alissa ferullo photoblog

fishing excursion

we took the kids fishing on monday, and although it was windy, the weather was gorgeous.  the skies were more blue than i'd ever seen them and it was nice to just to get away, be alone and get some fresh air.  jackson was happy in the carrier on my back and standing up in the pack-n-play, but sophia wasn't so happy to be wearing a life jacket.  ;)  it seemed to really put a crimp in her style.  she did, however, catch her first fish (see below).  she thought that was the best part of the day! 

 

where jackson spent most of his morning...not a bad view, huh?

 

*just fyi, he doesn't actually have a mohawk (although on occassion, it's hard to tame), it was just the wind.*  and below is sophia trying to show him how to crawl forwards...he seems to have an affection for going backwards and she's not sure why.

my fisherman:

and sophia anxiously waiting for daddy to catch her a fish so she could reel it in.  :)

 

the big moment: ;)

 

of course she would not look at me and hold her fish, so this is as good as it gets.  did i mention she hates my camera?  although she, herself, wants to be a photographer too when she grows up...just not a model, apparently.  she often has to call "the city" (aka. the sitter) for her baby when she goes out on a photoshoot. 

and one taken before we caught anything...just getting ready in the wind...

and one last scenic shot...love this!

 

in other news...sophia is getting super excited about preschool, which starts in a few weeks.  i hadn't intended to send her this year, but she is so social and so ready, i decided to give it a whirl.  she has a few friends in her class already, and she just loves making new friends.  the girl makes friends in every check-out line and tells people about her bike at walmart.  :)  i think she'll do fine.  it's just two mornings a week for 2.5 hours, but i think she'll love it.  it's a wonderful place and they do such great things with the kids, i'm really excited for her.  we did however, have to put to rest (no pun intended) the idea that she had to stay the night there...she seemed to think that's what she was in for.  once that was out of the way, she decided it would be fun!

i have more pictures of the kids (mostly jackson, as sophia will not have anything to do with picture taking these days) and several shoots to share this week, so check back...and leave a comment when you stop by!  i'd love to know who is lurking around in cyberspace.  :)

jailbird

he's trying to break free...or get into his sister's room!  :) (the progression...) 

 

jackson is on the move these days, or...crawling backwards, which leads to lots of frustration, which culminates into more yelling than a person can endure.  ;)  he's earned the nickname, "Old Yeller" for the time being.  he just wants to walk and talk to keep up with his sis, and he's one determined little person.  he is getting everywhere on the floor, pulling to a stand, and even letting go for a few seconds at a time.  he's extremely vocal now and loves to eat anything and everything.  although life hasn't been easy with him for the past 6 months, he is SO MUCH happier over the past 3.5 weeks, it's crazy.  as most of you know, he became a very unhappy baby over the summer (starting mid-May) and we tried everything, from prevacid to a chiropractor.  he was just fussy, didn't want to be alone or on the floor AT ALL and just generally wanted me to hold him all the time.  i started to wonder if the child was ill, but thankfully i was wrong.  we considered food allergies or milk intolerance, but he just seemed to rebound all on his own. 

he's sleeping in his own bed and room, finally, and last night was the best night we've had in 6 months.  he's still eating once or twice a night, but he used to just cry in his sleep all night and it was impossible for anyone to rest.  i'm so thankful that things are looking up.  i've been one tired mamma for a long time.  ;)

miss sophia is as busy as ever, surprising us daily with her incredible vocabulary, witt, sense of humor and her sweet little personality.  she is generous, kind, smart and just really funny, honestly.  this morning she went to the potty and came back to tell me she hadn't gotten her pants down quite far enough, so they got a little wet.  when i asked her how that happened, she explained it to me like this: "Mom, I just had an accident and sometimes little 'girls' (prounouned as if she's brittish) have accidents.  They make mistakes, but it's okay, it doesn't hurt us!"  ah, the beauty of being 3.  :) 

she will NOT let me take her picture these days, but she loves me to photograph her babies and her special bunny.  here is one she insisted i take...after which she asked her bunny if she was okay...

