I ♥ Faces -- "All Boy"

The theme of the month for I Heart Faces is "All Boy".

Well. For any of you familiar with my family and this blog, you'll know I have a lot more "girl" to show off than "boy." I have five sisters. I have three daughters. For several years, my sisters were all having daughters. Before my husband and I found out we were expecting our fourth child, the tally of my parents' biological grandchildren stood at: Girls - 11; Boys - 1. (Two adorable little boys had also recently been added to the family through adoption. We needed them. ;-) )

Then suddenly, the boy population exploded. My sister, sister-in-law, and I all found out we were expecting around the same time, and -- what are the chances?! -- we were ALL having boys.

We are enjoying all these little rambunctious cuties that have been added to the family in recent years, but of course, I am loving having my own little monkey most of all. At 8 months old, he is constantly on the move... usually stuffing anything he can find in his mouth (except for the things I want him to eat, of course). He is about half sweet, affectionate little charmer, and half crazy, curious little explorer. One of my favorite things to do with him is to get down on my hands and knees and crawl toward him (as he crawls toward me) until we ram foreheads in the middle, and then he gives me a sloppy, wet "kiss." Often during this little ritual (and quite often at other times, too), he screws up his face into this ornery little sneer and snuffles excitedly through his nose.

And this, of course, is what you see here. :-)

www.mirrorsoflifephoto.com

Yep. He's all boy. :-) (Though I feel it's only fair to point out that my oldest daughter used to make this exact same face. He reminds me of her in a lot of ways. They are a cute little bunch of stinkers.)

Love my little man. ♥

Check out more "All Boy" photos at www.iheartfaces.com!

I ♥ Faces -- "Purple"

The theme of the month for I Heart Faces is "Purple".

You know how, as a parent, you're always after that picture where your kids are sitting all nicely cuddled up next to each other and smiling just perfectly? Well, that's what I was originally trying for on the day I got this...

www.mirrorsoflifephoto.com

Not quite what I was going for, but you know what? I like it even better. :-)

The editing on this photo is a bit of a stylistic departure for me, but it seemed to fit the picture and theme. What do you think?

Check out more beautiful "Purple" photos at www.iheartfaces.com!

I ♥ Faces -- Best Face of 2013 Challenge

This month is the Best Face of 2013 Challenge at I ♥ Faces! I had a tough choice between several different photos this year (both family and clients), but in the end, I decided to go with this photo of my sweet little boy. I took this a few weeks ago while my kids and I were out enjoying an unusually warm December day. My little buddy was getting sleepy, but he was stubbornly staying awake and kept staring at me with those beautiful, sleepy eyes... I had to get a picture, and now I just can't stop staring at it! I'm biased, I know, but could he be any more adorable? ;-)

(See more of my work at www.mirrorsoflifephoto.com)

Check out more beautiful "Best Face" photos at www.iheartfaces.com!

I ♥ Faces -- "Shadows"

The theme of the month for I Heart Faces is "Shadows". Although I could say a lot about this photo, I'm going to keep it short and sweet this time, so without further ado...

www.mirrorsoflifephoto.com

Check out more beautiful "Shadows" photos at www.iheartfaces.com!

I ♥ Faces -- "Jump"

So, I haven't participated in the iheartfaces.com challenges for a few months, but I wanted to give it another go this month! The theme this time is "Jump."

So, I originally set out to get a picture of all three of my girls jumping on the bed. I went up to my room to take some test pictures, and my 3-year-old decided to tag along with me. I used her as my model for a while to test my settings and try to get set up for the rest of them. Funny, once I got the other girls in the room and tried to stage the jumping, nothing seemed to be working right... but one of the pictures I got of just my youngest struck me as unique and ended up inspiring the photo below.

http://www.mirrorsoflifephoto.com/

This is somewhat outside of my usual editing style, but it was a bit out of my usual shooting style, too, so... What can I say? Everyone's gotta experiment and grow at some point. And in any case, my daughter sure had fun jumping on the bed for a while! :-)

Check out more "Jump" photos at I Heart Faces!

I ♥ Faces -- "Play"

This month's theme at iheartfaces.com is "Play." I was planning to take a new photo for this challenge, but then the thought struck me that I already had the perfect one I wanted to enter...

http://www.mirrorsoflifephoto.com/

I took this photo at the end of a large family shoot last fall. This little girl was a sweetheart for the extended family pictures, but after that she had decided she was done smiling for the day. But when her (very smart) aunt brought out a bottle of bubbles, the smiles and giggles returned in an instant, and she enjoyed a nice little session of chasing after bubbles with her cousins. Such an adorable little girl, and so glad I was able to be there to capture her happiness while she played!

Check out more "Play" photos at I Heart Faces!

I ♥ Faces -- "Wind"

Wow, it's been a while! Good to be back for another photo challenge. :-)

This month's theme at iheartfaces.com is "Wind." It was a gorgeous day out today... warm and sunny, with a refreshing breeze blowing through every now and again. Not too much in the way of actual wind, I'd say, but enough to cool the air when the sun started to feel a bit hot... or, as can be seen here, enough to stir my girls' hair to cool their necks and make for a pretty, whimsical effect.

http://www.mirrorsoflifephoto.com/

Love my girls to pieces... and they truly adore each other as well!