How adorable are these siblings? There was running and jumping and flowers and playing by the fountain on this glorious summer evening. I promise one thing, I don’t want anyone miserable at one of my photo shoots. If the kids aren’t having fun, then I’m not doing a very good job.

The lasts gasps of summer are bringing on all kinds of backyard shoots, including one for the dogs! Oh how I adore these pups. Aren’t they hilarious?

We recently started hitting the playgrounds again… finally.

We think it’s important that Ezra meet his new classmates in person (which he has SO MUCH FUN doing!) and it’s great to see him physically climbing and running and chasing all over the place (don’t worry, there is always hand sanitizer in our bags).

But the thing he’s been a touch frustrated about the last few weeks is that he couldn’t master the monkey bars.

Until last night! He finally did it and wanted me to take some photos. So here we are, after dinner, practicing the monkey bars. We were back at the park this morning before school to do it some more, and we’re going after school as well.

I never really liked the monkey bars, so this baffles me a little, but do you know what I do like? Watching my kid work hard to smash his goals. That’s what.

I had a blast meeting this family at a secluded spot near Minnehaha Creek. I bike along this creek all the time, so I consider myself to know most of the nooks and crannies of this area of town, but again, I’m wrong! I found all kinds of new spots around here, and I had a blast letting the 5 year old show me around. What a joy.

This is another one of those families where I started by photographing the wedding, and then the dog and then the baby and now another baby! Oh how I adore watching these families expand.

This shoot was super fun because there were a bunch of ducks everywhere that delighted the little girl, and the campus where we shot was just lovely.

Sometimes we think kids need big, motorized and bright plastic toys, when I’m constantly reminded of the joy that a water hose, a ball or some balloons can bring. Or how about a box? Oh my, boxes bring so much creativity out!

Anyway, this was a wonderful session a few weeks back where after some beautiful sugar cookies, the kids chased around balloons to burn off that energy. I also loved the mom’s skirt and how well it photographed for this session.

A few weeks back, instead of doing a backyard session, this family told me they had had a lot of joy this summer splashing in a local fountain at the park. So off we went!

This was a super fun shoot as this particular park is only 15 minutes from my house, and I had never even heard of it! I love discovering new local gems.

Anyway, as you can see, we had a wonderful evening.

This kid turned six yesterday, and it feels like we have been celebrating all week long. Which is fine, because lord knows we need things to celebrate these days!

Here are a few photos from Ezra’s birthday. It was pretty great, even though his mean mom made him do school like normal.