sneak peek.

There was no cheerleading practice for Mallory the day we had our photo shoot but I think she may have felt like she got one in anyway!

This girl can jump and tuck and spin and do things with her body that are just incredible.  I would definitely break myself...

So beautiful!

fun. LIFE.

big fan.

When I walked into this family's home I knew they were a great family.  There's a wonderful feeling of love and kindness that pervades every nook and cranny.  

There are always lots of hugs and kisses and each of the parents spend valued time with each of their kids.  Dad and son and Grandpa love to build all kinds of lego ships and buildings.  They're huge Tarheels fans and they want their alligence to never be doubted. :)

Fun times.  i loved getting to hang out with this sweet family.  

beautiful. LIFE.

 funny.

How in the world did I get lucky enough to have this crazy girl be my daughter?  

She is funny and silly and is always full of wonder.  If I see a butterfly and say, "Ooo!  Look at that butterfly!" She'll be the first to chase it.  By some kind of beautiful miracle she's maintained that awe and fascination that she had when she was 2 years old.  I love her never ending interest in the world.

This crown she's wearing fell apart.  She didn't let it bother her she just decided to rework it and make into a bonnet-y kind of thing with a tie under the chin.  She was so proud of it she was happy to work it for the camera.

She loves to be dramatic but I have to catch her at the right moment for her to be okay with the camera.

She nurtures others to the point of mothering and in the same instant can tease without mercy.

She laughs until she cries and never wants anyone to see her crying.

She comforts someone who is hurt and rarely takes offense or is hurt by others.

She is quick to forgive and quick to laugh.

She loves to make sure that the people she loves know they are loved.

She plays with wild abandon and tries to avoid work by giggling in a hidden corner.

A day cannot hold everything she wants to do and yet she can be content with very simple things.

She loves completely.  There have been many times that I can tell that she feels her body can't hold the amount of love she feels.

She is full of contradictions.  She's pretty crazy and boisterous and enthusiastic and all over the place.  And at the same time she's so reserved.

I love her for her sweet and nurturing and kind self and I love her for her out there wild ideas and funny insights and her wonderful laugh and all of the other opposites she holds inside her.

I love her because she's a one-of-a-kind Emma.  No one in the world is quite like her. She has no duplicate.  I love her and her just being Emma is enough for me.

mom. LOVE.

the cobbler.

I was perusing my pictures...the ones I've taken of my family.  They are all still mostly in their original raw format.  Some of them I actually ran to jpeg.  Most of them I've not even looked at since I downloaded them and backed them up.  

I'm like the cobbler whose children don't have nice shoes or the carpenter whose home is never complete.  I'm the photographer who doesn't edit her own family pictures.  I take them.  I vow that one day I will look through them, convert them to jpeg, edit them, etc.  Really, though, they sit there.  Crying in the corner wondering if I'll remember that they too want loving care and attention.

It's become a thing of gigantic proportions.  I've made a new plan because I find this sweet photo gorgeousness (above) called Grace.  These two images are from almost a year ago.  I remember this day. I remember shooting these photographs.  There are so many more perfect pictures on this lovely fall day, we had gotten apple cider donuts rushed to us from my parents in New Jersey and I had every intention of blogging that wonderful, exciting delicious surprise...

And I've thought I would blog almost every day of my life since then that I've photographed...although that would bore you to tears...if I blogged everything I've ever wanted to I would have one blog reader. Me.

So...hopefully, I'll be boring everyone here soon with a parade of family pictures because of my new plan.  

The new plan: that I will spend my evenings (when my awesome husband is working to bring home the bacon) on my own family pictures. One folder at a time I will rescue them from the abyss they've fallen into.

So get ready.  I'm going to bore you.  I'm committed!

family. LIFE.