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...

old favorites

In going through the last 6 months of images to make room for the new, I found these that I never blogged about.

I love these girls so much! We shot these back around Christmas. The bright colors truly match these girls' personalities. We had lots of fun playing hide and seek and enjoying lollipops. Their mom is a dear friend. The kind who is comfortable walking in my house and making herself at home. The kind of friend whose home I feel the same way about. Good people.

She has such a great perspective on what true beauty is. She teaches her girls that it is not about being perfect and put together all the time. This makes for a great shoot and allows me to capture the girls as they really are. And when our children are grown, isn't that what we all want to remember? Those sweet quirks and their uniqueness? I love how she let them be free to be themselves and have fun w/ the shoot.

If you are a mother of boys, you will appreciate this! :)

check it out over on my other blog: www.jessicaparrisphotography.blogspot.com

honey.

This guy brings me such joy. Today was one of those days. While I was putting out fires today and running around like a chicken he was just along for the ride and happy to be here. Not every day is like that, for sure. This boy knows how to throw down a Threat Level Midnight Temper Tantrum. But, when he's not doing that he's the absolute sweetest, most affectionate, joyful buddy.

One of my favorite things he says these days is a part of our bedtime routine. I ask, "Are you my sweet baby?" and he responds, "Noooooo! I da hunny!"

I love it! I ask him over and over just to hear him say "da hunny!"

In addition to Spring Cleaning my house, I really need to Spring Clean my computer. I found these that I took several months ago. I spend so much time ordering other people's photos, that I neglect my own! So many little treasures hiding in my Mac begging to be hung on a wall. Ahh...maybe one day!

Sarah + Mitchell: The Engagement

I know that if you follow this blog and actually see a recent post pop up, you expect me to preface it with, "I am so behind in posting!" or "It's been a while since I last blogged..."

and since I don't want to disappoint...there it is ;)

I will save you some boredom and refrain from listing the many reasons for the lack of blogging. You all know them anyway! It's never dull around here!

What I will say is that I am happy to post some of my faves from a recent engagement session. Sarah and MItchell met on a blind date in their common hometown and are getting hitched in 2 months. I wish them all the best! Had a blast with them and new puppy, Nick (that's right-named for none other than Saban). Thank you guys for letting me capture your road to the aisle!








Want to see more of this gorgeous couple? Go HERE.

old friends and new babes

Last weekend, some of my oldest friends and I had an old school slumber party. Time with them is always sweet. It's hard to beat the combination of friends you've known since kindergarten, terribly bad for you snacks and a stack of old TEEN magazines! We laughed. a lot. It was fun indeed.
I also got to have a couple of photo shoots with the two newest babies of our group...which, for me, was the icing on the cake of a perfect weekend!

pears. still life.

these beauties were sitting in my dining room just begging to be photographed.

that is, until they began their other life as this.

a day at the museum

a couple of art critics in front of one of their mom's favorite paintings at the BMA.

and, yes, i asked them to stand that way :)

Days 4 and 5 of Disney

the Indiana Jones stunt show

in China

Germany

Mickey appeared in America and we were able to get more photos with him!

Morocco

shops and fountain in beautiful Morocco

Our 4th day was spent at Epcot and this time we stayed over on the World Showcase side. It was beautiful. In England we had some very tasty Fish and Chips for lunch and met Alice in Wonderland and Mary Poppins. Alice was the sweetest and was so great w/ the boys. Mary was COMPLETELY in character. She was hysterical. She asked one of the boys a question to which he replied, "Yeah." (lovely manners we have.) She then said, "Well....there's always room for improvement!" It was all I could do not to die laughing. After she signed their autograph books, they tried to hand them to me while we posed for a photo. She looked at them and said in her very best British accent, "She's not your personal carpetbagger!"

I should have asked her if she was looking for a nanny-ing job in the States.

Our 5th day was spent at Hollywood Studios. The boys were very impressed by the Indiana Jones stunt show and Toy Story Mania was their favorite attraction. I didn't take as many photos at HS as it's not as picturesque. They did have some beautiful shrubberies, though, and we got a photo of them meeting some of the Green Army Men from Toy Story. Check out the bottoms of their feet!