A Back-To-School Mini Session | St. Louis Children's Photographer

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of shooting a back-to-school mini session for the Stanfield Family, who also happen to be very good friends of ours. Haven and Olive are so cute and I think we all had a lot of fun with this little mini session. 

I already had the old desk (from a thrift store) and ladder (from a vintage market) and happened to find the globe at an antique store here in town. Holly brought along the apple and the old books were passed down from Haven and Olive's great-grandmother, which made it that much more special. 

Both kids rocked their session and I think the photos turned out really cute!

New Camera

Jake bought me my first DSLR camera, a Canon t2i, back in 2012 for Mother's Day. After having Jackson in 2011, I wanted to be able to take better pictures of him and better pictures for this blog, so I looked into buying a DSLR and came to the conclusion that the t2i would be a great fit for me, and it was. It was a great camera and I learned so much on it. I'm proud of all I've learned and continue to learn about photography and my love for it just continues to grow each time I have that camera in my hand. I'm proud of the little business I've built with it and all I've accomplished so far.

For the last year or so though, I've felt I had kind of outgrown my t2i and started looking into getting a new camera for my business. I wanted a camera I could grow and learn even more with. So after a lot of research and advice from other photographers, I decided on the Canon 6d. It was a big purchase, so I didn't want to take the decision lightly. I wanted to be 100% sure it was what I wanted. 

So 2 weeks ago, Jake and I made the decision that it was a good time to invest in a new camera and I'm so excited to have my new Canon 6d. I haven't had a lot of time to play with it and figure out all the new features it offers, but what I've learned so far I love!! 

And here are a couple pictures I've taken with it in the past few days that I've had it.

I'm really loving the sharper images and the low-light resolution it offers.

First Day of Pre-School

Last Thursday was Jackson's last "First Day" of Preschool and Avery's first "First Day" of Preschool! It was their first day at their new school and everyone did great! Even me. ;-) No tears for any of us.

Jackson did amazing at drop off. He went right in and grabbed the bucket of cars he had found at open house the night before, sat right on the rug and started playing, completely oblivious to us being there. He didn't even care to say good-bye. Ha.

Avery did well too. She went right in and started playing, coming over to us periodically. When it was time for us to leave, we asked her teacher if we should just go while she wasn't paying attention or if we should say good-bye and the teacher said, it's best to say good-bye, even if she cries. So I told her we were leaving and she, of course, said no. So I took her over to the little doll house to play and she got side-tracked with that. I told her we were leaving and even gave her a kiss and she seemed fine. Her teacher did say she whimpered a little bit soon after we left, but she was easily distracted and had a great rest of the day.

They are both going to Lindbergh Early Childhood Education, which is a really great Pre-School program through our school district! Their school building is only a year old, so everything is nice and new. Their class-rooms are right across the hall from one another, which is really nice. 

Jackson is in the Caterpillar Room with Mrs. Darr and Avery is in the Butterfly Room with Ms. Jessica! They are in the part-day program on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Jackson goes from 9 a.m. - Noon and Avery goes from 9:15 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.

I expect it to be a great year for both of them and I'm so excited to see them grow and learn!

Welcome Home Wednesday

When we first started talking about moving, we had actually just re-decorated Jackson's room and had given him a big-boy room! You can view it here. I absolutely loved the way his big-boy room turned out, so I didn't want to do much to change it at the new house. It's had decorations and been pretty well done for quite a while now, but my dad just added the base-boards, so I feel as though it's complete (aside from replacing the blinds with faux wood blinds and re-finishing his chest-of-drawers).

Here's a picture from the door.

Jackson had a little 3-drawer dresser from his nursery that he had used ever since he was born, but in the last couple of weeks, my Aunt and Uncle had a chest of drawers they were getting rid of and asked if we wanted it. Since Jackson had kind of grown out of his little dresser, we said sure and put it in Jackson's room. It's a very nice chest of drawers but is off white, which doesn't really go with the white that is everywhere else in his room, so we plan to re-paint it sometime soon. I am also thinking of adding cars as drawer-pulls like this!

