Everybody was kung-fu fighting

This sweet session was actually at the residential park in the middle of her neighborhood. And the family is moving so this session was also a sweet way to commemorate their time in this house. Hannah was a little under the weather but still was a cutie pie for our session, and then to balance that out, everybody started kung-fu fighting. I love families willing to just let loose and have fun, awesome.

Joy and Sweet Blues

Oh Miss Rachel, how I adore thee. Of course I did sort of take a shine to you when you were like 2 seconds old, so it's been a rather long love affair. I had to beat off the little old ladies who wanted to tuck you in their pocket and take your little joyous self home with them. You were styling today in the blues and greens, gorgeous and fun as always.

I ♥ Faces Week #26: Pets

Don't mess with Shirley.

See more Pets photos in competition this week at I ♥ Faces.



it's been a long while since I entered over at i heart faces, I am just so behind on many things, but my kids and I were looking at this particular photo in my personal/family blog archive, the day before the post popped up in my feed about this week's theme. As I am so far behind on my blog, I'm not entirely sure anyone has even seen this photo. This is my 11 year old cat Shirley, taken November 2009, Josh was feeling nasty from being in the hospital, Penny had H1N1, I was bored, so I went and pestered the cat. Don't mess with Shirley.








actually she was yawning, and I got lucky, but the first story is funnier.

His Way

You may remember, Nolan, not a big fan of the big giant beanbag I brought to his house for the session. So we let him decide what he wanted to do, and rolling aorund on this gorgeous area rug and laughing up at momma, was exactly what he had in mind. I think I like how his way worked out, even 3 month olds can have awesome ideas. And mom says she got the rug at overstock.com.

Pink and Petite

My fabulous little pal Avery. She's 3 now, hard to believe it's been 2 years since her momma first let me "officially" aim a camera at her for my second ever formal portrait session.
Happy Birthday big girl.

Dapper and Handsome

A few from the session with this handsome little man. He is just delectable.

Why??!!???

Why must you take pictures of me!?!
I just had to share this image. This session go off to a rocky start.

Henry Arrival and Newborn

Some of my favorite images from sweet Henry in-hospital "Arrival" session and and in home formal newborn session, with a very alert little guy.

Sweet Pea

My sweet pea niece was born this spring amd now that life has settled down and the announcements are out, I can share her 1 day old, and newborn session with you.

Picture Spring: Day 30, Receive and Give

Photo taken Thursday April 22, 2010 at 3:29 pm. ISO 200, SS 1/4000, f/2.5.
Choose a favorite image from the project and turn it into a gift.

I was so behind on this project and blogging it, and life, April hated me. I didn't have time to actually do something with any of my photos. I used this one to let you all know I was still alive, so I decided to use it again, this time without a watermark if anyone wanted to use it for a desktop or something. . .just don't sell it m'kay?

Picture Spring: Day 29, Gatherings

Photo taken Thursday April 29, 2010 at 1:40 pm. ISO 200, SS 1/2000, f/3.2.
Capture a bouquet.

Ok, I had to be a botany dork. Technically this is a bouquet, a gathering of flowers. It's a composite flower, it looks like one flower but is actually dozens of tiny flowers grouped together on one stem. There, you've been dorked for the day.

Picture Spring: Day 28, Charmed, I'm Sure

Photograph taken Wednesday April 28, 2010 at 9:51 am. ISO 200, SS 1/320, f/2.
Commemorate your favorite charm, necklace, or keepsake in a photo.

My favorite necklace of late, the antiquing in the letters has been sort of washed out from wearing it 24/7 in the hospital, including into the shower. Andy purchased this for me from The Vintage Pearl. I loved the necklace, but we also used it as a tool with Penny's hospital admission anxiety. She took an immeasurable amount of comfort in knowing I was wearing it, that I couldn't forget her if I tried, that she was always with me in my heart, and around my neck. When Josh doesn't feel well and I am snuggling him, he likes to rub the discs between his fingers as well.

Penny does insist her disc has to be on top, always.

Photo taken on top of Josh's security blanket, I thought it was fitting.

Picture Spring: Day 27, The Shape of Things

Taken Tuesday 4/27/10 at 2:21 PM. ISO 200, SS 1/200, f/2.8.
Allow yourself to discover a shape of delight, a surprise of spring--a blossom.

Unfortunately, laundry blooms always come back around here. I thought the swirl and the colors of the clothes had a little bloom to them.

Picture Spring: Day 26, Make a Wish

Photograph taken Monday April 26th, 2010. ISO 200, SS 1/100, f/1.8.
Take sometime to go on a dandelion scavenger hunt today, and its magic.

Because we unfortunately douse our lawn with fertilizer and the like, oh the suburbs and HOAs, we only had this one dandelion to be found. It was a wet and the fluff of it was sort of clumped together, but it still had magic in the setting sunlight.

Picture Spring: Day 25, Spring Board

Photograph Taken on Tuesday April 27th, 2010 at 1:57 PM. ISO 200, SS 1/125, f/2.8.
Find a shot that you love and let it inspire you and put a spin on it all your own.

My spring board was this shot by Elena Wilken. It's the kind of image that will make me a lifelong follower of her work, it just spoke to me. It took me a few days to be able to find the subject, and then the light to take this photo. My son was very curious and many of my photos had him in the background, but this one turned out quite lovely. And as this photo class was conceived, I truly enjoyed the experience of taking this photo.

Returning to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

Hey everyone out there. Just wanted to let you know that the "downtime" here at Circle the Sun should be lifting soon. April has been full of hospital visits and stays for my son, and then I went and got sick (bad plan), and the husband was out of town (directly coinciding with the former, yeah, really bad plan), and then more hospital time for the boychild (only one chemo week left to go, thank everything).

I, with clan in tow, am hoping to ease back into our version of normal this week (I'm scared of the laundry pile. . .it's. . .scary), and that includes some photo editing and returning emails! I can not express how much it pains me, the things that have slipped through the cracks this month, it has been a long mind-numbing haul.

For any of you that are curious, I have been keeping up with the daily photos for my e-class, they just haven't been getting posted, so I'll have those to share as well. And well, since I can't post without a photo, some happy sunshine for you all.



As always thank you for your patience and support, it means so much to me that so many of you are willing to put up with my often lack-lustre and spotty customer service while my family plows through the last of this second chemotherapy protocol. You all rock.

Picture Spring: Day 24, Love is in the Air

Photograph taken Saturday April 24th, 2010 at 6:10 PM. ISO 200, SS 1/80, f/1.8.
As a symbol of caring and connections, find a pair of something to focus on.


I had actually hoped to use some strawberries for the heart themed day but found another subject instead. These were the last two strawberries and I got 45 seconds to pose a shot before putting my son to bed. Unfortunately when I returned from his room, my subjects had been eaten. Would have loved to play with some different lighting, but they still make a lovely pair.