CHRISSIRICHARDS.COM

Okay, deciding which photos to post was nearly impossible, and  there are still a lot.  But there were 7 awesome kids  and this post is for them.

Girls clothing by: the amazing Curious Georgia Like her on FACEBOOK here to see her up-dates and her occasional sales. Her fabrics are fantastic, great detailed work and if you’re looking for coordinating outfits for siblings, BFFS or family reunions she can create you a miracle.  We decided on the cream dresses/blouses to keep the scene from being too busy with so many kids. I also liked the idea of having clothing that could be used in any variety of shoots, with different accessories.  As you see, we added aprons for part of this shoot.  Enjoy these GORGEOUS kids!!

In the next couple of weeks I’ll be doing spring mini-shoots and mother/child minis. Check-back here, or if you want to be FB Friends I do up-dates there, or shoot me an email chrissi_richards@yahoo.com and I’ll send you pre-booking dates and info!  Loves to you all!

How about an Oreo Party for these three friends?

Watch for: a way to get $20 off a photobook at end of post!

Last year Joe’s Grandma came to visit us in California.  At the end of a great day, 96 yr old Grandma J joined us in the family room with her pink robe and pink slippers.  Seeing this, Caroline ran to her room to dress in her pink robe and pink slippers.  Caroline also grabbed her baby book, and they looked at every. single. picture. Caroline was in Heaven to have all that undivided attention!

(looks like, in her excitement, Caroline grabbed one of Rosemary’s slippers which was too big… and upside down! love her!)

After lovingly and patiently waiting through Caroline’s entire book, Thomas ran into the office where the scrapbooks were kept and began looking at the bookshelf.

“What are you looking for, Thomas?”

“My baby book.”

And this is when I felt like a total loser. Of course, there wasn’t one. So I promised him that the next time he saw Grandma J, he would have a baby book to show her.  And, in his usual persistent way, he reminded me every. single. day for a couple months until I did it.

And then I did it; and it was awesome!!

I do love my old scrapbooks. Mine are not nearly as detailed or fancy as many that were made in the past couple of decades.  I used lots of photos including lots of 8×10′s, 5×7′s. I’d border them and do lots of journaling by hand. It still took forever.  Now, with digital, we have it so easy and our time is spent choosing and organizing our digital images.

So, once I sat down and began, it took me a few hours to gather ALL the photos I would use for his book (ages birth-3).  Remember,  I take a million photos.  Then, I used my favorite book making company, www.mypublisher.com (coupon to follow) to put it together and Wa-La! Promise fulfilled.

The cover quality is soooo nice. This is the deluxe size: 11.5 x 15

I made many pages with just one large photo, but you can use 1-12 images per page. That is one of the BEST things about mypublisher. I also like that you don’t have to use any of the themed books, you can use just your photos. There is an option to add your text if you’d like. I chose not to because I wanted to hand-write. I included 4 blank pages at the end to write Thomas a long letter and include memories that I didn’t have photos of.  The other thing I like about mypublisher, is that you don’t have to upload your photos first (like with snapfish, shutterfly).  You choose your images straight from your computer, organize them in your new book, and then it all up-loads.  This is REAlly awesome when doing a calendar as well.

And here it is, when I totally redeemed myself:

I received a coupon with my last order. It’s a 20$ off coupon to anyone who wants to give them a try.  First time orderers only! For $20 you could even get one of the pocketbooks for free, OR one of their calendars for free.  (I will do a post on the calendars too) They run super good sales, so I wouldn’t use the $20 coupon for the bigger books because you could get a better deal using a % off code, but you could try them out with the $20 off coupon first.

Sooooooooo, if you want a code sent to you, comment with the email address you’d want to order a book with and I’ll submit that email to mypublisher.  They are not paying me for this ‘endorsement’, but they do send coupons to people who refer them.  My reason for sharing is that they are my favorite book publishing company, and it’s so easy, you might actually do it!

This is a Zebu.

It snowed once in December.  As the kids walked-out the door to catch the bus, we talked about how fun it was going to be when they got home to build snowmen and make snow angels.  It quit snowing soon after they had gone and was almost completely melted by 11!  At 10:45 I ran outside, built a snowman and had it in the freezer for the kids to enjoy when they got home. Better than nothing.

These of the snowman and below of the gingerbread, are part of a series I did of my children with Holiday themed stuff for a display. Caroline had a Santa hat, Thomas with a candy cane heart and Vanessa with hot chocolate.  Since I saw a few blades of green grass today, it was clear these had to go up right away so we can kiss winter goodbye!

This baby knows how to Party!!

Loved

I was thrilled to have been accepted to photograph the 1st lady’s visit to Little Rock AFB yesterday.  At nearly every other military event, I have stood next to my good husband or sat in the audience supporting him. I loved representing myself and standing with the Press this time!  I enjoyed the view of our awesome military from this perspective as well; what an impressive group of people.  Mrs. Obama brought a peaceful and strong energy to the room.  She was gracious and encouraging. My favorite was capturing the expressions of those she interacted with. Here are a few shots.

Please share this on Facebook or email to your friends with 8 year old children!!

Another of my other favorite 8 year olds:

Clothing by Curious Georgia (her FB page here)

Hair Accessories by Blessed and b.LOVE.d (FB page here)

Melted Snowman Cookies

A note from Kim, the maker/baker!  ”The icing recipe said to dip the cookies or use a paintbrush… I used a freezer ziploc bag and snipped off a little tiny corner and piped it on. Piped an outline for the white then flooded (filled in in). Then did the same for all the decorating after the white hardened. Might make your life easier.”  Also, for the marshmallow part:  ”I nuked them in the microwave until they puffed, maybe 5 seconds, then smooshed them while they were hot.”

I will attempt these this year since Kim is two time zones away, but doubt mine will be as pretty as hers.

Did you notice baby Julia’s teary eye? She had a clogged tear duct until she was about 18 months. It was constantly goopy and teary.  In July she went to Dr. Hammond in Logan, UT for minor surgery and he cleared it out.  Her eye was good as new Immediately.

Loooooving this dress! Perfect for any holiday event, church, yet not JUST for holidays.

Curious Georgia’s Etsy shop also has these Super cute pants to coordinate a sister with this dress.

With my favorite kids in all the world. Never knew I could love so much. Thanks Joe for working all day so I have the dollars to do fun things with these great kids.  This visit to Scott Pumpkin Patch in Scott, Arkansas started our weekend off with glee!

The Pig scramble. So fun!

Fritos for all the pigs at the end of their race!

Favorite friends with us at the patch!!

one of my all time favorite pictures of my kids!!

Find the Plate designer here: www.wendybentleydesign.com

Clothing by  Curious Georgia Fabrics by Wendy Bentley

I met Wendy on-line last year when I used some of her plates in a photo shoot.  The shoot was cute and I laughed when most of the FB comments were about the plates! So, I looked her up, and sent her an email with the FB thread to know her work was loved!  I’ll re-post that shoot next since it’s on the first blog.