Only once a year do I offer mini sessions and that is for Mother’s Day.  A portion of the proceeds are normally donated to a large charity, however this year after several charity scandals, it brought to light where the donated money was going.  So this year I decided to keep it local and make a straight donation to a family to use as they needed.  Whether for gas, travel, meds or groceries, I wanted to find a family who was truly in need.  After putting a shout out on my Facebook page, I found a local family  who’s son Alec was diagnosed  Neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer.    Thanks to this fabulous group of moms, we were able to send his family a nice phat check.  I can’t cure cancer, but if I can help out in anyway, I will.

This year was a tad different, we invited MOM to be apart of the shoot. Not only that, we invited kids off all ages to join us.  I saw some old friends and met some new ones, over all it was a wonderful day.  Can’t wait to do it again next year!

I pretty much offered mommy a job on the spot.  Baby “M” was pretty awake and she wanted a shot of baby in the bucket, not an easy to do with an awake baby. She tells me,  “give me a couple minutes.”  Within 5 minutes that baby was out!  Pretty impressive baby sleeping skills.  Question is, does that work at night?

This family was not only one of the easiest to shoot, but also one of the funnest.   Some of you foodies in the area might recognize Ed and his lovely wife.   Ed is the owner and chef at Lola’s Cafe and my favorite restaurant in the Hudson Valley, Crave.   Now I am hungry.    And  their kids, ummmm hello crazy beautiful family!

There was a lot of laughing, and a lot of goofing off during our shoot, most coming from the parents    When we did their family picture standing amongst the trees, the kids mentioned they felt like they were in a scene of Twilight.  I am going to admit, I’ve never seen it.  So as long as their are not fangs and blood, I guess we are ok!