Suzanne McGrath Photography

Six on Sunday...I mean Monday

OK, so this is a day late.  Work with me, here, people.  Our Thanksgiving weekend was great - but it ended in a 6 hour drive on Sunday.  Hence, Six on Monday!  In light of the past weekend, here are six things I'm thankful for:

1.  I'm thankful for my family.  Duh, right?  But I really do have a great family!  I've got a husband who, after 12 years, still manages to crack me up on a regular basis.  And our four girls are the light of our lives! 

2.  I'm thankful for my parents.  We went to Sioux Falls, SD to spend the holiday and had a great time.  They love my kids and it's so fun for me to get to see them interacting with my girls as grandparents.  I wish I would have had the kind of grandparents they are to my girls.

3.  I'm thankful for my sister.  We fought like cats and dogs growing up (an understatement, even).  But now I love having a sister and the close relationship that comes with it!  Plus, she brings her own family to the equation and that's great, too.  I love watching the six cousins together - it's priceless.

4.  I'm thankful for my new camera:)  I'm still getting used to it - it shoots differently than my old camera.  I'm going to love it, but I need a little more time with it!

5.  I'm thankful for good friends.  We have a large set of people we call friends and for that I am so grateful!  Some of our friends are close and some far away - but wherever we go, we're surrounded and that's wonderful.  We even managed to spend an evening with some of our dear friends and it was just great to see 4 of their 5 kids playing with our 4!  (Or our 3 as #4 slept most of the night!)

6.  In this economy, I'm grateful that we doing OK.  Enough said.

Below are some pictures I shot with my new camera.  Like I said, I am still experimenting.  And quite a few of these were shot with my dad's lenses.  His lenses are wide angle and I am NOT used to those!  It's quite different from my beloved 50mm.  Here you go...

I was able to talk #1 and #2 into modeling for me, even though it was quite chilly.

      

#4 doesn't exactly "model"...

  

#3 and my niece have birthdays right before and right after Thanksgiving, respectively, so we celebrated with my parents and a delicious ice cream cake!  (Shot at 6400 ISO - not too shabby b/c it was dark!)

  

Sioux Falls is aptly named after the falls located next to downtown.  We ran around there for about an hour on Friday...

    

Lastly, this was a typical night.  I love how the kids have their arms around each other.  So cute.

  

Have a great week!     

Six on Sunday

Here we are again!  Another Sunday. 

1.  I can't wait for Thanksgiving!  It's my absolute favorite meal of the year.  We're going to my parents house this year, along with my sister and her family.  I'm hoping we have good weather so we can get outside a little.  I'm also hoping the 6 hour drive goes well.

2.  I ordered a new camera last Thursday.  We had a message tonight that it's coming tomorrow.  I. Can't. Wait.  It's a Canon 7D and the reviews are fantastic.  I plan on playing with it over the Thanksgiving break.

3.  I don't think I will ever be able to say I'm caught up on laundry.  Ever again.  I used to do all my laundry on Sat. or Sun.  But now, by the time I'm finished with it I have more big piles.  Seriously - it's insane.

4.  #4 is 7 months old now and crawling all over the place.  It's not really a traditional crawl yet, but she gets around!  Nothing is safe anymore.

5.  The girls got to spend the weekend with their grandma, grandpa, and aunt Erin.  They hadn't seen Erin in over a year and she hadn't yet met #4.  From the sounds of it, the girls had a great time!  They were able to go shopping at the "big Target" which was the highlight of the weekend.  Webkins and dresses were involved.  Need I say more?

6.  Why did the girls get to spend the weekend with their grandparents and aunt, you ask?  Because Pat and I were in Lincoln, NE at the football game.  We had a great time - the Huskers won!  We stayed at the Embassy Suites with our friend, Vicki, and met up with a bunch of other friends and even met some new ones ("Fishsticks").  All in all, a perfect weekend of friends and football:)

And because no post should be without pictures, I'm attaching a few from my workshop in Chicago.  The kids were adorable and their wardrobes were awesome, too!

        

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Cool Storyboards {Overland Park Kid's Photographer}

Remember the shoot with my neighbors?  Elena, Ethan, and Audrey?  Well, I had the chance to put together these cool storyboards for them.  I love this idea and want to incorporate it into my house!  These are 20x10 prints on styrene.  The best thing about them?  There is no need for picture a frame.  I already have two in my house: one resting on a gallery ledge and the other resting on top of a bookshelf.  But I love the idea of a gallery effect.  Check it out!

   

   

 

  

Six on Sunday

I'm short on time tonight (it's way past my bedtime for a school night)!  

1.  #3 turned 3 years old today!  She had her very first birthday party yesterday and invited four of her friends over.  They seemed to have a great time and I know Caroline LOVED having her friends over to her house.

2.  I got back from my Chicago trip on Wednesday.  I spent two days with Audrey Woulard and 10 other talented women.  I learned a ton about photography - both shooting and the business side.  I'm so glad I was able to attend her workshop!

3.  #4 turned 7 months old today.  Wow!  Where has the time gone?  She is officially crawling now and has NO interest in baby toys.  She shuns them.  The newspaper is great fun, though.  

