Extended Family Session | Stewart Farms

This big family (grandma, grandpa, their five kids and their spouses, and then eight grandchildren) had their extended family session booked for a cold January morning. Although it was raining, they decided to go ahead with it! It's hard for extended families to reschedule and also, who knew what weather the next January date would bring along. I was happy that we were at Stewart Farms so that we could utilize the veranda on the heritage house. This means there was a lot less background variety but all the kiddos stayed dry and somewhat warmer!

I was friends with the middle sister, Tanya, growing up. We have not seen each other in years and it was great to see her whole family with families of their own now. Three of the families have a three year old and one year old...that's so fun and a little wild:)

Here are photos of a few of the families. As a heads up, I have you sign a client release when I take your photos. You do not need to sign it and therefore your photos are not put online (in case anyone was wondering!). So, there are no photos posted here of the full group or grandparents with grandkids etc but not to worry, I got a lot of them!

Enjoy.

Thank you all for braving the weather. All of the kids did so well, I think the smarties were a great idea:) Good to see you all again!

Baby Hannah | Newborn Session

Baby Hannah was born on Christmas Eve and I was there to help support my little sister Trish bring her into the world:) Born at 7lbs 7oz, she is the sweetest little girl! My boys were well over 9lbs so it's cute seeing what `little' ones look like! The sleeping pictures were ones that I took when she was 4 days old (oh, how I wish I had taken more then!) and then the ones where she is wide awake, and refused to sleep, were taken when she was 10 days old. Steve, my brother in law, was working (and maybe not the biggest fan of having his photo taken) so that is why he isn't in any of the photos:)

I love the ones of momma and babe. Enjoy!

Koen Turns Three

My baby is turning three tomorrow! Our little Koen (we call him Kokies) is such a source of love and joy in our lives. He makes us smile with his cuddles and hugs and he also makes us laugh with his mischievous antics and non stop talking. He has the cutest smile with those dimples of his and yet people have commented that he has a great sad face. You will see a few of his contemplative faces below:)

I am so thankful for his sweet singing voice, for his love of food (you sort of have to love food in this family!) and for his easy going nature. He loves to be anywhere with us and especially loves to be near his big brother, Kai.

We took a few photos of him this afternoon and he was such a good sport, even though it was cold. That's the hard part of having your birthday photos in January. When he was born 3 years ago, there was one of the biggest snowstorms ever and I'm just glad we made it to the hospital!

Koen, we love you so much! I hope my tickles will forever bring out those beautiful giggles and I hope you will always have a cuddly hug for your momma. You will be a wonderful big brother. Love you monkey.

Happy birthday to our big boy!

Love, Mommy, Daddy and Kai.

Thank You!

To all of our wonderful supporters, fans and clients, thank you! Seriously, thank you. We are so blessed to have this business we love and for me, Louise, to be able to stay at home and be with our boys.

We had a great year and are really looking forward to 2012 on a business and personal level. We are rejuvenated and excited to get back at it. We look forward to continuing to grow and learn and look forward to seeing what photographs we will take this year:)

The last few months personally have been quite full and fun. I have four sisters and all five of us were pregnant at the same time!

(I'm second from the left)

We celebrated Christmas with our two beautiful boys. The youngest, Koen, will be three years old on January 2nd! How did that happen so quickly?!

I was able to support my youngest sister in the birth of her first child, Hannah, on Dec. 24th. It was beautiful.

Here is baby Hannah at 4 days old. I'm looking forward to taking more photos of her this week:) And also, I'm excited to meet my 3 other nieces or nephews throughout 2012!

And finally, as we look ahead this year, we are so excited about our own little baby on the way. Baby Chapman is due May 28th (our anniversary!) and we are so thankful for this little (likely to be big) bundle.

Thank you for your encouragement and kind words, it means so much to me (and us!). I hope you had a wonderful 2011 and all the best to you in 2012.

Love,

Louise and Gary

Team GC Photography:)

Baby Tyler | Newborn Studio Session

This was my last session of 2011 and it was just a mini one for baby Tyler.  Tyler's big sister, Michaely, is only 14 months older than him so it was a bit chaotic:)   Isn't Tyler's hair adorable?!  My kids were pretty much bald until they were one so I'm a big fan of all that newborn hair.   I took a bunch of photos of the family but I will just post a few photos here as I'm ready for my 2 week break!  Enjoy:)

Jackie & Tyler | Maternity Session

Jackie is my second youngest sister and is due in just two weeks. I'm so excited for Jackie and Tyler, and I know, based on the evidence of watching them with my two monkey boys, that they will be wonderful parents. As a side note, in case you didn't know, I have four sisters and all five of us are pregnant! Fun times:)

Jackie and Tyler weren't sure if they wanted maternity photos but I'm glad I bugged them a time or two because I love the pictures we got of them. We started with a few in studio but due to the fact that these two are adventurous nature lovers, we went to the great outdoors where we got the majority of great shots.

As you can probably see from the interactions in the photos, these two have a very natural, comfortable, and beautiful relationship. They know each other so well and they have a lot of fun together. Enjoy:)

{This might sound weird, but I love how Jackie's hair is complimented by the grass. Also, I know there are a lot of similar looking pictures but I loved so many of them and there are so many more:)}

{Aren't they so cute?!}

{So glad we could spend this time together. I am sooooo looking forward to meeting your little one and see you go from not only husband and wife, but to father and mother!}

Lauren, Olivia & Claire | Family Session

I loved this mini session. Why? The whole family is beautiful, inside and out. I have photographed them a few times over the year and look forward to it every single time. It was raining and cold but they went ahead with smiles on their faces the whole time. Kristin and Dave made the beautiful `JOY' letters which are for their Christmas card and I know there's a lot of JOY throughout this post but I love so many of them:)

EnJOY:)