post by leslie

Normally, May hits and my family shoots kick into high gear. But this year was different. I'm not sure why ... maybe because it was still freezing out? Until Memorial Day when it was suddenly 100 degrees? But May was slow for families. And then June hit, and here we are back in the rush. And you guys, I couldn't be happier!I've been doing a lot of online workshops on my family photography -- looking to expand and grow and make more images that aren't just "pretty," but that tell stories and make me laugh. And in the last few weeks, I've had so much fun putting those skills to work.Don't worry, I still try to fit in the "pretty" photos during my sessions. But these more real moments are the ones that I adore the most, so these are the ones I'm going to show you today. The first one up top speaks to my soul.Each and every day I take forty gazillion deep breaths as I ask *again* for Ezra to put on his shoes/brush his teeth/put on some pants/eat his food/stop teasing the dog etc etc etc. And I cannot even imagine the exhaustion that a mother of two or three or four (or in one case I know NINE) kids. But through it all, we have to keep in mind that parenthood is, in fact, just as hilarious as it is exhausting."Can you please stop touching the furniture with your butt" is something I heard at a shoot once and now I have caught myself saying. It is just unreal. So when I attempted to document a mother feeding her newborn baby and a Ninja appeared out of nowhere (he was in normal clothes just moments before) and began banging on the window for attention, I knew I had to capture that. Because these are the funny moments that are worth remembering.Below are some of my favorite family images from the past few weeks. Some are pretty, some tell a story, some just make me happy. I hope you enjoy them.Also, if you'd like to book your own family session (even for holiday photos later in the year), get at me soon. My weekends in Sept. and Oct. are almost completely booked.And now for some internet shares of the day:+ What you can do to fight Trump's policy on separating children from their parents at the border.+ Some beautiful travel photos to ponder.+ Currently brainstorming uses for removable wallpaper. I'm thinking about the basement or the backs of stairs...