1st Reality Rocks contest post

This is it! This is the post!!!

Be the first to comment on this post and you will win the FREE SESSION (photos not included)!!!!!

You must include these sentences
*The photos taken during my session can be put on your blog, website, and facebook.* *I want a lifestlye session. I am not looking for the perfectly posed shots, I want shots of my family living life. Having fun.*

GOOD LUCK!!!
Kathy

realizing my love of lifestlye

The quirky smiles. Goofy grins. Messy faces.
Kids covered in paint. In glue. In dirt.

Running through sprinklers. Trying to tie a shoelace. Eating cereal for the first time.
A baby's smile. Sitting up for the first time.

Mushy hugs. Messy kisses. Crazy hair. Crazy outfits.
Baking. Drawing. Playing. Singing.

Laughing. Dancing. Playing in the snow.
Painted nails. Hair done up. Dressup clothes. High heels.

Baths. Trying to dress themselves. Stealing cookies from the cookie jar.
staring out windows. Hitting the park.

My favorite pictures. The pictures that upon backing up my blog yesterday were the ones pulling at my heart strings. The ones I had to keep yelling to everyone 'Hey come look at this one!' until they just ignored me :)
THESE are why I started to get serious with photography. THIS is why I continue to do it.

The moments. Never wanting to miss one I started learning a camera. Wanting to capture a moment the best way possible I continue my journey. REALIZING that I want to give everyone pictures like these.

The other day I took pictures of my nephew. He's eating food now!!! And holding on to toys... smiling and I swear saying hi to me.... I took them as he was. In his house....in a bumbo, his playmat, Kade's arms, his mommy's arms. And fell back in love with why I started this. Because I wish I had been doing this when my kids were this small... I have pictures but they are not like the pictures I take today!

besties. Well she loves him. And right now... he puts up with her ;)

I think this was his second or third day eating. He's a pro!

I begged Auntie Mel to feed him so I could take pictures ;)

LOVE this!

This is probably her most favorite thing in the world to do.

It is a big deal when they can start holding toys on their own!!! The concentration on his face... love it!

He looks SO MUCH like Ro did as a baby in this pics it is unreal!

Lunch time :)

Chillin with mom. Super sweet.

So.... as part of my realization that I still truly love lifestyle photography.... there are going to be some pretty fun session give aways on my fb fan page. If you are not a liker already... I suggest you go and like! If you know anyone that is into lifestyle photography... please send them to my page! This is going to be super awesome and I can not wait to get started!

LOVIN the snow photos

Who knew??

Today was a very difficult day in our household. Ever parent has those nights. Sick kids. Kids peeing in the bed. Kids crying. Parents simply falling asleep to be woken up to a kid screaming that they aren't paying attention to them. You know those nights. They suck. And leave you feeling as strong as a wet dishcloth. It seems especially bad when your kids have alternating growing pains nights and one is night training (Kade is - we just went through it with Rohan. Once he was dependable we started on her), then one gets the flue then a few days later the other does. I am not sure my body would know what to do with 8 hrs of sleep at this point!

Rohan is sick. It started around midnight and well about an hr we found out it is still ongoing. Kade woke up before Ro's action crying. I went to her and got her back to sleep and went to bed. Then it was Rohan. What a mess. Complete nightmare. Ro went downstairs with Dion. He threw all Ro's sheets in the wash. I went back to bed. Kade then woke up as she peed the bed. I got up with her and fixed her up and changed the laundry. Then dealt with a 3 yr old temper tantrum. Really... Ro was up why couldn't she be??? so I took her to bed with me and watched mindless tv. You know... weeeeeee threeeee weeeeee threeee we three! Who thinks up these poor excuses for kids tv shows anyways? She had exhausted the sheets and Rohan's were also in the wash so options were limited! And we have no plastic sheets on our bed so I was spending the time a little nervous. Dion had to stay on the couch with Rohan...... ahhh life in the fast lane!

I could hear everything going on downstairs and quickly counted my blessings I was chillin with the princess.

Kade was talking in her sleep, thrashing, kicking - I clearly was not going to be getting much. I e-mailed my client who was coming over for a shoot at 10 saying we would have to reschedule. Then Dion came up. Exhausted. So I went downstairs. Oh my. drama drama. Around 6:30 I was really starting to worry... poor kid :( Around 7 Kade came downstairs and I saw my hope of a little sleep quickly slip away. Ro took off to bed around 8 and slept until noon. And I drank 8 cups of coffee. lol. Again... why can I NOT make a decent cup of coffee?????

The rest of the day revolved around the sickie. And our tiredness. Finally I knew Kade was going to have to go out. So I took her over to the park for an hour. On the way home Dion had phoned... Ro was sick again. So we boogied home.

The kids are in bed now.  I am crossing every finger in the hopes they stay sleeping. All night. I am so tired. Dion is so tired. We need sleep. So I am off to get some much needed work done and an early bedtime!!! Because really.... sleep may again be hard to come by!

After the last maternity shoot in the snow I realized outdoor snow shots are phenominal. For real. Especially just before sunset. I highly recommend a shoot in the snow. With the right clothes and accessories it is magical. A bright pink jacket.... well maybe not so much ;) lol

Her version of smiling and posing. Notice anything weird about the boots?

gummi bears ;)

Gosh look at this light. GORGEOUS sunset action. You should get in on this beautiful light!

