karen [2.21.11]

I wanted to share some photos from one of my favorite sessions this past fall.

Meet Karen.

She wanted to surprise her husband with photos of the family for Christmas.

And man does she have one. beautiful. family.

Karen is particularly special to me because she was the first person I met when I walked through the doors of my sons' preschool in the Fall of '09. You may remember that story from my post here.

I will never forget that day. We already loved our neighborhood, and we had a strong desire to have our kids in school with our neighbors instead of driving to a school in a different community. Until a couple of days before school started for the little guys, that's what we had resigned ourselves that we had to do. Having God open that door was quite a blessed surprise for me and Jamie.

From the moment we started the two schools our sons attend, moved to this neighborhood and became a part of this community, it just felt right. Like coming home. And that doesn't always happen. I really saw God's care for me and my family clearly that day. Some of the situations and circumstances earlier in our family's story had been really tough and lonely. If it hadn't been for those times, I wouldn't be able appreciate life NOW as fully. It really makes it so much sweeter. There are so many blessings. A school where we know the other families. 30 minute walks that always seem to last more than an hour because we see so many friends along the way. The neighborhood kids feeling equally at home in each others houses.

Pardon my rambling on and on....looking at these photos of Karen and her kiddos just reminds me of how grateful I am to be where God has planted us now. We are savoring these sweet days!

a December shoot and a request for prayer

hopefully one day soon I'll get around to posting a sampling of my clients sessions this fall and winter. i'm so thankful for all of the amazing families i'm blessed to work with. but, for now, here are a couple of sweet faces that need prayers today.....

this family welcomed these precious girls a year ago and became a family of four! big sis is in 1st grade with one of my boys and we've gotten to know this family through our time at EES.

are these not the cutest little faces you've ever seen? {i realize i say that about all of my clients, but i can't help it!}

i've never met more laid back, jolly babies. and when Mama has twins plus two older siblings, that is a gift!!!!


sweet H (in the green dress) is in the hospital right now and has been for a week. she has a severe case of RSV and is having trouble maintaining progress. her twin is sick at home with similar symptoms but thankfully they have not progressed to the level that requires her to be admitted to Children's. mom and dad are understandably worried and beyond exhausted. right now they could be looking at two more weeks in the hospital.

if you pray, please lift up these precious girls and their families. they need it and would be so grateful!

ice ice baby

We were recently the recipients of our 3rd winter "storm" since moving in our house. It has been so neat for the boys to get to experience the snow and make these memories as we went so long without any snow at all! This time it was definitely more ice than snow, but that didn't change the fun! We have several steep streets around our house and all the neighborhood kids had a blast on the Homewood Luge! After lots of sledding, we shared cocoa and cider with our neighbors. The next day we hosted an impromptu Snow Brunch at our house for 2 sets of our neighbors. Fun! Fun!

proper sledding attire is serious business

one of our little BFF's who is like a little sister to the boys :)

the two Hughs take the hill!

Grayson gets ready! We had all manner of sleds out there ;)

another of our sweet friends~Harper

4 Parris men on a sled take one of the hills by our house!

recent family shoot.

you know how when you meet some people you instantly feel like you've known them forever? that's how it was with Stacey. we first met a little over a year ago at my sons' preschool. she quickly became a dear friend and one of my favorite people. so of course i was thrilled when she asked me to photograph her along with her hubby and their two boys. i took them to one of my favorite spots in downtown birmingham for our shoot. check out a few of my faves from our session....

head over to my other blog for a new post. more to come....
www.jessicaparrisphotography.blogspot.com

I got to meet up with this fun first time mom recently to photograph her baby boy. He was such a good baby! Slept and curled up for me so well! Was able to get some shots of those big blue eyes too! Here are a couple of my favorites....

And E makes 3

kids that is! I've been photographing this family for several years now. They have really become sweet friends. They all have these gorgeous blue green eyes that seem to be lit from within. E is the newest member of the family and we met up recently for her 6 month session. Check out those rolls! As my 2 year old would say, they are "Dewishus!" The only time I've seen rolls on a baby that rival these are on photos of my little brother when he was this age! Such a cutie...