Posted on August 27, 2011

… it kinda melts a mom’s heart. We have been so blessed over the years with amazing friends, babysitters, friends from church, etc. who have all played a part in my kids’ lives and gone out of their way to form special relationships with them (and you all know who you are!). I think it’s soooo important for your kids to have older, trusted people in their lives, so that when that times comes when talking to Mom or Dad might just be a little too weird, I know they already have that additional support system in place and I can trust the wisdom and insight they will get from those people. Miss Jessica, here, is one of those people. She has gotten to know my girls these last couple of years since she is one of the Rock Star volunteers in the Children’s Ministry at church. She comes to their gymnastics practices, just because. And what High School Senior, who has a ridiculous school schedule and does Track & Field, volunteers to come over on a Saturday morning to bake with your kids? She’s kinda like my Fairy Godmother. So this offer for sweetness came at JUST the right time, since we are planning Georgia’s 8th birthday party, and Georgia wanted her friends to be able to decorate cupcakes. Now, mind you, I had never done anything with a cupcake besides smear the canned frosting from the grocery store onto a usually kinda flat and pathetic cupcake, toss on a few sprinkles and call it a day. And I’ve seen a few “DC Cupcakes” episodes to know that even though they make it look fun and easy, there HAD to be more to it. So I made a trip to the cake decorating store, told the lady, “I need to learn how to make those cool cupcakes you see on that “DC Cupcakes” show and then I have to be able to teach 10 eight year olds how to do it… PLEASE HELP ME!” So the nice lady told me what to buy and what to do, I took home my supplies and thought to myself, “Well, this will be interesting.” ENTER: My Fairy Godmother, Jessica… She shows up, reminds me that her whole family is crafty and full of cake decorators, we bust out all of our supplies for a practice run, she and the girls have a blast, and I will sleep better now that I think I know what I’m doing for the party. (And Jessica offered to come to the party and be an extra set of hands… Fairy Godmother.) So here are a few shots from our morning. We used like half of our supply of frosting I’d bought for the party, but it’s all good. It was well worth it. Thank you, Jessica… you have saved the day!

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Posted on August 17, 2011

“Miss Amy” has become a household name around our house. I first met Amy like 8 years ago, way back when Austin and her daughter, Cassidy, went to the same preschool. (And yes, I’m having a hard time accepting that Cassidy is in Junior High now…) All these years and two more kids later, Caroline had the joy and privilege of having Miss Amy as her teacher for her last semester of preschool. For having to jump in and take over two classes of 4 & 5 years olds with like a week’s notice, she kicked some serious butt and did an amazing job! She stepped in for her mom, who has been a legend at our preschool for over 25 years and has some  pretty big shoes to fill, but Amy made it is seamless transition for the kids, who instantly fell in love with her! In addition to getting these kids ready for Kindergarten (and quite well, I must say, since Caroline kicked butt at her Kindergarten Screening… Thank you, for that, btw!), her other skill and passion is Wine Making (and she makes good pizza and margaritas, too!). So before she headed up to Napa Valley to return to her life’s calling, her mom wanted to get some shots of her two main ladies. I love the Mother~Daughter bond between these two. It cracks me up that they’re almost the same height, but aside from that, you can tell from a mile away that Cassidy still totally looks up to her mom. Soooo cute! Thank you, Heller Ladies! I will miss seeing all three of your faces this fall!

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Posted on August 4, 2011

Where does one shoot a family of 17…? I asked myself that question for several weeks before we settled on a location. I have to say, I was a tad anxious about the sheer quantity of Fritzes and what in the world was I going to do with them all. But as they started arriving, everyone relaxed and already having fun, (and Grandpa with an ice chest full of cold water bottles for everyone – thank you, for that, btw…), my fears subsided somewhat and we just got down to business. And for a group that large, they made it a lovely afternoon! Not only are they all adorable, but the kiddos were charming and the adults were compliant (well, most of the time!). And between putting Grandma up in a tree and trying to think of ways to pose them all, I honestly wasn’t sure what we were gonna get… but I think we did o-kay. Here are just a few more…

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