How to plan clothing for a photo session...

I am so excited about my recent order from Shellybee Originals. I discovered her profile on Instagram and instantly fell in love with her designs and decided a mommy and me skirt duo would be groovy for Lil and I wear. I ordered the skirts with the intention of using them for family photos scheduled later this month with our photography friend, Rob, of Old Sparky Productions.  Matt and I did marketing photos from him earlier this year and he offered to take our family photos in exchange. If you know me, you know that I love getting family photos almost as much as I love taking them.  We decided on Downtown Fort Myers for the location since Lillian is usually in good spirits walking through the streets like she does on nights for Art Walk and Music Walk. Lil is a big supporter of the River District! 

PHOTOGRAPHER- check

LOCATION- check

INSPIRATION PIECE- check

Below are the Shellybee Instagram posts that inspired my purchase...

We have matching skirts, now what? I tell most of our clients to pick an inspiration piece and then choose items to compliment it.  Our shopping trip to Old Navy yielded a colorful Boston tee that I thought would be cute, especially since our dog, Beacon, would be joining us for the photos. Now to put together my outfit and something for Matt. I'm thinking black or pink converse for Lil. We'll see how this comes together. Stay tuned! 

Happy Birthday Lillian!

Happy Third Birthday Lillian!

We had a fun weekend celebrating Lil's 3rd birthday! On Saturday we had a little party at Matt's parents house and invited some of Lil's closest friends.  The bounce house was a big hit, she LOVED it! We gave sunglasses as the party favor...

  

We went to the beach on Sunday with Annabelle and Lincoln. It was a gorgeous day in March!

And on Sunday we went to the Alliance for the Arts Bruce Gora Concert series. Lil LOVES music!! I snapped this touching photo of Matt and Lil at the show.

And finally Monday was her actual birthday. A work day for us and a school day for her. She picked out her outfit (a camera T and colorful skirt) and brought ice cream cups as a treat for her classmates. Photos of Lil and Beacon taken on our way out the door to school...

Lil's fun day at school... (photo credit to Ms. Amanda, Ms. Kaila, and Ms. Robin)

 

We enjoyed a quiet night at home and she got to do some of her favorite things like reading to her baby! She turned out to be quite the little mommy.  We'll see what year 3 holds for our spunky little toddler. Looking forward to what she surprises us with!

Valentine's Day 2013

Fever at 4:30 A.M., Happy Valentine's Day! When you start the day with a fever, that most definetly means school is out of the question. We dosed Lil up with Tylenol and I left to do a 4 mile run. She fell back alseep around 7 A.M. and slept until close to 10 A.M. I decided to stay home with her and Matt went off to work. I crammed as much as I could into the 3 hours of her slumber- emails, the engagement giveaway, HU stuff, and website updates. She awoke pretty grumpy and immediately demanded to see her daddy. I distracted her with bubbles, dried fruit, and an art project and her mood eventually improved.

One thing I love to do when Lillian and I spend a sick day together is take portraits of her. I had in my head I would take her to Target and bring my camera. I felt kinda felt odd doing it, like I was sneaking around.  The first cart shot below is from Target and the other ones are from our evening Publix trip after a family dinner at Pizza Fusion. It took two trips to get what I wanted to unfold. A colorful and feisty toddler determined to get her way...  

 

 

 And this is when we took the football away...

Sailor Sunday

I could not wait to dress my daughter, Lillian, in this adorable ailor outfit. The Caloosahatchee River served as the perfect backdrop to capture some fun photos on a Sunday morning on our way to Publix. This outfit did not stay clean long. I'm glad I have the photos to remember it!