Family Fun - Austin Child and Family Photographer

So I started this session off on a funny note. I pulled up to the capitol and sat in my car finishing my coffee. Through the trees I saw a couple of people running around the capitol building. "Hmm" I thought, "I didn't know people ran at the capitol much." I mean with Lady Bird Lake so close and all, I thought people mostly ran there. Then I saw several more people run by and thought maybe it was a group running at the capitol together. Yeah. That's it. Good uphill/downhill training. By the time I got out of the car and up close to the building there was a throng of people running past me. Haha. Silly me. I was right in the middle of the Silicon Labs Austin Marathon Relay. Lucky for us, the capitol grounds are BIG and we were able to avoid the marathon madness, but I did have a good little laugh at myself. Yes. For the most part, people don't run at the capitol.

Here is a sneak peek for this lovely family -

Portrait Session Giveaway - Austin Family Photographer

*** Special Announcement ***

I am giving away a family portrait session.

This is going to be an opportunity for YOU, my faithful blog readers to get involved and to gift someone you know and love with a family portrait session. All you have to do is leave me a comment on my blog or facebook fan page and tell me WHY the person or family you have chosen is most deserving (you can write more than one if you can't choose). I will be selecting (with a panel of judges) the winner based on your nomination, so please put a little love and thought into it. There are no criteria other than the fact that you think they are worthy - maybe they have had a tough year, maybe they've given a lot to you and you want to bless them in return, maybe they are just AWESOME and you love them a whole lot.

Please submit your nomination in the comments section of this post.

The deadline to submit your nomination is October 5th.

For the sake of privacy please refrain from using names.

I will contact you to get the nominees information if they are chosen.

Happy Monday!

Dorean

yummy baby toes - Cedar Park, Leander Child Photographer

**Warning - if you are trying to avoid the desire to have a baby, don't look at these pictures. ** =)

Yummy baby toes! I love how she crosses her ankles when she sleeps. So cute!

And yes... her little pants are highwaters. I missed them when I was switching out her clothes to the next size. We will just call them capris.

Happy Friday! Have a great weekend!!

Baby Girl's Birth Announcement - Cedar Park Photographer

Yes, that's right. I FINALLY got Aubrey's birth announcements done and in the mail (well, most of them at least). What? What is that you ask? How old is my daughter? Ehh... that's not important. What's important is that I will have a birth announcement to put in her baby book. ;)




Please don't laugh when I tell you that this is not Aubrey's original birth announcement. I had designed one a while back, but never got it printed. After MONTHS had gone by, I decided that I needed to update my picture. Here is the original....

It is hard to believe she has grown SO MUCH in such a short time. Sweet baby girl.

Happy Tuesday!

Dorean

Learning Fun - Austin, Cedar Park, Leander Photographer

As Adalyn gets older, I find myself having to become more and more creative trying to entertain her. She is pretty much a mama's girl and likes to play with me - NOT by herself. We have started doing craft time every day and I am always looking for ways to make craft time a learning experience. One of my super awesome clients (and my #1 Facebook Fan) shared a wonderful website with me recently. I have gotten lots of great ideas from this site, so I thought I would pass it on to all the moms who I know are in my shoes - trying to find something entertaining to do with their kiddos.

The site is: http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/

One of the things I have started doing with Adalyn is picking a "letter of the day" (she loves Sesame Street so this is right up her alley) and we do a craft around a word that starts with that letter. It has really helped with her letter recognition and her ability to say names of lots of letters.

Here are a couple of pictures (taken with my point and shoot - mama doesn't have time to get out the big camera) of our recent crafts.

What are YOUR favorite learning and craft idea websites??? Please leave a comment and share as I am always looking for new ideas. Stay tuned for more learning websites to come.

Happy Wednesday!

Dorean

Dorean Pope Photography - Happy Labor Day - Cedar Park, Leander Photographer

We just got back from a weekend trip to east Texas. We were off to a family reunion. It was a good visit, but it was very (emphasis on very) short on sleep. Traveling with small children is a whole new ball game. My new little monkey, slept just fine. She was a champ and actually slept better than usual (six whole hours all at once). Adalyn, however does not sleep well when she's in a new environment. The little stink went to bed at 8:30 and slept until 12:30 - she woke up in a strange bed, in a strange place and couldn't go back to sleep. I can understand that. However, you would think she would wear out after not too long and fall back to sleep - she had a LONG day playing hard with cousins and only about a 45 minute nap in the car. Really, she should have been sound alseep. Instead she decided to lay there and play and talk and pick her toes for FOUR HOURS!! The little stinker didn't go back to sleep until 4:30 in the morning. MAN, it was a long night. I don't know about you, but I am a BIG fan of sleep. Oh the misery of laying there with her wide awake talking and playing. I have never been so thankful for three measley little hours of sleep... three because that is all I got. She woke up again at 7:30 when the dogs started barking. ugh. stupid dogs.

Anywho, I hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day weekend and that it is more restful than mine. =) In the mean time, if you have a minute enjoy this video of Adalyn making some funny faces. She loves an audience.

Dorean Pope Photography - And Baby Makes Three - Austin, Leander, Cedar Park Maternity Photography

This beautiful mama is about to add baby boy number three to her family. She has her hands full for sure, but she does it with a ton of grace and poise.

You guys have a beautiful family! I had a lot of fun with you and will definitely be visiting Einsteins again soon for more of that yummy chocolate chip "thing" you introduced me to. Ugh. So good!