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

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

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….

A quick sneak from tonight’s super awesome session…  It was hard to pick just a few to post before I snuggle up in my pj’s and watch some TV, but these three drew me in right off the bat!

More to come soon!

xox, reata

Let me start with this….  I can’t believe the weather this week!  After months and months of wishing I could move to a cooler state (or have a personal AC Unit adhered to my body) and sweating out countless days as the temp rose way above 100, we are finally experiencing weather in the 80s!  Thank you, sweet Jesus!

And because of the much cooler weather, me and the youngest two of my brood decided to step outdoors for more than the 60 seconds it takes to load into the car… We actually went to the park, went on a walk, rode tricycles, and picked flowers!  It’s been quite a week!  However, engaging in all this unexpected activity outdoors has made us need some pampering back inside the coziness of our home all the more.   So, being the thoughtfull sweetheart that she is, my nearly 5 year old decided to give me a “medicare”.  Well, she thinks she gave me a medicare…. but what she keeps forgetting is that it’s actually called a pedicure.  She rubbed my little tootsies for nearly 20 minutes the other night as she explained to me, in a very soothing, somewhat belittling voice, what all her “medicare” moves are and how she does them.  Anyhow, she rubbed and rubbed….  tried at least 10 different lotions on me, did her special moves, and never even asked for a single dime or even a return “treatment”.  Oh yeah, sometimes when she forgets to call it a “medicare”, she just calls it a “treatment”.  But, whatever you wanna call it… it was awesome and I had softer, happier feet afterwards, not to mention a heart full of smiles.

In honor of my little “medicare treatment” giver… Here are some photos of her showing off her glittery pink belt.  She tucked her shirt in just to make sure the glitter and heart were visible in every single photo.

She even tucked it in at the back…. gotta get ALL that glitter showing!

Enjoy your weekend – Happy Friday!

xox, reata

I decided to title this post “Tiny” because as I sat here finishing up editing this awesome session, I started to realize just how adorable and teeny tiny the pregnant tummy on my sis-in-law really is!  Seriously.  It’s just too dang cute and sweet.  And so is she, sweet and cute that is…  even though my nearly 2 year old thinks that Aunt A swallowed a baby.  

These next two are sooooooooo cute!  And sassy!

And then, after being so sassy, I made her dance (against her will, might I add!)… Just to prove that even with a tummy she can still shake her groove thang!

Hope you love em, A!  Can’t wait to show you all the indoor, more intimate ones… They all turned out so cute!  xox, reata

Oh yeah, baby!  Sugar Shots is hitting the road in November… Gonna be heading to Dallas, followed by Austin, to visit some family and do another round of Destination Sessions!  Only this time, I am giving away KILLER deals!!  Seriously.  I don’t know what I was thinking when I came up with this…  I’m offering regular full sessions, as well as mini sessions, at a great price with obviously no travel fee…  plus, I’m throwing in a discount and something digital!

If you live in the Dallas or Austin area and are looking for a good deal and fabulous imagery for your holiday card… give me shout and request info and set up your session!  These sessions are very limited.

If you live in the Houston/Sugar Land area and are wishing I’d do something like this in your neck of the woods…..  Don’t worry!  I’m planning on it!  Not only am I going to offer a couple of days of Holiday Mini Sessions very soon, I’m also going to be offering Halloween Mini Sessions again!  So, keep your eyes and ears open… That info will be out *very, very* soon!

xox, reata

This is my Littest A, the youngest of my three girls whose names all start with A.  She so stinkin’ sweet.  But, she totally wasn’t into me trying to do a fall session with her.  I *desperately* need to update all three of my kids photos and I picked  A3 to start with.  It didn’t go too well…  I got a couple that were sweet, but no big smiles like she usually gives me!  I’m going to try again tomorrow!  It’s funny how it’s so much harder for photographers to get photos of their own kids!  But, don’t worry Mimi and Pop + Grandma and Grandpa (aka Pee Wee… seriously, A3 started calling Grandpa Pee Wee!), I am fierce, have an itchy trigger finger, and I’m gonna keep trying!!

… for this little one to make it’s arrival!

It’s a ‘she’ and she’s my neice!  More from this rockin session with my sassy sis-in-law to come… hang tight!

This photo sums it all up.  This is the reason they come together… Fun. Family. Times.  Heck, it’s why any family comes together.  Through the chaos of screaming kids, summer heat, and mosquitos, there is an undying love for family and all that it stands for and represents.

Family.  That’s why I was called in to visit the Brooks’ family.  Four generations of family were all together hanging out for the day and needed to be captured in the raw.  Which included little ones, who didn’t want to sit still for me and my camera:

We even bribed the little ones with Doritos to get them to sit still… But, I’m saving those awesome images for the family’s fun filled gallery!  :)  Anyhow, thank you Brook’s Family!  I’m having a blast editing your session and I’m excited to show you all of them in your gallery… I’m almost done so it won’t be long till you have them all.  Hope this sneek peak helps!  :)

The afternoon consisted of all kinds of photos… 

And of course, a big family shot…

Had so much fun hangin with you guys… Can’t wait to show you the rest!  xox, reata