Madelyn has been my neighbor since before she was even a thought in her mommy & daddy’s minds.  She came in to this world almost one year ago, and to celebrate the occasion, we went to Downs Park to snap some photos of the birthday girl (and mommy & daddy, too).

Maddie’s mom wanted to get one shot of her for a photo birthday invitation.  I thought, “Oh, that’s cool.”  But when Colleen told me about her idea of a collage of photos surrounding the “one photo” I thought, “Whoa, that’s an awesome idea!”

Well, we found “the one” shot, plugged it in to an invitation, and then agonized over finding only 12 more photos to surround it.  Maddie has been such a blessing and light in her parents lives that it was hard to pick only 12 photos representing their best year ever.

Here’s a sneak peek at their photo session and, if you’re good, and scroll all the way down, you can peek at her invitation too.

Happy Birthday Madelyn!

Ken Meeks has probably known me the majority of my life.  When my family moved to Maryland from Oklahoma, I was 8 years old.  We began attending a church in Arnold and it is there that we met the Meeks family.  My memory isn’t clear as to whether or not Ken & his family were part of the church in 1988 when we joined, or later.  But my memory is clear on the awesomeness of Ken’s voice.  I can remember listening as a child with awe as Ken would sing in church.  His voice was so clear, and powerful, and true.  It was an absolute delight to be able to listen to the gift that God gave him.

Ken recently contacted me to take some head shots for his musical career.  I have never done head shots before, and honestly didn’t really feel I knew what I was doing.  But Ken brought along his daughter Kayla, and between her lighting up the stage, Ken playing his music, and me trying to look like I knew what I was doing, I think we came out with some pretty good shots.  After you preview Ken’s photos, hop on over to his web page and listen to some of his wonderful music.  You won’t be disappointed!

I met the Johnson family through my daughter Emma’s preschool.  Amy and I had many conversations about location, clothing, and ways to make the girls feel at ease.  We decided on Quiet Waters park, casual dress, and LOLLIPOPS – giant lollipops to be exact!  Amy & Wayne got some awesome lollipops on their beach vacation and we pulled them out when the girls could take no more smiling.

We couldn’t have asked for a better day either.  The impending storm held off for us, brought nice cloud cover, and the park was giving free admission & a concert that day!  We only had one snaffu – Drew fell & got a boo-boo!  But she handled it wonderfully.  You’ll see the sweet photo I snapped of Amy cuddling her later on down in the post.

Thanks so much Wayne, Amy, Drew, & Kate for letting me get in your face with my camera.  I really enjoyed watching you all interact!  Here’s your preview…

Mommy makes it all better

Our littlest girl turned two over the weekend!  Brooke is officially a toddler as of 12:34pm on July 11th – free Slurpee day.  Thank you to all the family & friends who made it out to celebrate with us on Saturday.  We had a great time and Brooke really enjoyed all the things that you blessed her with.  She (and Emma) made Josh open them all after she got up from her nap later that afternoon.

And as happens every year around this time, Brooke has some doctor visits.  We’ll get her official “stats” in August on her 2-year check-up (I know, August!  Her doctor is that booked up!).  This week we’ll be getting her yearly chest x-ray, and next week we’ll be visiting one of her surgeons in Baltimore to read the results of that x-ray.  We’re praying that he’ll continue to once again see the glory of God through Brooke’s x-ray, lung growth, and recovery from her congenital diaphragmatic hernia repair.  I’ll keep you updated.

In the mean time, here are some quick photos I snapped of Brooke while my kind neighbor & friend, Laura, was keeping Emma entertained – thanks Laura!  I got a few smiles after some bribes with candy.  Happy Birthday Brookie!

Yeah, I know I spelled that wrong, but I’m trying to be hip since I just got to hang out with my way younger and way cooler cousins.

I love that my daughters have cousins that live so close and that are so close in age to them.  My cousins, however, are spread between different states and we’re all a wide range of ages.  This past week though, my cousins Laurel & Madison came to visit us from the great state of Minnesota and we had so much fun getting to know their grown-up selves!  My Emma fell in love with her “big girl” cousins!  Each morning she would arise early and bug me to call them and see what they were doing!  She even went so far as to write them a real letter after they left – complete with her name and many Ariel stickers!

We got to spend a few hours with them one morning in Downtown Annapolis to have some photos, fun, and lunch at Buddy’s.  Here’s a little sneak peak…