Have You Met The Clarks Yet? (Jefferson, GA Family Photographer)

It's funny how you can pick up on the energy within a family by spending just a little time around them. Some are quiet and reserved and some make you feel like you're part of a big ole' party! I think that the main thing that you pick up on is that you can truly feel a bond between people. They mimic each others mannerisms and they crack inside jokes. It's cool to be a part of that. And, you walk away really, really liking them.

I read Allison's posts on Facebook and learned that little Addison was having tubes put in her ears today. I have only been around her once on their picture day but I found myself thinking about her several times, hoping that everything went well with her procedure, and I sent up a little prayer for her. Thankfully, Allison later added a post saying all was well and it made me happy to know that things were good. I was also impressed with myself that I had turned Addison's tube placement into being all about me. It took work but it was worth it.

I've owned up to being behind on blog posts but I decided to stop procrastinating and get this one posted tonight and dedicate it to Little Miss Addison herself. So, here it goes:

We met with the Clarks and quickly decided that they are some of the nicest people around. We met at Hurricane Shoals park to take some pictures and the weather really could not have been more pretty!

Speaking of pretty.....it runs rampant in this family!

I've seen Will around at different activities before and he's always been one the cutest kids ever. He's got a really sweet smile and no matter how tough teenage boys like to come across, this one loves his mama!

He doesn't seem to dread time around the rest of his family either. Truth be told, I'd be willing to bet good money that he downright enjoys it!  :o)

Then, there's sweet little Addison....talk about beautiful! She was absolutely--without a doubt---one of THE most pleasant babies that I've ever been around. She smiles at EVERYTHING! You look at her sweet little face and she smiles. You talk to her, she smiles. You talk to other people, she smiles. You cough, she smiles. You get the picture. This truly is one happy child. I don't think there's shred of doubt in her mind that she's loved!

If you want to see a couple that is good together, you're looking at them.....

Brian and Allison have such an easy, fun rapport with each other. They're laughing and cracking jokes at each other and all of the sudden, you'll catch a really sweet glance between the two of them and you'll know that they are both keenly aware of the fact that they are blessed beyond measure to have created the family that they have.

This was probably one of the fastest sessions that we've ever done but it doesn't take long to realize that the Clarks are a special family. So much so that I offered to marry Will or at least go out on a date or two with him if he'd consider an older woman but he politely giggled and I took that as a "no". You can't blame me for asking though.

I can't say enough nice things about these guys. They are a fun, loving family and we appreciate getting to hang out with them for a while! We hope that they enjoy looking at their pictures as much as we enjoyed taking them!   :o)

Kaylea and Shaquille-Prom (Jefferson, GA Photographer)

I've already owned up to being horribly behind at blog posts. I won't even bore you with long, drawn out excuses. I'll just say that I'm lazy. I'm thinking that the title of "Miss USA" is a bit out of the question for me so I guess I'll just go with "Procrastination Queen". Times are tough, people...you take it however you can! I'm not sure if it will come with a tiara but I'm working on the sash right now.

Back to the real reason that we're here....Kaylea and Shaquille. I met Kaylea shortly after I moved to Gainesville from South Georgia. I'm sure that she doesn't remember that meeting because she was just a toddler at the time. I work with her aunt at my "day job" so I've passed the years hearing lots of Kaylea stories because she was the first grandchild in the family and the apple of her aunt's eye!

She'd come into the office to see her Aunt Dena and she was always this sweet, shy little girl with these big pretty eyes and a precious smile! I'd try picking on her and her face would turn a bright shade of red! She'd giggle like we'd shared THE funniest joke in the world but she didn't do a lot of talking in those days.

Well, I'm sure that you can imagine my surprise when a few years had passed since I last saw her and the day that I went over to take these pictures, this beautiful young lady stepped into the room. The big, pretty eyes and bright smile hadn't changed over time but she certainly wasn't the little girl that I remembered. Somewhere during the span of a few years, Kaylea grew up!

Kaylea and her mother swapped a few snips here and there like teenagers and their mothers are required by law to do. But despite the occasional yip, you can tell that this family is filled with love for each other. I'd watch her mom and her grandmother helping her get ready and you could see the pride in their eyes mixed with just a tad of longing that she'd stay young just a little bit longer.

