Talah's Birthday | Raleigh Child Photographer

Let's pretend I'm posting this much closer to August 6th. Oh, poor Talah. That whole shoemaker saying rings true sometimes : )

We celebrated Talah's birthday with family in Orlando and it was such a fun day. It included family, pool time, dinner at Boma, lollipops, cupcakes, and balloons. One word about Boma for people who don't know. This is one of the restaurants at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. They have a nice buffet and you can walk around the impressive lodge and see animals on the property (giraffes, gazelles, zebras, etc.). If you can't or don't want to go to Animal Kingdom for a whole day, this is a nice place to go to get a taste of things on a much calmer level.

The koala bikini Talah is wearing below is kind of a family heirloom. For some reason, my youngest sister Joanna had it for a long time, even though it's been a couple of decades since she could wear it. I suppose since she was the last Summers girl to wear it, it was hard to let go : ) I was excited when Talah was finally big enough to wear it! As for the pettiskirt, Talah loves it and puts it on whenever possible--especially if someone comes over to our house. She'll disappear for a few minutes and come back out with her "pretty dress" on to show our company. I told her that she could wear it all day on her birthday. And she did.







Sometimes I get annoyed when my lens fogs up from the humidity, but in the image below I didn't mind it.












Let me explain what you're about to see. I read in a parenting magazine a few years ago about someone whose tradition growing up was to have lollipop seeds. Here's how it works. You get "seeds" (any seed-like item will do: sunflower seeds, jellybeans, grains of rice, etc.) and tell your child they are lollipop seeds and then you plant them together. Later, which could be the same day or weeks later, you put big lollipops in the yard for your child to find so it's as if they lollipops have sprouted up.
Okay, so this is all technically a big lie to tell your kids--but it's fun, right? Talah and my niece, Leah, loved it and I think we'll keep it up for years to come.















The anatomy of a birthday wish : )



I had to include this picture. Sure, the kids are cute and all, but the reflection in the glass is what is really funny to me.



Happy Birthday, sweet Talah! Yes, you are sometimes willful and know a thing or two about time out, but most of the time you're pure spun-sugar. I couldn't be happier to be your mom.

Matilda Jane Part Five | Raleigh Children's Photographer

Here is my sweet girl wearing Matilda Jane. Talah loved running around with her friends at the location for the mini session, eating sugar cookies, playing with the tea set, etc. And she was THRILLED to have her nails painted. Tory painted them and Talah talked about it every day for the next week, even after the polish had come off. I can remember being similarly excited about nail polish when I was a child. There's something magical about it to kids (adults, too, I suppose!).

Talah's Quilt

If you have emailed me recently, you probably got an auto reply from me about our recent move. Things have definitely been a whirlwind because it all happened so fast--all the way from deciding to simply look at houses to quickly selling our home to moving into our new home. Even in early February I didn't imagine we'd be living in a different house...yet, here we are. What a difference a few months can make! The whole moving process has slowed me down a bit in terms of blogging (amongst other things!), but I'm getting back in the groove.
We've still got unpacking to do and lots of decorating, so I won't share any pictures of the house right now, but I did want to share a few pictures of Talah's new quilt! With the move came the discussion about whether or not we should move Talah from her toddler bed to a "big girl bed." We decided to take the plunge. Talah is now in a real adult bed and she's actually transitioned extremely well. In fact, it's the bed Jacob had built out of picnic tables for his brother when he lived with us (Hi, Phillip!).
To go with her bed, we got her a custom quilt. The quilt was made by Sarah Miller from Blue Barn Quilts on Etsy. I actually used Alchemy to find Sarah. If you aren't familiar with Alchemy, it's a feature on Etsy where you can put in a custom project/product that you want and sellers will bid on your job. I had several bids and I'm SO glad I went with Sarah. She was fantastic throughout the entire process. She had excellent communication and she sent me pictures along the way so I could see how the quilt was coming along. She is so nice and very talented and was able to do the exact pattern I wanted. All I did was choose my fabrics and I had them shipped to her. She took it from there. If you want to have a quilt made, you should absolutely get in touch with Sarah. Working with Sarah has been, by far, my best Etsy experience. Be sure to visit her Etsy shop!
I'll share pictures of the full quilt once Talah's room is done. Sarah's work is impeccable!
Below is the box I opened when it arrived.


