cousins, bathtubs, mobile saunas, and chickens | seattle tacoma documentary family photography

It's been far too long since I've blogged, but spring has arrived and I've been shooting a lot lately. I'm also *very close* to fully recovered from major knee surgery last year (more on that coming in another blog post) so I'm ready to start photographing families again! While Viggo competed in his very first chess tournament last weekend (you can see my Instagram post here), Leo got some quality time with his cousins. Documenting the day with his cousins was a great reminder that we can include extended family and cousins in your photo shoot. I would love to spend a morning or day in the life with your family, your littles, and their cousins. The cousin relationship is pretty special, whether they are all close in age, or years apart, it's such a fun, unique dynamic. I'm not sure which was more fun - 3 cousins in a bathtub or 3 cousins in a hammock. We have a bathtub (but the light isn't nearly as pretty) but I'm convinced that we definitely need a hammock.  Back at the house after a long day of chess, Viggo sat proudly for a photo with his trophy before we all jumped into the converted horse trailer that is now a mobile sauna. We warmed up in the sauna listening to the pouring rain on the metal roof of the trailer, snacking on bowls of goldfish, when Leo shouted "chicken bawk bawk!" and sure enough we looked out the little windows to see one of chickens running down the alley. The kids all jumped out to chase the chicken but he was long gone, leaving four sopping wet cousins scrambling to get inside and warm up in front of the fire. It was everything that a day with cousins should be.

from london to seattle with love | seattle documentary family photography

You know it's going to be a good session when you wake up to dark Seattle skies and a slow drizzle but instead of canceling, your client embraces it and wants to document life in their new city, rain and all. And even better is when you're greeted by smiling, giggling girls who can't wait to show you their baby sister.  This beautiful international family recently moved from London to Seattle and the girls still have an accent that will melt your heart.  The laugher that fills every room of their house is infectious, and families that embrace the silly will always have my heart. As a mother of boys, I love documenting life with girls and I'm always curious about the differences and similarities and make no mistake, these girls could give my boys a run for their money. They jumped, wrestled, danced, and scaled rock walls in the mud and rain. It was my kind of morning. 

dancing in the rain | seattle family documentary photography

We met at t-ball, standing on the sidelines chatting and watching our boys clumsily chase after the ball, learning to throw and catch, all while being cheered on by their coaches and parents. My family quickly fell in love with Coach Caleb and his sweet demeanor, always patient with this gaggle of 4 and 5 year old boys with an easy smile. Sharsti and I fell into the habit of walking up to the coffee shop, with Abbi volunteering to push Leo in his stroller. I was thrilled that Sharsti asked me to photograph her beautiful family this winter at their gorgeous home in Montlake. The weather was terrible, utterly and absolutely atrocious. It was dark and gloomy and I didn’t think it was ever going to stop raining. I considered canceling - but this is what I love so much about this family - they just rolled with it. We do live in Seattle after all, and this is what life looks like in November in the Pacifc Northwest, and they totally embraced it. The rain let up a bit so we decided to take Bailey for a walk out to the Montlake cut. We watched boats go by, the kids hid in the weeping willow branches, jumped over puddles, and sang Macklemore songs with voices much better than my own. My kind of afternoon. By the end of day I felt like I knew the kids so much better and was able to see their different personalities (and voices!) shine through. I left admiring Caleb and Sharsti for how beautifully they embrace and nurture Max and Abbi's different personalities, loving them for exactly who they are. I can’t wait for more lingering mornings on the t-ball field with these guys this spring. 

a beautiful mess | seattle documentary family photographer

In our bedroom we have a kids lamp from Leo’s old room sitting on top of the electric heater because we don’t have bedside tables. You’ll also find my parents old wooden rocking chair that doesn’t really fit in our small room but I can’t bear to part with it because I was rocked to sleep in it when I was a baby (and I call Tom the sentimental one!). Then there's our dog Otis who shouldn’t be on our bed but who, if you know him, is terribly behaved and does whatever he wants, and we gave up trying to make him behave right around the time we had Viggo. The cheap aluminum mini-blinds in the big window from the previous owners sag in the middle and are impossibly hard to raise and lower, and as a result we probably flash our lovely new neighbors more that anyone would like. And I’ll admit that as I was editing these photos, I caught myself cropping out the sagging blinds in an attempt to make our crappy bedroom look a little less crappy, but that’s not our life. Eventually, we will remodel this old house by the woods and it may look very different, but for now I want to remember this house and it’s quirks - the purple bedroom, the yellow kids room, the pink rec room, the ridiculous blinds, the funny Mad-Men-esque bar in the living room, the funny jetted tub in the shared bathroom.  But mostly I want to remember this time in our lives where this house is simply the backdrop to our life, to the time when Leo was constantly ripping off his diaper and preferred to run around in nothing but his gold sneakers, with a cheeky grin on his face after doing something he knew he shouldn't, making read and re-read the same Gossie & Gertie book, to the time when Viggo would pick out objects around the house for next week’s letter line-up at school, when he started coloring inside the lines, and had more tantrums about dinnertime than we thought humanly possible. This is 10 minutes of our life last Saturday, in all it's messy glory.

at home with bubba | seattle documentary family photography

I was lucky enough to spend the morning with Erica, Dudley, and Ellis in their gorgeous new home in Queen Anne. It took Ellis a few minutes of hiding behind his mom, but before I knew it he was proudly showing me around the house and giving me the best hugs. Ellis reminded me that sometimes you just need to put the camera down and hug it out. This may be my new motto in life. He showed me his big boy room and his favorite books, and even made me "toast". I loved watching the three of them cuddle in bed, giggle, and play under the covers. Dudley is an excellent gently-toss-the-baby-into-the-bed kind of guy, FYI. 

at home with baby E | seattle, wa

I've known David and Alana for several years and I've even been on some pretty grueling bike rides with David. I was beyond excited to finally meet sweet baby E and see how well they've all settled into their new house as a family of three. They made it look effortless! Seriously though, they were such naturals at this new parenting thing and they had the calm demeanor of seasoned parents. I loved seeing David in his new role as dad and how E has already captured his heart. E is such a sweet baby and is already a great sleeper - no wonder Alana looked so gorgeous and refreshed. Of course no family session would be complete without a guest starring role from the family pets, in this case their hilarious cats "Chicken" and Max.