Shameless rave about my favorite Photographer

Photos by Sweetpea Memories Photography

That's right, those are my adorable children, call me bias, but they are pretty darn cute.   Besides making candles and soap, one of my other favorite hobbies is photography.  I'm not as good at it as I would like to be, but I love to take pictures none the less. There are some talented photographers out there and I just love to look at all their work. 

I have recently fallen in love with a local photographer's work and wanted to tell everyone I could about her amazing abilities.  I took my kids to her for the first time in the spring of this year, and I was blown away by the quality, especially since I paid more for my son's pictures a few years ago at Target and didn't get near the quality nor did I get the amount of different poses.

Sweetpea Memories Photography is based in Burlington, Washington.  She has the cutest studio, and does a lot of outdoor shoots as well.  Shannon is a self taught photographer and has this amazing talent for capturing the personalities of each of her subjects.  She does everything from weddings, pets, to her smash the cake one year old sessions.  (yep your little one gets to get down and dirty smashing a birthday cake, and she captures it on camera, it's adorable)  Her sessions have a mix of candid and posed moments, and she is fantastic at letting the children just be themselves. 

See..that's his personality right there, and she was able to capture it on camera for me to remember always, who needs a video camera when you have such an amazing photo!

 I loved so many pictures from the photo shoot I had trouble choosing only 20 shots (that was my package).  For my package I received 40 pictures total on a CD with 20 different poses in color an black and white.  It's a very generous amount of pictures for the price. (for more about sweetpea memories pricing you can click HERE)

Isn't she talented!  So if you live in Washington (skagit/snohomish/watcom) and are looking for a friendly and talented photographer who is excellent with kids, you should definitely check her out.  She's AMAZING!

And of course my Bragging rights as a mom.....the pictures turned out even better because my kids are so darn cute!!

 

Information about Sweetpea Memories Photography:

Website: http://www.sweetpeamemories.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/SweetpeaMemoriesPhotography

A BitterSweet Mommy Moment

Yesterday was my baby boy's first day of Kindergarten. 

While I was very excited for him to begin this amazing journey, I cried like a baby.  I can hardly believe how fast the time has gone, and It feels like only yesterday I was bringing him home from the hospital.  He has grown into a such an amazing little man, and has taught me so much about who I am and the type of person that I strive to be.  As parents it's our job to teach our children, but in the end, it's our children who teach us. 

I have been so lucky to have the opportunity to stay home with my children, and I wouldn't trade anything in the world for the time that I have gotten, and the memories that we have made together. 

So of course we got to school, found his seat, and he promptly told me:  "You can leave now Mom". Wait, What? Since when did he start not wanting me around?  I guess it was bound to happen sometime, I just thought I would have a little more time.  It was quite the experience watching him from afar as he met new kids and actually listened to his teacher.  He made my heart swell with every smile and facial expression as he took in his new surroundings, everything was just so cool.  He saw the computers eventually and got so excited about practicing his 'computer genius' skills.  (when asked what my son wants to be when he grows up he states:  A Computer Genius.  Yep, that's my boy! 

He was excited to have his Best Friend in his class and mommy was really thankful that they ended up not getting seats next to each other. (Phew...that may have been disastrous)  As we took our tour around the school, did he want to walk with me...of course not...he wanted to walk with his "Best Girl Friend". 

Once we got home, he was begging to go back, and looking forward to his next day.  The second day will be harder for mom, as I will have to leave this time.  I think I will bring a box of tissues with me just in case. 

And even though it will take me some time to get used to him not being here with me, and I will miss him terribly, I look forward to hearing about his days at school and all the wonderful things he is learning and doing. 

It sure is a bittersweet moment watching them grow up.