Trying to SOAR!

Those of you who have been following this blog for a while might remember a post I did earlier this summer about learning to jump.  In it, I talked a bit about all the things I was scared to do, and how I'm learning to get over myself and do them for the sake of being a good role model for my boys and not instilling the same fears in them that I have in myself.  Another example of that occurred for me this month in the form of a photography scholarship opportunity.  Me Ra Koh, whose photography workshop I went to earlier this year, announced a scholarship called SOAR!

After a lot of consternation and sleepless nights trying to figure out the perfect thing to say in the video, I created something that I think sums me up pretty well.  If you'd like to take a look at my SOAR! video, I'd love to have your support!  Hope you all had a great holiday.  More to come soon!

The Calm AFTER the Storm

Was it the "Snowpocalypse"? Or was it the "Shopper Stopper Storm"? Whatever you called it, we had a whole lot of snow here yesterday!
I first heard mention of snow on Thursday morning. I overheard a shop keeper mention 5 inches while I was out on an errand. By the time I was running on my treadmill on Friday morning, they were talking about 8-11 inches starting late Friday evening. My parents were supposed to come on Saturday morning to celebrate an early Christmas with us before they left for their vacation. They changed their plans to arrive Friday and try to beat the storm. I spent Friday running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying find boots for little C - Target only had rain boots, but they worked better than him wearing his only pair of shoes with sandwich bags over his socks.  After realizing that the snow was going to impact our Saturday dinner plans (going out!) I had to face the fact that I needed to go to Wegman's to get some groceries... I've always prided myself on not rushing out to the grocery store on the day before a storm. But there were extenuating circumstances right?
So we survived that, and I spent the afternoon creating my video submission for MeRa Koh's Soar With Mera Scholarship.  It shouldn't have been too difficult to do, but I let the pressure of it get to me and got myself worked into a tizzy about it.  My wonderful husband came home early to help me record it and edit it, and then we spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up for our early arriving company.  My parents arrived about 20 minutes before the first flakes began to fall, and we spent the evening enjoying their company and watching the snow pile up.
When we got up yesterday morning, there were already 6-8 inches on the ground and it was coming down like crazy.  We bundled the boys up and they set out to help shovel the driveway.

Like the boots?!  He sure does.

 

Big C decided that it might be a lot of fun to try his off-roading remote control car in the snow.  Turns out, the snow sticks to the wheels pretty quickly and jams it up.

About an hour after these pictures were taken you couldn't even tell anyone had shoveled.  Another 10 inches came down during the course of the day, giving us a total of 19" officially.  Last night I took a few pictures looking out the front window.  These aren't totally in focus, but I like them.

After a restless night of sleep, punctuated by the scraping and beeping of plow trucks, (can't say the plow guys here aren't thorough) I woke up early and took my camera out to document the peace and beauty of the fresh snow.  This is what the sunrise looked like today.

This is my Dad's car that spent the day in the driveway.  The drifts were amazing!

Our neighbor's back yard.  Care for a picnic?

Back to work again this morning!

So that was our weekend.  In between the snow, we had a lot of fun celebrating with Noni and Pops and Uncle Kev.  Hope you stayed warm and have managed to dig your way out!

Sibling Session

This weekend I got the chance to do something a little different than my usual family sessions.  As I have a five year old and a two year old, so far my circle of clients has included many classmates or mommy friends with similarly aged kids.  My sister-in-law asked me to come down to Hampton Roads Virginia this weekend to take some pictures of two of her friend's teenagers as a Christmas surprise.  I was a little worried about how we'd do - especially since it was about 30 degrees, but we had such a blast.  These two were so well mannered, so much fun, and clearly love each other (and their dad who we were surprising) a whole lot. 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't usually post the slide show from the session on my blog, but I'm so happy with how it came out that I can't help myself today.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Miss S is 6! | Ashburn Children's Photography

Last year when Big C was in preschool, his best friend was Miss S.  The two of them were huge fans of "doing Art" and would bring each other pictures to school each day that they had made.  I think S had a big influence on C's artistic style as every picture he makes to this day has a flower in it.  Unfortunately, now that they are in Kindergarten, S goes in the morning and C goes in the afternoon, so they don't get to see each other too much anymore. We did run into them at the park last week so they got to see each other again, although there wasn't much art at the park.  S is the youngest of 6(!) kids in her family, so Mom wanted to get some special pictures taken of her to mark her 6th birthday in style.  I got to spend a little time with S and her Mom at the park on a beautiful Sunday morning.  It was a little chilly and she was a little shy, but after some jumping, she got into it.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

 

 

 

She's getting ready to do a big Cheer Jump in this one!

The B Family | Northern Virginia Family Photography

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of photographing the B family at their home in Arlington, VA.  I met Lisa, a graphic designer, at the Me Ra Koh Confidence workshop that I attended in September.  She agreed to help me create a new logo in exchange for a photo session with her family.  It turned out to be a great deal for me, as she created a logo that I love!  I hope to reveal it along with my blogsite redesign after the holidays.

She and her husband have been in the process of renovating their home for a long time and have finally finished it up.  It was very cold on Saturday and she was really worried that I wouldn't get good light or pictures inside their house.  When I got there I couldn't believe how beautiful the light was.  It was like being in a studio!  They had two adorable girls - Miss A (4) and Little Miss C (2).  Miss A was a natural model.  Her sister is stuck in that "cheese" stage, so we had to work a little harder to get some natural looking faces from her, but I think we caught a few!  I hope you love these as much as I do!