This has got to be my favorite image from the whole bunch….  That little half smile just melts my heart.  Which leads me to believe her Mom and Dad (and possibly grandma and grandpa too!) will totally have melted hearts and will probably have to be rushed to the ER upon seeing this image.  Sorry Mom and Dad…  I promise I didn’t mean to hurt you!  ;)

Here are some more of my favorites from her session….  Mom and Dad, Tell your hearts to be still.  They are about to be shaken.

Her momma made her this costume for Halloween…  She’s Little CindyLou Who from WhoVille.  Totally cute!

Love the spit bubbles on this one…. 

She started to get sick of me after a while:

But eventually, she forgave me for sticking my camera in her face and gave me a couple more minutes of smiles:

Thanks to The S Family for being so wonderful….  Your gallery is almost complete!  I can’t wait to show you more of your sweet little girl!!  :)

xox, reata

A little bit of planning goes along way.  So true…  even in the art of dressing your family for your photo session!  If you want to have a look that says ‘put together’ then you are going to have to plan a little bit.  Trust me…  I know it sounds scary.  But honestly, it shouldn’t be!  It should be fun!!  The age old look of everyone wearing matching shirts, jeans, and santa hats is totally out…  and good gosh, it’s about time!  No one dresses like that in real life (do they?!?).  You’re photos should say more about you than “I can buy 5 identical red turtle necks” for my family!  Start looking around in magazines (or even on commercials/online ads) for good color combos, pick something you like, and start seaching for pieces for you and your loved ones that will coordinate, yet still lend a touch of who you are! 

Here are a few easy examples I threw together just from searching on the internet at some pretty common stores….  And, for the record, I’m not saying you should go buy these exact outfits.  I’m giving you these examples to use as references as to how you can find things at everyday stores for the whole family that compliment each other!  

Good luck shopping!  And, as always, keep in touch with me during your shopping experience!  I love it when clients send me their oufit choices beforehand, so I can get a visual and lend suggestions when asked.

Now for the examples:

xox, reata

Oooo-Weee!  This session was was so delightlful – I have so many sweet images to share of this cutie pa-tootie, but for now the above photo is all you get (na-ne-na-ne-boo-boo!)!

And, because I promised to show more of this session, here we go:

“Hey Mom!  We don’t wanna do no stinkin cleanin!”

Beautiful Mom + Dad:

It was so obvious they have a happy family… And it was also quite obvious that it’s all because of Mom and Dad.  Just being around them for a couple of hours, I was able to lay witness to how wonderfully the work together with their kids and also that they love having fun with them!

This last one makes me smile…  So much fun was being had at this particular moment!

xox, reata (aka The Nice and Fun Lady)

Confession:  I’ve got a bad habit.  By nature, I am a perpetual night owl… defying my body’s natural sleep needs and burning the mid-night oil till all hours of the night without the aid of coffee.  I’m not sure if I’ll ever change, but I sure would like to!  Every now and then, when I actually get a normal amount of rest, I feel so amazing!  My brain becomes 10x sharper and I feel so energized that I could clean and play all day long and not have a single complaint.

Typically after the kids are sound asleep, if I’m not working on my business then I’m cleaning the house or trying to snag a few minutes in front of the TV with my husband.  However, lately, I’ve been spending my nights chit-chatting with my hubbie as I work away on my computer…  It’s been a busy world over here at Sugar Shots – And although, I love it (like seriously, looooove it!), this workload keeps giving me even more excuses to stay plugged into photoshop editing away until my eyeballs start feeling like they are gonna fall out.  I think this bad habit of mine (ours) is just that – a bad habit.  It can be broken…  just like any old habit can be.  But, I think one of the reasons it’s been so easy for me to stick with my bad habit is because my sweet, little husband stays up with me while I work so we can “hang out”….  He lays on the floor with the laptop and we jam out to tunes while I work.  Sounds like good quality time together, huh?!  Yeah right!  But, hey, at least he’s in there with me!

