To the mom who taught me a love of photography by taking me into a dark room at the tender age of 14.  Where would I be without you?

And to the mom who forced me to learn how to cook and become awesome at it (um, due to not cooking amidst college classes and raising 5 kids) and to always use real butter and make brownies from scratch.

I love you Mom!

We got her!

I had a few minutes to visit my brothers family back in December, most of which were spent taking pictures of Halle.  I wish I remember now what we did to make her smile, but that first picture cracks me up.

I love how red her lips look; I think it's from being chapped due to the winter air, but it sure looks cute!

Can't believe my little chica is already 4 years old!

We got these shots RIGHT after he woke up.  I wanted to capture that look, bedhead and pj's and all, and since he was still in that just-woke-up daze he sat still for quite some time .

I just love love love this face and that crazy bedhead.

He's started crawling, but a lot of the time it's this funny side-winding army crawl.  It's so adorable.

Click on this video if you really want to see him in action - Max

If I could photograph 6-9 month old babies everyday I would be so happy.  Love you Max!

I'll probably be sharing more of my family from the last six or so months, so for now I'll kick it off with my little Claire.  She recently cut some teeth and is starting to crawl!

She is a very picky baby when it comes to people (I wonder where she gets it...*cough*), but seeing as how I look just like her mama, I've been told that I'm probably her 3rd favorite person in the world.

This face was not staged.  She seems to get a lot of pleasure from other people's pain!

This next little monkey is who I get to see (along with his two younger siblings) TODAY.  As soon as I pack my suitcase (I never fail to do it mere hours before I leave for the airport) I'll dream of their sweet little faces that I get to tickle and smooch oh so soon.  These rascals live in the blistery state of Minnesota, so today I went out looking for snow boots, only to discover most places aren't carrying them anymore since Houston's winter is practically over.  SO, I bought rain boots.  At least they're waterproof, right???  I plan on wearing them over 7 pairs of socks.

So please forgive me if I taken a little longer than usual to respond to any emails for the next week.  I'll be getting my snuggle on (and chasing, swinging, building snowmen while trying to avoid frostbite, reading, wii-ing, hiding and seeking, and other such games).

This first one is SO them.
The baby brother, now 5 1/2 months old!