A New Family

Sometimes, I get to capture images of a new family because a newborn arrives. This week's new family is coming together through an upcoming marriage, and I was grateful to help document this equally exciting time.

Little Miss K has been a friend of our family for a few years now, ever since she started preschool with my younger son. It is fun to see her growing up into such a cute -- and spunky -- little lady.

Congratulations, D & C. I look forward to sharing your full gallery before I head off for vacation at the end of the month!

Happy Birthday to My Big E :)

Yesterday marked the third Clausen kid birthday in about 60 days. Yes, this time of year is busy and celebratory in our house.

Big E finally made it to 8. He had a countdown posted in his room for quite awhile, and he marked off the days as they ticked by. On top of that, he was psyched to plan out his entire day, starting from the minute he woke up.

Actually, he started earlier. He requested that his whole family sleep in a tent in the backyard on the night before his birthday, so that he could wake up to kick off his celebrations with all of us there. We obliged him... some of us happily, others only because he's our kid. The thing is, the waking up part didn't quite go as planned. It turned out that we woke at 5:30 a.m. to rain -- yes, rain -- landing on our faces. (We'd left the top of the tent uncovered so that we could stargaze before bed. Who would've expected RAIN in July?)

Anyway, we hustled the kids, our bedding and ourselves inside, and we wished him a him a happy birthday before asking that no one disturb us for at least a couple of hours. Personally, I was thrilled to climb into a real bed, as I'd been sleeping horribly in that tent. A camper, I am not.

Eventually, we all got up, and the celebrating commenced. There was coffee (phew), there were presents, and there was a pancake the size of E's head. No, bigger. I got photos of all of that, but I forgot to prep them for the blog, so instead I present THE PARTY.

It was a good time at the pool, with several of his favorite friends on hand. There were contests to see who could pull off the best bellyflop...



and pencil jump...



and land with the craziest splash (those are Uncle Tito's legs there)...



There were group jumps...





and a pinata...



that proved a little tough to bust open...



until Uncle Tito got involved...





There was family on hand...



and an AMAZING cake, made by our friend Amy VanBrasch...



and special buddies...



and this little -- I mean BIG -- dude had an all-around great time.



I can't believe another year has flown by. Didn't he JUST turn seven?

Beautiful Soul

Last week, I had the pleasure of changing up my routine by photographing a sweet girl shortly before her 11th birthday. My sessions have revolved around babies and toddlers lately, and they've primarily been indoors. While I'm by no means complaining -- I adore that kind of work -- it felt good to get outside and enjoy a pretty evening with an even lovelier girl.

A is such a gentle, beautiful soul. She has a passion for sewing and horses, among other things, and it was fun to hear her tell me about both. She loves her American Girl dolls, tree climbing and berries, and she was excited about documenting all of these things during our session. I felt honored to help her capture the essence of HER during this special time in her life. As her mom and I talked about before the session, it's all too fleeting.

This preview is much bigger than my usual peeks, but I couldn't resist sharing a more comprehensive look at this session and this special girl.







She styled the berry basket just for the session. :)













Just noticed that everything I grabbed and edited for the preview is vertical... I promise, I did shoot horizontally as well!

Serious Dudes

My buddies were here for their 9-month session yesterday, and they were quite serious about the whole thing. Serious, and seriously into playing. They weren't pleased when we tried to stop their play -- reaching, grabbing, rolling, crawling, chewing -- for photos. And really, who could blame them?

So smiles may have been hard to come by, but it was still fun to hang out with K & K and to capture their little faces at this monthly milestone. I can't believe that their first birthday is in sight. Time sure does fly.













See you guys again soon!

We Canoe, Can You?

We had planned to be out of town this weekend, but at the last minute we opted to stay home and enjoy some of the goings-on around here. It turned out to be a jam-packed weekend full of fun and friends.

We hit a SLO Blues game and a picnic in Sinsheimer Park. Then yesterday, we enjoyed a pool party complete with canoe races. The kids were psyched to participate and after dragging his feet just a little, Brian got into the spirit (helped by a beer and a friend) and helped them fashion not one but two canoes. Each Clausen boy prepped and then rode with a buddy.



Here are E and his pal T getting serious about decorating.



Miss F had her own things to do, namely crafts and getting her face painted again and again. She also had a buddy of her own.







Then it was finally time for the races. I thought about putting these shots into a collage, but that would prohibit me from the storytelling that is necessary to fully appreciate them.

First up, N & his pal B. These images are from their first heat. They were pumped at first, and in the lead. Then N got a little bit overwhelmed...







... and then downright scared.



But he rallied and they finished the heat.



Then it was time to watch E and his buddy race. Unfortunately, they got the less stable of the two Clausen boats. After a good start, it didn't end well.







Fortunately, they were no worse for the wear. Still very cute, if you ask me.



Then it was time for N & B to race again. The craziness of it all got to N again, and he had a mini-meltdown. Fortunately, B's dad talked him down.



(I should point out that at no point were we pressuring N to do anything. He would stop sobbing and then insist that he race again.)

Fortunately, it all got better from there. The littlest canoers performed like champs. Note the "tongues of concentration."





They were waved in by an excited Daddy...



And they beat three other lanes of much bigger kids. Way to go, boys!! (Brian is wet here from canonballing in celebration.)



I present the champs of SLOCC Canoe Races 2010:



And one more shot of my boys, post-race:



Seriously, we're not a very competitive family -- to us, it's really about getting in there and having a great time -- but I admit that it was fun to see the littlest dudes triumph.

I took many more photos this weekend, including several at the BBQ we hit after the pool party, but I'm going to give it a rest for now. Brian has the day off and we're going to do a little winetasting, I think. Woohoo!