HIGHlarious.... as my sister would say

Today was the first day since holidays I had Kade all by herself. We did a ton of running around. Stuff I had been avoiding doing while Rohan was home. Because... you know..... taking him shopping and running errands in incredibly fun (can you hear the sarcasm?).

She was so stinkin cute!!! I was shocked... she stayed fun and cute the whole afternoon. Never complained, never whined, never wanted to go home. Just happy to be out (of course renting yet another Strawberry Shortcake movie ensured the mood) and having fun. I love love taking this girl out. She is just so funny and sweet, and makes me laugh. I totally forgot that I wanted to get home quickly.. and had stuff to do. I forgot because I was too busy skipping down the road singing with my princess. I was too busy singing in the car watching her dance. I let her have a treat at Starbucks and watched her laugh like crazy while eating her banana bread. I played silly high five games at the bank which helped to pass the time in a long line up. I had FUN. And more importantly so did she. The holidays have taught me to spend more time having fun. And we are ROCKIN the fun scene right now!

Once we got home I had to run and get Ro and Kade was beat. She almost never misses going to get Ro, but today she stayed home with Daddy. Good thing. School can put that boy in a MOOD! I don't know why but it is sometimes torture picking him up and the hours afterwards.... he finally started perking up about 10 minutes before bedtime. JUST in time for me to finally WHOOP his but in Candyland. TWICE in a row! Ya baby!

I wanted to practice some flash action and the kids were pretty agreeable... I wanted to put a couple up just because.... just because they make me smile. I was taking a few pics for my NEW 365. Yes you heard it. I stopped my old one at just over 300 days... and have been kicking myself ever since. It just got to be too much - I was doing way more than a picture and then was telling stories... plus working and everything else. If you want to follow it it is truly ONE pic a day. Cell phone or my baby... it doesn't matter. It is one pic. True to the day, and of something that I love. I post them on FB on my fan page here. If you haven't already... like the page and it will keep the updates of the pics as I go along!

I don't think I have smiled so hard and giggled so much opening a picture of either of my kids. This is SO HER.

Oh my word. What will this kid be like 10 years from now!

He LOVES taking pics. This was one of his presents. This camera ROCKS. In case anyone is wondering. It is shockproof (can be dropped from 3 feet and be fine), waterproof (oh ya baby! I do still freak just a little everytime I see him put it under though!), and freezepreoof (for our balmy winters ;) ) I highly recommend it for young children that are into pictures. He loves it and has used it every day. It is a FUJI finepix xp10. I bought a silicone case for it just for extra protection.

LOL As I was posting this I noticed I picked the one NOT in focus. Well I guess his ears are!  Oops!

Oh ya..... she remembered she was tired ;)

on their way to a family of 3 | Calgary maternity photographer

There must be something in the water in Calgary these days!!! Another maternity shoot today!!! And another stunning mamma to be. Seriously. She was doing YOGA. And she is pregnant. I can't even do yoga NOT pregnant. Although her husband did try and show me a stance :)

This couple was amazing to work with. Really fun and daddy to be was right in there with the poses. and smiling all around. This baby is definitely something that has them over the moon!!

She was so adventurous we convince her hubby to head over to Fish Creek as it was a little warmer than it has been the past few days. Warm enough for five minutes of posing and clicking!!

Thanks so much for the times.... can't wait to hear when this little one is born! And to get through these photos... they are gorgeous!

Of course we did do some in studio.... ok a ton! But I really loved the outdoor shots so I chose those for the sneak. Here are a couple from indoors.

I wanted to give this one an older feel... something about the textures just led me there. So beautiful!

Even though it's difficult.... I will forgive them for THIS. Cute though hey?

on they way to becoming a family on 5 | Calgary maternity photographer

They are on the way to their 3rd baby!!! And she is absolutely gorgeous and radiant! I took this family's photos in the summer you can see them here. They are such a fun family and I had such a great time taking their family photos I was THRILLED when she told me they were expecting. AND wanted more photos!!

Here is a sneak of the maternity photos... they are all literally from the first 5 min of the shoot! They were all so happy and fun it is going to be hard narrowing the gallery down!

Next up for this family.... newborn photos! You better believe this baby is going to be gorgeous - just like everyone else in the family!

He was more than willing to help me set up :) Testing testing... ok we're good to go!

How could this NOT make one smile? Cuteness overload.

This kid is going to be one of the BEST big brothers around. He even wants to share a room with the baby... totally CUTE!!!

The very best Christmas present | Calgary newborn photographer

Someone had the best present present EVER for Christmas!!! And they both knew what they were getting...... about 9 months ahead of time ;)

This little guy was just the cutest little bundle with AMAZING eyes! He was born just over a week early and was such a good baby his momma and I were sure we were going to get some awesome pics!!!

As we was born at Christmas we got some very unique and special pictures of this little guy. BUT.... he had other ideas! He decided on his 9th day to be awake... for 4 hours!!! We tried and tried but there were no sleepy pics for this little one. He even blinked his eyes at separate times so I couldn't even catch him looking asleep! Of course once I was unpacking and he was all wrapped up snuggling mom on the couch it was lights out for the little guy.....

I am so excited to spend a little more time with him, and am also excited to get through the pics we did take. His eyes are just beautiful.