It is official; a couple of weeks ago our little Emily started 2nd grade. It is so hard to believe that our baby is already that old. Everyone talks about how quickly this life can pass by, but many seem too busy to enjoy it. I am totally guilty of this. I get so wrapped up in what I think I should be focused on that I can too easily miss the joy of just enjoying and being in the moment with my family and friends. I get so caught up in wanting my house to be perfect, my kids to be perfect, and my work to be pristine that somewhere along the line I have stopped enjoying the joy in the everyday moments.

So, as we enter into Emily's 3rd year of being homeschooled, and as I juggle the love and passion I have for my work with that of my family, this mommy has decided to work on some changes. First, I want this year to be fun. I want Emily to see that while learning is indeed work, she can also have a whole lot of fun in the process.

I am getting rid of the all the pressure I unnecessarily put on myself to achieve something that someone else may call success. So what if my daughters dress themselves and don't match, who cares if my house isn't perfect (ever), and big deal if everyday isn't a marathon of accomplishments I can cross off my list. This year I am going to work on doing less, loving more, and finding joy in every minute of my life—the good, the bad and the messy.

So, here is to a new school year, and to my super smart 2nd grade girly who amazes me everyday with her intelligence and her love. I grabbed this picture of her on our first day of school. I just can't help but keep falling in love with her smile. :)

Yes, I realize I am a bit behind on posting anything personal. Life has been unusually busy. I just had to post this though, because it was Anna's first Easter egg hunt. Yeah, she was around last Easter, but she was far too young to enjoy the yearly hunt for the glorious candy filled Easter eggs. This year she made up for lost time. It was all serious business on her end—no distractions, all focus. This shot says it all, including the fact that her mom can be just a little bit ghetto sometimes...if you look closely you can see I forgot to remove the price tag. Sure, you're saying it is no big deal, you probably just purchased it in a rush and missed it. Yeah, I purchased this basket last year. Yes, dear internet, that is how I roll. One forgotten price tag at a time. ;)

The two biggest reasons why I am still married after 10 years, 6 children and lots of life drama? God's grace and date night. Ah, date night. The much coveted, albeit brief, escape from children, work, and business where I get to come together with my man and reconnect. Sometimes it is as simple as a walk through the park, or as complicated as dinner and a movie. And by complicated I mean arranging child care, and actually planning out what we desire to do. Let's just say there are a few things we can be indecisive about and the what and where issues seem to be a major stalling ground.

Oh, last night we got our date night, and a long and glorious one at that. We opted for dinner and a movie, neither of which disappointed. I had really been wanting to see Soul Surfer, after remembering the girl's headlines several years ago. For those of you who may not know, the movie is about a young girl who survived a shark attack while surfing, and went on to become a pro surfer with only one arm. Amazing. I can't even surf with two.

I walked away from the movie having learned a lesson, but it had far less to do with the actual movie and more to do with a few women who sat behind us. I am sure I am not the only person who has ever been annoyed with others while at a movie theater. You go hoping for a certain experience, to hopefully enjoy the movie with little to no distraction. However, last night a group of 5 woman sat behind us who were determined to teach me a thing or two. They laughed, they made crude comments, they poked fun at the story line and even some of the animals, and they were loud about it all. No one else was joining them; everyone else was silent or tearful as the girl lost her limb and the scene unfolded.

To say I was annoyed might be a bit of an understatement. Here was one person's true story unfolding before our eyes, and there were five woman mocking it at every turn. I was insulted for the girl. Then the group of women got up and walked out. I was a bit tempted to clap at their departure, but I refrained. I left the movie and could not stop thinking about this. Then I realized why.

How many of us have gone through our lives being afraid of the ridicule of the 5? How many of us refuse to be real or share our stories because of the negativity we could receive from some? I have been there, and I struggle everyday with that very thing. I have spent so much of my life being afraid of those who would hurt me that too often I have hidden away in an effort to protect myself. Here is the thing that struck me, though, maybe for the first time, as I watched the situation last night. 5 mocked, jeered and then left. However, over 30 stayed, watched and listened. This girl had the courage—yes, courage—to share her story and in so doing to share her struggle. And there is at least one who she has helped to change. That person is me. She obviously decided it was worth the risk, and I have to agree.