4.  I am getting excited for Thanksgiving.  My hubby and I found a race to run on Thanksgiving morning.  We just have to figure out if we're up for the 10k or just a good, old 5k.  Probably depends on the weather.

5.  I am busy, busy, busy.  I have three sessions to edit this week.  Good thing I virtually gave up TV last year.

6.  Speaking of TV...the only two shows I have not sworn off are Top Chef and Project Runway.  The bad thing?  I keep falling asleep and haven't seen a whole show in probably three weeks!  We'll see if this week is any different.

And I can't sign off without a picture - so here is just a snapshot from #3's birthday party yesterday.

 

Birthday Boy! {Kansas City Kids Photographer}

I had the pleasure of shooting these two adorable boys this morning.  Owen just finished celebrating his first birthday and his brother, Collin, turned two this past June.  I think these are the two hardest ages to shoot!  They hardly sit still for a second and could really care less about the crazy lady behind the camera:) But we had fun and they were troopers.  Autumn, I hope you enjoy this sneak peek - there's plenty more where these came from! 

I just love this image!  They are both looking at the camera and the way Collin's head is tilted towards his baby brother is just precious.

  

Here's the Birthday Boy and his adorable dimples!

     

He loves his mama!  It took all of about two seconds for her to get this face.

  

Funny story about this picture.  Collin wasn't too impressed me with today.  He's a very serious two year old.  He doesn't smile a whole lot - and that's OK.  That's just his little personality.  However, as soon as we were done, he climbed into his minivan and found this sucker stashed away somewhere.  THAT made him smile.  (Photographer's note - carry suckers from now on!)

  

Apparently Owen is an eater!  However, I think he stuffed himself full of bread while we were feeding the ducks, had a bit of a cold, and it was almost naptime.  So, that meant he wanted to play with the cake rather than eat it.  But it was still cute.   

  

Thanks, guys.  It was fun!

My neighbors {Overland Park kids photographer}

I had a blast yesterday photographing my 3 neighbor kids!  It took them all about 3 seconds to really get into it:)  There were so many great images - I had a really hard time choosing.  Take a peek...

This one just cracks me up!

  

I thought this one was sweet.

  

The light here is to die for!  And Elena..all I can say is, Work it out!!

  

Here's Audrey...

  

And Ethan...

  

And Elena...

  

The last one for now...

 

There's lots more where these came from!  

Baby Ross {Overland Park Baby Photographer}

I'm short on words tonight.  However, I wanted to get a few out there for Carmen.  You may remember the two brothers I photographed from awhile back.  Well, they welcomed a brother on Oct. 24th. Presenting baby Ross...

   

   

Six on Sunday

Wow!  It's already been a week since I posted last - where has the time gone?  Oh, I know.  Getting ready and hosting the Halloween party!  

1.  We had the party on Friday night and I think it was a raging success.  My brother-in-law managed to scare the first group of first graders so well that more than half the second group of first graders chickened out moments after walking into the Haunted House (errr garage).  But all in all, it was a fun night.  The third graders got a kick out of it, but weren't as scared as the first graders.  

2.  I leave for Chicago in one week.  I'm so exited!  I hope to learn tons of good stuff from Audrey Wouldard!  Plus, I get to visit (and stay with) my good friend from college.  Sweet.

3.  Even though it's only 9:06, I could swear it's past midnight.  I need to get some sleep.

4.  I think the countdown to Christmas is something like 9 weeks.  I can't believe that?  I'm a total list-maker.  I have a spreadsheet in Excel from the last 8 years.  It tracks gifts I've given to our extended family as well as the kids.  I need to consult the spreadsheet to start to strategize for this year!

5.  I photographed a newborn today.  Baby Ross was only 8 days old and the cutest thing ever.  He had rockstar hair:)  Unfortunately, I am too darn tired to even upload the pictures.  They will be posted in the next day or two.  Then later this week I'll have my neighbor kids to show.  That should be fun, too!

6.  Many thanks to my parents, my sister, and her husband for helping us with the above-mentioned party.  We couldn't have done it without you guys.  And the pictures below are courtesy of my dad.  I was way too busy to take any pictures myself.  Enjoy!

This first picture is of The Autopsy Room.  Patrick (my hubby) was the dr.  He had the girls feel all the body parts:  hair (fennel), eyes (grapes), ears (dried apples), blood (ketchup), brains (stewed tomatoes), guts (jello), hand (ice frozen in a glove), and he turned into worms (spaghetti).  Most kids loved it but some refused to touch the stuff!

 

The next two pictures of are of the Witches Cauldron Room.  My mom was the witch (with awesome hair!) and she had a cauldron with dry ice.  When the girls would come to her room, she would pour warm water over the ice.  She would do all this with a "spooky" voice - and then tell jokes!

    

This last picture is of Dracula's Lair.  His make-up was GOOD!  And, to top it all off, he had these great, black fake nails.  So funny...

  

If you have any questions or need ideas for next year, send me an email or leave a comment.  This was a ton of work but it was so much fun.  The girls had been talking about it for months and I think it lived up to the hype.  And, we saved most of our props because we'll get to do this again in four or five years when #3 and #4 and old enough to ask for a party:)