A Fall Photo Shoot

Yesterday, I remembered (more like found out while talking to other school moms) that Marie had a day off of school today. [Note to self--look at calendar]. 

So in typical fashion, I put off my intended Friday house cleaning routine until the afternoon in lieu of something a little more entertaining. I had wanted to take some family pictures as one of my birthday list goals, because getting professional photos is a difficult task for us. And not just because it's inherently difficult for any family with young kids, but because it's also a huge anxiety trigger for some family members when any non-family member tries to take a picture. Anyway, it ended up being a little too much to squeeze family photos into all the busy-ness happening between the last two weeks of family birthdays, so I decided today was the perfect day to at least get some shots of the kids with the "good" camera.

Not only a mansion...a mansion with one of the best views in town!

We headed to one of our favorite photo shoot back drops (which we also used for our last real family photo shoot), the Highlands Ranch mansion. With the promise of Chick-Fil-A and playground time right around the corner, they mostly cooperated and we got some great shots! Here are the running favorites:

Photographer in training: Marie asked if she could try to take a picture of me, too--so I gave her a quick first lesson in point and shoot with the real camera. With a little cropping and straightening, I'd say her first picture turned out pretty well! 

Rather Downton-esque, don't you think?

Peek-a-boo!

In case you're wondering, that stick on the step wasn't mere coincidence--Ethan was a fireman and that was his firehose (alternately a rocket) that went everywhere with him. And apparently it snuck into this picture with him too!

It was a pretty bright day, and I'm certainly no professional photographer, but I was still surprised to see so much bokeh in many of the pictures when I went back through the images. It took me a little while to realize that all of the fancy lighting effects were probably courtesy of my sequined tank top! 

Something to avoid in the future, I suppose. The more you know...

It was difficult to get the boys to both look at the camera at the same time; Erik's attention span lasted for about two rapid-fire shots, and Ethan was usually cheesing loudly at a bird or airplane or something far more interesting than me, but I thought that overall, they turned out pretty well for an impromptu shoot. 

I'm happy to have some shots that are worthy replacements of those currently on the gallery wall that are over a year old. In comparison, these ones highlight just how quickly they are growing which of course tugs at my mama heart...but I'm glad for the chance today to capture it! 

**All images are (c) Megan Hjelmstad and may not be copied or used without express permission from the owner.**