The top two bundles are the fabric scraps I had requested in my Alchemy request and the bottom two are quilts. I'm hoping to practice sewing and I might as well have some cute fabric scraps to use!

More Posts Coming Soon | Raleigh Photographer

For those of you who have contacted me about not updating my blog in awhile, I promise I'm still alive! The last few weeks have been pretty crazy for the Arthur family. I'll explain more next week. For now, I'll say that I have more sessions to post very soon, including newborn twins that I'll be posting this week! In the meantime, here's an image of Talah from over a year ago that I stumbled upon accidentally tonight. When I saw it, I almost wanted to go in her room and wake her up to give her a good squeeze. Almost.

Last Days of Summer | Raleigh Family Photographer

We're wrapping up Labor Day Weekend, which means the end of summer. This has been a great summer for me and my family. It was busy and flew by, but we had many happy moments, including our time at the park this weekend, seen in the pictures below.


















Talah has almost all of her teeth now (just 4 more to go). Whenever I want to see them and ask her to show me, these are the kinds of faces she gives me. It cracks me up.






Time for the fall!

Matilda Jane | Raleigh Children's Photographer

I told you Matilda Jane stuff was cute, and here's the proof. This halter top and ruffle pants are just a sampling of some of the great stuff from this season's line. Fake tattoos are not included. By the way, I don't think my parents were crazy about Talah's (faux!!!) ink. Is that right, Mom?

Talah in the Spring | Raleigh Children's Photographer

The weather was absolutely beautiful this weekend and I loved every second of it. One thing I love about the spring is that the world seems to get a facelift. People are happier. Not only do the flowers and leaves start to peek out, but people do, too. You see them. They're out walking, playing with their dogs, barbecuing, waving, smiling. It's such a nice feeling.

I wanted to get some pictures of Talah in this nice weather, which is no easy task. She's 19 months old and all she wants to do is run away from my camera! Here's one I got and I'll post some more soon : )

Talah in Late Winter | Raleigh Children's Photographer

I had planned to make Talah a scarf for months and hadn't gotten to it. I had only crocheted a couple of things, so I was a little intimidated by the idea, despite my mom always telling me how easy it is. Incidentally, my mom is great at crocheting and I'll include a picture of the stocking she made for Talah in another post. I ended up making Talah a little cowl neck warmer instead (thanks for your help, Clare!). I have to say, she looks pretty darn cute in it (if I do say so myself!) : )

Halloween | Raleigh Baby Photographer

Here's a late Halloween posting. Hope everyone had a good one : )

Early Christmas Gift | Raleigh Children's Photographer

About a week ago, Talah happened to look up with her mouth open and I noticed something white. After a bit of wrestling, I was able to look more closely and saw that one of her top front teeth had just broken though the gum! From what I've heard, the bottom front teeth are usually the first to come in, so it's sort of unusual that her first tooth was one of her top front teeth. I shed a few tears (why? I don't know. I guess it's the end of an era, in a way), but it's exciting for her. She ended up getting two more (the other top front tooth and a bottom tooth) just in the past few days. So, she ended up sprouting three teeth in one week!

Early April with Talah | Raleigh Family Photographer

Here are a few more pictures of Talah from a couple of weeks ago. She's very good at ignoring me when I have my camera out : )

Family Visit | Raleigh Family Photographer

I decided to start this blog mostly to share photographs, but also to keep in better touch with family and friends. I suppose it's appropriate then that my first post comes after a visit from my parents (better knows as Mimi and Gramps to Talah).

Orange you glad you came to visit?

Mimi read Talah her new book. Finding a shot that wasn't completely blurry was darn near impossible. Talah's little hands move so fast!

We had fun eating (Maximillian's came highly recommended and didn't disappoint), talking, and playing with Talah. We also cracked open this Peppermint Pig my parents brought. It's supposed to bring happiness and prosperity to all who partake in its breaking. We all joined in and even little Talah took a whack at it, with my help.

I'm really enjoying my new camera. I'll post more pictures later, but here's a recent one of Talah for now.

Forgive me if the layout of this blog looks a bit amateur for now. I'll learn more soon!