Anyhow, tonight, I’m going to put a stop to my long run of late nighters… I’m going to tell my husband my ever famous line: Tonight we are going to sleep early!!  No late night editing, internet surfing, or youtube video jamming….  No Toddlers and Tiaras.  No King of the Crown.  And absolutely no Slim In 6 or PX90 workout infomercials!!  Let’s just talk, snuggle and fall into a deep, restful slumber!

We’ll see what happens…. I’m pretty sure tonight is the night that habits will be broken!!  Yay!

And, because I don’t want to leave this post bare…  Here are some more of my faves from this senior session. 

And, one of the last (and best!) shots of the evening:

xox, reata

To say his session turned out unmistakely adorable would be an understatement….  

I just have to share a few more.  

Love, love, love them.

And, more of a city look:

Like I said… too cute.  :)

xox, reata

Absolutely wonderful.  Yes, it might have rained on and off today, which made my hair droop, hang, and resemble a limp, wet rat…  But, as a whole this day was one of the best!  

For starters, after days of worrying about the Halloween Mini Sessions being rained out, we ended up having beautiful, cool, overcast weather (no mosquitos!)….  Good weather aside, I got to hang out with some of THE cutest dressed kids ever!  The little ones did so well and had so much fun… I can’t wait to begin my processing on their images!  Too cute!  

Then, as I cruised down the highway on my way home with my windows down and my music turned way up, I decided to check my email (NO, I wasn’t driving while checking email… I was at a long stop light at a train crossing!   Don’t worry – I am not one of ‘those’ drivers).  Anyhow, I received one of the sweetest emails ever from Jen Culotta about her session yesterday.  I hope she doesn’t mind, but I really would love to share a bit of it…. Her email makes me feel soooo happy inside!

My daughter last night said, "Mom, that was our best photo shoot we have ever had."  and I said, "Yes!  It was great... Why do you think it was
the best ever?"  And she said, "Because the lady was so nice and fun."

Isn’t that just so great?!  I love it!  If nothing else, I want to forever be known as the nice and fun lady.  For real…  call me that from now on.  It really made my day to have Jen share that bit of info with me… Thanks Jen!  :)

Lastly on my list of why this was such a great day:   After the rain decided to stop drizzling I headed out with my oldest and youngest daughter to do a session for my youngest…. She’s turning two in about two weeks.  We had so much fun and I got so many great images… Something that doesn’t happen too often around my house.  For some reason, I rarely take them out for a full out session…  Go figure?!

Here’s to a great day!

I’ll leave you with an image of me having my great day:  Me, A1, and A3

xox, The Nice and Fun Lady

Unbelievable.  In a matter of approximately 102 minutes, I have been converted into a Hannah Montana fan.  Well, maybe not a ‘fan’, but whatever.  As I sat and watched the semi-new Hanana Montana Movie tonight with my nearly 5 year old little girl and my husband,  I started to realize just how sweet and cute Miley Cyrus really is and how catchy all those little warm hearted tunes are…   She’s not quite what I thought she was!  She’s really not half bad.   And, I can’t fail to mention, how much fun I had looking at the super stylish wardrobe Hannah rocks.  Boy, it must be fun to be famous as a teen…  You get to prance around in such fun clothes and shoes.  Oh, the shoes.  Hannah really does have the best of both worlds = clothes and shoes.

Speaking of things being the best of both worlds….  I gotta mention once again how much I looooove, love, love my job!  Tonight, not only did I get to  work with the most amazing little family who had some *the* most well behaved kids, but I also got to mix and mingle with another fabulous photographer!  Lucky, huh?!  I photographed the very talented Jen Culotta and her family.  We had such a good time romping around town… and I can’t wait to share their images. They were game for anything… which meant, at one point, I had them playing the drums, harmonica, guitar, and some other instrument I don’t know the name of (eek!) in the middle of a downtown street.  Good times!  :) 

Here’s a little sneak for Miss Jen:

More to come soon!

xox, reata

This is what you call a nature boy.  Funny thing is… He doesn’t live anywhere near fields like this.  He’s a city boy.  But, I’ll tell you what…  Tonight during our session, he was totally into all thing Nature.

More of this cutie soon….