It was amusing to listen to her talking about the dance and how much fun it was going to be. She's got that youthful exuberance that people of my advanced age (ask my kids and they'll swear that I'm somewhere around 100) just don't have. Everything is exciting and the mood was contagious.

When Shaquille showed up to meet her, I had to give the boy props for being one brave soul! Kaylea's dad was in the front yard sharpening some type of weapon/garden tool and he was forced to brave all of these women that had somehow congregated out in the yard all on his own! His own mother, younger brother and grandmother came with him and it was obvious that the pride that they felt toward him was equal to what I mentioned about Kaylea's family earlier.

I loved when he told her how pretty she looked, almost as if he was a wee bit shy.

These are two genuinely good kids. I have to say that I admire them for marching to the beat of their own drum. It's easy to let people tell you how to live your life. You spend a lot of time trying to live up to what people expect out of you only to find that you weren't happy all along. I'm proud of the people who look beyond skin color and labels to see the heart of another human being. Will they be together 20 years from now? There's really no way to know. They are both young and life has a way of throwing curve balls at you sometimes. But, they've definitely gotten a head start on following their own path and I like that about them.

So, I'm thankful to say that the toddler that I knew is growing up into an adult that I really like and although I don't know Shaquille as well as I know Kaylea, you can just sense that this guys is going places. He's surrounded by a loving family and a girlfriend who seems to think that he hung the moon. It was a fun afternoon and I enjoyed every second of it!

Thank you Kaylea and Shaquille for letting me share your excitement with you. The pleasure truly was all mine!

The Standridge Gang (Jefferson, GA Family Photography)

Weather wasn't our best friend for the Standridge's sessions but these guys are, "If Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade" kind of people and it paid off!

For our first session, we decided to meet at the park because Annette thought it'd be cool to do some pictures of the kids in rain boots and just let them be themselves. I guess she figured that if Mother Nature thought it best to offer some rain, we were going to use it to it's fullest potential. It doesn't take very long of being around Annette to see that she doesn't get too bogged down in things. She has a sweet spirit and you immediately like her the minute that you start talking to her.

One of the reasons that I absolutely LOVE what we do is because we laugh until it hurts sometimes when we're doing these sessions. It drives me bonkers to get somewhere and find that the (well meaning!) parents have either threatened or bribed the kids to be well mannered. What a BORING way for a kid to spend a couple of hours!! Thankfully, Annette and Marty encourage their kids to have fun and it showed in their pictures!

I was pleasantly surprised when Marty tossed a big ole clump of mud over on Jay in her pretty little dress. It was easy to see that having fun came naturally to these guys because there wasn't a shred of shock on her face as the mud hit her and she immediately lobbed a big old clump back in retaliation!

There was no way that Ryan was missing out on this opportunity and IT WAS ON! Mud was flying, water was splashing, wrestling ensued and that was all within the first 30 minutes!
We listened to the laughter and giggles and found out that Jay had her own "special" alarm clock to wake Ryan when he was younger. We learned that the whole bunch of them have a special smile that they all flash whenever Baby Fallon is around! We learned that Marty and Annette completely adore their children and that their children adore them!

We saw that this big, muscular guy turned into the world's biggest softy when he looks at Annette or the children. You just see a whole change come over him and they seem to instantly know that he's going to take care of them.

They all just seemed to be at their best when they are together. Pretty cool thing to be able to say about a family.

Part 2 of the Standridge session was more reserved as far as not involving mud but it was equally as nice spending time with these guys. The kids are funny and they just have the sweetest, most loving dispositions that you could ever think of. If you can be around them and not adore them, more power to you.

A few weeks ago, I ran into Annette and the kids in the grocery store and I got two of the sweetest hugs from Ryan and Jay. They weren't pushed into giving an obligatory hug or bribed to be nice. It just comes natural to them because they are good, sweet, nice people. It kinda seems weird when you get paid for spending time with people this nice. You go away from it all realizing that you were the lucky ones to get to hang with them!

