It is time for New Year's Resolutions....

A YEAR!  It has been nearly an entire YEAR since I posted here.  I remember posting Rylee's 6 month session like it was yesterday.  I remember realizing back in July, when I was taking her one year pictures, that I hadn't posted anything since her last session.  I told myself then it was time to catch-up.  I put a post-it note on my computer with the words "Update Website."  Here we are another 6 months later and still no posts.

So where have I been??  I can assure you I have still been taking pictures.  I actually have 30 unposted sessions.  Babies, birthdays, families, a wedding and even a proposal.  I have kept my LIFEshots Facebook page much more up-to-date, but have neglected the website.  Once I missed a few it snowballed.  I don't want to just skip over sessions ... start fresh and just do better going forward.  I DESPERATELY want to have all of the sessions I have photographed documented in one place.  Not just for the clients, who I treasure so much, to have their images shared with others, but for me.  As a self taught photographer I am constantly growing.  Constantly learning.  It makes me cringe sometimes to look back at those early sessions from 4 years and 2 camera bodies ago, but it also helps me realize how far I have come.

Aside from the 30 unposted sessions, I have been insanely busy living life as a SAHM to my 3 kiddos.  ALL of which will celebrate a birthday over the next 7 weeks ... 7, 5 and 3!  When we found out we were expecting for the 3rd time (with a 1 and 3 year old), I remember talks on the couch with my husband after the kids went to bed.  Discussions of what life would look like when the tiny life inside of me was the age of our oldest then.  We had no IDEA what parenting semi-selfsufficient children looked like.  Fast forward and we are here.  All of those late night talks, dreams of what life would be like, are now our reality.  Life with 3 small kids is demanding. Exhausting. Exciting. Rewarding. Challenging. The list could go on and on.  But the thing I am coming to realize more and more is that life with 3 small kids is ... FLEETING.  I have taken fewer pictures of my own children this past year than ever before.  I have made a point to go out a few times and take some planned pictures of them together, but have fallen very short on our day-to-day life.  Thankfully my iPhone has sufficed somewhat in documenting our year.

So ... on this eve of 2015 ... I am making a few resolutions.  Aside from the typical "make healthier food choices and exercise more to lose weight", what I really want more than anything is to get back to LOVING photography.  To get back to photographing my kids just being kids, while I still have them home with me.  I am beyond excited to be a part of a year long photography project organized by my wonderful friend Carey, with Images By Carey Pace.  She is a master of lifestyle photography.  The Ordinary Everyday Project 52 will have us focus on weekly themes and photographing our families, telling our stories and documenting the little moments in life that would otherwise be long forgotten.  I have a feeling some of my favorite images of my children will be taken this year.  That thought alone gets me excited.

On a more professional note, I resolve to get caught up and keep the website up-to-date.  It will take a while to get there, but by the close of 2015 my goal is to have no backlogged, unposted sessions.  Fingers crossed.

In the meantime ... I leave you with a few recent pictures of my sweet babies.  The color ones are some of those "planned" pictures I mentioned earlier and were taken in early October.  The black&whites are some I took yesterday just because, and goodness can I just tell you how nice that felt.

Tabitha & Alyssa - Friends

My Husband's younger sister is a senior at East Carolina University.  While she was home for Christmas break she asked if I would take pictures of her and her friend Alyssa from school.  When I first met Tabitha she was only 5 years old, and I feel so fortunate to have been able to watch her grow into the beautiful young woman she is today.  As for the pictures, I love the series of black-and-whites at then end.

 

Josephine Just Because

Shepherd recently started Pre-School 3 days a week, which is giving Josephine and I a lot of time to spend together.  I have really enjoyed having the one on one time with her that I had with Shepherd before she was born, plus Shepherd is loving school!  Today I just LOVED what Josephine was wearing (I wish I had the whole outfit in my size), and Josephine LOVES Starburst, so I took the opportunity to bribe her with a couple pieces of candy for a few pictures.  She has the sweetest, funniest and most mischievous personality!  I love her to pieces!!  

 

The Johnsons LOVE fall!

I haven't put a post up with my own children since Easter, so I figured it was time. ;)  We absolutely LOVE this time of year, and recently took the kids to a local dam for some pictures.  I will have to admit that I was a little frustrated while we were there because they weren't cooperating and standing where I asked.  It is becoming harder and harder for me to crouch down to their level for "the perfect shot", and them moving all over the place only made it worse.  I finally just gave up trying to get the perfect beautiful fall background and just let them do what they wanted.  I am actually still very pleased with how they turned out.  

Johnson Baby #3!

My husband Alan and I are both the oldest of two children families.  Having come from such families, this is the way we always pictured our own family to be.  We found out we were going to be parents on June 8th, 2007.  Our son Shepherd Logan was born on January 31st, 2008, and we experienced a love that we didn't know existed.  Time passed, Shepherd got a little older, and we decided that we were ready for baby #2.  One June 8th, 2009 we found out that Shepherd was going to be a big brother! (yes ... exactly 2 years after we found out we were expecting the first time).  Josephine Abigail joined us on January 29th, 2010.  That same love we experienced two years earlier just multiplied and became even stronger.  We felt so very blessed to have a son AND a daughter!  Our family was complete.

