Angela Elle Photography, Minneapolis St. Paul Baby, Children, Family and Senior Photographer

Black Friday Sale | St. Michael Family Children Photographer

2011-11-24T17:16:00.001-06:00

Click this button to purchase - only 15 available!

Christmas in July | Twin Cities Family Photographer

2011-07-14T00:02:00.004-05:00

Book your session for this fall (Sept - Nov) during the month of July and receive a special gift! Email me at angelaellephotography@gmail.com to schedule your session.

{me} Monday | St. Michael Photographer

2011-07-11T22:03:00.002-05:00

We took the kids to a Twins v. Brewers game over the 4th of July weekend. Cade was completely bored and wanted to leave after the 3rd inning but Jessa was so into it! She only knows Joe Mauer so that is all she talked about during the game....him and Michael Cuddyer. I wish I would have videotaped her, it was hilarious. Every vendor stopped by to see what happened to her arm so she really enjoyed that attention. The people sitting behind us had traveling from Milwaukee so they kept talking about how Mauer is overrated and Jessa kept cheering for him louder and louder. Atta girl!! They ended up losing the game in the last inning due to, in my opinion, some poor pitching and coaching decisions. When the game was over, Jessa said, they should have made better decisions. Isn't that the truth??

Since this has become the woah is Jessa (and Mom) channel lately, I thought I should share some of Cade's stuff. He is really becoming such a big guy. He is up to my shoulders now. I have a feeling that he is going to pass me up soon! He just finished up baseball and has a couple weeks of soccer left. Then we get a much needed break from sports for a bit.

He told me earlier this year that he didn't want to play baseball anymore. I literally wanted to cry. I played fast pitch softball my whole life (until college) and this sport is the one I really, really want him to love. I know the rules, I know how to play and I can help him. Just the other night he started talking about playing baseball next year and how he really wants to make the traveling team (this will be the first year he has to try out). I told him that he is going to really have to practice and work hard if he wants to be on the traveling team. Since then, he has asked me to play ball with him every night and I am in heaven. I forgot how much I LOVE to play! Jessa has joined in with us and she has a pretty good arm for a 5 year old with a cast on! Haha!

These are some from Cade's baseball and soccer this year, I honestly don't bring my camera much.

Next year I believe they get trophies instead of medals - that is exciting stuff!!

For 3 people who get their picture taken quite often, you would think I could get something better than this.

{me} Monday | St. Micheal Family Photographer

2011-07-05T23:24:00.000-05:00

Where to start with this? Sigh, the Casey Anthony trial. Wow. As some of you know, my day job is as a paralegal. I have been in numerous trials and can tell you from experience that you just never know what a jury will do. I have seen verdicts that make absolutely no sense given the evidence that was presented and, unfortunately, most of the time you will never get to know what the thought process of the jury was. Given what I know about the Anthony case, I don't understand how the jury reached the verdict that they did. However, I am choosing to believe (I'm am trying really hard anyway!!) that the jury must have been presented with something that we aren't aware of. I need to believe that 12 reasonable people couldn't possibly have looked at the same evidence that we all heard about and said, nope, not only did she not murder her daughter but there was no aggravated child neglect either. Yes, the defense presented an alternate explanation but,in my mind, this explanation wasn't very plausible, much less enough to give you reasonable doubt. These are the cases that make you want to bang your head against the wall. These are the cases that make you wonder what defense attorneys do to keep themselves sane. I really wonder how they justify things in their head? They must TRULY believe that their clients are innocent?

Anyway, the whole thing is a tragedy either way. This little girl is not (and did not) getting the respect that she deserved and her little life was gone WAY too soon. Makes you wonder what kind of a cold hearted mother Casey is when I cry over her child and I didn't even know her, all the while she is out partying and lying about where her daughter is.

This is a picture I took on my way home from a session a few weeks ago. Seemed fitting.

Attitude | Rogers Children's Photographer

2011-06-29T21:49:00.002-05:00

For those of you new to the blog, meet my god-daughter. Melia is (a-hem) little like my own daughter in the attitude department. Strong willed, independent and likes things the way she likes them. Hey, nothing wrong with that....although a little birdie told me that her little sister is taking a shot at the title in their house. :)

These are from her 5 year session. I need to get some snuggles in with these girls again!

Summer Mini Sessions

2011-06-26T09:11:00.001-05:00

Are you ready for some football? | St. Michael Family Photographer

2011-06-26T08:49:00.002-05:00

I'm jumping up to this summer for a moment to put this family on the blog. When Mom contacted me and said she has 3 boys, my wheels were turning on how to get these boys to have fun because we all know most boys don't enjoy getting their pictures taken. When they arrived, sure enough, the boys were not thrilled to be there but I promised them that we would have lots of fun. I hope I kept my promise to them because I had a lot of fun! All 3 of them were so accommodating and Mom and Dad were wonderful as well (even when I asked them to hike into the VERY tall grass). And a special thanks to Dad for being such a great sport when I told the boys to GET HIM! :) And a shout out to Mom for doing such a great job putting their outfits together!!

These boys are tough - don't mess with them!

I'm so in love with happy family pictures. I can hear them laughing when I look at this.

These next 2 crack me up because their littlest is so funny!

Get 'em boys!

From the rest of us Moms out here, AWE.

And at the end, I promised them we could do some rock skipping/throwing. :)

Show off | Minneapolis Maternity Photographer

2011-06-23T10:58:00.002-05:00

I love getting to meet new people. Maybe that is part of why I love this job so much! That, and people hand over their babies to me and I get to snuggle them up. Anyway, these two asked to do their maternity session with their dog and they live near the Stone Arch bridge so off we went. I think Abby (the awfully cute dog) might have had some other ideas of what we were there for but I would say she did pretty well with all the distractions. And what a nice time to capture, the last time it is just the 3 of them.

And Abby at her best.....she wanted to be the star of the show!

{Me} Monday | St. Michael Childrens Photographer

2011-06-20T22:48:00.001-05:00

My life has been especially crazy as of late. Here is the short-ish version. My daughter fell off the beam in gymnastics back in Jan and broke her arm (the Ulna, which is the smaller bone in the arm). She got casted and I thought everything was all good. About a month or so ago, we were at the doctor (for something unrelated) when she showed me that she couldn't touch her shoulder with that arm. She was just showing off, not complaining. In fact, she has never complained throughout this whole process, amazingly. We showed her pediatrician and, after some run around, ended up at U of M ortho clinic to see the best upper extremity pediatric surgeon. Apparently her elbow has been unattached since the fall in Jan but no one caught it until I showed them that she couldn't touch her shoulder. The bigger bone in the arm (Radius) had come out of the ligament that holds it to the elbow so it was unattached at that end. It was blocking her from bending her arm and the doctors were quite surprised that it wasn't causing her any pain. On top of that, the Ulna had healed in a bowed position so it was pushing the Radius out of position as well. So it was decided that they would have to go in, rebreak the Ulna and put a plate and screws in there to hold it in a better position and re-attach the Radius with the ligament. The surgery was done about 2 weeks ago.

We went into Amplatz Children's Hospital at 5:30 in the morning for our surgery so Jessa was pretty tired and not all that happy to have people asking her lots of questions.

But after we got everyone in and out of there, she seemed to be doing ok.

They had me suit up to go to the operating room and I got to ride down to the room with Jessa. They had talked to her about the anesthesia mask and given her some chapstick to color on the inside so it smelled better for her but when they went to put the mask on, she FREAKED out (no big surprise to me). It took me and 2 nurses to hold her down so they could get the mask on her. It was so heartbreaking to see her struggle and then just go limp. I have had to hold her down way too many times through this process. :(

Surgery took about 2 1/2 hours and she came out of it pretty well. She was whiney and a little irritated coming out of the anesthesia but honestly, not too shabby. We stayed the night there and she did pretty well as long as they kept the Morphine coming.

We went back to get the real cast on this past Thursday when all heck broke loose. We were in the casting room and a male nurse was going to put her cast on. Jessa decided that she would ONLY let a GIRL put on the cast (so embarrassing) so she was in the midst of a huge screaming fit when the surgeon happened to walk by on her way to a surgery. She stopped in and said, I'll just do the cast quick. (She is super fantastic, by the way!!) As she was putting green stripes and glitter on the hot pink cast, I mentioned to her that Jessa had tripped in a curb and fallen on her arms a few days ago. She sent us to x-ray (after the cast was on) and sure enough, the bone was out of place. So she called us back, said we have to take it off, reposition her arm and put a new cast on. YEAH RIGHT. Jessa is not going to go for any of this. She is TERRIFIED of the cast saw. So the Dr. decided that we needed to put Jessa under for this procedure. So back to Amplatz Children's Hospital we went. They gave her a sedative first so she wouldn't fight the mask this time - which she still did - and then put her under. The procedure went well and was quick but Jessa was the devil coming out of her anesthesia this time. Literally like she was possessed. I have the scars to prove it too. But the important thing is we are, hopefully, on our road to being done with all of this with the exception of the surgery to remove the plate and screws that will happen some time this winter.

Top 10 things I have learned:

1. I know WAY more about the bones in my arm than I ever wanted to know.

2. Jessa is a tough cookie. The doctor is now making us coming in every 2 weeks for an xray since she, apparently, never complains.

3. I say Jessa never complains tongue in cheek because anyone who knows her, knows that she is the master complainer about everything BUT her arm.

4. Liquid Oxycodone is pink and doesn't taste very good.....according to Jessa anyway.

5. But it does come out in the wash when it gets spit all over your WHITE bedspread.

6. Glitter sticks to casts really well. And makes them look super special.

7. Children's hospital nurses and doctors are saints. Seriously. Best people ever.

8. Parents can survive on very little sleep, I had forgotten this one since I don't have babies anymore.

9. Jessa was so crazy coming out of the anesthesia the second time around that the doctor actually wrote down the drugs for me and told me not to let her have that combination again. Ha!!

10. Not really learned but while we were at the hospital, I saw all these parents with kids who obviously had way bigger issues than Jessa. Just our one night stay was exhausting. I can't imagine doing that over and over. My heart really goes out to parents of children who have a need for a place like Children's. I have given Cade and Jessa a whole lot of hugs and kisses the last few weeks.

I'm sure the doctor would kill me but Jessa was so excited for soccer this year and I hated for her not to be able to play at all so I let her play in the first 2 practices before her surgery. This is the night before her surgery. She is such a little trooper!!

