J Cooper Photography

1. Yesterday my sister was in town for the day. We met for a quick dinner before she headed back home. Over chips and salsa I jokingly suggested to her that my girls should come home with her for the week. The next things I knew, I was rushing home to pack up their little suitcases for “Aunt Camp”. An hour after dinner they were all buckled in and driving down the street ready for their new adventure…and I started missing them immediately. It’s quiet here. I’m hoping to get a few projects started while they are off having a blast. This morning I woke up missing the little pitter patter of feet, missed fixing waffles with tall glasses of milk, and missed their crazy bed heads snuggling me on the couch! I took a quick snapshot of them waiting by the door with all their overnight gear (I didn’t take the time to set up my camera…just grabbed it off the table so the settings are all funky…but the sentiment is too sweet not to share!)

2. Sam is TOTALLY into books. They are his new obsession. He carries them everywhere around the house and loves to sit and “read” them. I am dying to get a video of him babbling away with one of his books. He has the cutest little sing-songy voice that he does whenever he looks through the pages. At bedtime he goes immediately to his bookcase to pick out a book. He pulls one down, looks at the cover (he even scowls his little brow like he is really contemplating the title of the book)…and then throws it over his shoulder. He’ll do that several times before he finds one that he likes. Then book in hand, he scootches his little bum toward you saying “uh-uh-uh-uh”, until you pick him up and read to him. I’ll never get tired of cuddling him with a good book!


3. I decided to try my hand at making some hair flowers this week. I normally buy them from vendors on etsy but I was in a hurry to get a few different colors made up. Kind of a fun little project. I’m not sure mine turned out as great as the ones I’ve ordered but I think they’ll pass Now that I know how, I can continue to expand my ever-increasing stash

4. I realized last night (about 30 minutes after the girls left) that our family pictures with this amazing photographer are going to be hard tonight Can you believe I did that? I ran through the weekly calendar in my head before I let the girls out the front door and completely forgot about our session. Talk about feeling like an idiot!! Hopefully we can re-schedule as I was SO looking forward to our session.
5. Last night we pulled some cabinets off the wall in our basement. We are working on doing some re-arranging in our house. An attic space next to A’s room is getting framed this week to become a new playroom for the girls. We’ll also have storage space up there which will free up our store room downstairs. All of my sewing stuff will move into the old storage room (after we get it finished). Then my old sewing area will become a new family room (after we buy a couch). Kind of a big bummer when we ripped up the cabinets to find there was NO CARPET under them…OUCH. Not sure what we are going to do about that…that wasn’t part of the master plan!

Hoping for lots of productivity in the next few days before I go pick up the girls. I promise to share my progress

I had my mom here this week. Really great. We shopped, ate lots of chocolate, dreamed up some fun plans for our house, played with the kids, went out to eat, and swam at the pool. She left this afternoon and I am already missing her.

Sorry about the lack of posts this week. I know some of you have been highly bored with my blog (I’ve read your emails!) I promise to share a few more things over the weekend! Just soaking up some quality time with my main gal

Pretty amazing to have a mom who is also your best friend.

A few weeks ago we were out driving around after a photo shoot and noticed 2 large hot air balloons sailing low in the sky. My husband (always the adventurist) quickly drove after them in pursuit. I stopped the car several times to try to get a shot of them as they floated just over our heads. We spent a few minutes following them until we realized that they were landing in a field just behind our neighborhood….so off we went…and we made it just in time to see them land!

The lesson wasn’t lost on me. I was completely mesmerized by the size of the balloons, the depth of the baskets, the ferocity of the flame which kept them off the ground….yet in the sky…it all seemed so effortless and easy.

We’ve been floating. Carried along by a current…unsure of our next move. But I think we are ready to land.

After 3 months of listing our house, showing our house, house hunting, house dreaming, and house decorating (mentally at least)…we lost the house. And then the floating began. What do we do next?

So we have decided to land…take a look around at the beautiful scenery right in front of our eyes…and be content with the bounty of what we already have.

We are getting pretty excited about the opportunities we have to improve our current home. We are looking into an addition that could house a small photography studio, working on creating a small playroom for the girls in an unfinished attic space, and clearing the toys from the basement so that our family can really enjoy some evening times together.

Glad we’ve finally landed on some decisions…and ready to get moving again!

Thanks LACEY…loved all the suggestions. Some of my most favorite old fashioned names popped up and it was so hard to choose just one. But Charlotte seemed to fit…and I loved the literary tie-in…so Charlotte it is And did I mention I now have the matching chair? Oh I didn’t…I guess I forgot that sweet little nugget…yep…got the chair….sigh…so in love!

Lacey…can you send me a quick email with your address so I can send a little surprise in your direction?

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July celebration! We took a quick out of town trip to my sister’s big pink house. Lots of food, kids, and laughter. The kids had a wonderful time getting lost in the 3 story house and the grown ups did a fair amount of stuffing our faces and laughing until our sides hurt. All in all…it was just about perfect. Except for the 3 solid hours of crying Sam did after we tried introducing whole milk to his diet. That part…well…not so pleasant.

I had a fun time playing around with my camera during our little fireworks display. This is what you get with a ridiculously low shutter speed aimed at a cute 4 year old with a sparkler Lots of fun!

I met up with an adorable family a few weeks ago for some 6 month photographs. But, their sweet baby girl was not into the whole photo session ordeal…and after a break for a bottle, some Daddy snuggles, and some prop re-arranging…she still wasn’t feeling it. So I suggested we re-schedule. That’s what I love about custom photography. Sears Portrait Studio won’t do that. And I love that I have the flexibility working for myself to recognize when another day is the best option. And I’m SO thankful for wonderful clients who trust me and are willing to try again another time!

Cause we would have missed this cute smile.

And this one too

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE to photograph babies. Or how much I just love babies in general? I’m a total baby freak. I love how each precious child is different and so special. This little beauty had the most amazingly soft hair sprouting all over. I swear it had grown longer in the 2 weeks between our sessions. It is so soft and downy…like a fluffy little chick. And her porcelain complexion is just dreamy.

I caught this shot during our first session together and thought it was awfully sweet.

I love how a baby can make us see the wonder in the world. How looking into those beautiful eyes can give you hope and excitement about what lies ahead.

Thank you S family for trusting me with your baby girl and for making an extra trip to the park. I hope that when you see your gallery it, it will be so worth it!!