event coming up that you would like to have pictures taken at, but don't want to take away from your enjoyment of or don't want to add one more thing to the list of things you're already tackling (food prep, serving guests, mingling, etc), then consider one of my packages.  Any event is doable.  Birthdays, family reunions, baptisms, baby showers,  ... if you can think of it, I can do it!  I offer different length packages for cost consideration.  If you just want the main event captured (for i.e. cake and present opening) then the half hour session might be perfect.  If you want most or all of the event captured, my one hour session would be perfect and if you want everything from getting ready to the end of the event, the two hour session would most likely work!

Here's the link(just click on the green words)!  I hope you'll consider me next time you have an event! 

Party on, people, party on!