G Family | Minneapolis Family Photographer

2011-06-19T21:25:00.004-05:00

What did you all do for Father's Day? What a nice day it turned out to be. I have had it up to here with the weather lately. I would love something in between swealtering hot and raining. Sigh. But there is no sense in complaining about it, right? We do live in Minnesota, that's what we get. :)

This family moved to Arkansas a while ago but booked me for a family session while they were home visiting. What an honor! Their littliest (at the time) was one last time I saw them so I was excited to see them all again. And they have had a baby since this (yes, it has been a long time) so I'm hoping they'll come back next year so I can see their adorable new little boy. {hint, hint Mom}. :)

The weather was much cooler than it was supposed to be the day of their pictures so Mom had to run to Gap last minute and got all the kids' clothes there. Doesn't it all look fantastic?!

And then we had to go inside because it was so COLD out! I love shooting in the Guthrie. So pretty!

These kids sure do know how to ham it up! Can't wait to see you all again!

Baby Ava | Twin Cities Newborn Photographer

2011-06-14T21:08:00.002-05:00

Since baby Ava is almost 9 months old now, I'm going to blog her newborn and 6 month session all together (there are going to be a lot of pictures!). This family was referred to me by another family and I'm so glad they contacted me. They have been so much fun to work with! When I got to their house for their newborn session, I was greeted by Mom, Dad and their dog, June. I'm totally an animal person so I wanted to play with June a little. Much to my surprise, June was completely afraid of me!! It was so funny, she would not even walk by me. I'm hoping that by the end of the year, I'll make some headway with her. :)

Ava was such a sweet baby both times I've seen her. And talk about a head of hair, holy buckets! Can't wait to see you guys again!

And her 6 month session:

She wasn't quite sure what to think of the bunny. :)

Don't you love her skinny jeans??

Dad bought her this headband. How cute is that?

Coming back | St. Michael Senior Photographer

2011-06-14T20:43:00.002-05:00

I can't believe it has been almost 2 months since I blogged....shame on me. I am working on a bunch tonight so hopefully I can get back on the ball. I'm only about 872 sessions behind on blogging. Ha! :)

Trey just graduated from high school this month, can't believe he is done! We did the 2nd part of his senior pictures (did the first part last spring) last fall and we even snuck in a picture of Mom and the kids as a surprise for Dad. Aren't they the cutest family??

{Me} Monday | St. Michael Family Photographer

2011-04-25T18:47:00.005-05:00

Finding balance.....a balance between work and my family life, sanity and killing myself (with overwork), being healthy and stress eating. I struggle with all of these. I LOVE my work and I have always been the type of person that gives 110% with everything I do (well, except working out but we won't talk about that). In any job that I've done, I have always been that person that worked longer hours, never took breaks and was always there to get the job done. I've always thought this was a good quality but then this happened to me:

Shortly (well, 4 years later) followed by this:

And my whole world changed. I feel like I am constantly torn between doing the job that I know I am capable of and WANT to do and wanting to be at home for EVERY.SINGLE.MOMENT for my kids. When I stay at home too much, I think about work and when I'm at work, I'm thinking about home. I don't know how single parents do it. I think the guilt and stress would just eat me alive.

Like I said, I love my job(s) and love my clients. Most of them become like great, old friends to me and I feel like their children are my extended family. I love seeing them grown up and I love when they remember me and don't want to leave when the session is done.

And then I struggle with things like THIS blog post. And I feel like at least I'm not the only one who sometimes feels this way.

For me, it was the first one. I go through ups and downs where I get so burnt out that I don't even want to pick up my camera to take pictures of my kids. It really hit me when I realized that I BARELY took any pictures of my kids this Christmas. They are growing so fast and I just want to be there for everything! So, one of my goals for 2011 is getting better about not overloading myself. I REALLY enjoy all of my clients and I never want to say no. But, sometimes I have to say no and I'm learning to be ok with that.

I hope you don't think I'm whining because I really do love my job but I'm hoping to find that balance that I'm searching for. Because REALLY, how could you look at these faces and NOT?
I made sure that I took a minute out of my crazy day on Easter to take a few pictures of the kids - don't you love Cade's fauxhawk? I like it WAY more than I thought I would.

I know I'm biased but man, they are cute! :)

Perfect | Rogers Children's Photographer

2011-04-17T22:00:00.007-05:00

Do you ever have those days when all the stars align? Everything just flows perfectly and things go just as planned? This session was one of "those" sessions. First of all, Charlie is absolutely gorgeous, has a great head of hair, is a happy little girl and has calm, relaxed parents but the light in the studio that day was heavenly. Her session just flowed along so nicely and her creamy skin was a photographer's dream. Outside of the fact that she flat out rejected all of my pretty hats and headbands, it was the perfect session. :) Here is a video of Charlie's 1 year old session. You can witness for yourself just how perfect she is! **You can change the settings on the bottom to 720p HD for the best quality while viewing**

Moving | Minneapolis Children's Photographer

2011-03-19T19:17:00.003-05:00

Remember when I used to blog? I do. A time when my life was a little less hectic and I miss sharing all those sessions with you. I still have quite a few sessions from last year to share plus a whole bunch from this year but this one warranted jumping out of line. There are way more pictures than I have been sharing lately but I know Mom is pretty excited to see these.

These guys are moving to Montana in a week and Mom wanted some pictures of just her and her little guy before she left. What a great pair these two are.....Ben is just about the cutest kid I have ever seen. I think he'd be a good match for Jessa, no? Look at him....its no wonder he gets just about anything he wants!

Thanks for letting me capture this for you Tara and I wish you the best of luck in Montana......even if there is only 1 Target in the whole state!! :)

He was super excited about his new shoes!

He told me that I should dye my hair red like his Mom's so I could look like her! How cute is he??

Easter mini-sessions | Rogers Children's Photographer

2011-03-01T08:09:00.002-06:00

Come see the new studio during the Easter Mini-Sessions! There will be a live bunny and baby chicks. Times are filling quickly so email me to reserve your spot!

{Me} on Monday | St. Michael Family Photographer

2011-02-28T23:57:00.001-06:00

Well, I'm getting my Monday post in just under the wire....just got home and I'm scrambling to get these pictures posted!! :) Jessa got her cast off last week....boy was that a nightmare. I talked to her ahead of time about the cast saw and how they would use it to get the cast off and she was fine with it. Until she heard it turn on......then all hell broke loose! I ended up having to hold her down (again) and cover her eyes so she couldn't see the saw. Not that it helped, really, but we did manage to get the cast off. By then she was so worked up she would not let them x-ray her arm so I had to hold her down (are you seeing a pattern here?) again so they could x-ray her. By the time the doctor came in to talk to us, she wouldn't even look him in the eyes. Oh Jessa. BUT, she recovered quickly once she got her new Zhu-Zhu pet game for her DSi. I've never broken a bone so I didn't quite know what to expect but was surprised when the doctor showed me that her arm is still fractured but assured me "that is normal, no worries". Seems to me they would leave the cast on but I wasn't going to argue because I didn't want to go through that process again if it wasn't necessary. :)

Cade has his last basketball game for the season this weekend and I am very excited for him! He has been getting a little more aggressive as the season goes along.

Here are some pictures from a shoot I did with them yesterday at the studio. Cade is still growing his hair out so bear with me on his hair. We are still working out how to style it.....he has all sorts of odd cowlicks. But they actually had fun together and listened to me pretty well so all in all.....a success!!

Here are some of my favorites:

Sunday Funday | Rogers Children's Photographer

2011-02-27T23:22:00.000-06:00

I love Sundays, being able to sleep in a little, just relaxing in my PJs for most of the day and brunch! I love going out to eat but brunch is probably my favorite. I'm not a huge breakfast food eater but there are a few things I like so brunch is ideal for me.....I can have a little breakfast and mostly lunch! I am that person that would totally have a hamburger for breakfast! Jill, if you are reading this.....I was just kidding about the hamburger, I meant turkey sandwich. :)

Continuing on with the parade of good weather pictures....here are some more from last fall.

This is the second time I've taken their pictures and I have not been able to crack this little girl yet! She is still adorable anyway....

And this little guy.....what a ham!

How cute is she??

What is going on? | Rogers Children's Photographer

2011-02-23T07:38:00.003-06:00

This is normally my slowed-down-have-time-to-catch-up-on-everything time of the year but for some reason, life threw me a curve ball this year. Between work, broken arms, injured parents, work and children's activities (and some occasional time for me), I feel so out of control and unorganized. I think (knock on wood) all of the unexpected illness/injury is out of the way now so hopefully life will settle down a little now.

I have been having so much fun with sessions at the new studio. If you haven't come to see it yet, get your butt over!! If you even just want to check it out, send me a message and we can get you over there. :)

These are a few more sessions from last fall.....oh, how I'm missing the ground.....really sick of all the snow. One more month until Spring, right??

These are twins and oh, they were so sweet!!

And these guys - talk about 2 of the most smiley, happy children ever. And super cute to boot!

He was a quick little bugger!

Really? | St. Michael Children's Photographer

2011-02-08T08:44:00.002-06:00

I woke up to -17 outside this morning. Is that really necessary? I don't mind the winter, really I don't, but it is just plain mean for it to be any where in the negative numbers. And then add on wind chill? Oh, I just want to stay inside all day today snuggled under blankets. :)

These are a couple more sessions from last fall. I'm trying really hard to get all my amazing families up here so I'm cutting down the number of pictures I show (which is SO hard!) and combining some families.

I wish it still looked like this outside!

{Me} on Monday | St. Michael Children's Photographer

2011-02-07T18:20:00.002-06:00

As you may have noticed, I missed my post {me} post last week. I had great intentions, honest! Jessa has gymnastics on Monday nights and last Monday she took a spill off the beam and broke her arm. I was pretty proud of myself with how well I handled everything. She never let me put her down from the moment I picked her up off the ground....they even had to x-ray her on my lap! We went to the new Maple Grove hospital and a big shout out to them for how well they handled Jessa.....she was understandably upset and made sure they all knew about it. :)

So, that about sums up my week last week....ER visit, days off work, ortho doc appts and playing more board games then I have ever played in my entire life! :)

Here is one of her in the doctor's office right after she got her cast on (taken with my cell phone). Ironically I was going to take her pictures the day before this happened but Jessa was in a mood so I didn't. Now I'm trying to decide if I should take them now or wait until the cast comes off.