We hope that they enjoy these pictures as much as we enjoyed taking them. We think that these are pretty neat folks allllll the way around!
Thank you Annette, Marty, Jay, Ryan and Fallon! You guys are wonderful!    :o)

Can You Say "FUN"??? (Jefferson, GA Family photographer)

I make grand promises to myself. I really do. I don't know why I do it because deep down, I know that I'm most likely lying. That's especially true when my promise has anything at all to do with weight loss, saving money or going pro with my yodeling career. Now it seems that I'm going to have to add "keeping up with my blog postings" to my list of lies because I've gotten horribly behind on them. I'm honestly not trying to justify my laziness but I have to say that going back and looking through my pictures to do these posts has been a nice burst of happiness in my week. I'd remember little things about each session that would bring me an unexpected giggle and I appreciate that and I'm thankful for it.

Have you ever met a person that just EXUDES energy?? I mean, you step into their presence and you just start to feel a little hyper....you talk louder and faster....you find yourself laughing at goofy things?? I love people like that. If I could draw a picture of that person, it'd be CeCe. She truly makes me smile just by looking at her picture.

CeCe walks up and immediately starts talking to you like she's your best friend from high school. There's no uncomfortable struggle for conversation or silent prayers that you'll find some sort of common ground. She gets out of the car juggling her twin boys and talking about which pair of shoes will work best. She's offering you a gummy bear and telling you about how the boys already know how to ham it up for the camera while you're still unzipping the camera bag. She's kinda like a mini-tornado of happiness. She's a whirlwind of energy and laughter. If you can't talk to CeCe, hang it up.

When she first contacted us about doing pictures, she scheduled a session for her boys and one for herself. I was thinking that it was a pretty bold move on her part because what if she hated the first ones and she was stuck doing another session that she dreaded? Then, she'd be forced to come up with some tactful way of saying that we stunk and she was skipping out on session # 2, most likely faking a case of tendonitis or tennis elbow. I'm not sure why she'd fake either of those two things but they just popped into my head as easily fakable illnesses. Thankfully, that didn't happen!

CeCe and Blaine drove up and we saw two little smiling faces grinning in the back seat. The door opens and out pop these perfectly ADORABLE faces that are smiling from ear-to-ear because they know without a doubt that they are going to totally wrap you around their tiny little fingers. I know that this confidence comes from a proven track record of winning hearts because you can't be around them and not fall totally and completely in love with them. I'm pretty sure that this could be scientifically proven but I never understand the logic behind that stuff so just trust me...you'd love them.

We chased these guys around and laughed uncontrollably when they'd stop and strike a pose for us. They were perfectly at home in front of the camera and made our "job" pretty easy! It wasn't any time at all before they were crawling up in our laps and offering to share their ice cream cones with us.

To say that we had fun with this family was an understatement. We made new friends this day.

When we came back to do CeCe's 2nd shoot, we found that she'd brought along the two little munchkins and I couldn't help but wonder if she was going to be able to focus on a shoot for herself and watch these guys at the same time.

I'm thoroughly convinced that CeCe could become the next superhero. It seemed so effortless for her to strike a gorgeous pose and flash a beautiful smile all while corralling these two bundles of energy that were going at warp speed. She would be leaning against a pole smiling and the next thing you know, she's doing a double ninja death spin in the air to block the boys from getting into the street. All this happens without her even breaking a sweat.

I'm always amazed at people who handle babies and when there are more than one, I'm just flat out scared. But, then there's people like CeCe who don't just "handle" their kids, they give them so much love and complete adoration that you can see the kids flourishing right before your eyes. She gives them guidance but she lets them play and be kids. The slightest boo-boo and they are running to her for kisses but then they are skipping off to do their thing and she just laughs and watches them go.

I'm thinking that Blaine has his hands full with this crew but he's the quiet kind of guy who just takes it all in stride. I think that he knows that it isn't every day that a CeCe comes along and they just seem to work...maybe in their own different kind of way but they do. I know that families all have different dynamics and what works for some may not work for others but these guys love each other.

I just know that I'm going to turn on the television one day and this family is going to be on some kind of reality TV show. When that happens, the whole world is going to get to experience the love between them like we did. I'm gonna have to keep this post to remind myself that I knew them back before they took over the world.

Thank guys for some really fun days with you!  We are happy to be able to call you friends!