My husband loves corvettes, so when I saw this little sign at Hobby Lobby, I picked it up for Jackson's room. I found the blue license plate at a vintage market sale, the firetruck painting was artwork done by Jackson and the little canvas is from Hobby Lobby. The clock is from Walmart and the white shadow box is from Hobby Lobby that I added cars to.

My sister made the bunting. I just love it.

I also had seen on Pinterest where people used a metal drip pan from Walmart as a magnet board. I thought this would be a great idea for Jackson's room since it went with the theme and it gave us a place for all the magnets we have that I didn't want on the front of our new refrigerator. ;-)

The light is from Ikea. I thought it looked similar to something you would see in a garage, which fit with the theme of Jackson's room. :-)

So that's Jackson's room as of right now. I may update this post as we add things like new blinds and paint his dresser, etc.

The Kavlock Family | St. Louis Family Photography

This was definitely one of my very favorite sessions that I've ever had the privilege of being a part of. This little girl is loved beyond measure and it really shows! This was little Page's 2 year session, but the whole family was involved, which was so much fun! On top of that, her mommy wanted it at the most adorable ice-cream parlor, which made it even more fun! The whole family was so laid back and so much fun to be around and made me feel like part of the family too. I have so many favorites from this session so I thought I'd blog about it to share some with you all.

There were a handful of shots that Page's mom wanted specifically and this was one of them! I love the way it turned out.

Those little crossed legs...

I mean... does it get any sweeter than this?

For the first half hour or so, it was just sweet Page and her parents. They wanted some pictures of Page by herself and then some of her with them. Then, for the second half hour, some of Page's extended family joined in the fun! 

Page and her Grandma are best buddies! So sweet!

These were my favorite pictures of the day! She is just so darn cute!

And one last shot to sum up all the fun we had!

Welcome Home Wednesday

When we bought our house there was a little half bath downstairs. This bathroom was right next to a wet bar. We decided when we asked my parents to move in with us for a while that we'd tear out the wet bar and combine the space to make a full bathroom so they'd have their own bathroom to use without having to come upstairs to shower. It will also be where everyone goes to use the restroom and change for the pool. So it's a space we wanted to make really nice because it's going to get a good amount of use.

Here's the space before.

This view is from the family room looking into the bar area and the hallway that leads to the half bath directly behind the bar, the laundry room directly across the hall from the half bath and the door at the end leads to the garage. My dad basically tore down the wall that separated the bar from the half bath, enclosed it all and made it one full sized bathroom with a tub/shower.

Here's that wall and hallway now.

We still need to hang things on the walls and eventually we want to replace the carpet in the family room so that it matches the gray walls and decor a little better.

Jake and my Dad pretty much took the reins on this project and I have to say, they did a great job. We had tile left over from the kitchen that we always planned to use in this bathroom. My dad picked out the tub and Jake picked out the vanity and toilet. It all looks great and I couldn't be happier with it. My mom decorated it and I couldn't be happier with how it all turned out.

Here are several before and after pictures.

Before (Looking in from the door)

After

Before

After

Before

After

Here is the other half of the bathroom that didn't exist before (well it did exist but it was the bar).

And here are a few little detail shots that I wanted to show.

Jake picked out this faucet and I just think it's so cool.

Another thing Jake picked out was the toilet. It's a self flushing toilet. You just run your hand over the little dot on the back and it flushes by itself!

I love all the decorations my mom found.

My mom and dad made these hooks for the back of the door. My dad cut and stained the wood (a fence board) and my mom used her cricut to make a stencil for the words and painted them on. The hooks are from Home Depot I believe.

They also made this sign the same way, using fence boards and my mom's cricut for a stencil to paint the words on.

The vanity has this cute little shelf on the bottom. So my dad built this little box and my mom filled it with potpourri. 

A close-up.

Well, I think that about covers it. I really love this space and I know my parents are very happy with it too!