Months ago I had the privilege of photographing twin boys,

so if you are in need of a little baby fix…

enjoy!

Thank you to the wonderful family for allowing me to share some of your special memories…

Can’t wait to photograph you all again next week!

Do you ever  just look at your children and marvel at what a blessing and gift they are?

Today while I took these photos, that is exactly what I was doing…

Thankful in so many ways for my two little peas in a pod, my two little

(or I should say BIG)

blessings from the Lord!

Ben with his larger then life personality, big laugh and big heart…

And my little daisy girl Mia, whose sweetness and smile bring me so much joy!

Take a moment to soak in the blessings of your children today!

Every single pregnancy and baby is special, and full of excitement and wonder…..but there is something about waiting for #1 that is filled with so much anticipation!  I remember waiting for our Ben (whom we didn’t know was a Ben at the time) I went 8 days past my due date and thought I would be pregnant forever!  I remember looking at our baby’s fresh clean clothes waiting to be worn, walking past the nursery and looking in at the empty crib a hundred times a day, just waiting and waiting to hold my precious baby in my arms, and not in my belly anymore!  I would wonder what our baby’s gender would be, what he/she would look like…dark hair?  NO hair?  And the list goes on, needless to say I was very excited to become a parent!

Which brings us to Jerry & Steph, a really wonderful couple that attend our church (Harvest Bible Chapel, York Region)  They are awaiting the arrival of their first little baby!  Steph was looking for some simple maternity photos, that were modest and helped her to remember her pregnancy and that beautiful belly she has been carrying around for almost 9 months!  We met in an outdoor location on a gorgeous sunny evening, and started to snap away.  Jerry and Steph thank you for letting me capture this special time in your lives, I know you will be amazing parents, and “baby bee” is so very blessed to be coming into the Bolton fam, soon to be 3 members!

Here are some of my faves from the shoot, Steph you are glowing and so very pretty!!  Jerry was looking great too, he has that “New Dad” glow!

This time exactly a year ago, I was due with our second child…I was pacing up and down the stairs trying to get my contractions going so I could meet our new baby…we didn’t know if we were having another boy, or a girl, so there was much anticipation.  Mia’s delivery was fast and intense (oh how I wished that epidural would have worked!) And you can imagine how thrilled I was when my hubby looked at me and said “It’s a GIRL!” I had to have him tell my twice!  The second I saw her I was beaming…with love and joy, and excitedness of the years ahead raising a little girl.

Mia Grace Estelle is our little “daisy” (nickname), full of smiles, giggles, cuddles, and sweet little words.  She is a gift from God, and has brought us so much joy!  On her dedication day Pastor Paul spoke about the meaning of her name “Mine”,  and how she was not “our’s” but God’s…God calls her “mine”.  I am thankful that Mia is in God’s hands, she is His, and that gives me great peace and contentment.  Our prayer for her is to continue to raise her up to know the Lord as her personal saviour, to serve Him, and love Him, whatever she does.  I pray that she would keep her sweet spirit of love, and share that love with others.  She is always ready to toddle over and give her Mommy or Daddy a hug, or lay her head down on our shoulder when she is tired, she can hold her own when it comes to Ben, and is so tolerant of his teasing and rough play.  She loves to smile and meet new people, I can already see what a big heart she has!

What a great first year we have spent with our darling little girl, and so much joy she has brought to us and her big brother Ben.  I can’t wait to watch her grow through the years, and see the person she will become.  We love you Mia Grace, and we love having you as part of our family!  Here are some photos from today (her “technical” last day as a baby)  that I would like to share, as you can see she is one smiley, happy little girl.

Happy (almost) Birthday little girl!

It’s time to announce the winner of the “Blankets for my Buddies” giveaway!!  No delaying we will cut right to the chase….by random selection the winner IS…….

#5 commenter BETH who wrote:

“Julia these are beautiful! Shelley, you do an amazing job at your pictures!”

Thanks Beth, and I know your little Jessica will LOVE having one of these gorgeous tag blankets to snuggle up to!

