I wanted to post this for two reasons:
1. I wanted to share a few shots from a little Valentine’s Day inspired shoot Lila and I did last week. I “made” a simple little set up for her preschool class Valentines – I don’t normally shoot this way. So this was somewhat of a personal challenge too.
2. I also wanted to share a tiny peek into what goes on in our sessions – Lila’s a bit more of a challenge for me than my regular clients, most likely because I have the camera on her daily, instead of maybe once a year. She knows all my tricks and bribes, and doesn’t give me an inch anymore. I have to WORK for my photos of her!

So all of these images are from a recent mini session (and I mean mini – the time stamps on these start at 10:58am, and end at 11:21am, with breaks in there to play with Kellan too) with Lila. She’s about to turn three years old in a couple of weeks, and she’s fully embraced the attitude that comes with being three already. Now those of you who know me KNOW I’m not crafty at all. And yes, I made those heart garlands you see – no laughing!

Without further ado, here is a little glimpse into what 20 minutes of a photo session with a three year old looks like.
(I wanted her in front of the heart garlands…)
A little head shaking, just to fully mess up the hair.
Trying to smack the camera…
Losing steam…
Back behind the garland for more attitude…
Under it, to kick it – we must destroy it! And play with the outlet! (It’s a childproof outlet, and she didn’t play with it, promise.)
I fear for her teenage years.
But wait a minute! Mom always wins. Yes, yes she does.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

So first, I ordered the photo clips that would keep the central photo collage together. These are available on Photojojo. (They’re not paying me in any way to link to them. I paid for the clips and everything else here.) I also ordered the prints – 4×6 prints in deep matte paper, which I prefer over the standard glossy photo paper. I added a white border to all of the prints while ordering from my lab, to kind of frame each image, and put some separation between images. I didn’t order a set amount of prints, I just ordered what I liked at the time. I figured I could add more later, or not use them all if I had too many. I think there are around 75 images here. I also bought thumbtacks at Target, that I used to hang the whole wall. I just grabbed whatever Target had at the time, you can use anything really. There is a little hole in the middle of each photo clip that the thumbtack goes into.

I began assembling the photos by making strips of horizontal photos and strips of vertical photos. I just eyeballed the space over the organizer (Ikea Expedit) and starting laying them out. I knew that I wanted the wall to be large in scale, and I knew I wanted to separate the horizontal & vertical images a little bit, instead of trying to fit them together like a puzzle. I don’t have the patience for that. I’ve also seen this done with only horizontal images, for a more streamlined look. There is no rhyme or reason to how the photos are laid out. They’re not in any order, and there are color and black & white images mixed together.
Once I had about 7 strips created, I began hanging them.

I started in the middle with a vertical strip, and added horizontal ones to either side, two on each side. I used a thumbtack to hang the strip from the top, and then went down and clipped the photos to each other. I’m not going to lie, clipping the strips together on the wall was kind of a pain. I’m a perfectionist, so I kept trying to get the photos to lay exactly right…but I gave that up after a bit, because I was driving myself crazy. I added another thumbtack every other clip or so – I didn’t use one in each photo clip, I didn’t see the need.
That’s about it! Once I clipped all of the strips together, I thought it looked too square, so I added another row on either side. I knew I would be adding the canvases of the kids also, to balance out the busyness of the collage. The canvases are 20×24 in size, and I purposely went for images that had simple backgrounds and had colors in them that would contrast the sandy-beige playroom walls. And there you have it!
Sooo happy I can cross this off my list this month. Next up, the living room. It needs lots of help. Feel free to email or ask questions in the comments if you have any!

this without you all! I can’t wait to see you in 2012. Happy New Year!

Kellan arrived on Friday, 11/4/11, at 10:40pm. He is perfect, and we are slowly settling in to our new family of four at home. As promised, I will start taking sessions again in early 2012. If you are waiting on me for orders, email replies, etc, I will be replying as quickly as I can. Thank you so much for your understanding!

Leaving you with a quick shot of our new little guy, taken yesterday at 3 days old. This is pretty much what he does around here – unless it’s 2am, and then he’s up and ready to play. Of course!

With her “Gumpa” (I couldn’t say grandpa as a kid, so I called my mom’s dad this. Now our kids call my dad this. )
Collecting shells and yelling at a duck with nana.
These last 2 are my faves. <3

I can’t believe that summer is already almost over!

I’m really looking forward to fall (my favorite season), but I’m so glad I had the chance to show Lila the beach, and take these photos, before it turns into sweater weather. Enjoy the rest of these lazy summer days! 

My husband and I took Lila to Disney at the very end of March for a few days. It was the first time the three of us have ever gone away with “just us”. Lila LOVES Mickey, and all things Mickey, so we decided to go for it. Our trip was definitely full of ups and downs (rain and tornado watches, sick baby, Lila getting to meet Mickey, seeing amazing friends), but I’ll spare you all the details. I know you mostly just want to see the photos! I tried to not have my camera glued to me the entire time we were away, so I didn’t take a ton of photos, but I wanted to share a few of my favorites.

Obviously, one of these will count towards my Lila Project for this year too.

(Lila meeting Daisy, and giving her “big hugs” as she kept saying she wanted to! Melt my heart.)

(The castle–Lila calls this “Mickey’s Castle”.)

(One of my faves of the week: Lila on the carousel. This is the one I’m including for my project: 13|52.)

(Lila making her “I love this, but I will NOT smile about it” face.)

(Lila’s new friend Lylah. The daughter of one of my wonderful photographer friends who lives in Orlando, and braved the craziness that is Disney to come meet us one morning. Talk about a great friend!)

(So excited about the riverboat leaving port…it’s the little things. )

(Our hotel.)

(Lila’s new bff M, daughter of another one of my favorite people. M & her sister brought Lila the red Minnie Mouse backpack she’s wearing, full of books, to read to her at dinner. They also wrote her little notes and hid them in her backpack that we found once we got home. M took care of Lila all during dinner, and held hands with her while we were walking back to the bus. How cute are they?!)

(Our Epcot day. SO HOT.)

(Tired peanut, at the end of the trip.)

So those are some highlights! Lila also got to meet Mickey and everyone else, but I let Disney take those photos, so I still have to get them. I have loads more updating to do around here, but this is a start! I hope everyone is enjoying spring, I know we are. It’s SO nice being outside again.

I LOVED that they “got it” this year. So fun.