 

and a few stolen images she did not authorize. ;)

(not sure why the above image looks pixilated...darn typepad)

she's even begun to do things like, uhem, sticking her finger up her nose in order to get me to not take her picture.  she's so clever.

and one last shot of jackson...

i have tons more images to share, so check back in the next week!  :) 

  

so pretty

this senior was so easy to photograph...comfortable, beautiful and so nice.  we had fun with her mom and sister, and i really love how they turned out:

  

and a vintage wash on this one...

as for our family, we've been so busy.  we've had tons of family visiting (and my sister will be here tomorrow from texas) and have spent lots of time at the cabin.  i have also had lots of sessions i intend to share - it's just  a matter of keeping up.  ;)  i can't wait to share some senior shots of my neice i took while she was here, so stay tuned for more posting.  yea, i'm not the best at this blogging thing, but maybe someday when i'm not doing the dishes for the 4th time, washing another load of diapers, making the daily park stop or just plain spending time with my family, i'll get better at it!  so i guess you can expect improvement in a couple years?  :)

name that baby...

who do you think this is???

 

well yesterday, my sister calls me from the newspaper she works for after researching an article they were publishing and discovering the above image.  the paper is doing an article on vaccination and she was looking for photos of kids getting their shots.  after she found this, she called me right away to tell me how much this baby looked like jackson and that i wouldn't believe the resemblance...and has he had his photo taken during any doctor's visits?  as a mom, you may hear people say your child looks like so-and-so, but you see all the differences immediately and instinctively know better.  but after checking my email, i couldn't believe that there was a picture of my baby online that i never knew about!

come to find out, it isn't my baby.  it's another little guy who seriously looks so much like jackson, i was getting a bit distraught over the idea of someone having a photograph of him without my permission.  i'm still a bit taken aback.  and as i went through all my archives, i don't have a single picture of him crying at that age (about 6 months, i think).  anyway, i've realized after photographing him crying today that his "cry face" has changed as his face has narrowed over the past few months...and his fuller hair makes him look quite different.  but here he is...mind you, this is mad cry, not a painful, open-mouth cry...but seriously how long could i make the poor kiddo lie there as i pressed the shutter over and over?!?   

these do not do the resemblance justice...and even though this one is blurry, my hubby thinks this first one is the winner:

  

and to jog the memory, his hair used to look like this...the same hairline and all...

i felt like a very bad mommy trying to take pictures when all he wanted was for me to hold him, but hey, all in the name of baby look-a-like, right?  :) and i'm not crazy, as my closest friends and even my husband have asked me repeatedly, "are you sure that's not him???"

*photo included with his parents' permission.  :)*

Sun-kissed

i'm still here.  ;)  just drowing in orders, way too many sessions, my own kiddos, swimming lessons, mountain trips, company and birthday parties.  sigh.  we are having my inlaws here over the weekend and into next week to celebrate miss sophia's third birthday.  pictures to come! 

so this is a recent session (i'm backlogged and still have a few to blog...i'll get there!) of a beautiful family at sunset.  i just love these first two...the glow, the love, the flare, the vintage wash on the first...so pretty.  this family was fun, up for anything and you could tell they genuinely have fun together.  and although my husband complains about my hours spent in front of this thing, i do love what i do.  :)

   

admiring their sweet girlie...

love this succession:

 

and in this one, she's actually kissing his hair.  love that...:)

  

thank you for letting me photograph your gorgeous family!   

mountain time

we have been having lots of fun in the mountains lately...from riding four-wheelers and hikinging, to just being together and cooking fun meals, our cabin in the woods has definitely been our place of choice this summer.  not to mention my baby turned 3 on Sunday, so we have been celebrating big time.  pictures of the "big girl bike" to come.  :)  the last time we were up at the cabin (just a week ago), i managed to take a gazillion photographs and so i've been swimming in pictures of all my favorite people...not a bad place to be, i suppose.  but still, it actually gives me a case of anxiety when i take that many pictures because lord knows i can't go without messing with them.  lol.  thankfully i have a  much better cataloging system now, so proofing is somewhat quicker.  anyway, here we go...you may want to grab something to drink.  :) 

here is my sweet boy at 8 months to the day:

   

and of us...i LOVE this image my husband took...it feels like a stolen moment.  this is jackson's favorite place to be.

and with his daddy:

and another with mamma...cabin hair on day 2...:)

and with his favorite person in the world...she seriously kisses him about 20 times a day, just like this; it melts me:

 

and more of the three of them...

and in true 3-year-old fashion, here is a series of shots taken in under 3 seconds flat.  :)

and the little miss in her usually beautiful state...:)

and an all-time favorite...i just love the dust in the air, the light streaming in and her tiny little body framed between the timber:

soot on her face from the fire last year...