Doesn't this look nice? | Rogers Family Photographer

2011-01-30T08:18:00.001-06:00

Obviously, still playing catch up from last fall's sessions. Oh, what I wouldn't give for this weather again! I got to see not only the kids but the whole family for this session!

I'm getting ready for the open house for the new Matilda Jane line (squeel!) so I'm just going to show you the pictures...

{Me} on Monday | Rogers Children's Photographer

2011-01-24T09:48:00.003-06:00

Really, has it been a week since I've blogged again? Every week I have these great intentions but time somehow gets away from me.

My children are driving me batty. Yesterday we cleaned....I mean really cleaned....the house. The end of the year is always so busy for me and then we jumped right into studio construction so the house has been sorely neglected for a while now. We (and by we, I mean me) scrubbed, dusted, vaccumed, picked up, put away, did laundry, did dishes, rearranged the pantry, put clothes away and put all the Christmas stuff away. Yep, you read that right. For those of you who know Dave, this won't be a surprise. He insists that the tree go up before Thanksgiving (at the beginning of November if he had his way) and doesn't come down until the end of Jan. Our living room looks kinda empty right now!

As I was doing all of this yesterday.....all the kids did was fight. Fought over who looked at whom, who wasn't helping pick up, who gets to pick the music, EVERYTHING. I was at my wit's end so I finally put them in a room together and told them to clean it up and figure out how to do it together. "If I hear ANY arguing, tattling or anything like fighting....both of you are going to your rooms for the rest of the day." That did the trick for long enough to get the cleaning done. I guess its a step in the right direction, right? They cleaned their rooms and both toy rooms without killing each other.

Well, enough about me....I am jumping completely out of order and putting up a video of my very first session in the new studio. It was fitting that it was the Kruger boys since I have seen this family every 4 months for the last couple of years! This was the best Ty has ever done for me and I was so happy that they had so much fun. I hope you enjoy the video and we'll get back to the regularly scheduled blogging now. :)

{Me} on Monday | Rogers Children's Photographer

2011-01-17T21:48:00.003-06:00

Do you ever feel like you are literally getting dumber? I have been feeling like this a lot lately. I am so exhausted and overly stressed that my mind is functioning at a snail's pace. So if you are talking to me and I seem uninterested.....please cut me some slack, my mind is just trying to catch up with yours! :)

The studio opened yesterday and although there is still decorating and a few minor things to complete, it looks fantastic! I can't believe how much we got accomplished in 2 weeks. Quite a few sessions coming up there so I'm excited to share those with you! Might have to go a little out of order on the blog.

Last week Jessa was asked to move to the next class in gymnastics because she was doing so well in the tumbling tots class (for 4-5 year olds). Well.....we did the beginner class tonight and she was asked to move back down. LOL She is so stubborn and won't do the flips on the bars anymore so he wants to move her back down so he can work with her a little more and then move her back up again. We went from having 4 kids tops in the class to having about 10. So I think it'll be good for her. He told me to do whatever I needed to in order to get her doing the flips.....I wanted to ask him if he's ever met my daughter before but I just nodded my head and said ok. Yeah, right. Like I've ever been able to get her to do anything she doesn't want to. Any suggestions??

Last fall, one of my photographer friends and I got together and swapped our kids for a really quick little session. She has 2 girls and her youngest is just like Jessa so we figured this would work out great since they would probably listen to someone else better! I am so happy we did because I've really been remiss in taking pictures of my kids this past year. I think that needs to be my new year's resolution. Make sure to capture my children as well as yours. :)

Here are just a few that I really loved that she got (I have a habit of watermarking everything that goes on my blog and I just realized that these have my watermark on them......I did not take these pictures so I can not take credit for how cute they are....only for providing the cute children):

This is one of my all time favorite pictures of them together and touching. :)

Apparently, for some reason, they wanted to make a T for me? I love the things they come up with.

And here are a few of my favorites that I took of her children:

{Me} on Monday | St. Michael Photographer

2011-01-10T21:43:00.004-06:00

I am going to do a {Me} on Monday challenge this year....every Monday I will blog about my life, my family or whatever else my little heart desires. :) I think I lasted about 2 weeks last year but I am going to follow through. Hold me to it!

For this week, I am going to finally post some pictures of the progress of the studio. I am just beyond myself excited about this space and all the opportunity it has to offer. I have been so busy working on it, I haven't taken all that many pictures of it but I'll try to walk you through it. The studio is located in the Antiques 101 building (upstairs....yes, it has an upstairs) on Main Street in Rogers. There is over 1600 square feet upstairs and then a bathroom downstairs. There was a room already built that will be a perfect prop room PLUS we can use the stuff in the antique store as props as well! Really, I am still pinching myself. :)

A GIGANTIC THANK YOU to all of you that have helped us out with this project. I still can't believe how much we have gotten done in a week. And an EXTRA GIANT thank you to Justin and Dave, without whom we would never have been able to get all this done. We love you!!

This is what it looked like before we got in there, notice the "unsafe for children" railing:

Construction just starting, we built a wall with a built in shelf here for samples.

First thing we had to do was remove the "unsafe for children" railing:

There were some water damaged pieces of sheet rock so we ripped them off and were pleasantly surprised with this!! We are leaving it so we'll have an urban corner to work with. Can't wait to show you this in pictures!

Crystal and her husband, Justin, hard at work!

There is the prop room back there.

Wall where the railing used to be starting to go up:

Don't they look excited to be there?

Painting day!!! The whole shooting area is white except one red section that turned out fantastic.

Looking from the steps into the sitting area

Evan even came to help.

View standing back by the prop room....it is a really large area

Another view of the sitting area.

View of the shooting area.

Here is the wall with the built in shelf that we added.

This is the view from upstairs looking down....the bathroom is down there.

Sitting area.

View of the walls finished where the railing once was.

This is the comparison of when we started and after that wall was built.

And a comparison of where the railing was and what it looks like now.

Traveling family | Rogers Children's Photographer

2011-01-08T08:42:00.003-06:00

I am always so flattered when a family travels a distance to have me take their photographs. This year I have done sessions with families from Wisconsin, South Dakota and Arkansas!! Thank you so much to those who love me enough to travel! :)

This family came from South Dakota to see me.....I went to high school with both Mom and Dad and I think their oldest is the very first newborn I ever did! Heidi and I met in junior high school (yes, they called it junior high way back when we were in it...and it also went through 9th grade) when we found out that we both had pools. What a way to bond, huh? We have been fast friends ever since and were even room mates in college. I am so thankful that we have managed to stay close through out the years and that I have been able to be a part of her family even though we don't live close to each other! Love you Heidi!!

Well, as you can see, Heidi lives in a house full of boys (including a male dog that couldn't make the trip) but honestly, I don't think she would have it any other way. These boys, while a handful sometimes I'm sure, are just the greatest kids ever. We had SO much fun with this session and that makes for the best photographs. As usual, I had such a hard time narrowing down my favorites so you're going to have a little overload. :)

First we did a mini-session with just Edison, about 10 weeks old in these pictures.

This is probably one of my favorites pictures ever. He is just perfect.

Then we went outside to do the family pictures - oh how I long for this weather now as we are up to our eyeballs in snow!!

And a couple of outtakes:

Parker decided that he wanted some pictures taken too....shooting at me! Lewis was too busy playing to be bothered with pictures. Ha!

Parker is quite the entertainer.....we would get everyone all together and all the sudden, he'd just fall over just as I was taking the picture. Gosh that kid makes me laugh!! Do you see him there??

My other favorite family | St. Michael children's photographer

2010-12-22T11:01:00.004-06:00

I know I say that every family is my favorite but I have known this momma for-ev-er. We met in college, lived together during and after college and are godparents for each other's children. She is one of my bestest friends and she means the world to me, so in turn, her family means the world to me.

I know I've told you before but in case you forgot, her oldest, Melia, is the same age as my Jessalyn and they are two peas in a high maintanence, strong willed pod. LOL Really, they are fantastic but boy, are they tiring. Then little Miss Hayden came along all cheerful and just makes everyone happy. You can just look at her and she lights up. You won't really be able to tell but when we did the outdoor session, she went from fussing to full on smile just by me saying her name. I have never heard her really upset and she is just such a sweet child (not that Melia isn't, don't get me wrong! Melia honey, you know I love you!!).

I am so very happy that I was able to capture all these funs times in Hayden's little life (see here, here, here and here) and although I'm technically only Melia's godmother, you aren't ever getting rid of me! Love you little girl and love you all U family!!

Just to show that she does fuss a little once in a while - but who doesn't love that face????

Whoopsie Daisy | Minneapolis Children's Photographer

2010-12-16T00:30:00.002-06:00

I just watched Notting Hill the other day and the part where he is trying to climb the fence, falls and says Whoopsie Daisy cracks me up!! Who says that?? Is Hugh Grant not just dreamy in that movie? Oh, I'm such a sucker for a nice man.

These are a little out of order because they come to you per someone's request. :) I will get the blog caught up eventually, promise. BriAnn and A.J. came to see me again and this time we went ice skating.....or we tried to anyway. A.J. hadn't ever been on skates before and BriAnn was all skating backwards and stuff. She says she hasn't been on skates for 15+ years but after seeing her, I'm not sure I believe her!

We had a lot of fun and A.J. was a trooper once again! Thanks for being so open you guys and sorry I encouraged A.J. to throw snowballs at you!! :)

He's got a good arm!!

Heibel Family | Rogers Family Photographer

2010-12-13T11:09:00.003-06:00

I am now heading into my "downtime" where instead of shooting and editing constantly, I am working on getting all of my year end paperwork in order (I seriously need to develop a new system for this because it is OUT.OF.CONTROL) and coming up with all kinds of new ideas for the coming year. I'm hoping to announce something really fun for next year!! Stay tuned!

Onto this family...they are my neighbors (down the road) and are just a really nice, fun bunch of people. And Scout....its kinda comforting that everytime I walk past their house (not that I'm stalking or anything...promise!), Scout is pacing the front of their lawn to greet people. He is such a cute dog!

I know Mom and Dad probably think the boys are a little crazy but they were so well behaved and fun and that makes my job so much better! J and C, you keep being "cool guys"! :)

There are a lot of pictures in this post due to the tardiness of the post and how stinking cute they all are! Thanks for everything Heibels!!

The boys don't love their dog at all....

Heehee - who doesn't feel like this sometimes?

What a ham, huh?

