Photo Fun with Allison

November 2013

Photo session #5 with the talented Allison Duckworth.  She first took our pictures for Jack's first birthday. That day, we happened to choose Deep Ellum as our location on "Zombie Day" no less.  We loved those pictures and figured that if she could get great shots in that environment she could pretty much get them anywhere.  That has definitely proven true.

This time, I felt like we were a mess when we arrived.  I didn't like the outfit I thought I wanted Livi to wear, so she ended up in a cream colored shirt with white tights and a white headband (fortunately, they all look the same color in the photos). I had no idea what to do with her hair - it was almost too long for a stretchy headband, but not really long enough to pull back yet.  And Jack still had a faint outline of the giant bruise he got on his forehead when he fell off his bed one night.  Despite all of these things, Allison did it again - I loved so many of her shots.

We started out near a little stream, trying to keep Olivia from falling in and trying to keep my balance on the rocks.  She took my absolute favorite photo here, the one that I chose to use for our Christmas card:

She also got a really good family photo there:

From there, we progressed to a bridge over the little stream.  Allison let the little ones run around while she snapped some candid photos.  I really love this one:

I love how this one turned out, too.  Livi is not too sure about what is going on behind her :)

At last, we moved out into a grassy field behind the stream.  At this point, the kids were going crazy, but it doesn't really show in the pictures.  Jack looks so cute on Tommy's shoulders in this one:

She didn't get any good close up shots of Jack this time.  Probably because he spent most of the time running around like a crazy guy.  He looks like such a big boy in this one:

She got quite a few good close ups of Livi.  I think this one is my favorite.  The crinkled forehead is classic Olivia and you really get a sense of her personality:

This one is pretty cute, too:

These next two look lie they were taken together, even though I'm not sure that they were.  Livi offers a flower to her big brother:

And he accepts!

Of course, we had to have some silly shots, too.  This is Jack's go-to look when someone tells him to make a silly face.  He's done it ever since we first read Mr. Funny and Mr. Funny makes everyone laugh by "pulling funny faces."

And when Jack does it, Livi isn't far behind:

I know I've already said I love a lot of these pictures, but I really do love this one of Daddy carrying his little boy on his shoulders:

...and this one of Mommy and her kiddos: 

Finally, my favorite one of the family together.  I used this one on the back of our Christmas card.  You have to look really hard to see that Jack's underwear are peeking out of the top of his pants, don't you?!? ;)