Two Adorable Boys

On Saturday I had the pleasure of taking family pictures for the W family, who also happen to be neighbors of mine. They have the most adorable little boys ages 3 and 5. Of course, there are always challenges when taking pictures of ones so little and this day proved a greater challenge than normal. We had meltdown central in my house as I was leaving. I was so frazzled in trying to get out of my house to make the session on time, that I forgot my candy and my squeaky toy I planned to use to get the boys to look at me. I ran by the store and got the candy, but I had to make due without the toy. I had many pictures of the boys looking in all different directions, but I still was able to get some good ones. Of course, when you are working with subjects this adorable, it isn't hard!

Meet the "W" family boys - they could be on a magazine cover!






My intention was to get a shot of the boys looking at me with mom and dad in the background. The best one turned out to be a fluke. They just couldn't help but look at what mom and dad were doing in the background. I thought this turned out adorable.



I love it when dad gets into the photo session and will be spontaneous with the kids. This picture is so precious. You can just see the "no kissing, please" written all over his face. How like a little boy is that!



Mom wanted feet pictures...a girl after my own heart. I LOVE taking pictures of little feet. I will take the dirt out for their printed picture, but I just love seeing it on there. Little boys and dirt just go together, even when they are all dressed up!



I just love this family. Mom wanted pictures of the boys as they really are at the end of the session. We pulled out some ice cream and just took some shots of them eating with all of the mess a 3 year old makes when he eats! This picture was spontaneous. What a great way to end the day!

A really cool place!

We recently had to travel to San Antonio for a family event. On our way home, we got really hungry around San Marcos. I was born in San Marcos and raised in Austin, but I don't remember any places to eat in San Marcos (and if I did, it probably wouldn't be there anymore). I hate to eat in chain resteraunts when I am in another town because by doing so, you miss the culture and flavor of the place you are visiting. As I am always grumpy when I am hungry, I gave my husband the task of finding a place to eat. WELL...he pulls up at this "hole in the wall" looking dump and I have to say I was hoppin' mad at his choice. But, I did give him the task to find a place to eat, so I bit my tongue...really, really hard...and followed him inside. I am so glad I did! This place was really cool, and very Central Texas. The glassed-in porch area had neat items from a day gone by the kids could play on. Right inside the door they sold homemade fudge and had a wonderful eclectic shopping area that was part boutique and part Texas chic. I think the entire area had been formed from three old buildings moved to the location and attached together. The wood and floors were too old and too mismatched to be one of those new places made to look old. The food was amazing - again, part Texas chic (hamburgers and the best fries I have ever put in my mouth) and part refined (with chicken salad stuffed avacados as one example)! It is called "Centerpoint Station" and is at the outlet mall exit in San Marcos on the opposite side of the freeway from the outlets.

Needless to say, I had to have some pictures. I think this is one of the cutest children I have ever photographed...but I might be biased. There might have been another cute child in the photos but only one seemed to want to cooperate that day! If you are ever in San Marcos, be sure to stop by...but be prepared to stay awhile. If we hadn't been on a time crunch to get home, I could easily have parked there for a few hours!

This was an old version of the current electric jeeps kids ride around on these days. This one ran on foot power but the kids thought it was really cool. Be sure to note the "new" smile he has adopted since the loss of the first tooth on the bottom!

When was the last time you saw one of these mechanical horses? Now we have Barney and Dora sitting in big cheap plastic cars for the kids to play on in stores. The horse allows for much more imagination!

The entire place was filled with old signs - all for sale. I feel a photography road trip coming on. I only got away with these pictures because of the kids. I wanted to spend hours recording the signs and antique items with my camera. Sigh...next time....