Divas | Rogers Children's Photographer

2010-12-03T10:05:00.003-06:00

Olivia and Sophie....these two were a bundle of FUN! Sophie reminded me a lot of my daughter - definately had her own agenda. I love working with kids this age because, although challenging, you will get something different every time. And Olivia, really she couldn't have been any sweeter. Thanks for coming all the way out to meet me - your family is absolutely beautiful!!

You mess with me and I'll cut you....got it? This just made me laugh!!

Let me tell you....this took some manuvering on my part. Why is it that kids don't like to sit next to their siblings?? My kids are the same way. :)

How cute is this girl? She was so sweet.

Double Trouble | St. Michael twins photographer

2010-11-28T10:28:00.002-06:00

These guys are only the second set of twins that I have ever done a session with and they were at one of the hardest ages....4 months....so I was a little nervous for how the session would go. There was no need to worry though because they were really so well behaved. The first thing that I thought when I saw them was "they are so big!" I just expected these tiny little guys and they were just as roly poly as any other 4 month old. Sigh, why can't it be cute to be roly poly when you are older?

Anyway, Mom and Dad, thanks for bringing them out and also for being so easy going! I loved all of what we got and I'm so glad that you did too! And again, I'm still working to get caught up on all the sessions that need to get up on the blog....this was back at the end of Sept. Eeek! Stay tuned for lots more posts.

I loved how this turned out with the barnwood wall!!

One year later | St. Michael baby photographer

2010-11-28T10:20:00.002-06:00

Gavin just graduated from my Watch Me Grow plan. I don't know that I have ever heard him whine for more than a few seconds in all of the sessions that we had! He is the greatest baby and so adorable it makes me swoon.

Gavin, thanks so much for all the fun! Thank you for being the great baby that you are and I'll miss seeing you every few months!!

And here is his end of the year collage. Sigh.....time goes too fast.

Black Friday + a couple days sale!!

2010-11-23T07:59:00.007-06:00

You will receive one full session (up to 6 people) + a high resolution disc with the edited images from your session with print permission for $299.00.....so this is only $199 over your session fee for the whole session on disc!!!! This is normally $650 + your session fee so this is a huge savings! This is limited to the first 15 people and the certificate will be good until 8/31/11.

Click on the button below to purchase this.....when its gone, its gone!

My little (big) brother | St. Louis Park Family Photographer

2010-11-23T07:40:00.004-06:00

I know I already professed my love for this family in Calvin's newborn post but I just fell in love with them even harder after this session. Norm will always have a special place in my heart because we've been through a lot together but Shannan is closing the gap on him! My gosh, that girl makes him so happy and, let's be honest, keeps that man together. Norm is like my little (big) brother so any girl that can do that for him is someone that I instantly love.

And Calvin, oh Calvin. You just have to look at him and he lights up. I l.o.v.e this age. At 6 months, they aren't crawling yet (usually), they think I'm pretty funny and aren't afraid - perfect combination for photos! As you can see, he smiles with his whole body. I think I might need to go get some more snuggle time in with him.....

Joy | Elk River Family Photographer

2010-11-19T07:49:00.003-06:00

Kathy is one of my dearest friends and her children are like my second set of kids. Needless to say, they are very close to my heart. I have been taking their pictures since long before I officially opened up shop so I have gotten to capture them growing up.

This year we decided to do some OCF, some "urban" (as urban as you can get in Elk River) and still some outdoorsy ones too. Lauren is such a ham and Landon.....well, Landon is at the age where he thinks he is reeeeaaaalllly funny. Shhh, don't tell him but he is!

I love that they always trust me even when they don't totally see what I see and I also love just how fantastic they all are!! Thanks so much for being such great friends to us and for being so patient with me on getting these up for everyone. This time of year is insane (these were taken at the beginning of Oct)!

I also love that Kathy always requests ones of just her and Derek....I think we should all do that a little more often!!

And apparently, I am super funny too! :) I really, really love these shots. Just a family being a family.

Overload | St. Michael Family Photographer

2010-11-10T22:01:00.004-06:00

As I said a few posts ago, these guys have had 3 sessions with me this fall. One sports, one immediate family and one with grandma! They are the best kids and I had so much fun with them in every one but I'm sure they are sick of me and my camera by now!

We did both the family and grandma sessions in the same day and it is humorous to me what us girls will do for pictures. Alex completely changed her whole look and Tyler just put on a different shirt....ah, the life of a boy. :)

The family always includes their dog, Dixie, in their family portraits too and I just love that! What a great way to capture a memory of what your family truly was at that point in time. Since we were on a farm, she thought it was time for her to hunt so for half the session all we saw was corn stalks moving while she ran through! I was worried we lost her a couple of times but she always came back. :)

Thanks B family, once again, for trusting me with your family's memories!

MY FAVORITE! But Dixie isn't in it....darn it.

Girls | Rogers Children's Photograher

2010-11-01T22:48:00.002-05:00

I am calling dibs on these girls for Cade!!! I'm not sure how Ryan is going to handle boys when they get into junior high but something tells me they had better get a plan in place. :)

Aren't they gorgeous?

Beginnings | St. Michael Children's Photographer

2010-11-01T22:38:00.004-05:00

Hi, my name is Angie and I am a stress eater. In case you haven't caught on, a photographer's life from the beginning of September until about mid December is very stressful. This + that = bad for Angie's clothes. See, my clothes start to become very lonely without me being able to take them out and show them a good time and frankly, the ones that are seeing the light of day need a break. So, I contacted a trainer. Someone who can say to me, "Seriously Ang, did you need that 4th Mountain Dew today?" and someone that doesn't fear for their life when they say that to me.

Obviously I don't really have time to starting training with her right now because....well......I do like the 3 or 4 hours of sleep I am getting at the moment and I'm not ready to give that up yet. So, we are starting with a nutritional plan. 3 months of her telling me what to eat and when. I need that right now. I need a plan that I am not allowed to stray from and someone to kick my butt when I do. She made me keep a food journal for 3 days......yeah, really not my favorite thing ever. Seeing all those foods staring at me, mocking me, and having to show that to someone else. Not my proudest moment. Her response to my journal was this (and I quote) "okay so first off I am going to start you on a 3 day raw veggie cleanse. You need to do this to flush your system out because you are consuming alot of artificial chemicals, fat, sodium, and sugar." In other words....you suck at eating, no wonder you have gained weight.

So, if you need to reach me in the next few days, I might be cowering in the corner rocking back and forth fantasizing about my beloved Mountain Dew. Just consider yourself warned. :)

And speaking of candy....here are my adorable children in their Halloween garb. Cade has been just about every professional sports player you can be (basketball this year) and Jessa changed her mind 2 days before Halloween and wanted to be a pink kitty. This is as close as I could get. :)

What is with the smile???

Amy | Rogers Senior Photographer

2010-10-20T08:07:00.003-05:00

This is the third year in a row that I have gotten to do senior portraits for this mom. Can you imagine having a senior 3 years in a row? Talk about party planning expert! All of the kids have been so different from each other and we have done completely different looks for all 3, which is so fun for me!

Amy came with a whole bunch of clothes and a lot of ideas for what she wanted from her session. The energy she had was just amazing! I truely enjoyed hanging out with you Amy (and you again Mom!) and thanks for trusting me and my sometimes silly ideas!

I really LOVE photographing children in all their innocence but seniors are so much fun in a completely different way. I find at the end, instead of being exhausted, I have all this energy from the back and forth between them and me!

Onto the pictures! Amy is gorgeous and, although she thinks she looks mad when she isn't smiling, I love it! Good luck with the rest of your senior year Amy! Thanks for traveling to see me!

Workin' out | Maple Grove Family Photographer

2010-10-12T09:51:00.002-05:00

When Mom called and booked her session, she mentioned that her daughters were all older and her one year old grandson would also be there. I'm thinking "piece of cake" and apparently Preston was thinking "run, run away from the lady with the camera!" Heehee, just kidding. He was actually just like any other one year old that really more interested in exploring and less in looking at me and staying in one place. It is so nice when families are just so laid back and really trust me to get what we need to get. They were all amazing and obviously just adore Preston and each other!

And just to prove once again what a small world it really is.....they were referred to me by another client and after the session was done, come to find out that I went to college and was friends with a cousin of the family. Small world!

They must have the most beautiful girls - I can only imagine how cute they all were as children! Check out this gorgeous family -

See? Gorgeous!!

Ha! We trapped him!

This was what he looked like the majority of the session.....what a cute little stinker! I love that look of pure bliss when little kids run.

A ladies man at the age of one.....he has his Mom and Aunties wrapped around his little finger already.

And an outtake.....he really wanted to hang out with me. Really! It had absolutely nothing to do with the treats I had in my bag. :)

Go Knights! | St. Michael Photographer

2010-10-10T22:44:00.003-05:00

When I was in high school I was really athletic. I giggle now because I grew up in a house full of boys and I pretty much thought I was a boy until about 6th grade. Thinking back, I'm not sure that I was aware that people didn't play sports all year round until I got into high school. I mainly played fast pitch softball and volleyball but also ran track and cross country, played basketball (I was NOT good!) and was on the dance team. I was a really busy girl but I loved every minute of it and learned lots from all of it.

Alex and Tyler totally remind me of how much fun it was back then, and how much kids get out of playing sports. And I love that Mom does a separate session every year of them in their ball gear so they can "show off" their bling so to speak - and they have a lot of it! I do have to brag on them a little bit....Alex played varsity fast pitch ball last year already (she is pretty young for it) and Tyler got to travel on a team to New York! They are truely some of the nicest teenagers you'll meet. And I'm not saying that just because they live next door and could TP us at any moment.

Alex wanted to do something a little different this year and really wanted to be in water with lights....so we made it happen!

Here are some from the first of 3 sessions I did with them this fall. You'll notice that Tyler is in his "I'm too cool to smile" phase. :)

Isn't it cute that they are both #8? Mom wanted this shot.

Ok Tyler, look at the camera and DON'T SMILE! Good job. :)

What to wear | St. Michael Family Photographer

2010-10-03T21:08:00.002-05:00

Once the session is booked the first question is always, do you have any suggestions for what we should wear? I tell them the same thing I tell everyone.....my suggestion is to start with the person that is the hardest to dress and coordinate from them. Not necessarily be all matching but pull colors and coordinate. I do understand that is a concept that bucks the traditional thought that has been drilled in our heads and is also a little vague and hard to imagine.

So, this weekend I shot 5 different families and they all did so well with choosing their outfits, I thought I would give some examples of great outfit planning!!

First up....L Family. Don't they look great?

