Fourteen Years Old

We’re celebrating Asher’s fourteenth birthday today and  this year I gave us both a gift- his very own hair clippers! You wouldn’t think a kid would get so excited over something so practical but as soon as he opened them he was straight off to the bathroom to give the them a try. It was pretty comical watching his first attempt, and such a “big boy moment” that I had to document : )

       Back away with the camera, lady!

Old Favorites: Let The Wild Rumpus Start!

Asher and I have been waiting not-so-patiently for October 16th since we first learned the release date for the movie adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are months and months ago. It’s one of my all time favorite books and one that I read to Ash many, many times when he was a little guy. I really cannot wait to see these beloved characters brought to life on the big screen!  I thought today would be the perfect day to share this picture of him in my favorite of all the costumes I made for him. This is Asher on Halloween 1999, just before he turned four years old- obviously way ahead of his time!

Old Favorites: He’s Definitely Not A Little Boy Anymore

My son Asher shaved for the first time last week… which made me think of these photos of two-and-a-half year old Asher in the bath tub playing with Dad’s shaving cream. I’m sure I said something like, “Someday, when you’re a big boy…”

Looks like that day has come. *sniff *

New Blog Feature: Old Favorites!

As he grows further from being a child and closer to being a man, I continually find myself wishing I could spend a just few minutes with two or five or nine-year-old Asher. Thankfully over the past thirteen years I have amassed a pretty large collection of photos of him! I thought it would be a fun addition to my blog to occasionally share with my readers some of my favorite photos I've created of Asher throughout his childhood. Photos are worth little if they are hidden away in a box in storage, so this is a nice way to share some personal photos with you while giving myself the opportunity to revisit life with my little guy : )

First up, a few from the "Dirt Dobber" series. I had been working on reclaiming most of the backyard from an out-of-control raspberry patch with the idea of creating a construction site for Asher to play in with all of his cool trucks. Of course any time you expose dirt during spring in Washington you run the risk of creating a mud pit, which, to two-year-old Asher's delight, is exactly what happened here. Interestingly, there is no apparent difference in the magnetic quality of dirt between the two-year-old and the thirteen-year-old!

Merry Christmas, Everybody!

Asher & Mom
Christmas Day 2008

Each year I spend so much time making sure my clients have their family photos to send in their holiday cards that I don't usually have time to send out my own! This year I am remedying that situation by using my blog to wish you all a very happy Christmas and share a photo of Asher & myself while I'm at it! I hope you all enjoy your day with your loved ones and I look forward to seeing you all again in '009!

That was then, this is now

Happy 13th Birthday, Asher!

A page from Asher's baby book. He was less than 12 hours old in the photo.


Today, on his 13th birthday
Scratched chin a gift from his rabbit, Claire

He's a 7th Grader Now

7th Grade

The beginning of a new school year always finds me reminiscing about how much my boy Asher has grown and changed in the past year. Since his first day of kindergarten, we've documented the first day of school in photographs and I thought it would be fun to share those with you today. I have a sad, sinking feeling this might be the last year I get away with this little tradition as this morning I was not allowed to cross the street to take the traditional picture in front of the school sign. *sigh*

I think this might be how he's felt about first-day-of-school photos since the beginning.

The mustache *really* freaks me out. Where did the little boy seen below go?

Kindergarten

I started taking pictures at the front doors of the school as a way to document his growth between school years. In kindergarten the top of his head reaches half way through the first set of windows. By fourth grade it's half way through the second.

He lost his first tooth the night before the first day of kindergarten. The gaping hole is proudly featured in every picture taken that day and he got to be the very first in the class to add his name on the "Who Lost A Tooth?" board : )

First GradeOn the night before the first day of First Grade, he did a face plant on the pavement. He was so mad about this he would never look at these pictures but it's that tie that gets most people's attention!

Second GradeHis birthday is November 23, so naturally this was his favorite shirt. He's forbidden me to ever get rid of it.

Third Grade

This picture of Asher & his dad riding the tandem to school on the first day of Third Grade has always been one of my favorites- despite it coming out blurry (I took it while riding my own bike!) I saved the image by putting a watercolor effect on it.

Fourth Grade

Fourth graders at Columbia graduated to an upstairs classroom. He looks pretty anxious to get up there!

Fifth Grade

Asher chose to attend a different school for his last elementary year. There are only a few pictures of him that don't include a neighbor girl who he "hates" so I better stick to these two : )

Sixth Grade

Sixth Grade means the big move to Whatcom Middle School and no hesitancy to show how he really feels about the tradition of photographing the first day of school.

He thought it was fun to make faces featuring his retainer. Until it broke.

Off he goes...

Sometimes a picture is worth 1,000 words

I'll let this one of Asher speak for itself.

Look at All the Beautiful Moms!

Me & My Mom circa 1969

I'm fortunate to work with so many wonderful, beautiful mothers every year that I have quite a catalog of photos of them with their kids, so I just had to share some in honor of Mother's Day : ) I don't have a lot of photos of me with my mom but I pulled this one out of my baby book to share. That's me at age 3 and a half months (which means it was taken about 39 years ago exactly!) It was pouring through the pages of my baby book and old family albums that got me hooked on the magic of photography when I was barely old enough to read. It's funny, when I take photographs I am always so careful to not include all the "clutter" in the background, but when I look at this photo my eyes always go right to all that stuff because it tells a story about life in another time. Maybe I should relax and remember not every photo has to be a portrait- there's nothing wrong with a snapshot now and then : )

Now... onto the photos! I thought I would start with a few photos of my girlfriends and their kids and end with a couple of me with mine : )My dear friend and old college roommate Erin and her daughter McKenna, who happens to be my favorite little girl on the planet : ) Erin is my biggest cheerleader and best confidante.

My girlfriend Stephanie and her son Travis... Stephanie and I were best friends in high school and she went with me to have my senior pictures done... this is one I shot when I was doing Travis' senior pictures last fall! My girlfriend Leah and her son Chase. Leah is the girl who got me involved with Gardenview Montessori and played an instrumental role in me taking the plunge into professional photography.

And now some shots of all the great moms I work with every year... thank you so much for all your support, ladies! Enjoy your special day : )

This is Asher's first appearance on my blog... I can't believe he agreed to participate! (You never know when you are going to meet resistance from a 12 year old...) There was no one to take the picture for us so we did it ourselves : )

Ash insisted we do a classic "Earl Hickey" shot. Lookin' good! He pointed out that *technically* he's not kissing me, just pressing his lips against my cheek. Ha!