New year, new baby, new beginnings

My brother & sister-in-law welcomed their first child just 8 days into the new year. Little Piper is such a joy & is so adorable. She's a good baby. Rarely fussy and is rather alert for being so young. I had the pleasure of photographing her newborn portraits a week after her birth. We are all very excited to have this new member of the family!

sisters, mother & son, mother & daughter...

On Halloween I had the pleasure of shooting a very fun & energetic bunch. First we had sisters...twins to be exact. Then each sister wanted some photos with their respective children. Ruth & Rachel you've seen before. Rachel is a senior at SFA. Ruth's twin sister Katherine was in town and wanted some photos with her son Zack who's a senior in high school. We took photos all over the SFA campus and then moved down to the South Street bridge that provides an amazing natural backdrop and fantastic lighting. You can view more of their session HERE.

a family in fall....

One of my good friends and fellow photographers needed family photos done of her family. I also needed family photos of MY family. So we decided to trade family photo sessions for each other! It was a great idea because we each got exactly the kind of photos we were looking for and were long over due for. They are a beautiful family and so photogenic that the session was a complete breeze. I give you the Phillips! =)

a new baby on the way...

One of my husband's co-workers said she needed maternity photos of herself and family photos with her family. So we planned for a few weeks on when & where. This past weekend I had the pleasure of taking their photographs. I give you Meagan, Brian, Luke and baby-on-the-way.

Baby Ian

A dear friend of mine gave birth to her first child at the end of September. As a "baby gift" to her I told her I wanted to do Ian's newborn photo session. He was adorable and oh so small even at almost 4 wks old. He was a sweetie!

fresh start.

An old friend from high school who's mother I use to scrapbook with recently had her first child. They asked me to do some "newborn" photos of little Whitley. It's been since the birth of my youngest daughter that I've had the opportunity to do newborn photos. It was fun to see how many creative shots you can come up with of a sweet little baby sleeping!

new stuff!

well the biggest occupier of my time lately has been finishing up a few new "art/photo" pieces, photographing the finished product & listing things on etsy.  man that's all very time consuming.  but here's a sneak peak:

you can view any of the others at AMZ Studios!  i've gotta get my act together cuz i wanna do a contest to give away a free piece of art...i just haven't worked out all the details yet.  when i do you guys will be the first to know!

now that Ava is pretty much walking all the time, everywhere, that's keeping me busier than i'd have first imagined.  but that child is in to everything!  and she wants constant 24/7 attention.  she does not like to play by herself, and why should she if she's got her mom, and older bro & sis to do so?  it does get annoying every now & then.  but she's too cute to stay irritated for too long.


meg & i went shopping this past saturday for spring/summer clothes for herself & the other kiddos.  she has a very specific fashion sense.  we enjoyed ourselves and the bit of girl time that we had together.

the kid has too much energy.  if only i could bottle it up i'd make a fortune!

so we got our income tax return.  but apparently i made a boo-boo and we got $1000 less than i'd figured.  which is weird cuz i did it several times and had others go over it with me.  *sigh*  oh well.  it was kinda a bummer to get less but i can't complain too much as the $$$ came at a very crucial time when we needed it most. (but then again it always does). 

recent events have led us to believe that soon our living situation will change, whether out of necessity or by intentional design.  our landlord is becoming less ... friendly and more demanding.  apparently he hasn't heard that these are difficult financial times and wants to raise our rent.  HA!  he's crazy.  we can barely afford what we pay now.  so we're looking into options that will lower our monthly output in terms of housing & utilities.  this has been the most prevalant thing in my/our thoughts lately.  something's gotta change and i'm finally to a point where i'm willing to make some sacrifices to see that change happen.  unfortunately this is all coming up at a time when the housing market sucks & banks aren't very willing to give out loans.  we're always a day late & a dollar short when it comes to this kind of stuff.

up until today we've been enjoying some amazing spring weather.  temps in the high 70s, low 80s, nice breezes, sunny....today it's nasty...and COLD...again!  *sigh*  and it's suppose to be that way all the rest of the week and part of next.  boo! 

the time change has had a weird affect on me this year.  i love that it gets dark later.  but i hate that it throws off my sleeping pattern.  but now that Ava sleeps thru the night (last night it was for 13hrs straight) i guess it's not as big a deal as it once was. 

i'm looking forward to this saturday.  ben & i are gonna go to houston and go shopping at IKEA!  he's never been and i'm excited to go again.  woohoo!  i take pleasure in the small things!   

well it appears break-time's over as the little princess is demanding my attention!  happy wednesday!