Next....K Family. I love the details of the headbands, barrette and jackets

U family....So much fun to dress girls in pink but I thought she did a great job balancing for Dad too.

L Family....I just love, love, love this picture of them because this is them. Such a happy family!

And finally K Family.....I love the deep colors and it went with the evening light so well!! And Alex is even looking at me (yes, I know she has kind of a silly look but that girl cracks me up and I love this picture)!

Tough nut to crack | St. Michael Children's Photographer

2010-10-03T07:48:00.003-05:00

Ahhh, these girls have seen me quite a few times in the last few years. Carly is always so cooperative and pleasing and Cassie, well.....she is quite a bit like my little spit fire. :) Cassie really keeps me on my toes and usually makes me work really hard to get her to look and smile at the same time and I'm usually lucky if I get ONE of the two of them together.

This time, though, I got her!! She had a great time (they both did) and actually let Carly touch her! Woot woot!! Which is fantastic because they are so adorable. Great job Mom on getting just the right outfits once again and thanks so much girls.....I know you made your Mom's day. :)

Here are some of my favorites:

Seriously, Carly is so sweet to her sister.

I love little kid, giggley joy. Just makes me smile. :)

Don't you love the one tree with color in the background? There are lots more now!

I can just picture what is going through her head....."I gave you what you wanted. Now back off and let me have my candy!" Heehee!

Personality | Maple Grove Family Photographer

2010-09-23T18:00:00.003-05:00

Oh boy, this family was just the best (I feel like I say that about all my families!). They have 4 kids and to that I must say, wow, how do you do it? There are plenty of days that I can barely manage the 2 that I have!

Moving on.....their kids were soooo well behaved but the great part was they all had such distinct personalities. Evan, the baby, was just pretty content the majority of the time. Cole was obsessed with the trike and basically drove circles around us! Jackson was trying so hard to be perfect (and he really was!) and Alex was the big sister trying to be my big helper. And Mom and Dad were the best and just so "go with the flow" type of people. I actually said to Mom as we were leaving, I'm so impressed with how great Dad was. Most men just don't want to be there and I can tell. He was so cooperative and never batted an eye no matter what I suggested. Thanks for that!!

I got so many great ones of all of the kids as well as the family, I had a hard time narrowing them down for Mom for her gallery! And, because I got so many great ones....here are just some of my favorites!!

Mom got this one enlarged and I LOVE IT!!! What a funny capture and probably so true to life. :)

Seriously, how cute is this face?

What a character this guy was!!

This was her "for the grandparents shot"

And then we had some fun! She kept telling me that she felt silly....obviously she didn't get the memo about reading her shirt! :)

And this is their family portrait they ordered. Mom said, this is really our family....Jackson is trying so hard to be perfect by not itching too much (it was suuuuuper buggy back there), Alex is overposing and Cole is off doing his own thing. Cracks me up! I love when people embrace reality. :)

But I really love this one of them too! Thanks for being so much fun!!!

Just one | Rogers Senior Photographer

2010-09-22T17:41:00.001-05:00

This is really out of order but Mom requested one peek so here you go! Your full gallery will be up later tonight.

Ava | St. Michael Children's Photographer

2010-09-16T23:07:00.002-05:00

This is the second time I have gotten to "play" with Ava. She is a spunky little one and I'm sure she keeps Mom and Dad on their toes. This was a special session because very soon she'll be a big sister! I'm very excited for her, I think she's going to love the job. I can't wait to meet her new baby!

By the way, the second outfit is one of the Matilda Jane outfits that I have available for your use......among many others. Just ask me about them when you book your session!

Tyler and Ryan | Maple Grove Childrens Photographer

2010-09-11T01:10:00.002-05:00

I'm a little short on words tonight as I am suuuuper tired but I know I am so slacking on the blogging so I really wanted to get some done. Tyler and Ryan visited me a few weeks ago when Ryan was 4 months old. I swear I just did his newborn photos (for that matter, I SWEAR I just did Tyler's newborn photos and he is 2!) but he has gotten so much bigger since I saw him last!

I am too tired to narrow down these pictures anymore and I have a lot of favorites so enjoy the supersized post!!

Didn't Mom do a fantastic job of coordinating with the couch?? I love it!

He is so handsome!

Ty had a quick wardrobe change and wallah - super trendy Ty is out to play!

See ya later!!

Drake | St. Michael Childrens Photographer

2010-09-01T23:04:00.002-05:00

Drake came in for his 3rd session with me a few weeks ago and I can't believe how much he has grown!! This time he brought with him not only Mom and Dad, but also his "sister" Willow. Both children really impressed me with how cooperative they were. We went through quite a few wardrobe changes and Drake did great right up to the end, even while sitting in weeds up over his head!

Here are some of my favorites from the session:

Have I mentioned how much I love my new couch??

And you think you have it rough? | St. Michael Children's Photographer

2010-08-25T23:58:00.003-05:00

As you blog readers know, my Jessalyn has a little bit of an attitude. And although I find it really cute (uh-huh, that's the word), I just want to illustrate that when you bring your child to me I can assure you that he/she is not the worst behaved child I have ever seen.

Example:

Jessalyn decided she wanted me to take her pictures....she picked out her outfit, demanded that I follow her down to the studio and grabbed the trike. Ok, sure. That was cute for a couple of pictures. Hey Jessa, now lets do a couple without the trike. You can see what happens when anything strays from the path SHE has chosen. LOL Once she realized that I was going to take the pictures anyway, she gave me one nice one at the end.

By the way, I made that headband. I am quite proud of myself. : )

Blake & Annika | Champlin Minnesota Newborn Photographer

2010-08-25T22:53:00.003-05:00

I haven't ever had a session with newborn twins before so I was thrilled when these guys invited me over! Although I get to see newborns all the time, it seems I always forget how little they are and even how little their cry is. Awe, gets me every time.

They must have schemed up their plan before I got there because Blake started out sleepy, then when he needed to eat, Annika was sleepy. Great job guys!! Although, Annika must have been trying to pay Blake back for constantly being on top of her prior to birth because as soon as I positioned her on top of him for their shots together she grabbed onto the skin on his back and wouldn't let go! Starting their sibling rivalry early!!

Thanks so much for having me out and I hope all of you are getting some rest over there!

Here are some of my favorites from the session:

I still can't believe I was able to get both of them in this position....

This was my cue that they had enough of me!

Fall mini-sessions | St. Michael Family Photographer

2010-08-24T08:07:00.005-05:00

Well, the holiday rush is upon us already, can you believe it?? This year I am offering mini-sessions for those of you that just want a few pictures for your holiday card or don't have time for a full session. These sessions will take place at an awesome outdoor location in the St. Michael area and I'm really excited about them!!

For $150, you'll get a 20 minute session and 10 high resolution images on disc with reprint permission. If you would like a Christmas card design, add an additional $25. A $50 non-refundable deposit is due upon booking. The sessions will start at 8 am and run every half hour until 5:30. Please email me your preference for time when you book!! I expect these to fill up quickly so contact me now!!

Matt | St. Michael Minnesota Senior Photographer

2010-08-23T21:55:00.003-05:00

I had the honor of taking Matt's senior portraits a few weeks back (yes, I am perpetually behind) and I had so much fun! Matt is my oldest nephew and when my sister asked me to take his pictures I was thrilled!! It was a new experience for me too as I don't often shoot portraits when I'm in Sioux Falls so I don't have any "normal spots" there. We had a great time all piled in the van roaming around town finding spots.

Normally boys don't get especially excited about getting their portraits done but Matt was so cooperative! My sister brought me a ton of clothes to choose from and looking at the pictures, apparently I must think he looks good in red. He does though, don't you think? I know this is a big post but he's my nephew and I had a SUPER hard time narrowing down for a blog post.

Thanks for letting me have this fun with you and thanks for trusting me with all my crazy ideas!

Tractor pulls | St. Michael Senior Photographer

2010-08-12T17:32:00.003-05:00

I am from Sioux Falls, SD. But no, I did not grow up on a farm nor do I really know anyone on a farm. So when Mitch's mom contacted me for his senior portraits and mentioned that he does tractor pulls, I'm thinking what the heck? You put stuff on the back of a tractor and pull it? So, as we were wandering around the farm where we did his shoot, I had to ask. What in the world do you do at a tractor pull? I'm sure Mitch got a kick out of that....whatever, it made him smile. Ha!

Thanks for letting my capture this exciting time in your life and for humoring me about the tractors!

You might notice a cropped version of this up in the blog header....I love his eyes in this picture!

Charlie | St. Michael Baby Photographer

2010-08-12T16:39:00.002-05:00

Charlie came back to see me again but this time she was a little more active than the last time. She is still such a cutie though! She really wasn't digging me much but I still think we got some good ones. Doesn't she have big gorgeous eyes? Charlie, you come back and see me anytime, ok?

Headpiece | Albertville Newborn Baby Photographer

2010-08-12T06:20:00.002-05:00

I bought a new headpiece a while back for Jessa but when I got it, I realized that it was a pretty snug fit on her. It looked like it might fit a newborn so I borrowed my friend's baby to model it for me. She really knows how to work it doesn't she? She seriously has the best lips. I love it!!!

Full Session | Rogers Minnesota Children's Photographer

2010-08-03T12:34:00.006-05:00

I've been meaning to get this up and since I'm delivering their order today, might as well be today, right? Olivia and Ava always do so great for me - we have lots of fun together! This is their full session.

9 months | St. Michael Minnesota Baby Photographer

2010-07-27T22:05:00.000-05:00

Gavin is part of my Watch Me Grow plan and he came in for his 9 month session not too long ago. He is such an adorable hunk of goodness and is a great baby! I can't wait to see what he has in store for me with his year session....I'm fairly sure I'm going to be chasing him down!

Hayden | St. Michael Minnesota Baby Photographer

2010-07-27T21:18:00.000-05:00

Hayden came over to see me again and we took her out just by my house so sit with the flowers. She is such a great baby, I love her a little more each time I get to see her!

Emotions | St. Michael Minnesota Baby Photographer

2010-07-27T21:10:00.000-05:00

Ahhh, babies. They crack me up. They can go from serious to crying to happy in a matter of 3 seconds (see example below). I love that about them! Levi was a great baby and he is seriously killing me with that super cute chub!! I know I've said it before but 6 months is such a great age to have pictures taken. They can usually sit, can't get away from me yet and are generally pretty darn happy!

