This is my FOURTH year doing birthday photos for this set of cuties! Well, technically, fourth year with the oldest two and second year with the youngest. Last year the baby turned one and we did a smash cake session along with all the usual photos, and it was ADORABLE.

Their mom does the neatest “show their growth” thing that I have ever seen a mom do. We all know that many moms will document baby’s first year month-by-month with a onesie that says the number of months or maybe a nursery blanket, but this mama captures each year in a very special way. She has her daughters “wear” her wedding dress (“wear” in parenthesis because it’s a loose term when you’re putting it on a two year old - haha!), and she has her son wear one of his dad’s white button-down shirts. As they grow, they begin to fill out these items more and more.

It’s a sentimental and magical way to document the inevitable passing of time.

It’s also kind of hilarious to document how their personalities change over the years because THIS year big brother and sister were not nearly as amused by me! They’re getting to that stage of being more self-conscious and they were definitely not as into smiling readily, but more into giving me all kinds of anti-smile faces. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t crack ‘em! Haha!

The littlest one was just the sweetest. I have always had the oldest girl grab the sides of the dress and spin from side-to-side, so this year the two year old was old enough to stand up and try the same and she LOVED IT! She just spun and spun and threw the dress in the air. It was the sweetest. It’s a perfect way to capture a birthday milestone in photos.

After we finish with the dress & shirt looks, we always move on to something a little more fun! We do a different background each year. This year, for their 2nd, 6th and 7th birthday photos, I did a background of all different color streamers. It looked so festive!

This type of shoot isn’t a traditional lifestyle session like I normally do, but I’m all about customizing my shoots to what works for my clients so that’s what we do here every year!