Family Pictures with the amazing Mia Reed

Mia Marisa Photography

Mia has taken our family pictures for 5 years in a row. It is wonderful to see my family grow through her lens. We count our lucky stars that we get to continue this tradition with her.

We take a lot of pictures as a family so when we hunker down for professional pictures, I like to do something more than ordinary. Be it a new and awesome location, a theme with what we wear, or bringing out the fancy threads. This year, we met at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. There's a dress I bought last year to wear to a charity dinner that I didn't end up going to. I hadn't had a chance to wear it and thought it would be fun to theme our pictures around the dress.

I took HeaBug to the salon where she got her first hair trim from our beautiful friend Rose! HeaBug LOVED the VIP treatment.

I got my makeup done by Lucy Starr at the M.A.C. Store in Cerritos. I showed her the dress. I told her she was free to go as dramatic as she liked. I told her where we were doing our pictures. And I sat nice and still. She did a great job, it was definitely dramatic and it kept freaking Mr. B out as we drove up to Santa Barbara. He said it was nice but I didn't look like the regular me (that was the point) and that he likes how I look everyday. Love. That. Man.

We didn't want to have everyone ride up in their nice clothes so we rode up comfy and literally changed in the car in the parking lot. A few elements that I'd originally thought of, I forgot to execute because we were a little frazzled. The light was quickly fading and though it was sunny our whole drive north, the clouds got a little fierce once we passed Sunnylands.

Mia is magic and talent though. This was a super fun shoot.

Love her. Thanks for these.

Reflections Art: Top of the Hill

J.T. entered into the National PTA Reflections Art program with another photography entry this year. Well it was really last year since entries are due in October.

Almost a whole school year later, we found out that he won the Award of Excellence (aka 1st place) for his division and category in our school district.

This is so exciting. He was thrilled!
This is his SECOND time winning this honor. Last year he won with a piece called "One Mile Shoes". Mr. B joked that he is going to have to branch out past taking pictures of shoes.

Here he is at the Reflections Event.

 

This is his winning entry. The theme was "The Magic of a Moment".

Last year, we went for a run together and on that day, he used my phone to capture this image. His artist's statement read: 

The magic of a moment is when you are climbing a hill and you finally get to the top. 

So young, so deep... sometimes.

 Congratulations J.T.

Our little Valentines

These cuties are too much. I had grand plan to make their Valentines this year. We had a day off from school but as busy as we are at work, they had to come to the shop with me. While I remembered to bring a few of my Valentine decorations from home, I did not grab my camera. Thankfully, my iphone is with me always and I love the different textures of our building at work.The results of our little impromptu 5 minute photo shoot are as follows.

Their Valentines turned out super cute. JT's said, "My heart's a stereo, it beats for you so listen close. Stay Cool Valentine, Your Pal, J" and HeaBug's said "Happy Valentine's Day! You're sweet! Love HeaBug".  These two are just too much. They have learned that it'll go by faster if they just smile when I'm taking their picture. The whole process was super quick. I took the photos with my iPhone, then created the Valentines with an app called Redstamp. I emailed the jpegs to myself the uploaded them to Costco. I ordered wallet sized prints and picked them up that evening!
Easy Peezy Lemon Squeezy!

Mr B and I long ago decided that we would reschedule Valentine's day to August 12. We figure flowers are more available and not nearly as expensive and it gives us a chance to get away just because.
We still celebrate the kids, heart shaped food, special lunch box treats and special Valentines. It's especially fun while they're so little.

Love Mrs B

JT and Mom run the hill

JT has advanced at AGA! Every six months, the kids are tested on certain skills and depending on which ones they've learned and how many they are able to complete, they can move up a bracket. It's a building block system so they cannot start leaning new skills without having mastered the prerequisites. We're proud of him, he's now a green star! A few weeks ago, it was Ms. Lorena's last day at the gym. My kids LOVE her! Like LOVE. She was HeaBug's first coach when she was an 18 month old mini-tumbler... at the mommy and me level.

JT has been running with me. We decided to tackle Signal Hill together while HeaBug was at gymnastics (about 3 miles), and he did so great. While up top, we had fun with my camera. The shot just below has to be one of my most all time favorite pictures. I just happened to be at the right angle and the sky was magical with the threat of rain and the promise of sunshine all in one afternoon!

We sure do love this little man. He is silly and intense and adventurous and bright and thoughtful and still surprises us. We see so much of ourselves in him. The good and the bad (and a little of the crazy hahaha). It makes us so happy that he enjoys being active and fit and healthy. We are so thankful to be his parents for sure.