Babies!!!!!

I got my hands on my first baby of February/March (there's lots more coming, so stay tuned!)

Introducing Noah. Is he not adorable, very sweet and cuddly.

You might remember Jacob - he's a big brother now, and he's telling Noah all his secrets.

Which Noah thinks are pretty funny.

This is what Jacob really looks like. For all you mamas and papas out there who engage in any combination of the following: natural birth, co-sleeping, breastfeed (well, not the dads, but you know what I mean) and delay/don't vaccinate - I have a theory - this is what those boys look like. (I forgot a little, because mine are slighly older and have slowed down a tiny bit.) You're in for a ride!

Jacob is awesome!

And, with the cute, sleeping babies, they trick you into thinking they will be mellow, so you get to relax, a little.

Love, love, love this picture of Jacob.

A little Daddy time. Kent is so good at this dad thing.

And Kristine - looking amazing.

Thank you so much for coming to see me on your way to the east coast, via Saskachewan!

Family Day

Warning! Huge blog post with lots of pictures ahead. I've made composites of some of the pictures because I just couldn't decide what to post, and I'm not sure Blogger will let me do 50 pictures in a post!

This past Family Day, I was privileged to spend the day with Albert, Bertha, and their children, Tom, Brent, Renee, spouses Jesse, Ray and Eva, and the grandchildren, Connor, Ava and Anson.

This is one of my favourite family sessions ever. Renee had contacted me asking if for family pictures for their parent's anniversary. As you can tell from my blog, I'm not a huge fan of the standard family portrait. I'm more interested in documenting the energy, love and interaction between family members, so I asked Renee if her family would be interested and she said they loved the idea.

Pictures in winter in Alberta can be a little challenging, but the weather was absolutely perfect for our plans.

We started off at Bertha and Albert's home. That is everyone dancing in the basement. They do that!


Renee fixing Brent's hair. She's the big sister. And Tom, with the coolest piece of art ever. He made this in grade 9 - I love that his mom still has it hanging in the middle of the kitchen.

After we got a few pictures at the house, we headed off to the park to get a few more.



Beautiful!



I love this picture of Albert and Eva on the swing. They both look so happy. Eva and Brent live in Taipei, and this was Eva's first winter-time in Edmonton.






The babies of the family.

Albert waiting for his kids to gather round. Renee said this is classic Dad.

The whole family.

I am in love with this shot.

Tom and Jesse. They will be adding another member to this awesome family in March.

Anson was hungry with all the cold (for him) weather and picture taking.

My little man, Connor. Its been 18 months since I saw him last. He was 2 1/2 then. He still remembers me! Smart as a whip, this kid. He also remembered that Jesse and Tom had their wedding photos across the river at Hawrelak Park, and his mom and dad were married at the Mayfair Golf and Country Club.

I couldn't believe how big Ava was when I saw her. I guess that's what happens in 18 months!

Jumping pictures are awesome!

I love how Eva is right into the spirit of winter - snow fight!

It was starting to get cooler with the sun going down, so Ason was wrapped up in scarves and blankets.

I love this picture of the three generations - Renee, Ava and Bertha in the background.

Ray and Connor did a lot of tobogganing. Connor was fearless, even after they wiped out on this hill, Ray landing on top of him. You can see he's laughing really hard as soon as he gets our from underneath, and then he burst into tears. A little Daddy-love fixed him up.

This was Eva's first time experiencing the Canadian institution, the winter wiener-roast.

Happy Family Day everyone! Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful family with me.

Something to warm you up

This was a whole family session - Troy is the first grandbaby, so we got some family pictures first, and then moved to the main show. Troy is absolutely adorable. He didn't want to smile too much (I think he might be reaching that "making strange phase") but all the people he loved most in the world were there to help him.

Here is our champion, Troy. Look at him devour that Stanley Cup.

Troy's mom brought a hat along for his pictures. I normally don't do this much post-processing, but this hat just screamed for a little antique look to the picture.

And again, in my antique chair. Check out his feet.

Basket shot. I'd been wanting to do this for a while, and Troy was totally co-operative. Thanks buddy!

Connie also brought along Troy's favourite toy - his drum. He was fascinated and happy.

I love drool shots.

Family time. These are my favourites. I love watching people interact with their family. So much emotion comes out. You can tell Troy is a well loved little boy!

Thank you so much Connie, Andy and Troy for coming out on a cold winter's day! It was wonderful to meet you.

Saige

Saige is all grown up. She's out carousing and crashing cars.

Just kidding. But she does stand on crashed cars.

But really, she's still pretty little.

And lovely.

She loves her Mama.

And her Daddy makes her laugh.

(I love these two pictures!)

Her Mama and Daddy love her a lot. There's plenty of kissing in this family.

Playing.

Saige is so funny.

After our out door shoot, we went back to their house, and Saige entertained us for an hour with her hiding in the cupboard in the entertainment unit, putting her monkey to bed, then having to fix the bed because it broke. She's one sparky little girl, with awesome parents.

It was wonderful to see you all again!