Baby love

Had a session last week with probably my favorite thing on this planet we call earth: a newborn babe.

I love me the newborn slug. They are just like a little slice of heaven curled up on your chest. I could lose hours of my life cuddling a baby.

Have lost hours of my life, in fact.

And it's time spent that I never, ever regret.

Can't you just smell her yummy neck? Sigh...

Life is definitely sweet when one of these is around. Best wishes and congrats to the new mama!

Lord help the mister who comes between me and my sister

Internet, meet the adorable Miss H:

Now meet her beautiful sister, Miss A.

Are you in love yet? Because pretty much all it took for me was one look and I was sunk.

I had a session for some headshots with these adorable girls last week, and I just had to share some of my favs. I could not get over their expressive faces, their spunky personalities, and their radiant beauty. Loved meeting them.

By the time we were done, I wanted to stuff them both in my pocket and take them home.

But I didn't. Figured their mama would really miss their dancing (of which I was treated to a performance myself, and it's definitely most fantastic).

Thank you so much, darlings, for the best winter session yet. You two are going to be rock stars, I just know it.

Fare thee well, 2009

I am breaking radio silence here at Casa de Stie. (I know. Try to contain yourselves.)

We have had a lovely holiday break, and plan on making the most of the few days we have left. It has been just a fantastic week - lots of movies, books, games, naps, and food. The Husband has been TOTALLY off the grid. We have only ventured out of the house for movies, absolutely necessary grocery store runs, and church. It's been positively heaven. I could stand this life all year long.

Of course, my house would be a wreck.

But it'd be nice to live like this a little more often.

Today I have been pouring over my photo archives -- reminiscing and laughing, cringing and critiquing. And what I decided was this: 2009 was very kind to us. So much so that I find myself on my knees in gratitude and sheer wonder at our good fortune. We've had our challenges, as every family does, but we successfully wound our way through another year -- learning, laughing, crying, and loving.

Here, to ring in the new year, are the highlights from our family. In photo form.

Happy new year, indeed.

Inspiring others through my greatness

My brother Dan left a few comments on my post yesterday, which you really ought to click over and read (I think they're his best yet). He was greatly touched and inspired by the photo of the iPod resting gently in the sunshine. He said he could almost hear the soft music coming from the ear buds. He felt the human emotion that emanated from such a simple, profound work of art.

[Trying not to gag on my self-proclaimed importance here.]

In honor of that, I present you with a little iPod photo series. Shot and edited today just for my dear brother Dan. I felt that if the iPod was inspiring to him in such a simple presentation, then seeing the more complex life of an iPod would only lift him higher and higher.

And that is what I do, people. I inspire greatness.

Without further adieu, I give you the many faces of iPod. May it help to inspire you, as you set your own iPod down on the kitchen table of your life.

There. Wasn't that something?

You're welcome.

With Novembers like this, I could almost forget about the humidity of July

I know I have been MIA lately. Mucho apologies for that.

Right now, I am in the midst of losing a battle to bronchitis, which seems to have gotten the better of me at the moment. I am doing my best to yell my wants and needs to the children periodically, but the scratchy smoker-like voice I'm sporting makes that task near impossible. The sound of my squeaks and rumbles leaves them in a fit of giggles every time I try to talk.

So I've given up talking.

[Bwwaahhh. As if.]

Anyway, I found these pictures buried in the files today and wanted to share them with you. They were taken a few weeks before Thanksgiving on a dreamy, perfect Sunday afternoon in our backyard. We had a freakishly warm November this year, and hit into the mid-60s several weekends in a row.

I'm longing for the warmth of days like this, especially given that we're expecting the first snowfall of the year to hit sometime tomorrow.

Some of the people that live here are counting on a snow day.

Some of the people are pretty sure there isn't going to be one, and think that some might wish they'd done a certain homework assignment.

But whatever. I'm just the mom. What do I know?

So until we get to see the warm sunshine again, I leave you with these. Here's hoping they tide me over come February when I cannot remember what warmth like this feels like.

My Pennsylvanian People

As I mentioned a few weeks before, the Phillly Photo Phun Trip of '09 was an absolute blast (not counting the horrible hurricane-like weather that I was battling for half of it, of course). I got to meet some truly amazing families. I got to see some of the most beautiful children on the eastern seaboard. They trusted me, someone they did not know, to try and capture a teensy bit of their essence and record it permanently in picture form.

It was a task I was not sure I was up to completing.

But when you have subjects this fantastic, you can't really screw it up. It would take weeks to show you everything, but these are just some of my favs.

I have a few families that I cannot show you any pictures of until after the holidays, as some of their family members read this blog, and, well, we don't want to blow any Christmas surprises now, do we?

While I like to know each and every present I'm getting (and slyly pry open a box or two or ten every year before the big day), there are those who do not feel that way.

Grandmas of my Philly friends, take heart - if you can't wait until Christmas, I can be bought for the right price...

KIDDING! Only kidding.

Sort of.