JFP photo blog

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

The family you are about to see has been our neighbors since we moved into our current house...so about 3 1/2 years.  I'm so lucky to have such great neighbors and even luckier that they let me snap their photo!  I was priviledged enough to get to photograph the youngest member of their family when she was brand new (see her here) and now the whole family together!  What a treat!  Here are a few of my favorites....

 

 

 

 

 

 

and one final share...love this one (though, of course, it is not your traditional shot)...

Another Dooz-y

The youngest madam at our house decided she was ready for a haircut (she was way overdue!).  Apparently, she is aware that "a bob" is a kind of haircut, who knew she was so well informed?  This led to much confusion to begin with...did that mean her hair would look like our neighbor, Bob's?  After we cleared that up, well, that's what she wanted, a bob.  So off we went, to our favorite haircut place, Dooz.  The lovely & talented Anna is the one who rescued Annie from her self-inflicted haircut last year, see this post for the proof!  Anyway, once again a lovely haircut was had...added bonus: fancy braid and glitter hairspray!!  Any girl's dream haircut experience!  

    

 

 

Maybe not a traditional bob, but it is exactly what I asked for, so we'll call it whatever it takes to make people happy!

 

the serious side....

 

the wild side....

Cookies - the Ultimate Bribe or....

the ultimate distraction?  So we did some "mommy & me" photos this weekend of my gorgeous (of course) sister and darling (even more of course) nephew.  The little darling has definitely gotten to the stage where he will do what he wants and nothing more (generally speaking) and if there happen to be cookies in the vicinity, that is all he is interested in....not to mention, me and my camera are completely old news to him, though apparently seeing himself on the back of the camera never gets old!!  Anyway, hilarity ensued and there were many shots of "full of cookie" mouth!  Here are a few of my faves....

 

"Isn't my momma funny?"

 

"Mom let go...someone has cookies over there."

 

Now, the smushed nose was bothering my 7 year old, "not pretty" she says, but all you moms out there know what that is all about...you just can't get enough of those little rugrats...not close enough, not smell them enough, and pretty soon they won't let you smush them anymore...so I say, smush away and enjoy it!

 

Definitely in the running for my favorite, but I think the next one wins....

 

That boy LOVES his momma!  Mutual, I'm sure!

(So that last part was a movie quote...anyone besides my sister get it?)

Happy first week of spring!  Here's hoping the weather will get the message and bring on the sunshine!

The Cutest Little Wigglebug

This last weekend I met the cutest little girl and let me tell you, if my abs were anywhere near as strong as hers, I would wear a bikini everywhere!  She could fling her legs up and around, flip over and then back, throw her hips up in the air...it was amazing...and exhausting to watch, not to mention photograph!  I got a workout!  She was an absolute treat and here are a few of my favorites, though it was hard to narrow it down...

 

Love those big chocolate eyes and the tongue!

 

You know how I feel about tiny feet!  Well, look, cute little hand too!  Bonus!

 

I think she feels the same way about feet as I do...especially hers! 

 

So sweet!  Perfect little rosebud lips!

And finally, though I was tempted to save this as a surprise for mom in their gallery...the shot I didn't think we got....right at the end when this cutie was "supermodeled" out and done with me...

 

Happy Thursday!

 

Winners! Winners! Winners!

Sorry not to have posted results immediately last night but my committee was asleep in the car by the time we made it home from dinner.  So without further delay, the winner of the photo contest is....

(drum roll please)

#3 & #5... 

 

Seemed as though there may have been some "illegal" voting going on that might have put one of these photos ahead of the other, so since I am in charge, I declare A TIE!  You guys should be watching your e-mail for your secret code to redeem your print credit and a big thanks for all your hard work drumming up the votes!  You guys are the best!  (note for future contests: providing links on your blog or facebook directing people to vote for you, surefire way to win...and totally legitimate too!)

The next part of the contest is to select a random winner for the "mini-mommy" session.  My committee is standing by to announce the random number selected from the comments...and since I am still in charge (and there are two girls here who want to choose a number and I would like to avoid World War III) I say there will be TWO winners! 

The numbers selected are #8 and #55...commenters Jeff & Kara will be getting e-mails from me soon (sent to the addresses you used to post your comments) or, if you see this first, feel free to e-mail me now!  Can't wait to meet you guys!

Thanks for playing along everyone and happy Mother's Day!!

