rain, rain...

It's been awhile since I have posted anything of these two. The weather has been so strange lately, warm then cold, sunny then rainy. It was pouring while we ate dinner and the sky was dark enough that I closed the blinds and turned our front porch light on, feeling like were were shutting down for the night. We started the dinner clean up and the the girls took turns putting ingredients into a bowl for banana bread, and then brilliant sunlight suddenly flooded the back of our house. We dropped everything, pulled on our boots and headed outside.

I'm the crazy lady in our neighborhood, standing in the road yelling things like "If you look at me RIGHT NOW I'll let you have Halloween candy when we get home!!" 

We returned to the smell of baking bread, a disaster of a kitchen, and puddles in our boots. And I was quickly reminded to fetch the box of left-over Halloween candy... of course.

Merry Christmas!

No matter what you are celebrating this holiday season, I hope it is a wonderful time with your loved ones. Merry Christmas from the Walker Family!

A sunny afternoon with my girls | Toronto Family Photographer

I took the girls to one of my favourite shooting spots last week to enjoy what was probably one of the last warm days of the year.

First day of junior kindergarten

After waiting all week, it was finally Robin's turn to join the masses and make the trek to her new school for her first day of junior kindergarten. 

Thankfully she was brave and the only tears were my own.

Settle down and stop your crying...

A few weeks ago, during a discussion regarding Robin's upcoming last day of preschool, I said to her "Mommy is going to be very sad on your last day of school Robin… I might even cry" To which Robin replied, "And I'll tell you to settle down and stop your crying!"

Well her last day is finally here. Today Robin says goodbye to the preschool room at her daycare. She is taking the summer off to enjoy some day camps, trips to the cottage and some good old-fashioned sandbox play in the backyard.

This girl. I can't quite believe how much she has grown and changed lately. She's developing a sense of humour, enjoying activities like dance and gymnastics, coming up with new ideas and questions, and is thrilled to be starting kindergarten in the fall. We even removed "the fence" from her bed last week (aka: the railing). She's a full-on big kid now.

tree-hugger

Robin & Me

I'm feeling quite nostalgic this week as Brooke's first birthday approaches. This past year has gone by so quickly and I can't believe how much both my girls have changed. When I  became pregnant with Brooke, it seemed natural that at some point I would have some maternity photos taken – I even had a few ideas and spoke to our photographer about it. But like it always does, life got busier. We had a very rough winter with multiple illnesses, and I felt less and less inclined to be in front of the camera. So at some point, I decided to forgo the photos. I told myself that I didn't really need them. I had photos of me pregnant with Robin and that would be enough.

And then, about 2 weeks before my due date – panic struck. Robin would not be my baby anymore. At 2.5 years old, she was becoming more and more independent and it wasn't going to be just the two of us. We would be bringing a new baby home and I was acutely aware of how much life was going to change. I was going to have to figure out how to be a mom to two little girls, splitting up my time and attention. And at the time, that seemed a bit crazy.

I blasted my photographer with a text, email and phone call. "You have to come and take photos of us" I begged. I realized how wrong I was to not capture this time – while it was still Robin and me.

Thankfully, she obliged and I have these wonderful keepsakes of us being us. Cuddles on the bed, a stroll down our street and sharing banana chocolate chip muffins. I will be forever grateful.

Photos taken by the lovely, talented, beautiful-inside-and-out, Scarlet O'Neill.

Looking back, I see my belly and it's fun to think about how Brooke was there with us. We just didn't know her yet, and we didn't know how much joy and love she would add to our lives. I'm so glad I was able to give Robin a baby sister and I still can't believe how easy it is to love them both so much.

Swinging into Spring...

Finally! The weather is warming up and we are back to playing outside before and after dinner. It's glorious! And although I'm itching for buds to appear on the trees and for the grass to turn green again, I know those things will come and I am just so happy to have sunshine and above zero temperatures for now.

So on this happy note, I will soon be releasing details for Spring mini-sessions this May, as well as a sale on full family portrait sessions. Stay tuned!

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Our trip to Jamaica

We have just returned from our family vacation in Jamaica. Sadly, we were struck by a stomach bug while we were there and spent more time ill than healthy, but we still tried our best to make the most of our time by the pool and on the beach. And while most of the photos I took were on my iPhone, I did manage to drag out my camera a few times. And I'm thankful I did.