Here are a few of my favorites of Levi:

{Me Monday} | St. Michael Family Photographer

2010-07-12T23:20:00.005-05:00

Not sure if you noticed or not, but I missed a couple of weeks of my Monday posts. Let me just say it was out of lack of stamina. I could go on about how busy I am but we all are so I'll just say sorry and move on. :)

Our house has been a work in progress since we moved in. We built it ourselves and it took a loooooong time to finish and even now, we are still working on stuff all the time. None of it moves as fast as I would like but I'm a slave to the contractor (Dave). We have been slowly working on the landscaping and this weekend we finished up around the patio in the back of our house. It really looks great and as I loaded the pictures for this post, I realized I never took an after picture. I'll have to do that so you can see how nice it looks now.

This is Dave's pet peeve....we left the water slide out too long and it burnt the grass. I say we have kids and a dog, let go of having the perfect lawn.

This is my pet peeve.....all the projects we have going on that are halfway done. We should just call it the halfway house. :)

She is our little helper!!

And he is constantly right by our side.

We have been trying to get plants and mulch around the patio forever - yay, its finally done!!!!

Do you see our neighbor's flower garden in the background? Oh, it is so beautiful!!

We started a garden this year.....it has been so fun and a lot of work!! But the kids think it is so cool to go out there and see this....our first cucumber.

Our tomatoes are getting big!

Starting to get some peppers!! Dave's sister is going to teach me how to make her incredible salsa!!

And against Dave's will we planted a pumpkin plant. I think the kids are most excited for that one to grow.

Did you know that asparagus is a perennial? I didn't. You should have seen what we had to plant. Looked nothing like asparagus. This is the only spear we have so far but we were told we probably won't get much this year.

And the 2 strawberries we had until the birds came to eat them. Somehow while I was weeding the garden this weekend, I accidentally pulled one of our strawberry plants. :( I was kinda bummed because I think these are what I'm most excited for.

And this is what our house looks like from the back....burnt grass and all. :)

Full session | St. Michael Children's Photographer

2010-06-30T23:22:00.002-05:00

Here is a video from the Morelli boys' session last week. Gosh, they are fun!

9 months | St. Michael Minnesota Children's Photographer

2010-06-27T16:57:00.003-05:00

Gavin is part of my Watch me Grow plan so this is the 4th time I've done his pictures. He is such a cutie and even when he's whiney, he's still smiley. His momma went out of his sight and he would start to cry and all I had to do it say PEEK....and he got this huge grin on his face. He wasn't too into staying still for me but that's ok! He showed me his dance moves and was walking around with my firetruck!!

Here is your peek, Momma - hope you enjoyed the rest of your day!

By the way, I am running a special on my Facebook page, once I reach 450 likes (fans), one of the fans will receive a free session and an album from their session (session to take place within 50 miles of St. Michael). If you haven't already "liked" me.....head on over to my Facebook Page and click like to enter! We are almost there to hurry on over!

My favorite Mafia | St. Michael Minnesota Children's Photographer

2010-06-23T21:32:00.003-05:00

This family is one of my favorites for many reasons but mostly because they are just so real. Mom and Dad let me do my thing with the boys and they totally understand that while it might appear that I am chasing Nico in vain, that is totally what 2 year olds do and it is useless to try to fight it too hard. I also love that they let the boys be boys and aren't stopping them from exploring (unless, of course, they would be in danger).

Mom is a realtor (call her if you are thinking of buying or selling!!) and judging by how calm she is with 2 kids in tow, I bet she is great at it. And really, if we are being honest, who doesn't love parents who care enough to spend days agonizing over their childrens' names (after they are born) so that they get it just right......and very Italian. :)

Soooo, in the 90+ degree weather last night we climbed through tall grass, scaled fences, fell down a few times, took a ride in a wagon, splashed in water, rolled down hills, had races and searched for squirrels. All things boys!!

Here is the rest of your peek - I hope you like them!

Can this kid be any cuter???

Just a tiny peek | St. Michael Children's Photographer

2010-06-22T21:59:00.002-05:00

I am exhausted so I'm just doing a tiny peek tonight and I'll do a little bigger peek tomorrow. I just finally got the kids settled down in bed!!

These are just 2 that I pulled out as I was downloading them.....aren't they cute kids??

Joey would have smiled for me all night but for some reason I really like this one too!

And Nico, boy does he keep me on my toes. Love that kid!

{Me Monday} | St. Michael Minnesota Children's Photographer

2010-06-21T22:47:00.003-05:00

I'll give you a break from my kids this week, these are my cousin-in-laws' kids. The L family lives about an hour away from us and came down (or is it over?) for Meghan's graduation party last weekend. They are a very large family with lots of little kids so it is always fun for my kids when they come down. They stopped at our house first before heading to the party and Grandma and a couple of the girls came down to the studio while I was finishing a few things up. They spotted my pettiskirts and since I already had everything set up for a shoot, I asked if they wanted to put them on for a picture. I didn't get a shoot very many but they were so cute playing! Sometimes those 2 minute sessions are the best. :)

Excuse the messy hair and clothes.....noone planned on pictures being taken. LOL

These 2 are sisters:

Big sister

Little sister copying big sister....how cute is that???

This is another of the sisters - she is such a peanut!!

And big (middle) sister wanted to sit by her

And these are the twins (different parents), one of them wanted the skirts and the other didn't. I think short attention spans won out. :)

Cute kids | St. Michael Minnesota Children's Photographer

2010-06-15T21:38:00.003-05:00

I had to opportunity to shoot a bunch of kids all in one day and they were seriously a hoot!! We had a great time fighting the bugs, kept the snacks flowing and got some great pictures.

Can you tell they are thrilled to have their picture taken? LOL

Lauren will no doubt have some modeling in her future!!

{Me Monday} on Tuesday | St. Michael Minnesota Children's Photographer

2010-06-08T22:25:00.004-05:00

I know I'm a little late but I wanted to save my Me Monday post for today because it is Jessalyn's 4th birthday!! I really can honestly say that I don't know where the last 2 years have gone. The first 2 years seemed to take forever because she was so colicky and we were building a house so I was by myself with the kids all the time. But since we have moved in, time has gone in the blink of an eye.

Jessa was so adorable this morning. Last night we had a talk about how when she went to bed she was still 3 but when she woke up, she would be 4. I walked into her room this morning to wake her up and she was already awake, sprung up and said "I'm 4!" Yes, yes you are. For her birthday we went to Space Aliens for dinner and then to the old fashioned candy store to pick out some treats.

Jessa, I had this sappy, lovey post I was going to write about you today until you decided you were going to throw yourself under the table at Space Aliens tonight and scream for no apparent reason. And as I was dragging you into the bathroom to attempt to calm you down from your all out scitsofrenic rage, I was re-writing it in my head. Blah, blah, blah....leave you on the side of the road.....blah, blah, blah......can't believe I rushed home to make your birthday special and you have me hostage in a bathroom......and so on. You get the idea. And about 30 seconds after you decided that you were done being crazy, you tell me that you love me.

That is what I love most about you Jessa. Everything with you is all out. You are either really screaming or are on top of the world. You love with all you are, you play with all you are, you are the first to go talk to any other person you see (usually to tell them that you have a dog named Rocco and he just had a birthday) and you are the first one to come snuggle up to me and tell me that you love me. You have a fantastic imagination, you can make up amazing games and play for hours on your own. You really don't need anyone else to make you happy. But you are too smart for your own good, well, for my sanity anyway. If you are mad, you tell me that I hurt your feelings or that I am making you feel very sad and really, how could I ever continue to hurt your feelings or make you sad?? As frustrating as these traits are (AND THEY ARE!!), these are things that I hope you retain as you get older and don't let anyone teach you any different. I really pity the boy that falls in love with you but I'm sure he'll love you for your strong will and conviction.....right??

Happy birthday my sweet baby girl. Momma loves you with all her heart and even though she might say to you over and over (and over and over) that she wants you to behave differently, she really never wants you to change. Really.

I heart faces

2010-05-25T08:57:00.003-05:00

Well the theme for this week's I heart Faces (www.iheartfaces.com) challenge just happens to be yellow so I thought I would go ahead and enter Jessa's overly willing photo! I know it's not smiling but I happen to really love this one of her!

{Me Monday} | St. Michael Children's Photographer

2010-05-24T23:05:00.003-05:00

I am trying to force myself to be a more consistent blogger. I know I should be blogging sessions but just as you guys get excited for your pictures....I get SUPER excited when I actually manage to get some good ones of my kids. :)

Jessalyn is going to be 4 in a couple of weeks and if you follow my blog or if you have the privilege of knowing her, you know that she is a, um, handful. She is fabulous, cuddly and sweet when she wants to be but holy cats, when she is in a mood, stay out of her way. Her and I butt heads often because I don't give in to her like another parent-who-shall-remain-nameless but it is times like this when it's just her and I that make up for it. We have so much fun together! I'll save her sappy post for her birthday but I am too excited to not share these photos!!

I'll have more for her birthday post but here are a few that I love!!

This is the reason I love to shoot in the evening light, just gorgeous!

We had to start out with some resistance because that's how we roll.

A-ha! Success!

This is her...I'm just smiling because you said ice cream....smile.

And we are done. Love it though!

Dog Party!!

2010-05-19T21:57:00.004-05:00

Yep, we had Rocco's party tonight and he loved it! I still can't believe that I had a dog birthday party but the kids had so much fun....totally made it worth it!

I just have to give a shout out to LuLu and Luigi's. The cake was so cute and the dog guests enjoyed their party favors (cookies). If you are looking for a treat for your pet, check them out!

http://www.luluandluigi.com/

Here are some of the birthday boy and his adorable "cake"!

Sitting patiently for his treat.

He loved it!!

For the photogs out there, I took this last night at 8:57pm (in other words, the sun had pretty much set by then). Shot at 1/200, f2.2, ISO 3200!! Pretty impressed at how well my camera handles the low light. Not nearly the noise I would have expected. :)

Happy Birthday Rocco!

2010-05-19T12:00:00.001-05:00

Well, my baby is one. This is the baby that I didn't really want. He still drives me crazy because he wants to sit on my lap all the time and follows me everywhere. But I have grown to love him.....so much so that I've started letting him sleep in our room at night. I said I would never but.....really, who can resist a cute little puppy face?

