It’s always a good sign when you roll up to a session to meet the family for the first time and you connect instantly with the family and kids.  I arrived to Forrest Hill Park and walked up to meet Kelsie and her husband Brent and within seconds their gorgeous daughter Maddie did what I always hope the kiddos will do, she opened her arms and reached out to me.  AHHH my little heart almost exploded!!  She got passed over to me and I knew in that moment – this was going to be a GREAT session!   

You see, it’s always a gamble for how kids will do or how long it will take them to warm up to me.  It’s completely normal for them to be shy at first and sometimes it takes at least half of the session to warm up because let’s face it, I’m a stranger, I have a big scary camera and … I’m a weird girl.  I make strange noises to get their attention, I dance about and sing songs, I jump around and make silly faces and for the first little bit they look at me as if to say “You’re a weird girl”.  Haha!  But!  Eventually they always warm up and we get to play and have a great time!  When Maddie reached out to me instantly and I got to hold her that warm up period vanished right off the bat!

This session was a first for me!  I’ve never done a watermelon smash and when Kelsie reached out to me and said she wanted to incorporate watermelons into the session I was instantly excited!  What a fun twist on the typical cake smash!  Perfect for summer and colorful!  Because we booked the session in advance there was plenty of time to prepare and boy did she prepare!  She’s a teacher like me and all my other teachers out there will know how much we like to prep and make sure we are ready for all outcomes!  My teacher heart sang when she pulled up with multiple outfits, watermelons, props, styling ideas, the knife to cut the watermelon and more!  It makes things go so smoothly when there is a clear direction for the session and her vision for this session was flawless!  Kelsie!  You are the best!!  This session wouldn’t have been nearly as amazing without your attention to detail!!

Check out some of my favorites from the session!  Especially the ones from the end, AHHH she’s like a little gerber baby!