happy new year!

this was from a while back. i had wanted to capture a nice, classic, and clean shot of the girls. i think i did and love it.

but then our session evolved into something more candid, unplanned, and playful…

looking at them cracks me up. and love seeing kk try her hardest to do whatever big sister is doing.

different styles. different sides captured. which do you prefer to capture? candid or classic?

this makes me wish i was about three feet tall again.  so. much.fun.

spent a fun-filled morning with these kids.  this is a special sneak peek i know their mom will appreciate.  i was especially looking forward to this session when i learned they were a family of three girls like ours!  perhaps we will get to have one big girly playdate sometime.
love all those gorgeous deep brown eyes.  each girl has her own distinct personality which keeps it interesting!

Thought I’d take a break from the newborn photos and show some of my older two.  I have mentioned before here that I took up a personal photo project last year with another friend to make an ABC Book for my girls.

Well, I finally did finish it and am so happy that I did.  Aside from it just being a fun way to go through your ABCs, I love how it captured my girls through the course of a year – things they liked, places we went to, particularities of whatever stage they were in.  There is a story behind each picture.

I printed it through Asukabook, who did an amazing job.  And I was surprised, flattered, honored, when they made it their Book of the Month in January.  Thanks Asuka!  If you head over to their site, you can see the complete book. (i.e. here are a lot of images to make up for all the blog entries i have wanted to post but never did)

I also had smaller versions printed and sent to all the grandparents for Christmas, and it was a huge hit.  A perfect brag book.  I think they’ve all memorized the book by now. =)

And I am realizing time really does go by much faster the more kids you have.  Can’t believe it’s almost April, and I am blogging about a January occurrence.  And we one quarter into 2011 and I am still writing about 2010.   Yet for some reason, I still fool myself into thinking I will catch up on everything eventually…

my mom (“popo” to the kids) was here taking good care of us for five weeks. isabella waited for her to arrive before making her entrance into the world, and popo also got to stay long enough for isabella’s one month mark or 满月， which is a big milestone in Chinese culture.  (side note: we celebrated by going to Pizza Hut… very chinese, wouldn’t you say?)  we loved having the time to spend with popo, and we were all sad to see her go.  the girls all had so much fun with her, can you tell?

and i love this other shot taken the same day as it captures so much at once that is typical of our family.  kaylah is running towards me saying “bao bao” (hold me!).  meanwhile, hannah is in the background mimicking her sister – the two of them are constantly copying one another for better or for worse.  and then you have the many random bystanders staring (at a very close distance) at our crazy family that is running around chasing each other.  we are a great novelty here being now a family of five, but we’re learning to embrace the extra attention it brings… at least on some days.   =)

thankful (though also pleasantly hard to believe) that we get afternoons like this where we can all nap at the same time.

hope your Sunday has been a rest-full one.

this was from a session earlier this summer that i never got to post about.  it’s been lovely seeing these two grow up.  and i’d say these images exude happiness.  =)

Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

when i heard that baby sammy was born, i almost cried tears of joy.  this family has been down such a long road, it is incredible to celebrate this long awaited child.  going against all odds, he is truly and completely a miracle.

and you can see he is completely loved and cherished, as well…

s+d, i am so continuously happy for you guys.  it was wonderful to meet sammy.

it’s so much fun to just be with my girls.  these were casually taken on an evening out this summer. i like that my girls make me laugh for so many different reasons.

we all need some sunshine to brighten our day sometimes. it’s been raining all week, so it’s nice to pull up this picture and be encouraged to look to sunnier days ahead.
this lovely mom is also a photographer, and we got together to photograph each other with our kids.  it’s so nice to work with other photographers, as they are willing to go to as crazy lengths as you are to get a good image.  =)  this was towards the end of our (second) photo session/playdate.  the kids were expiring a bit, and we were unknowingly on private property… but the sun suddenly cast these beautiful rays and  i captured this.  loved it.
for those of you in michigan, check out sarah’s work.  she’s awesome!