I know I just posted this photo on my blog last week, but I thought it was very appropriate for this week's photo challenge at I ♥ Faces.

Wow, I stink-- I linked to the wrong photo with no face and didn't even check it.. I"m modifying my post now to correct the mistake-- sorry about that!

Original photo which had no face removed... oopsie!

I was all set today to post a session preview on the blog, but since mom and dad already have the gallery I'm delaying that one day. Today I want to take you on a little journey...

As I was searching for hair flowers at Marshall's today... I happened upon these gorgeous Renaissance Dresses for little girls. I touched them and the quality was really good (for a Halloween costume). I usually let the girls pick their costumes at Party City-- even there for the tear away polyester they end up spending about $25 each on a costume. Now they'd much prefer a more expensive costume from the boutique catalogs that we get in the mail! Every year they drool over the same one... it is a beautiful gown with puffy sleeves, a cape, and a crown. The little girl in the picture has beautiful long hair... every little girl's dream. They ask, even though they know the answer. Can we get this one? I look at the pricetag of $80-- and multiply that by 2 and add shipping! "Not this year... I reply." This request always surprises me a little because my girls are not what I'd call "girly girls"-- they are rough and rugged with a feminine touch :) So back to Marshall's... I look at the sizes of the two I had picked up and they were a 7/8 and a 10/12... just the sizes I needed. Then I look at the pricetag and it said $29.... SOLD! I brought them home and two very happy little girls proceeded to provide the neighbors with a wonderful Renaissance (or Narnian as they called it) fashion show. So if you have a Marshall's closeby and you have little girls who like to dress up, you might want to drop in and have a look this weekend!

It is Wardrobe Wednesday, and I have found a few things that could really spice up a wardrobe and look fabulous in pictures, as well! This first find is so adorable! It could really add a nice pop of color to jeans and a shirt without looking too girly-- with boys sometimes that's a challenge! I've seen the orange and turquoise striped one against an orange oxford shirt-- really cute!

These were found in the Belle and the Beau Etsy Shop

This next find is something that any little boy would love to play in. This would make a great portrait study for your 3-6 year old super hero guy! What a cute idea! This superhero cape set can be found in the Babypop shop on Etsy.

Now this next little find, I haven't decided whether it scares me or it's cute., one thing is for certain-- it is a conversation piece! It and many other monster designs can be found at the Etsy shop NissaLisa.

And last, but certainly not least, this hat which was introduced to me by one of my fantastic clients! She purchased it from the Etsy store, OopsIKnitItAgain. So, so cute!

For today's post, I'm posting a photo challenge entry. Through the magical powers of facebook, I stumbled upon this pretty nifty photography blog called I ♥ faces:

So this week's challenge is a completely candid photo. Wow, since my children aren't always the most willing subjects in my effort to photograph them, I immediately went to my personal folder for some inspiration! When I saw this photo, memories of this day rushed back erasing a whole year of time. 

I remember this was taken on a beautiful day last August (2008). Jacob had just discovered CARS, the Disney version, and was he ever fascinated? In this photo, he actually has a Cars PJ top on over his t-shirt. It was not night time, but that didn't matter to him :) I was checking email (go figure) and everything was quiet-- scary thought with 3 kids in the house. I peek around the corner to see what he was doing and I see him staring at the end of a purple marker. I'm not quite sure if he was going for a Ace Frehley (KISS) or Lady Gaga look, but he achieved something! And he knew he was doing something he wasn't supposed to, he took off out of the house and onto the deck to "hide". When he realized that we weren't mad, he went on about his business with his cars as if nothing had ever happened. That's when mom appears with the camera and snaps the evidence shot... the one that will be forever remembered! How could I be mad at that face? After all, it was a washable marker.

So this has to be my inaugural entry for I ♥ faces.

How could I miss blogging this gorgeous little guy... the second time around? Mom contacted me for a session shortly after coming home from the hospital with her son. Oh no, my schedule was full! My newborn sessions focus on two areas: 1) small and sometimes sleepy baby and 2) relationship study of baby with mom and dad. Our problem... dad wasn't available when I was.  Time was ticking... and since getting those sleepy curled baby shots is usually only possible during the first couple of weeks, we went ahead with a session without dad. Of course rules always have exceptions and this little 12 day old guy did not have sleeping in mind! After a lot of hard work by mom and grandma, we managed to sneak some out-- these were posted a couple weeks ago here. I really wanted this family to have relationship shots, so a couple weekends later, I had an opening and they took it! Now at 4 weeks old, I was not optimistic that we were going to have a sleeping baby and we were totally prepared for that. Mom followed all my instructions to a T and when they showed up at the studio, guess what? He was sleeping... and proceeded to sleep the entire time! I couldn't believe it... I love the connection shown in these images-- I can just feel the love when I look at them. I'm so happy that everything worked out!

AND BTW.... you may notice that my logo stamp has some interesting new colors... something new is coming! Stay tuned!