Knitting

So I am a total wannabe knitter.  I can knit a mean baby blanket or scarf, an occasional hat (slightly trickier), and one time I actually finished a sweater, though keep in mind it was for a very small child (who is almost 15 now) and the one I started for my husband is still in pieces and probably always will be.  That means if you have a hand knitted original anything from me, you must be "special".  My knitting guru, master of all things yarn related, happens to be my very own mother...so handy when I have made some sort of rookie mistake, like dropping a stitch or knitting with my tail (hmmm, don't I sound all knowledgeable...).  Everyone in the family has been the recipient of a fabulous "grandma sweater" or two (or 10).  Well, here is the latest one to make its debut...the ladybug sweater....

 

 

So fabulous but ummmm....I wouldn't even know where to begin with that pattern....yay for grandma!

and of course, Annie, who is not one to miss out on any of the action, decided to wear a "grandma sweater" yesterday too...this one was knit for Henry and is slowly making its way down the line. 

 

Ahhh, the lovely Aunt Deborah squinchy eyes!  And Annie wanted me to be sure to share her very cute pig tails...

 

Nice straight part (hoping you can hear the sarcasm in my voice)...who is that girl's mother?

 

Ahhh cables...love them though they are well beyond my scope and require some kind of fancy "cable needle thingy", which I do own as my darling mother had high hopes for my knitting skills and outfitted me and my sister with a fully equipped "knitting kit".  Sadly for me, it is my sister who inherited the knitting genes and I believe may have actually used her cable needle.  Such is life.

Here's my favorite shot of the day...wacky, I know, but I love this girl's eyes...and her cheeks, and her smooth, young skin...and her lashes...well, you get the picture.

 

OK, now we are getting close to the end of the Mother's Day contest, so don't forget to scroll on down and vote for your favorite shot...I'm getting excited to count votes and draw the random winner!!  Deadline is Sunday evening...let's say 5:00 p.m....I'll try to post the winners Sunday night.

3 is the Magic Number

(Don't forget to read on down to the previous post to vote and win prizes!!)

3 boys, a 3 year old, & a 3 month old

So yesterday I had the distinct pleasure of having a houseful of kids for the morning!  Best part...I actually managed to get some of them to agree to a few photos...ok, not all of them have the power of speech yet but I'm pretty sure he would have let me know if he was unhappy!  These are some of my very favorite boys in the world so hang in there as this will be a photo heavy post..though luckily not too wordy!

Hee hee!  I was so excited that all of them agreed to a photo AT THE SAME TIME!!  (Trust me when I say "A" photo as it didn't last long!)

Serious

Smiley

Goofy

Love those cheeks!  You can look back at his newborn and one month shots and see that he has had them the whole time....

So this one might be a little bolder than usual but I couldn't resist when I saw the blanket and pulled out the orange diaper cover! 

Happy Friday!  Have a nice weekend!  And don't forget to vote on the Mother's day contest post!

Mother's Day Madness (with some prizes!)

So I know this is early but since I really want to give away some goodies, I thought I better start now in order to keep myself organized and on track!

This year I really want to be able to do something special for all those fabulous moms out there.  What I know, from my own personal experience, is that a lot of times (ok, ALWAYS) it is mom behind the camera and you end up with no photos of yourself with your kiddos.  So I decided to have a contest AND offer up a special deal.  Here's the important info:

• Today I will be posting a bunch of my favorite "mom" shots and when you leave a comment, voting for your favorite photo, you will be automatically entered to win the prize...a "mom mini session". 
• The "mom mini session" will include a quick shoot (around 30 minutes) at the location of your choice, for you (the mom) and your kid/kiddos, on a mutually agreeable date, a sneak peek on the blog, with 10-15 proofs in an online gallery, and a print credit of $15 for an 8x10 print of your favorite shot. 
• You don't have to be a mom to win because you may gift the session to the favorite mom in your life...hint, hint dads!
• The winner will be drawn randomly from all the comments by my "special selection committee"...very official, a la Price Waterhouse and the Oscars!
• Also, the mom whose photo earns the most votes will win a print credit for an 8x10 print of her winning photo...so all you moms, feel free to stack the deck and round up all the votes you want...though people may only vote once, please!
• The voting will conclude and the drawing will take place on Sunday, March 15th, sometime before my "special selection committee" goes to bed.
• The "mom mini session", as described above, will be available to everyone during March and April for $75...woohoo!

OK, I hope that is all the pertinent info...feel free to post any questions or just shoot me an e-mail if you think of anything I missed.  Now, on to the good stuff....

#1

 

#2

 

#3

 

#4

 

#5

#6

 

#7

 

#8

 

#9

 

#10

 

Let the voting begin!