Top 50....Hmmmm really 112 - Part One

I originally set out to pick my "top 50" images of this year...but it was seriously impossible. I had such an amazing year and every single session meant so much to me and yielded at least one image I was completely crazy about...so to only pick 50...no way Jose :)

What that leaves me with is 112 images, which is probably really overwhelming. So the best I could do was break it into two blog posts.
First up...56 of my favorites in no particular order :)



























































Stay tuned for 56 more coming soon!

Christmas Family Love.....

Stephanie organized getting her whole family together for some pictures right before Christmas (thanks Stephanie). My sister in law Jess and I made the trip out to New Baden Illinois and spent some time with this amazing group.

They were so kind and welcoming...with mega watt smiles. We had a great time! I was honored to capture some of special moments of them together as a family during the Holidays.

Enjoy.....

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from my family to yours!

Tiny Tree

This tiny tree was my Christmas gift from my 6 year old. She made it in art class this year....I might be biased but I think it is pretty specatcular for a Kindergartner :)

It is by far my most cherished Christmas gift this year. Time goes way too quickly and handmade treasurers like this are so so special to me. I know every year when I pull out this little tree...I will stop and look at how her little fingers shaped the branches and how she put on just the perfect amount of glitter.

I hope your Christmas was filled with handmade treasures and lots of hot chocolate kisses from little ones. I know this time of year I seem to really stop and thank God for the blessing of my children.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Traditions

One of mine and my girls favorite Christmas traditions is baking cookies. We get together with my dear friend Meredith and her adorable boys every year for the past 3 years. This is good for my girls for two reasons...one I don't bake..at all....two, they get to hang with their buddies who they don't get to see often enough.

We just make simple sugar cookies, but the kids LOVE it and I have to say they made some pretty amazing creations this year. I love this tradition but I have been wondering how many more years we will be able to do this before they are "too cool" for baking cookies...or just have other things they would rather do. I hope it isn't for a long long time.

I hope you and your family enjoyed all your funny, silly traditions this year...and don't forget to take lots of pictures!