The trees are budding around Austin, the green grass is returning and I’m starting to find patches of wildflowers! It’s almost Spring! We’ve had an unusually cold winter in Austin, so we are all anxiously awaiting the arrival of warmth, and flowers, and days spent outside playing under the sun.

Remember these adorable babies? These twinkies are 9 months old now! You can take a walk back through memory lane and see their newborn session and their 6 month portraits. So much growth happens during the first year of life! I love watching my baby planners grow up! (Little Miss “C” is also the 2009 Ella Bella Photography portrait of the year winner!) Enjoy your sneak peek, “F” family! See you in a few months!!

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Spring! We had a really nice day yesterday in Austin, so I took my wild haired boys outside for some kite flying and running around their favorite park!

Check my blog this weekend for an adorable newborn and early next week for my favorite set of twins who will be making their 9 month sneak peek appearance!

One of my favorite things about my work is having the priviledge of photographing my families again:) I am always amazed at how much my little ones have grown and developed since the last time I saw them! The last time I saw these twins was about 14 months ago here, before they were completely mobile. This time around they gave me (and their parents) a good workout! They are also the proud big brother/sister to a little brother, who is now 2 months old. They love their baby brother so much! It was great to see you again, “H” family! Enjoy your sneak peeks!

Yay! We had snow in Austin today! And LOTS of it!!! There were loads happy children throughout the great state of Texas! I heard of snow reports in Houston and San Antonio too! It looked like a winter wonderland around 1pm this afternoon. My boys spent most of the day outside soaking up the snow. Some highlights of their day… Enjoy!

Well, the votes have been counted (what an exhausting job!) and the official winners have been placed in the secret envelopes marked “1st”, “2nd”, and “3rd” place! (not really - but you can imagine it, right?) Thank you to everyone who voted for our beautiful nominees! And now for the good part!

{drum roll}

Our FIRST place winner and winner of the “Ella Bella 2009 Portrait of the Year” title with by far the MOST votes goes to #18! Congratulations! This family has won a 16×20 gallery wrapped canvas from their 2009 session!

Our SECOND place winner, with the next biggest vote count goes to #20! They will receive a gorgeous 11×14 mounted print with linen finish!

Our THIRD place winner, with the third highest vote count goes to #15! They will receive a beautiful 8×10 mounted print with an easel for display.

To all my Nominees!
I have a special surprise for all of our nominees too (including our winners) - each family nominated will receive a $50 Ella Bella Photography gift certificate credit that can be applied to your next session booked between March - August 2010! The gift certificate is not transferrable, so it may only be used by the families who were nominated for the 2009 Ella Bella Photography Portrait of the Year contest!

Congratulations to everyone!!!

First off, thank you to everyone who voted in the 2009 Ella Bella Photography Portrait of the Year Contest! It was a HUGE success! Now I’ve got to block out a good 2-3 hours tomorrow night to tally up the votes one by one on the comments section! The winners will be announced on Wednesday night!

And now for today’s sneak peek! You might remember this little guy I’m sharing today! He’s been lucky enough to grace the front page of my blog, not once…. not twice… now three times in his 9 months of life! I love watching him grow up and marveling at how much he changed every 3 months. He’s sporting more hair now, is crawling pretty quick and still holds the Ella Bella double record for bluest baby eyes & most drooly baby. I hope you enjoy your sneak peek, “H” family! Click the links to see him at 3 months and 6 months and (drum roll please….) 9 months:

His Mimi and Papa were over to help coax some smiles out of him. I thought this moment was absolutely precious…

The football was almost as big has him!

Touchdown!

This last sneak peek cracks me up! Their dog “Pearl” was so super excited with all the commotion of the photo session and when it finally came time for her “turn” to be in the pictures, she couldn’t contain herself! She was rolling all over the place and smiling from ear to ear - such a happy girl!

I had fun spending time with the “H” family, who was in town visiting from California! We’ve been friends for about 6 years now, and now that they live in CA, we see each other about once a year. I think the last time I saw this little guy, he was about 11 months old. Now he’s turning 3! It never ceases to amaze me how quickly children grow up. I was excited to do a little mini session for them before they had to fly home for New Years! Enjoy your sneak peek! Hopefully we can get out there to see you guys someday soon!

I wanted to share some of the excitement we had on Christmas morning last week! See you in 2010! Happy New Years!!

Merry Christmas! I hope your Christmas is happy and joyful! Hayden woke up with a 103 degree fever this morning - not the best way to start Christmas but after some Tylenol and a few presents, he was smiling and happy again! Hunter’s favorite presents, by far, are his 3 little zhu zhu hamsters! They’ve been on the go all morning and have already gone through one set of battery changes! Hayden’s favorite toy is his green Brobee Yo Gabba Gabba plush toy! I wanted to share the rest of my photos I took of the boys the other day. Just me and my boys makes for an interesting (and quick) mini session! I was hoping to get one picture of them both looking at me and smiling but that wasn’t going to happen this year (not without someone to help me corral them!). I love them though, especially since Hunter wanted to bring along his favorite “Build-a-Bear” with him.

I wanted to do a quick sneak peek of my mini session with my own two boys - so I will remember how sweet, sassy and unpredictable they are at this age, 3 years old and 20 months old. I am again reminded that it is soooo much easier for me to take pictures of other people’s children! I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!! I have two more newborn sneak peeks coming up before the end of the year - so check back soon!

PS. That’s Hunter’s “Build-a-Bear” bear. His name is “Biwuld-da-beawr” (Our cat’s name is “kitteh” - see where we lack creativity when naming animals? lol)

A boy and his bear…

Hayden running faaarrr away from my camera (He gets his cast off on Tuesday!!!)…

And Hunter…