So here is my challenge to you. Don't let fear hold you back. Don't be afraid of those who mock and ridicule. Live life being real. You never know who you might impact or help along the way. The girl made a point in the movie, when asked whether she would go out into the water again that day, knowing she would lose her arm. She replied with (paraphrase mine), "I would, because I can embrace and love more people with one arm [because of the attention of the story] than I ever could with two." Powerful.

It has been over two months in the developing, but Très Bébé now has a new look and a new structure. After poring over every detail of the site and our business, we have found it helpful to make some much needed upgrades. If you are familiar with our work from before, you will notice some changes have taken place as you poke through our new website. But don't worry, our focus is still the same. We are more dedicated then ever to creating beautiful real life portraits of your everyday moments.

Now, since I am first a mom, and since the weather has been less then desirable to outside play and we finally got some sun today, I decided to declare today a play day for my kids. After Mommy got some much needed business done this morning, we headed to the park to take in some of the delicious sunlight and just unwind. And it was good. For all of us. Somewhere between the giggles on the swings and the socializing, Emily had a scare. And big sissy Ariana was right there to lend a shoulder and some words of comfort. I love that.

And, lastly, I can't end this post without sharing with the whole internet world how awesome I think my husband is for patiently enduring my never-ending requests and building me a website that I love. Mr. Coates, you are just plain yummy.

So, please, poke around, check out the site, and if you love it be sure to tell your friends. And if you haven't become a fan of ours on Facebook yet, be sure to mosey over that way to join in on our discussion and have a chance to win a fun little family date, on us.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

It seems like it has been forever since my last blog post, and I am feeling a bit rusty. We have been working on some major changes that will soon be coming to Très Bébé Photography, and we can't wait to share them. In the meantime other stuff, like blogging, is taking a bit of a back burner—but only for a little bit longer. ;)

However, there is one thing that we just have to share right now, and that is our latest family photo shoot. We absolutely love capturing our everyday life through portraits; however, even photographers have to hire other photographers if they actually want to be part of the pictures—at least for non-posed photography, anyway. So, we decided it was time to figure out who we were going to hire.

That really got us to thinking. Who would we want to hire? That ends up being a tough question because we know so many wonderfully talented photographers that we just love. So how did we decide? We looked at three factors, in order of importance.

1. 1st – Photography Style: Our passion is photography that captures real, everyday moments. We don't want posing or anything fake; we just want photos of us being us. We want photos of moments that tell at least part of the story of who we are right now: the silly expressions, the giggles, the kisses, the fact that we just enjoy being with each other and hanging out. You get the idea. Time changes things so quickly, and we really want to remember these moments. We needed a photographer that understood that and knew how to shoot that style of photography.
2. 2nd – Likeablity: We wanted to choose a photographer that we felt comfortable around. We wanted someone who was real, but relaxed. In short, we needed to like them, and so did our kids. Why? Because, beyond the obvious reasons, it really does change the images we get. When we are comfortable, we are more relaxed and naturally able to simply be ourselves. And that is a big deal.
3. 3rd – Money: And since we still have yet to strike it rich, and we have several little people that help drain our bank account faster then a sieve, we also needed someone that we could afford. Now, I put this factor as last for a very important reason. It is last because it is the single least important factor in our decision making. I can here the nay sayers already protesting, but it is totally true. We are willing to pay for what we value, and the greater the value, the greater the importance, the greater our willingness to part with our money. So, even if we had to save our money for several months, or even several years, to be able to capture some of our precious memories, we would do it because it is important to us. Think of how much money you spend on your favorite drink, treat, or beauty treatment in any given month. Yeah... And capturing some of our family moments for our children to have forever is far more important, at least to us. ;)

So, after thinking it through, we decided to go with the talented Chris Stewart of Jen Stewart Photography. Chris was fantastic during the shoot and was so fun to be around. With their permission we are posting one of our favorite shots from the session, and you can see the rest on their blog by clicking here. Thanks again, Chris!