Bill and Jen + 3

What a wonderful weekend I had. Professional Photographer’s of Nebraska fall conference and I am the recipient of 5 awards for my work. : ) I feel very honored and blessed to be recognized. And thank you to my clients for being so photogenic. I’ll post my award winning collections soon!

The O’Neill Family. One of my favorites from this year, I do believe. Jen is such a great person and mother— it showed through like sunshine after rain reading an email from her before our session. And rather than paraphrase, here is the O’Neill family in the very loving and beautiful words from their Mama:

Camille just turned 8 this summer and will be in 3rd grade. She is our determined survivor, having been born at 25 weeks and 1# 13 oz. Because of her prematurity, she is legally blind (very low vision) and has some very mild CP. Against all odds, she is extremely book-smart and very curious. She talks ALL the time and no doubt will ask you about the names, ages, and birth orders of everyone in your family! You will likely also hear the phrase, “I have a question” several times. J She’s my schedule-girl, always wanting to know “the plan.” She is my “rule-follower,” although her obedience is sometimes trumped by her determination to be independent and to do things correctly. She’s had a unique charisma since the day she was born…it’s weird to explain. She loves watching sports and getting play-by-play from her dad…yep, she’s a daddy’s girl! She plays the piano and is a braille-reader as well as a large print-reader, so one of my favorite parts of her is her hands, because they help her see the world.

Olivia, more commonly referred to as “Livvy” or “Liv,” is 6 years old and will be in the first grade. She is our dreamer, full of imagination. She is on a huge fairy kick right now, so we built a fairy house for our garden this summer. She could literally take a rubber band, a marble and a cork and play with them for an hour, creating personalities and a complicated plot line. She loves art and one of her favorite activities is taking a class from a local artist here, Ms. Paige. She also dabbles in dance and Taekwondo. She is a mommy’s girl, and craves touch. She loves being snuggled, having her back rubbed, and having her hair played with. She also loves it when I read books to her—especially those about fairy adventures right now. She’s a little shy at the onset…she calculates situations before she dives in. One of my favorite parts of her is her smile and laugh—when it’s her natural one…not the “senior picture pose smile” that she has become fond of trying out!

Jack just turned 3 in June. He is rough and tumble, sprout-haired boy, but isn’t opposed to being dressed up in tu-tu’s by his sisters, either. He has certainly become a little more trying as a three-year-old, but he’s always had a pretty sensitive side and loves to give me huge hugs and kisses and be helpful when he can. One of my favorite things about Jack is his signature run and strut…you have to see it to know it and love it. He has big, tell-tale eyes that shine with ornery-ness, one of my favorite parts of him. He’s grown into them a bit as he’s grown; when he was little, he got the nickname Hootie because his eyes were so big and wide open that he looked just like an owl.

Bill is a classic small-town in a big-city kind of guy. He grew up in a town of 200ish where his parents owned the grocery store, so was bred to have people skills! (He now works in PR at UNMC). He is an amazing and devoted father and husband and loves sports and golf—but often gives it all up for time with the kids. He has a huge sense of humor…always making people laugh.

I’m a thinker and ponderer. Bill often tells me I think too much, which is true! I worked in nursing research at UNMC for 9 years with patients living with HIV and just recently stopped working to stay with the kids. I love paper-crafting in the form of scrapbooks, cards and projects; doing projects for the house, reading, writing, blogging and exercising. Music inspires me, as well as my kids, colors, nature, and scrapbook paper!

We spend a lot of time as a family, just always doing different things…playing games, being silly, wrestling, going on adventures to explore things and places.

Bill and Jen: I adore you! let’s play together again, some evening : )

Thank you for my little gifts in the mail last week, again. So SO sweet.

and HERE is more beautiful words by Jen. melts me right into a puddle of love.

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