We are having a party for him this evening.....you heard me right. A doggy birthday party!! I got a cake for him, treats for the other dog in attendance and a cake suited for humans as well. I'm so excited I can barely stand it!! I'll put some up of him at his party later on but wanted to look back on how cute and little he was when we got him. Awe, why can't they stay all fuzzy and little? As you can see, he started out cuddling with any blanket he could find and now he just wants to be in someone's lap. :)

Trey | St. Michael MN STMA Senior Photographer

2010-05-17T21:33:00.003-05:00

I'm going a little out of order here but wanted to get these posted for mom. There are a lot of reasons why I'm excited that Trey is repping for me and other than the obvious good looks, he is such a great kid. He is nice, polite and just generally friendly which sometimes is hard to come by in teenagers. It is always interesting for me to watch the dynamics between children and their parents when they come along for the shoots. It is obvious that Trey and his mom have a special bond......and I'll stop now before I completely embarrass him! Ha-ha!!

In honor of Trey, any senior that books and pays for their session now through the end of June (session to take place sometime in 2010) will get an accordian book with photos from their session ($45 value) and a $50 print credit!!

So, here you go - Trey will be a senior at STMA High School next year and he represents the school well! These are a few from his quick mini-session. We will be doing his full session later this summer.

Sweet baby Hayden | St. Michael Minnesota Children's Photographer

2010-05-10T23:01:00.005-05:00

I think Hayden is destined to always be baby Hayden in our household. She is such a sweetheart and she is great for me whenever I do her sessions as evidenced at her newborn and 3 month and now her 6 month. She not quite sitting up yet so we just stuck her in a bunch of baskets! She loved the bears and was happy to do whatever we wanted her to do. I do believe that she has a model in her waiting to get out!

I love the expressions that babies make, they are all about the wonder.

Here is sweet baby Hayden...

Drake | St. Michael Minnesota Baby Photographer

2010-05-02T09:53:00.002-05:00

Drake came to see me again yesterday and he was much happier this time! He is almost 5 months old now and boy has he gotten big since I saw him last. He was such a trooper throughout his session and even flashed us his adorably cute smile once or twice. :) It must be hard work being this cute, huh?

8 days new | St. Michael Minnesota Newborn Baby Photographer

2010-04-27T14:42:00.002-05:00

Ryan just happens to be the new baby brother of one of my most fun 18 month olds to chase around! I've been photographing Tyler since he was a newborn so it is wonderful to see him become a big brother.....not that he really is that into it at this point. :)

Ryan was so fabulous for us!! He slept the whole time we needed him to and was so patient while we tried to get Tyler to get anywhere near him for a picture. There are a T-O-N of great ones but here are a few that I just grabbed quick while going through them.

Ty really fights giving me the satisfaction of smiling for me. He has the stare down though!!! (I swear he did smile for some but I love this of him since it is so typical!)

Out of town

2010-04-22T17:45:00.002-05:00

I will be out of town until Tuesday. I will be checking messages but won't be quite as quick as normal to respond. Thanks and look for a peek of the new addition to the Kruger family on Tuesday!

And just because I hate to post without a picture.....here is one of my cutie pie dog!!

Rock that OCF! workshop | St. Michael Minnesota Senior Photographer

2010-04-20T07:47:00.003-05:00

Last weekend I attended a Rock that OCF workshop (OCF = off camera flash). Ali is such a great photographer and teacher. We had a lot of fun and, of course, learned a lot too!! This type of lighting is completely out of my norm but I really had fun creating a totally different look! All of these, except for the ones with the girl in the red dress, were taken in the middle of the day.....isn't that cool?

I would love to use this type of lighting on my seniors this year!!

There are a lot of images that I loved from the day - relax, this might take a while. Our models were awesome! :)

We were waiting for the sun to come down a little more so we shot some in natural light - I love the warmth of these pictures. This is why it is so great to shoot in the evening right before sunset!

And this was using OCF - isn't it crazy what a different look you get? The ones above were taken literally right before these.

6 or 16? | Minneapolis Minnesota Children's Photographer

2010-04-13T07:32:00.003-05:00

AJ and his mom came to see me last night and we had so much fun strolling around downtown. AJ just turned 6 and got a new guitar for his birthday. I look at these pictures and he looks so much older than 6!! But in the end, he was like most other boys that wanted to try to lift everything (concrete blocks), check out every pile of dirt or pool of water, etc. He had a lot of fun exploring and he was making "artistic" decisions about the way he wanted Mom to be in the pictures....he even did some shooting at the end!

Thanks for coming to see me you guys and Thank you SO much for being so much fun!! I hope you like the pictures.

Some people walking by yelled "You're a rockstar!" while we were taking this. What a great smile!

Doesn't he look so cool? Jeez, when did they start looking so old?

Overdue | St. Michael Minnesota Children's Photographer

2010-04-11T13:41:00.002-05:00

This post is overdue because I took these pictures a couple of weeks ago and as a matter of fact, their order is going in the mail tomorrow. But Zachary is so cute, I wanted to get him up on the blog anyway!

Zachary is a very special little boy who has had a rough first year of his life. He has a lot of health stuff going on but was still the cutest little guy despite all that! He was so funny during his session because he wanted all the attention on him. We would put a truck in with him, he'd push it out. It was pretty funny!! And he showed me a bunch of his tricks - so glad I got to meet you!!

Here is your peek......just a little late!!

This was just seconds before he pushed this truck out of the picture....

And pushed this out of the picture as well!!

Awwww, Zachary. You are too cute!!

How cute are they? | St. Michael Minnesota Family Photographer

2010-04-11T13:27:00.003-05:00

Avery was the perfect age for her pictures....can sit up, was full of smiles but can't crawl yet so she couldn't get away from me! Ivan is such a cutie, and already the ladies man (Carrie better watch out!). Both of them did really good for me today, minus Avery's obvious distaste for hats and grass. Haha!

Here is your peek, Christian the offers are starting to roll in!

Love the 2 teeth!!

Isn't he so handsome??

And she's done......

No, wait, she's back. She just wanted the spotlight to herself. :)

Gorgeous family, no?

CJ | St. Louis Park Minnesota Newborn Photographer

2010-04-07T23:55:00.003-05:00

Geez, where do I even start here. Cory (Norm) is one of my dearest friends and old roommates. Norm always insisted that he would never get married or have children.....that was until he met Shannan. I am in love with this girl because she makes Norm so happy, and that makes me happy! They are perfectly suited for each other and just a few weeks ago, had their first child. Seeing Norm so excited about this little guy was such a treat for me. I have always known that he would make an excellent father and I'm so thankful that I got to capture this special time for them.

To two of my very favorite people, your baby is absolutely perfect and I can't wait to see you all again. I hope you enjoy the photos! And just to remind those of you interested in newborn sessions, within the first 2 weeks is the best time to get these done because babies are more sleepy and bendy then. Contact me before your due date and we'll pencil you in the schedule to ensure we can get them done within that time frame.

He didn't want to sleep for us in the beginning....but wow, check out those gorgeous eyes!

And since he was awake, we had to sneak in one of him in his Twins gear, check out the socks!

He finally gave in and fell asleep.

And here is their first child, Roxy. She is SO well behaved. I was quite impressed.

Wyatt | Minnetonka Minnesota Baby Photographer

2010-04-03T16:45:00.003-05:00

Mr. Wyatt really wasn't too sure of me at the beginning but we had a nice little chat and I explained that I am really a nice lady, he'll see. After that, he did a great job of giving me eye contact and gave me a few smiles. :)

My daughter is whining for me to "taaaaakkkkkeeee meeeee outsiiiiiiide" so I'll just put up the pictures and apparently, be heading outside to play! I hope you enjoy them!

Feisty | St. Michael Minnesota Children's Photographer

2010-03-28T14:52:00.002-05:00

Hayley is "spirited" just like my daughter is so I just get a kick out of her. They definitely know what they want and they aren't afraid to tell you. That is a good thing....right? Hayley is a super cute 2 year old and was very much into picking out her chairs, where she wanted to sit and noone helping her.

I had a lot of fun and I think Hayley did too!! We played drop the bunny and have the crazy lady pick it up, throw ourselves off the chair onto the bunny and rotating chairs!! LOL You gotta do what you gotta do!

This is one of my favorite pictures ever!

Isn't she sweet??

Uh-oh! | St. Michael Minnesota Children's Photographer

2010-03-28T13:16:00.003-05:00

I slacked this week, I didn't make my 2 posts that I was shooting for! That's ok (right?), I'll make up for it in the next couple of days. I have had a crazy busy weekend so I'll have lots to share, I'm doing a quick sneak peek here before I had out to my last session of the weekend (a newborn - squeal!!).

6 months is such a fun age to photograph, they are pretty much happy about everything, can't get away from me yet and just all around think I'm the best thing ever. And who wouldn't like that? Gavin is such a sweetheart and he was overloading me with smiles this time around!! He loooooved the bears, I think Mom might have to go get him some!

If these don't make you smile a little, I don't know what is wrong with you!! Ha!

Rocco | St. Michael Minnesota Photographer

2010-03-21T22:10:00.005-05:00

Rocco is our black lab that we got last summer. He is 10 months old right now so we are very much in the midst of the puppy phase. It was so nice out today I talked Dave into all of us going to the off leash dog park by our house. Oh...my...gosh! Rocco was in heaven. He loves to play with other dogs and boy, did he get to do that. I recently got a new camera so I brought it with so I could play around and also get some of him in action. There are a lot of great ones (me and the new camera are meshing very well together!!!) so this is going to be a little picture heavy. You just have to see how cute he was!!

By the way, this water is not supposed to be there. I know it looks like a pond, but the snow melted so quickly that there are now "ponds" everywhere!

For those photographers out there, these are sooc, except for converted from RAW, resized for web and watermarked. I am in love....

I never knew that dogs get the foamy mouth stuff without being sick. So gross (on his snout)!!!

Look at him playing with the Saint Bernard!! Heidi was so cute!

This was Rocco's BFF for the day. He chased Murphy everywhere!

Aren't they all cute playing together?

Apparently, Jessa taught Rocco how to share because he kept taking Murphy's training dummy away. Bad Rocco!

And, of course, my kids had to play in the water and mud too! Thank heavens that I had enough sense to put them in rain boots before we left the house.

Although, it didn't matter to Jessa if she had rain boots on or not, she just played as she felt. She had to ride home in her underwear her jeans were so wet and muddy!

Charlie | St. Michael Minnesota Newborn Photographer

2010-03-17T21:16:00.002-05:00

I love the name Charlie for a girl and this girl was exceptional all around! She did so well for us and gave us both sleeping and awake shots. I'm very tired from my vacation so I'm a little short on words but wanted to get these up tonight.

