Spring Break!!!

Took this shot at the beach today...what a stunning view. All the yellow daisies were in bloom and covering the hillsides. The kids had a blast and loved playing with cousin Amee. They spent most of their time searching the tide pools for sea-stars and shells. The waves where enormous and Amee (and myself) watched the surfers rip.

Bunny Eggs!!

The Easter bunny came today! Although the kids had an amazing day hunting for "bunny eggs" (as they are called in our house) things were not as I wanted them. As many of you know my mom was hit by a car on Monday and is still in the hospital. We celebrated our traditional Easter brunch but it was lonely without her. My mom is very outgoing and full of life. A room is always filled with her voice and laughter. Its was so quiet without her, so unsettling!!! After the kids hunted for eggs we visited her at the hospital. I brought her this pic of her three grand-daughters.

The Tar Pits!!

We spent this Sunday at the La Brea Tar Pits. Maddie is a big fan of "The Ice Age" movies and this was a chance to see it up close. If you have been before as a kid I can tell you that absolutely nothing has changed since the 80's...lol! However for the little ones, who have never been, it's a fascinating journey. Both my girls had wanted to see the enormous Mammoth and they weren't disappointed. Here is a pic of Maddie posing beneath him. The other skeleton is of a Saber-toothed Cat..very intimidating!

Extremely Sweet!!

Here is my little Miss Madison! Always silly and full of surprises. Things to know about her: Organizes a game of hide and seek at the drop of a hat, loves dalmatians and favorite pastime is eating ice cream!

THE CUPCAKE-INATOR!!!

Here is another cute one from the other day. Lauren is "my little cupcake".......so sweet and girlie! This shot is Lauren is showing off her muscles....whoa baby!

Together we go!

Here is another from my mini shoot the other day! The sun was beginning to set over the ridge. My girls are walking off together hand in hand! Cute huh?

Everyone loves flowers!

Spring has arrived and the flowers are blooming everywhere. The other day my friend Alex and I went to a local park to play with our cameras. The hillside was overflowing with yellow flowers and I couldn't resist taking my girls back later for a mini-shoot. Miss Maddie was "not in the mood" to have her portraits taken. I was bummed since I wanted pictures of them together. Well I gave in to Maddie's refusal since my Lauren was up for the shoot. As you can see they turned out lovely and I can't wait to frame them. The funny thing is that half way through Maddie got jealous of Lauren and wanted to be in the pictures too. Its great when that reverse psychology works. I'll share more of them later!

Little Cupid!

Here is one from my latest shoot. This little angel was born on Valentines day! It's very fitting that she is wearing wings, she was hitting everyones heart strings with her "Cupid" arrows. Gotta love that delicious deep red these roses have going!

The beauty of nature!

My husband and I went for a hike this last weekend. The weather was amazing and everything was so lush and green. ME.....Not wanting to miss an opportunity and LOVING to take pictures..... I had to bring my camera along! I wanted to share one of my favorites from the day. I like the haunting beauty of it!!

Make a wish!

Here she is, the birthday girl, blowing out her candles! We had a small party just family except two friends. Lauren chose a cosmic bowling birthday party....hence the blue glow! We had pizza, cake, bowling, and dancing...very fun! Everyone had a great time!

101 Dalmatians!!!!!

Disney re-released the original 101 Dalmatians Movie this month. They had a special showing at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood. Seeing as I live in a house with "Dalmatian lovers" this movie was a huge hit. It was Lauren's 4th birthday so after the movie we celebrated at the Disney Soda Fountain. Everyone sang her "happy birthday" and they gave her a special birthday button to wear. My Lauren, who loves attention, was very happy!!!

The Birthday Girl!!!

My little Lauren turns 4 years old tomorrow! Here she is with her cupcakes for school! As you see Maddie loves her little sister and will be happy to assist in any "cuppycake" eating!

OK just one more favorite!!!

I LOVED doing this session! A great family with a stunning little girl! I cannot wait to meet the new addition!

Beautiful Bellies!!!!

Heres are some more beautiful bellies to share!

Bellies everywhere!!!!!!

Yes, the preggo women are coming out of the wood work and I am very happy to be doing their portraits. I love the fun and spontaneous type of portraits that can come from a relax couple. I love to see how people interact with one another! The chemistry that is unique unto them. On this story board you see him trying to make her laugh and she is trying to keep a serious expression. Then she can't hold in her laughter any longer! Of course we have an adorable belly shot with both mommy's and daddy's hand on the baby belly. We will be seeing the little cherub baby next month. I cannot wait to meet her!

Silent Night!

Here is a shot of our Christmas Tree with all the gifts from Santa. We had a fantastic Christmas!! The kids were in absolute"gift-getting" heaven and their excitement never stopped. I received some wonderful gifts and so did Michael. All in all was another wonderful Christmas!

Anticipation is making me wait!!!

Anticipation is the best and worst part of Christmas. The kids are dying for Santa to come and they are getting antsy. Michael and I are on the other end and we can't wait to watch them open their gifts. Today due to freezing wind we were cooped up in the house. We broke down and gave the kids one of the DVDs we had bought them. Its was "Underdog" and Maddie was so excited she kissed the case...lol. Here is pic of the kids being silly by the tree today!

The Gingerbread House!

We have a annual tradition of making a gingerbread house. We don't do it from scratch but instead buy the kits from Costco. I love how each year the kids become more and more creative. This was the first year that Lauren was really able to put her own style into the house. She was all into decorating the gingerbread man and woman. She really did such a great job. Maddie is semi-pro at this and did great with her roof design. It was lotsa fun and I'm sorry to say pieces are already disappearing from the house...I wonder what little people could be nibbling on our house.....tee hee!!!

9 more Sleeps till Santa

Yeah we are counting down till the big happy guy comes. This is Maddies facial response when I told her how many days were left. She looks giddy in the photo and she was...lol!! Gotta love this age when they are totally into it Santa and you get to go along for the ride like your a kid again. Notice her new million dollar smile? Well it didn't cost a million but around 6 grand in dental work. They pulled out four teeth and did a bunch of work on the rest of her teeth. This is our reward for having a child who was very sick at birth. Illness and tons of medication effected her teeth. Yeah I know...with Maddie everything is always 10 times harder but YIKES!!

My Turkey Man!!!

For all who have been to our place for Thanksgiving you KNOW my Husband cooks up on heck of a turkey! It was so delicious and juicy...so good in fact that there were ZERO left overs. Not even some scrap for a sandwich. I wanted to share some pics from our turkey day!