And here are a couple fun photos from a wedding I recently attended for my good friend Mary Beth…

I could use one of those cupcakes right about now!  (made by the talented Heather Hennig, who makes AMAzing cakes & cupcakes, so if you are looking for a cake maker she is your gal, you can look her up on my FB or ask me for her info)

Thank you to Julia from “Blankets for my Buddies” and  Congrats to Beth on your winnings….keep checking back for more giveaway’s…..hmmm what will it be next!  Have a great night everyone!!!

I am thankful to have so many talented friends around me, and so with all this talent going on I thought it would be perfect to start doing some fun blog giveaway’s, because apparently according to my hubby and “Google Analytics” I actually have blog readers!  So I think it’s time I start saying THANK YOU to my readers for all their great support!!!   So here we go!

Our first giveaway is from one of my very talented awesome friends Julia.  Her business “Blankets for my Buddies” makes hand crafted taggie blankets with the softest material and sweetest designs.   Mia was given one of the larger blankets and it is SO soft and warm and she loves it!  We also have a smaller one clipped on to her stroller so she has something to play with and comfort her during walks.  I love the tag blankets from “Blankets for my Buddies” and I am SURE all the little ones in your life will too!  Here are a few of Julia’s photos so you can see what they look like…..

Blue for boys and pink squares for the girls, there are solid pink colored ones as well…

So in honor of all my wonderful blog readers who keep coming back to check up on me, I am going to be giving away a cute & cozy  tag blanket to one lucky person!  ALL you have to do to enter the giveaway is leave a comment here on this blog post, and after a few days I will announce the winner who will receive a “Blankets for my Buddies” tag blanket (blue or pink, your choice!)

And if you don’t win, one of these blankets can still be yours, Julia is currently selling them for a great price!  They are such good quality and a unique gift for your little one, or someone else’s!

The bigger blankets are approximately 13 x 10 inches  - $20

Smaller blankets are approximately 9 x 9 inches  - $15

The material is polar fleece and has already been pre-washed. There is no special way to wash them, other than to keep velcro away from it so that the ribbons do not fray.

They appeal to many of the senses (touch, see). Each blanket comes with a teething ring on it – as featured in the photos.

Great for shower gifts!!!

If you are interested in purchasing one you can contact Julia at juliamorton_9@hotmail.com

Thanks for checking out my blog today, your support and comments mean so much!  And I can’t do a post without some photos so I leave you with these… a sweet little girl I met yesterday…

Don’t forget to leave a comment so you can be entered in the giveaway!!!

This is less of a photography post and more of a family post…if you are into family and fun then proceed!

After a wonderful good friday service at our church this morning I read something really true tweeted by someone saying, remember: Today we don’t morn Christs death but rather our sin that CAUSED his death!  Jesus gave his life for me, so that I could be redeemed from my sins, and not just for me…for every one!  I pray that this message would be passed on to Ben and Mia as they grow and learn more about God and the sacrifice he made.  One way I do that is by reading bible picture stories to them, Ben is becoming more and more interested in stories from the bible and about Jesus, and that makes my heart happy.  I will just keep reading those stories and praying that God would plant a seed in his heart one day soon.

This afternoon we decided to do a little easter egg hunt, to enjoy the beautiful sunshine and make some fun family memories….here are some photos Chris and I took from the day…..

Ben showing off his loot…

showing Mia how to pick up the eggs, she was a little timid…

Mia’s first Easter, cutest little bunny around…

Mia with Daddy looking down at her basket with anticipation…and Ben being a HAM down below…

Sunny picture of our family…..Every day I get to spend with my family, just the four of us is such a huge blessing, and I look around at them and am so thankful for the gift they are to me from God.  My hardworking, loyal husband, my fun loving exuberant little boy, and my sweet and beautiful little girl, what a mix

My very first photo shoot a few years back when I was just starting to get more confident in my photography was an engagement shoot.  I loved the premise of the shoot, which was showcasing a guy and a girl who were freshly engaged and in total love with one another.  The holding of hands, the arm around a waist, the deep look of love and anticipation in their eyes, and of course some smooching.  Thanks Leanne & Kevin, for being my guinea pigs for my first “real” photo shoot!  Actually you can see their pics from that very session here on my blog, I posted them way back in the summer.  After that first engagement shoot I was hooked!  I couldn’t wait till the next one was booked!  Now that spring is finally approaching and the seasons are changing I am gearing up to book some more engagement sessions, and I am excited about it!  Here are some of my faves from previous shoots…….

