a boy and his papa | Thirty photos in thirty days

We've had a wild time for the past week with a birthday party, trips to Durham, and lots of family in from out of state! Our little guy had some quality time with his Papa. Here are some photos of my dad doing "eye-winker, tom-tinker" with him. It's always special to see your parents play the same games with your children that they once played with you. (Has anyone ever heard of "eye-winker, tom-tinker?")

JaLisha ∙ School’s OUT ∙ Kinston Senior Portraits

I have to say, this girl’s got some skills! Not just anyone on a flag line can do her routine flawlessly with a toddler running circles around her.

JaLisha brought her honey, Aj and their little man along for the session. What fun we had! When JaLisha got out her flags, he wanted to do the routine right along with her.  I loved trying to catch the little guy smile. It’s infectious. You can see he got his daddy to smile, too!

JaLisha did the pose in the photo on the right when I told her to do something that was “her.” Love it!

Aj, thanks for coming along. I just love that we could get all three of you together for the session. I know JaLisha has been wanting to for a while. JaLisha, I am so glad this worked out! I can’t help smiling when I look at your photos. You have so much kindness and joy bursting from within you that it pours out. (Call me about next June ;)

Fourth of July Fun ∙ New Bern, NC

Fourth of July is a big day for our family, not only is it our country’s birthday, it is Josiah’s birthday. Yep, he’s a firecracker baby. So the theme of his party is always the same. Good thing he loves flag cakes! (Cute story: his older brother used to tell him the fireworks were all for his birthday.)

We celebrated with a gourmet picnic at Union Point Park in downtown New Bern. This year marks the 300^th anniversary of New Bern, so the city went all out. There was an air show over the river with a sky diver, a really fast jet, the Cherry Point Rescue squad, and acts from a flying circus including a wing walker and stunt pilots. It was amazing! Mckenna pointed at the sky and said “pla, pla” over and over. This year was also the first year that Mckenna could actually watch the fireworks. She was only 5 months last year. And she loved them! She sat very still and quiet except for when she said “oooo, ahhhh!”

We had such a fun time eating delicious treats, seeing an exciting show and hearing great music with our dear friends!

This cake is made from the Jiffy recipe for Shortcake (doubled) and whipped cream for frosting. Yum! Our friend Claire grabbed this photo of us. We hardly ever get a complete family photo!

If you look really closely at the lefthand photo below, you can see the wingwalker in the Super Man position hanging on at the front of the plane between the wings.

We loaded all our supplies and Mckenna up in the wagon for the hike back to the car.



Mckenna ∙ Children’s Portraits ∙ Emerald Isle, NC

Fields and barns are definitely my favorite places to photograph people. So when my friend Brandy told me about this field of flowers in Emerald Isle and invited Mckenna and I to join her and her daughter for a photo shoot there, I was determined to make time.

After rescheduling twice due to teething and inclement weather, we finally made it out on a very sunny late afternoon.  The girls did so great in the heat! Despite constant fire ant attacks, mosquitoes bites, and a late dinner time, we had loads of fun. We definitely laughed a lot! We even took a dip in the ocean at the end of the shoot.

I’d say the photos turned out quite nicely.

She likes to examine things very closely.

Belly Button! I don't think the hair is going to last much longer.

Nope!

Mckenna and Caroline made a few furry friends on the beach.

"Yay! I beat mom to the water!"



A fun visit! ∙ Family Beach Portraits ∙ Eastern North Carolina Photographer

Josiah’s brother and his family came to visit us all the way from Kentucky for a few days. Mckenna had a ball playing with her two cousins in the kiddie pool, at the beach and at Cow Café! We definitely crammed in a bunch of activities in those few days.

They did not have a recent family portrait and the beach makes an excellent backdrop. So, we made a day of it and headed to Flanners Beach on the Neuse. Because it was a weekday, we had the beach all to ourselves.  I got some special photos of little Emmie, too. Isn’t she sweet?!

Finley loves big construction machines!