the winner from the "deciphering maddie" contest!

Dani is a great friend and someone Maddie adores so I was excited that she was the one who got the mini-shoot gifted from her mom, Kathe Pearman - who guessed what Maddie's notes meant a couple blogposts ago!  She gets to choose one from these three pictures...Great guessing Kathe!

more than friends :)

again, I stare at the screen at a loss for words.
I love these people.
plain and simple they are family to me.

jonas is SO fun to hang out with.  I've known him since the womb days. :)  our kids have been in diapers together, shared germs together, played hard together and love him like another brother.  he is becoming more and more a little man.  he has the best stories and loves to talk - but still is ALL boy!  I love this boy.

brett has seen entirely too many of my grossest moments...
and he still calls me friend.  :) 
so I know that his friendship is for life.  he is a person that if matt isn't available, I know he'd drop anything and come help without thinking twice about it...always the southern gentleman. :)

and ronda...she is one of my absolute closest friends.
the kind of friend that has seen your guts - the grody kind that you try and keep hidden from all the rest of the world.  and she smiles at you and loves you anyways...and walks with you and helps sharpen the areas that you try to leave alone...all without being pushy...and then she calls you "precious". :)
she is my friend.  my armor bearer.  and I love her.

lovely :)

she is.  lovely.

I have known alexis for about five years and I love this girl!  she is full of life and makes me smile...a lot!  crazy to watch her grow from a little junior high girl to a woman with high abitions...channel 3, 10, 12 + 15 better watch out...she WILL be the anchor sooner rather than later I'm thinking.  :)

it's a news anchor or a horse breeder maybe ;) ?  I had no idea the she loved horses and apparently they dig her too...the horse just kinda hung out with us at the end...which was fine by me because it lent itself to some really cute pictures!

thanks for such an awesome afternoon alexis!

sunshine girls :)

in raising kids, I can't decide which is more challenging - boys or girls?

boys are typically rough and tumble, looking for the worm to gross their mom out, coming home with scrapes for trying to jump off that "one" small cliff - just cause it looked like a good idea...but oh, the sweetness of the love of a little boy - something that is indescribable to a mother.

girls on the otherhand can be just as rough and tumble - but maddie is usually the first to quit when it feels like someones feelings might be getting hurt.  and she loves to find the worms the same as micah - she just would be wanting to put it in one of my expensive cups and save it as a pet.  and she is turning out to be just like me in the category of scrapes and bruises.  the extra layer that she has as a girl, I think, is the emotions that run through her like a 13 year old girl from time to time...

so if I had to decide today, I'd say little girls have the edge! ;)

I got to shoot these two beautiful little girls and their parents!  did I mention how b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l. they are?!  Cameron is the older one and she is simply FULL of life!  she is like a little sprite flitting from flower to flower (which she LOVED)...and I adored getting to shoot her huge chocolate brown eyes.  And then there was Kate.  I loved getting to watch her love on her mommy in the morning sun...absoltely adorable...and the perfect contrast to Cameron's brown eyes - her adorable blue eyes!

Matt and Danielle have their arms full....literally!  But they do so with ease and charm...it was an incredibly fun morning for me...thank you!

daddy's girls...love this picture :)

fall, horses + beautiful little people

This beautiful family was an absolute joy to shoot!  Jack, the blonde little man, was in my first preschool class when I taught.  He captured my heart then with his rambuncious, loveable spirit...and it was SO fun getting to see him be this adorable little man three years later!  Dan + Gina are his parents who are classily (is that a word, oh I'm claiming it) raising their three beautiful kids.  Hayden is such a lady!  With her beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes and amazing conversation skills, I totally see her being class valdictorian someday!  And of course you know about Jack already...he still holds a sweet spot in my heart and I loved the big hug he gave me when I first saw him again...and the fact that he is one of the very few who will continue to call me "mrs. driesbach" :)  Finally there is Kyle...that little boy is going to be trouble someday.  His striking red hair and sincere blue eyes make for the most amazing combination!  And his sweet free spirit was fun to observe for the afternoon!   Thanks so much Dan + Gina!

jack on my sweet new queen anne loveseat!  good thing it matched their color scheme... :)

and one of the final shots of the day...and probably my most favorite...I like the natural light effect and the unfocused naturalness to it...a fun shoot! :)