And in honor of the outdoor photography season fast approaching I am offering a deal, the first 3 couples to book engagement sessions will receive a free 8×10 print of their choice from the shoot, and 10$ off the session fee!!!  Sounds pretty good to me!!  Contact me at shelleysomers@gmail.com to check for available dates, I look forward to hearing from you!!!!

5 years ago today, I was a brand new bride, glowing, and standing beside my new husband with a grin on my face…our wedding was beautiful, simple and sweet, and on a beautiful sunny winter day with snowflakes softly falling to the ground, picturesque I would definitely say.  Planning that beautiful wedding wasn’t my very favorite thing in the world to do (I wasn’t one of those girls who had dreamed of her wedding day since she was 5) I just wanted to be married, and to start a life with this wonderful guy I had met 4 years prior to our wedding date.  But the actual day turned out to be so wonderful, and I look back on it very fondly.

My 5 years of marriage to Chris have definitely been an adventure, between moving 5 times (including a BIG one where we lived in the Adirondack mountains of NY for 2 years) and two lovely children, we have kept busy and blessed.  Chris has had a passion to be in ministry since the day we met, and I consider it a privilege and my ministry to come along side of him in support of that desire to serve.  We long to live our lives for Christ and his will for us, and we try our best at that each and every day.  We long to be good parents, bringing up our children in the word and with lot’s of love.  We have similar hopes and dreams for our family, and we long to see them come one day.

I am so thankful for my husband, and I can see why God had us meet all those years ago.  Chris knows all my quirks and even though they drive him nuts sometimes, he loves me anyhow, and I am thankful for that.  I know that I have that love and support from him whenever I need him, and I am so blessed with his love and loyalty.  He has never held a grudge and has always been the first to come give me a hug or hold my hand (even if I am not ready for it!)  He takes care of our family and is so hard working for us and the Lord.  He has been spending time the last 6 months or so learning guitar and I am so proud of him for it, he is really getting the hang of it, and I am so glad he went for it and tried!  He’s a go getter that’s for sure, and he has always kept our lives full of surprises and opportunity.  I look back to when I first met him almost 10 years ago and I see how far God has taken us already, I am so thankful and blessed, and I look forward to what is to come.  I know that he will be there with me, holding my hand as we keep on going through this life God has given us.

I woke up to these flowers on my kitchen table this morning, and was thrilled it’s the little things that really get me.  Thanks hun for a wonderful first five years of marriage, I love you.

We go together like peanut butter and jelly…

So…today I had a little fun with Mia’s hair…she is almost 10 months old and already WALKING, yes that’s right….both my kids have been “early” walkers, I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not!  We used to joke that once Ben started walking at 10 months old, we never saw him again but alas we did, and we DO see him, just in faster paced intervals.  Somedays it feels like Mia’s “babyhood” is flying away so fast…and then other days I cuddle her in my lap watching her have her bottle and I know she’s still my little baby.

From the day she was born Mia had a full head of hair, then a lot of it got rubbed off from sleeping…and then it grew back and has kept on growing ever since.  I decided to try out some pigtails a few weeks ago, but it wasn’t quite long enough in the back and sufficed to say it wasn’t her best hair day.  So I tried again today, and you gotta understand that after having a boy first I have been literally WAITing to get my hands on a little girls hair!!  So I was quite pleased when I saw this….

Pigtails!!!  To me this is a monumental moment in a little girls life….FIRST pigtails!!   So yes I had to document it….Here she is (above) handing me back the brush, with a cheeky little expression to boot

Our little sweetie, we just love her so much…she has brought SO much joy into our lives….the first thing Ben asks for when he wakes up (other then wanting to watch Mickey Mouse clubhouse) is for his Mia!  He just can’t get enough of her either, and he is a VERY good big brother (rough at times, not really realized that Mia can’t wrestle yet, she can hold her own though!) But if anyone is getting too close to her that Ben doesn’t really know he’ll stand up and say “That’s my baby sister!” it’s like he is staking his claim on her.  Very sweet to see them together….here is one last photo of the two of them……

All I can say is how thankful I am each and every day for God’s blessings…..