On Tuesday I got to meet a few kids out on the Coweeman river to do some fun shots!

We drove for about a half hour to get to the perfect spot and it turned out to be well worth it. These are the sessions where I truly love being a photographer. Not only were these kids adorable, they were really great in front of the camera. Babies and kids photography is by far my favorite. I do enjoy weddings, families, and events, but THIS is what I truly love to do.

I hope you enjoy the sneak peak….

My babies are growing so fast!! I photograph them all the time and I still can’t believe how big they get in between sessions. Miss K just turned six this last week and will start the first grade in the fall. Baby D just turned six months. Where did the time go?

I took them outside for an unplanned session in my front yard. Thankfully they all cooperated and amazingly I got a photo of them all together looking at the camera! I didn’t even have to bribe them this time.

Course I DID tell Tinker that Mickey Mouse was inside my camera…

So watcha think… any of them look like their mom??

Derrick took the kiddos on their very first fishing expedition (well, it was Miss K’s second time fishing as she’ll very politely point out).

We traveled really far to Lake Sacajawea. I say “really far” meaning it sarcastically since we live so close to it.

The kids had a really good time with their daddy. The baby just kind of sat there, but he was at least in good spirits about it. Mr. I had just got a new “cars” pole and he was REALLY excited when daddy helped him catch his first fish. Not bad for a $10 toy from Wal Mart.

It was a good time.

serious about this whole fishing thing…

silly girl…

The baby being very involved in this whole process

A fish!!!

Mr. I’s first fish!!!

So most people assume that it’s easy for me to get good photos of my kids.

Let me be the first to tell you that it’s not.

I have literally hundreds (maybe thousands) of photos of “outtakes” of my kiddos. I can spend an hour with another child and get tons of smiles, and DAYS with my kids and get crazy reactions. Maybe it’s because they’ve been my test pilots over the years, or maybe it’s because I’m their mom.

Whatever it is, I’m not going to quit harassing them any time soon. They’ll just have to get used to it and I’ll just have to work even harder to get some good photos of them.

Here’s the latest of my efforts. I hope you enjoy 😉

Here’s my “Tinker.” We call him that because he’s a stinker (but it wouldn’t really be nice to call him stinker).

This is a very common reaction when mom pulls out the camera… “look mom, see what I can do?!”

You’d think being the baby, “Button” (as my hubby calls him), would be more cooperative… not so.

He’s already got that look.

And finally we have “Nuh Nuh” (yeah.. I don’t even know about that nick name… you’ll have to ask hubby)…

She’ll give a pretty face for maybe one out of ten photos. It usually takes bribery of all sorts to get her to work with me.

Here’s her being over-dramatic when telling me she doesn’t want any more pictures taken…

So yeah… there you have it. The truth behind all the lovely photos.

So don’t feel bad when you’re trying to take nice pics of your kids. It’s not just you.

I met this gorgeous family out at Lake Sacajawea here in Longview to photograph them together as a family. Little baby B is five weeks old and already has his parents’ complete attention. I couldn’t wait to do this session knowing how much fun this family is. They’re always laughing and having a good time. Little B is one lucky guy to have such awesome parents. And I’m one lucky photographer to know them.

I hope you enjoy your sneak peek…

This little shirt means “kiss me.” I thought it was just perfect of Bri to choose it!