Charlie, you sleep good tonight - you did great!

Another boy! | Minneapolis Minnesota Maternity Photographer

2010-03-07T18:53:00.002-06:00

Tyler has already been through my Watch Me Grow plan and now he is going to be a big brother next month! He is at that tough age but in between running around, we got some super cute shots. Couldn't get him to kiss his brother but it worked out ok, I think.

This family is gorgeous....all of them. And Randi looks fantastic, don't you think?

Randi painted this in the nursery, it looks so amazing!

Aren't they just gorgeous?

10 days old | St. Michael Minnesota Newborn Photographer

2010-03-05T23:25:00.002-06:00

Mia was such an angel for me tonight. She never fussed much and let me do pretty much whatever I wanted to with her. I'm tired so I'm a little short on words but I am so excited for this family and your new little one is just absolutely perfect.

Here is your peek!

Girls | St. Michael Minnesota Children's Photographer

2010-02-28T21:32:00.002-06:00

Let me start by saying, I'm putting my foot down with myself and committing to posting at least twice a week. I have a hard time keeping up and the blog is always the first thing to suffer. So, here is my vow to try very hard to keep in touch better. Onto the good stuff....

These two girls really do remind me of my kids. Carly is so polite and listens to her mom and Cassie has a personality all her own, just like my daughter. They both make me smile. I have a lot of fun chasing them around and dancing....keeps me on my toes, literally.

Here is a peak of the 2 little sweeties.....

Cassie is at the age that makes it nearly impossible to get a picture of her and Carly together.
I thought that maybe if Carly was holding onto her, we had a better chance of her staying.
Apparently, notsomuch. This cracks me up!

Carly is growing up entirely too fast!

Then Mom pulled out the big guns with the book - great idea!!

Some days, notsomuch | St. Michael Minnesota Childrens Photographer

2010-02-07T12:02:00.004-06:00

Anyone who knows my daughter knows that she is a diva. In every sense of the word. Jessa has her own sense of style and insists on doing what she wants, and only what she wants.

I had some mini-sessions a couple of weeks ago and since I had everything set up, I told Jessa we should take some pictures for her Valentine's day cards. She has been loving getting her pictures taken lately....for about 3 minutes. So she went and picked out an outfit and we curled her hair. She really wanted makeup and nails done too but I just don't want to start the nails thing with her and she's obviously too young for makeup. So we went down to the studio and took these:

We actually got quite a few cute ones for the 3 minutes she let me take them. The next day she was up in her room for a while and when she came down, she says "Mom, isn't my outfit beautiful, we should take some pictures." I turned around to see what she had put on (because really, she puts together some really cute outfits!!) and I just about spit out my water. I said sure, let's go take some honey! And this is why:

Sometimes she's got it.....sometimes notsomuch!! But she was so proud of her outfit, I had to accomodate her!

Here are a few more that I've taken of her recently that I just love because they really are just the way she is all the time. As much as she makes me want to bang my head against the wall, she is one of the loves of my life!!

Miss M & Miss H | Minneapolis Children Photographer

2010-01-30T16:54:00.003-06:00

Miss Melia and Miss Hayden came to visit me at the studio today. I love these girls so much! Melia is always super good for me and Miss Hayden is getting the hang of it. I figure by the time she is one, she'll be a model just like her sister. :) The added bonus is Jessa got to play with Melia while we were shooting Hayden and she loves that!!

It is rare that this mischievous....er, I mean happy....little girl isn't totally posing or smiling for me. I big puffy heart love the picture of her sitting on the suitcase. And really, is anything better than a baby smile? What a great day!

They are two of the cutest girls and I am so lucky that I get to be a part of their lives. Thanks for bringing them over Carrie!

Valentine's Day mini-sessions | St. MIchael Minnesota Children's Photographer

2010-01-18T07:32:00.004-06:00

I am offering Valentine's Day mini-sessions at my studio on Sunday, January 24 from 10 - 4. I will have pettiskirts available for the little girls!

For $95, you'll get a 20 min. session for up to 2 children with 5-8 proofs that will be provided in an online gallery for your viewing. Your session will also include a choice of either (25) 4"x5.5" flat cards or (50) 2.75"x4" flat cards and (1) 5x7. Or you can choose to upgrade to (50) bookmarks for an additional $10. These would be a perfect alternative to the traditional store bought cards - tape some candy to the back and you are good to go!

Reserve your spot now!

A sale and some changes coming | St. Michael Minnesota Photographer

2010-01-15T07:21:00.002-06:00

Angela Elle Photography is running a sale on digital negatives from now until the end of the month. If you had a session in 2009, you can purchase a disc of the high resolution images with reprint permissions for only $100. That is a HUGE discount. On Feb. 1st, I will be archiving all images from 2009. If you are interested, please call or email me!

Thanks to all my wonderful clients for a wonderful and successful (yet crazy!) year. I had such a great time with all of you!

You will notice some changes to the blog and website in the coming weeks as well as changes in my pricing. The new pricing goes into effect in Feb. so book now for 2009's prices!

I am also going to be doing some Valentine's Day mini-sessions......I'll have the details up on the blog this weekend.

Hush little baby | Hopkins Minnesota Newborn Photographer

2009-12-31T19:00:00.002-06:00

Yeah, right. Drake didn't sleep much for me but honestly, what a cute baby! I know that my Moms often think there is no way we got anything good during that session because my children didn't ..... fill in the blank. Well, we were hoping for Drake to fall asleep more for us than he did but I love the ones we got. He gave me tons of eye contact and he did fall asleep for a few.

Can't wait to see the little guy again in a few months, I bet he'll be a pro by then!!

Here are a few that I pulled out quick before I'm off to the New Year's party next door!

Joey GianCarlo | St. Michael Minnesota Newborn Photographer

2009-12-18T18:03:00.004-06:00

I have never had a newborn that smiled for me as many times as Joey did. He was a real trooper with all the moving around too! I can tell he is going to be a good model as he gets older. I mean, just that hair alone!!

He is such a tiny little peanut - I love it! I told him that he is going to have to learn to cry a little louder if he expects to be heard over his 22 month old brother. :) I'm sure Mom and Dad will thank me for that later.

We got so many great ones, I want to share them all but I have to get packed up for my trip to visit my parents. 4 hours in the car with a 7 and 3 year old - I know you are jealous. Wish me luck!

Here is the handsome little guy:

I love how his hair is sticking out the hole in the hat in this one.

Sisters |St. Michael Minnesota Children's Photography

2009-12-12T15:59:00.004-06:00

9 months is a hard age to be, you want your mom and there are strangers that want you to wear weird, poufy things. I understand. Jayda was having a hard time being her happy go lucky self this morning but she still did a great job paying attention to me. And I snuck a smile or two....shhh, don't tell her!

These were technically for Jayda's 9 month pictures but we had to get some of her cute big sister too. Riley was so much fun and a great helper for me! Thanks for coming over you guys!

Can you see her little (big) tears? Aw, it just broke my heart. But even crying, she still knew where she was supposed to look!!

She has got such pretty blue eyes.

Mini | Hanover Minnesota Family Photographer

2009-12-07T18:22:00.003-06:00

It was 11 degrees out for this session.....brrrrr. Fortunately, the kids cooperated so we got what we really needed but unfortunately, we didn't get to do as much as I would have liked to! This family has 4 of the cutest kids around!! And Drake came along for pictures too which was great! I do have a soft spot for pets (except snakes and rats, don't bring those to your session!!) so I enjoy when families include them.

Here are a few of the pictures:

At first we couldn't convince Luke that he should take his coat off.

I asked him if he would take it off for just a few. As he did, he told Mom and I that people who made people take off their coats were mean. That kid cracks me up!

See what I mean.....cute, cute, cute and cute!!

I just have to say that they have done a fabulous job with these two especially....what well mannered, well behaved children they are!

And you got to have one of hot Momma and Daddy! Funny story.....I "made" Dave wear a vest like this for our family pictures 2 years ago and he complained about it the e n t i r e time. After we were done, he took it off, handed it to me and said "you might as well take it back because I'm never wearing it again". See what I have to deal with?? Thanks for being more cooperative than that, Dad!

Gavin | St. Michael Minnesota Children's Photographer

2009-12-05T14:31:00.002-06:00

Gavin is part of my watch me grow plan and it was great to see him again! He has really filled out and was talking a whole bunch for us. He would not give me any smiles because he was too interested in all the new stuff around him!

This is a small peak because I'm not sure which ones we'll use for cards and I don't want to spoil it!

Here are a few:

He was not loving us by this point!!

Gavin and Mom - so glad she jumped in for a few!

The theme is "family" | St. Michael Minnesota Family Photographer

2009-11-28T16:15:00.003-06:00

The title of this post is just a little joke....sorry, had to do it!! I have known these guys since college and Bobbi is dear to my heart (love ya too Ryan - Canada jerseys next time!). Their girls are honestly 2 of the cutest things that I have ever seen and, although I know they hear it all the time,......look at that hair!!! I am envious! Rilyn was a little more shy than last time I saw her but I'll work on my joke skills for next time, I promise!

It was really great to see you guys again and I hope you enjoy the pictures!

THE most gorgeous family!! I love how Rilyn is holding onto Dad and Mom is just beautiful.

Love the toothless grin, I think she might have to be Cade's next girlfriend....hint, hint. :)

Old friends | St. Michael Minnesota family photographer

2009-11-21T13:09:00.004-06:00

It is always nice to see old friends and see where they are at in their life. I went to college with Cory and Devina but I haven't really seen them since! It was great to meet their kids and see them again. Wait until you see their kids - wow, are they adorable!! My favorite part of this job is interacting with kids. These kids were chatty and friendly right from the get go which was surprising since Connor had hockey at 6:45 this morning!! What troopers!

Devina reminded me of ME when she walked in with lots of stuff she wanted to use and coordinating outfits. I know it takes a lot of work to put it all together but you picked out great stuff!!! Thanks!!

It just happens to also be little Grace's first birthday (not today but she is turning one) so we did some to celebrate that as well!

Well, here are the pictures, seriously they are so cute! I hope you guys enjoyed your treat afterward!

When it comes to sibling pictures - these are the ones that we all really want to have.....

But more often than not, these are the ones that actually happen! I love real ones like this.

How could you ever say no to this face?

They make such a gorgeous family!

Thanks guys for coming out to see me!!