We could not have asked for better weather yesterday!  I hope everyone was able to get out and enjoy it, even if only for a few minutes 🙂  Mother’s Day has so many different sides to it, for me.  It always makes me reflect on how blessed I am to do what I do~capturing the precious moments of expecting moms, moms of multiples, moms of generations, moms of a few, moms who have lost, moms who have opened their arms to children and called them their own, and the list goes on.  It’s beautiful, really.  I’m reminded of my friends who have lost a child, and I grieve with them, as I know that pain all too well.  I’m also reminded of my close and dear friends who have lost their Moms, and my heart is heavy for them.  It causes me to look deeper into my relationship with my mom.  When I look at my daughters it reminds me of how I was also once spinning around and dancing to singers on sidewalks, as a little girl, I loved choosing my flavor of ice cream and felt so lucky to get it in a cone, I waived at cars driving by, I giggled, I held her hand, I found joy in the simplest of things, like a balloon.  Then I remember my teenage years, and as I step back and look at my oldest daughter I realize how much of a woman she is becoming and I cherish the closeness we share.  I value her desire to spend time with me, to talk with me, and confide in me.  I count each moment as a blessing, as I know how fleeting it can be.  Always making sure she knows I’m her biggest fan, it’s my prayer that she succeeds in all the awesome goals she has and to always cheer her on, even in tough times.  I remember the times when I felt like I was not enough and when the heart I wore on my sleeve was torn.  I remember.  I remember my mom spending countless times on her knees praying for me and my sister.  I remember all the practices she would drive us to and the countless bake sales she would support even though her job required so much of her.  I remember eating as a family every night.  I remember the laughter.  I remember the Holidays and how good she was at surprises (I failed that course 😉 ) .  The list goes on.  Now, I find myself wanting to live up to all of that and although I may do things differently, as we are all different,  there is one thing that ties us all of us moms together; and that’s love.  We love.  We can’t help it.  We are created to be nurturers.  I realize that as much as I am different from my mom and will do things differently than her at times, I still want my children to feel loved. I want the hope I saw in my mom’s eyes to be seen in mine.  I want the comforting arms that wrapped around my world to be felt in my children’s world.  I want the memories of joy and happiness to be remembered by my children.  And as my children grow to be adults, I want the friendship that I now share with my mom to be just as strong for them.

So, I decided that this Mother’s Day I wanted to capture things slightly different.  I wanted to capture the innocence and sweetness of my children.  I wanted to capture the art of the  honest moments.  If you’ve seen any of my work, then you already know that I tend to love Fine Art Portraiture.  The posed and set up sessions that bring dreams to a place of reality.  However, I also enjoy the everyday happenings, the beautiful messes, and the crazy captures of life that are typically hidden between the walls of our home and stored in the back of our minds.  This Mother’s Day, I wanted to capture the moments of picking out ice cream flavors, of waving to Superheroes in White, of sitting on Daddy’s Shoulders, stopping to listen to side street music and holding onto the security of Daddy’s hand.  I wanted to capture my Mom’s mid-conversation laugh, the way my oldest adores my youngest with butterfly kisses and all.  THESE are the moments that paint our world.  They are also moments that pass all too quickly, but should be held on to forever.  These little honest moments help to paint a world of love for our children and makes us the artists we are.  Here’s to your masterpiece!

Enjoy!

A huge thank you to my family for letting me sleep in while you made an AMAZING brunch!  Thank you to my hunny who made a list and planned everything out days before.  Thank you for a beautiful day in Annapolis, Maryland walking and enjoying the company of you…and thank you, mom, for the shining example of what love is to me and my littles.   You are all my world…a masterpiece in the making…xo