It has been such a joy watching the two of them grow together for the last 18 months.  The love they have for each other makes my heart melt, and seeing them interact has been one of the greatest joys of my life.  With both of their birthdays being so close to Christmas, we have tried to make June 8th, "Found Out Day" a little special.  Basically it just gave me an excuse to get them a little present :).  June 8th, 2011 rolled around and Alan joked that it was time to find out we were pregnant again.  We were in agreement that we were happy with 2, but little did we know that despite our best efforts, I really was pregnant with #3.  It wasn't until June 20th, 2011 that we found out God had another plan for our family!  I have to admit that I was shocked/terrified/overwhelmed, and a little sad that our "Found Out Day" had been changed.

With both Alan and I being the planning/organizing type, this new information was almost too much to process.  It took me a couple of days to be able to even call our parents/sisters with the news.  (As a side note, my sister Alixe and her husband David are also expecting!  Alixe is due January 23rd with my first niece/nephew.  I am so hoping that having a newborn of my own will not put a damper on my first experience as Aunt).  

Having now had 3 1/2 weeks to get used to the idea of being a family a 5, we have accepted God's plan and are excited to enter this next stage of our lives.  We have even enjoyed talking about baby names once again :).  (Another side note, we decided before we ever had children that if we had a boy he would have my initials, SLJ and a girl would have Alan's [who is actually Jeffrey Alan] JAJ.  Again, I love the fact that we have been able to do both.)  We plan to keep this tradition going and have come up with a few names that we really like ;).

While I will admit that I am still terrified at the thought of having a newborn just weeks after Shepherd and Josephine turn 4 and 2 respectively, I am trusting in Him and reminding myself of Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."  I know that a year from now we will not be able to imagine our lives without this new little blessing, and I am so very thankful.

I love the picture with this post of Josephine wearing her "Big Sister" shirt for the first time.  I just hope she is still this happy about it in February. ;)

EASTER!

We went back to NC for Easter Weekend!  It was a FULL weekend to say the least.  More than just being full of things to do and places to go, it was full of family, friends and love.  Here are just a few of my favorite images of the 900+ I took.

Daddy's boots...

My husband's mother kept a pair of his cowboy boots from when he was really young and gave them to us when Shepherd was a baby.  By the time Shepherd was able to walk, his foot was too wide to ever wear them :/ ... Josephine however has tiny little skinny feet and they fit her perfectly!!  I decided last minute while Shepherd was napping to take Josephine outside and shoot a few pictures of her wearing her daddy's old boots.  It was REALLY windy, and our quick little photo shoot ended when it started to rain, but I absolutely LOVE some of the pictures I was able to get!

Birthdays!!

Being from NC originally, and having all of our family still live there, we decided to have the kids' birthday parties at our old church.  In the future they will have a truly combined party, but since it was Josephine's 1st we kept them more separate this year.  Josephine's party was "birdie themed" and from 2-4pm on one side of the fellowship hall.  Shepherd wanted a "Thomas birthday" and his was immediately following Josephine's on the other side of the fellowship hall.  All in all it went great, and the kids had a wonderful time :)

I also included the invitations I made for each of the kid's parties :)  

The Johnsons back in Jonesborough

I took pictures of the kids in Jonesborough TN when Josephine was 7 months old, and decided then that I wanted to come back for their birthday pictures.  Josephine turned 1 on January 29th and Shepherd turned 3 on January 31st!

The little white hat and coat that Josephine is wearing in several of the pictures was actually given to ME on my 1st birthday from my grandparents.  I had no clue that my mother had held on to it for all of these years, and when I was pregnant with Josephine she gave it back to me.  I have had it hanging in her nursery ever since waiting for her 1 year pictures. :)

Tis The Season!

I decided to go with grey and pink for the kids Christmas outfits this year.  I LOVED Josephine's little dress, so of course had to find something for big brother to wear that would coordinate for pictures. ;) 

Having just gotten my new camera at Thanksgiving, I was eager to play around with it, and what better to take pictures of than Christmas ornaments!

More random Shepherd and Josephine

I am with my kids ALL day EVERY day ... and I LOVE taking pictures! So needless to say I have THOUSANDS of pictures of Shepherd and Josephine (literally). Some events I feel merit their own post, but most I have grouped into a couple of random sets. This particular set includes our trip to the Fair in Gray TN, some of Josephine's 7 and 8 month shots, our trip to the beach Labor Day weekend with my family, Shepherd and our GREAT friends' from home little girl Dallas at the Farmer's Market in Greensboro NC and Halloween 2010.

 

Cupcakes!

Shepherd had started taking a real interest in helping in the kitchen.  I also felt bad that so much of our play-time together had been taken away over the past several months since Josephine was born.  One day while Josephine was napping I let "him" make cupcakes.  He did an amazing job and had a BLAST!

The Johnsons in Jonesborough

This was the first time that I actually took the kids to a specific location for the sole purpose of taking pictures.  I love the old time charm and simple beauty in Jonesborough Tennessee.