Optical Illusions

I love that my kids dig art - I really do! I think it's amazing when a 6 and 5 year old get excited about "seeing it" in a picture (painting/drawing/photo)!

Our new topic is optical illusions. Evanthea (my 5 year old) and I poured over photo after photo - she begged me for more after figuring it out. It's no surprise - her favorite artist is Salvadore Dali and she wants to be a photographer (and a dentist...practical idea, if you ask me).

I mentioned to them that I thought it would be cool if we tried to do the Rubin's vase photo with the two of them. They really wanted to try. I explained it would be hard to do - they were willing to sit still to get it right. We came close (photo above) - I still want to try it again when we have time to slick their hair down and get it right...but I believe things happen for a reason - we were destined to do that photo shoot because I got my favorite shot of them as sisters (see next photo)!
And here's just a silly outtake! Evanthea (right) said she can make a better vase by scowling! :)
We're going to try again! Hopefully soon! :)

Family Portraits ring in the new year!

Happy New Year! January is off and running!! I started the new year off with a family portrait session!

I enjoyed spending the morning with Nancy and her siblings, spouses and niece and nephews! I think they enjoyed watching Avatar more than getting their photo taken on New Year's morning! But I like to think it was the photos! ;)

Happy New Year!! Thanks for sharing your morning with me! :)

Piano recital for my babes!

My previous post was a brag about my kids' performances at school. This one is a brag of their performance at their piano recital! (and yes, it all happened on the same weekend)

This year, they each chose Christmas songs: Alexandra played "Away In A Manger" and Evanthea played "Jingle Bells"
Can you tell who's been paying attention to Mommy's posing tips? ;)
While we waited, Evanthea wanted to try some fun reflection shots! A girl after my own heart!
Evanthea exercised her creative right to arranging her own piece...ok, so she forgot to do the repeat...but she turned to everyone and whispered "I'm done". It's a good thing she's got the cute thing working for her! ;)


Alexandra & Evanthea's teacher, Miss Paula, has two very talented daughters - who also performed for the recital.

congratulations to everyone who performed!

Thanks Miss Paula! :)

My kiddos sing their hearts out!

Dave & I are so proud of our girls! At ages 5 & 6, they have this amazing confidence where they can step up in front of a full room and perform! So far, they both have participated in three recitals (this year's will be posted soon!) for piano, Christmas and Spring concerts for school for the past 2 years, and Alexandra has had a reading part during the mass for All Saints' Day.

We're just bursting with pride!! here they are at their school Christmas Concert!







Aidan, Catherine and Luke - their best friends!
We joke that Alexandra and Aidan are going to get married - I'm guessing with this pose that they're ready for their photos! ;)

Holiday Portraits at Coventry Farmers' Market

Sunday, Jess & I had a fantastic opportunity to photograph at the Coventry Farmers' Market once again! We were asked to do winter portraits of the Friends of the Markets...as well as their Friends too!

We decided to step it up - we waived our sitting fee and asked people to donate a toy or game to the Rockville Hospital Emergency Room (see explanation blog post here). For people who did not bring a game, we accepted monetary donations and we'll do the shopping! We met our goal of filling the bag AND we hadn't made the shopping trip yet! Thank you EVERYONE for your amazing generosity!!

Our first shoot was such a big celeb, we couldn't bring ourselves to ask for the toy...thanks Bert! We were honored that you smiled for us - and you really do look the same in person as you do on TV! ;)

These two had us laughing! I told them to show Jess how they eat their gingerbread men...
Everyone who joined the market as a Friend was put into a raffle. Violet, of Hurricane Farms, was the lucky name picker!


Violet was just too cute!!



I think this is one of my favs - Jess caught it while wandering around and I played around with the color a bit and viola! :)
Here's Lila, of Farm to Hearth - the.cutest.baby.ever. She cracked us up because she would go from serious to cracking up in a second!!!

Little Jacob - how cute is that hat?
Dot (in the middle) is another photog - nice to see her IN FRONT of the camera!


A rare shot - getting Market Master Winter and her hubby Nick to sit AND take a photo! ;)


(and a little silliness too!!)
Laura, another photog (obvi)! ;)


Our little Lila again! She reminds me of a living Cabbage Patch Doll - only cuter!!!


Violet - it's such a tie over who was the most photographed of the day, her or Lila!!
Violet with mom, Erica! I love the real smiles - no "cheese" here! ;)
Here are my two friends, cracking us up again!
Thank you everyone for coming out and donating! We had a wonderful time and we cannot wait to deliver the toys to the ER!!! Happy Holidays!!

I'll be posting the images soon!