Hugo gets his picture taken

The most stressful part of having Hugo was that most of my family was out of town: my mom was in Hawaii for two weeks, my dad was in Las Vegas and then flew to Oregon, Larry's mom and step-dad were in California, my Aunt who was supposed to be our backup plan was in Saint George running a marathon.  Luckily, Marissa was able to watch my kids for a morning and our sweet friends the Heywoods watched them for the rest of the weekend.  And our lucky streak continued because my sister Candice ended up being in town for a video shoot when Hugo was about a week old and she had just enough time to squeeze in a photo shoot for Hugo and she let me cry on her shoulder a bit too because I am an emotional mess for two weeks after having a baby.  I mean, who wouldn't get emotional looking at this sweet little guy?

 This is from Larry's favorite book to read to the boys.

The night before the photo shoot, I realized I didn't have any cute things to dress Hugo in that actually fit him so I cut up a maternity shirt and made him this little hat and leggings that I painted constellations on.

All photos by Candice Stringham Photography

Family Photos 2012

One of the few things that always gets me motivated to post is a set of new family pictures from my sister, Candice. These are from several months ago, but I held off posting these since I meant to use them for our Christmas cards, but I never quite finished them. Oops! Do not remind me of the irony here since I design cards for a living.

We didn't really plan ahead for this shoot, but Candice happened to have some spare time while she was in town.  I knew I wanted us all together cozy at home.  And that is exactly what we ended up with.  These pictures make me so happy.

I just printed a giant copy of the bottom photo to hang in Ollie's room.  It makes me smile every time I walk by.

New Head Shots

I hate being alone in pictures.  I don't know what it is, but I just get awkward and everything looks so inauthentic.  So last year when Sycamore Street Press came out with a new website, my about me page ended up with a weird picture of me standing in my friend's kitchen with Ollie standing in the sink in front of me.  I kept thinking that I had to have a better picture of myself in recent years somewhere, but after searching, I came up empty handed. 

Luckily, just as the Sycamore Street Press team was updating the about me pages, Candice came to town and took some new pictures of me while we were in the midst of a family photo shoot.

Even though I don't love being in front of the camera, I try to remind myself that it's important to have these pictures. I want my kids to be able to remember me at this stage of life (Heck, I want to vividly remember this lovely stage of life).

Sycamore Street Press updates the inspiration boards regularly, and I love seeing what's inspiring the rest of the team. And as an added bonus, for a limited time you can still spot me with a row of knives behind me with my child in a sink that doesn't even belong to me, and a little friend's hand holding a treat in the corner of the photo. Alas, I already sent in one of these new pics so it won't be up much longer.

The Cutest Photo Shoot You Ever Did See

I just typed a long post about these pictures, just to have blogger delete it. Don't you hate it when that happens? Oh well, here we go again because these pictures are worth it.

My sister Candice has been in town and she called me one evening last week to ask if I would be willing to drive down the next morning to do a photo shoot of Creed and his cousin Logan because she needed some sample photos for an external flash class that she's teaching in France. She wasn't sure if I would be willing to drive all the way down to my parents' and back just for a photo shoot. Ummm YES, YES I would! She is brilliant, and I will never skip a photo shoot opportunity with her.

She had all the props for a circus photo shoot ready, and I brought along clothes for both of the boys. I LOVE how these pictures turned out!
These two pals are so funny together. The totally belong on the Little Rascals.

This picture of both of them smiling is my favorite.

And this picture of the two of them makes me laugh out loud each and every time that I see it.
I stayed home with Oliver while Larry went to help with the shoot. He texted me saying the pictures were going to be amazing, but there was one bribe that I was not going to be happy about, but it would be worth it. I'm sure that you can guess what it was by looking at these photos. The gun was accidentally left at grandmas afterwards.
Creed's faces were hilarious.
Thanks you so much Candice!

Creed has a photo shoot too!

So Candice really came into town to take pictures of Ollie, but on her last day here, I asked her if she would mind taking a few pictures of Creed too. She graciously agreed and headed out with Larry and Creed and no specific plan so none of us was expecting too much, but the pictures turned out amazing! They bring a huge grin to my face, and I bet they will make you smile too!

Ollie Has His First Photo Shoot

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I'm so lucky to have an older sister who is such an amazing photographer! The week after Creed was born, Candice and her family drove up to Columbus from Louisville just to do a newborn photo shoot for us. I thought we wouldn't be able to work it out for Oliver, but after they set the date for me to be induced, Candice found a great price to fly in from San Antonio and a plan was hatched. She flew in Saturday morning and we had her all to ourselves for four days.

I'm so happy with the pictures that she took of Ollie! Of course I have to share them.

The hat that Ollie is wearing is made by my friend Jessica, who sells them in her Etsy shop and she takes custom orders in case you need one too.









You have to love the titles Candice chose to stack underneath him!

I know a few of you have asked when Candice will be teaching her next online digital SLR photography class and registration is about to open so here's a link.