"adjusting" the four-wheeler:

  

dancing with her dad (we do a lot of this at home)...it made me think of her wedding day and this is one i'll probably have to embarrass her with :)...

and the birthday girl in all her splendor: :)

 

stunning

these little girlies were absolutely stunning.  and consequently, i have way too many beautiful photos to share.  (they were cousins with a six year age gap, so it was fun to see the dynamic between the two.  :)  i photographed the youngest one a year ago...click here to see how much she's grown!) 

the first two are pretty serious considering how many fun images i have, but i loved them anyway...

     

the classic 2-year-old maneuver...:)

and i love this one...the admiration begins...

and a few flowers to adorn...

and with the little one's mommy...the last shot of the day...:)

thank you for a fun and exercise-filled afternoon!  ;)  i will have more to share of their family coming soon!

fairy dust

a little collage i thought i'd share from last weekend's session; i just loved this series and the beautiful quote...i hope her mommy likes it too.  :)

sweet family

this is my beautiful friend Emily...

with her hubby...

   

and her three gorgeous babies...

           

and her beautiful family...

  

and by the way, i have some exciting new ideas in the works........coming soon!  :) 

oh, and click here and here and here for this family's pics from last year...they were awaiting the arrival of their youngest little guy!

this photo...

makes my heart melt.  this is her belly laugh.  her sweet baby double chin.  her squinted eyes.  her pure joy.  i adore her.  so many more to come from her swimsuit-wearing trike-riding days of summer.  :)

So fun...

i had such fun taking photographs of this family a few days ago.  i photographed the youngest one when he was born just over a year ago, and his mommy and i have become friends since then; it was great to have a chance to photograph their family together and capture the energy of these little guys in pictures...aren't they the cutest things?!?

so here is a flashback from last february when this little one first arrived:

and here he is now:

 

and here's a look back at the big brother last february:

and here he is now:

 

and one of my all-time favorite images.  i adore this.  and i had a lot of fun with the color as you can see :)...

and some more fun ones...(love this first one!!!)

  

and the lovebirds themselves...;)...they were so cute together...

   

well, thank you to them for letting me a small part of their lives! 

i'm taking the kids to willy wonka and the chocolate factory play tonight, and sophia is so excited!  my mom and a friend are also going, so it should be fun.....as long as i can keep both my little chatterboxes quiet.  haha.  until next time...

readers

sophia loves to read...even to "her baby".  (notice her favorite book about airplanes is the subject at hand) :)

she keeps telling jackson he needs to crawl and grow...but i just want him to stay little.  :)

yum yum

jackson loves to eat; from sweet potatoes and avocados, to oatmeal and applesauce, the kid enjoys his food.  :)  i had been feeding him in his Bumbo chair for quite a while now as it was so convenient for me, but he is too big and quite precarious in it at this point.  and so, out with the blue seat and in with the high chair.  :)  one more thing to take over space in our itty-bitty house.  *note to family members gearing up for sophia's birthday: please keep this piece of information in mind!  we have no more room.  :) 

baby bird

a few weeks ago, my husband pulled our ladder down off the side of our garage and discovered a nest that cradled 4 tiny blue eggs, one of which had a few cracks on it already.  we didn't touch it and he left it down temporarily so we could show sophia.  after she got to peek at them, we went in to eat some lunch and afterward, i decided to go out and get a few pictures of the eggs so kenny could put the ladder back where it was.  and this is what i found... 

the tiniest little baby bird that had hatched merely minutes before this photo was taken.  this was one time i REALLY wished i owned a telephoto lens.