Zaylee's 6th Birthday!!

Zaylee Sue is six years old! Last week we celebrated her birthday and this weekend we had her party with family and friends. She had a blast! For her birthday she asked for an "Inkoo". She got what she wanted and more. Thanks everyone who came to help us celebrate!

Rag Quilt for Zaylee

I'm trying to replace Zaylee's favorite blanket. It's not so much a blanket anymore. It's more like a scrap of material with several arm holes. I admit that I'm not the best at sewing. I've watched a few online tutorials and am going to try my best. Wish me luck!

Toothless

Look who lost a tooth? She pulled this one out herself when a friend of mine offered her a dollar! How brave is that?! 

Happy Valentine's Day Zaylee Sue

Happy Valentines Day Zaylee! I took these photo's of you about a week ago. Your always so nice to help me when I set up for a session. You've been practicing hard this week to do "flat splits" for dance. You had strep throat last week and had to miss dance. You were very sad. Dance is still your favorite activity. I hope you have a wonderful Valentines Day tomorrow and know that I love you so much!! ~ Love, Mom

PS. I called your dance studio and sending in a doctors note worked. You will be able to dance in the competitions as planned. Your very excited.

Doctors Note

Poor Zaylee has strep again!! She ended her antibiotic a few days ago and it came right back. This is craziness. I have bleached and sanitized everything more than once. I threw away all of their old toothbrushes and bought new ones. I think her antibiotic just wasn't strong enough? I took her in to the Pediatrician today and he put her on a different kind of antibiotic. Hopefully this one will do the trick. I asked him to write a note because Zaylee's Dance competition team kicks them out after three absences. Tomorrow will be her third time missing class because of strep throat :(. I hope the Doctors note will work, and they will let her compete on stage. 

My Buddy

It wouldn't surprise me if Zaylee Sue grew up to be a photographer. She spends a lot of her time with me as I photograph babies, set up for sessions or go out for fun to photograph various things. She is my little buddy. I am already dreading not having her around so much when she starts kindergarten next year. We have a lot of fun together. This past Wednesday I met with a friend to go photograph some Eagles and Zay came along. My favorite shots from that day are the few I took of her sitting in the car being her happy little self. When I look at these photos of her in the car, I know that her favorite puppy is in her purse on her lap, she helped me do her hair the way she wanted it that morning, insisted on wearing her formal dress sweater over her t-shirt, and added a yellow bracelet as the final touch before we left for the day. She is the perfect vision of what I want her childhood to be like :).  The next morning, she helped me test the lighting as I set up for a newborn session at home. She is always so willing to sit for me as I spend time getting my lighting just right. She has fun helping me out and loves photographing her stuffed puppy. She asked me if I wanted to be a photographer when I grew up? I told her I'm not grown up just yet lol. She's so spunky and fun and adds so much spice to our lives. I know I say it a lot about my kids, but again I'm just so thankful! I'm thankful for her every single day and feel so blessed to have her as my daughter. I have all I ever wanted and then a whole lot more :).

Here she is helping me set up for a newborn session. Yes I set up on my kitchen table (which is why I never post photos showing off my "studio" lol)

And  now that you've seen my so called studio, here is a shot from the newborn session that day. It's the only one I've edited so far.

Zaylee Sue lost her first tooth today

Zaylee Sue lost her first tooth today. Her tooth has been very lose for a few weeks now. We went over to a friends house who talked her into putting a piece of dental floss around the loose tooth and pulling it out. Zaylee was very brave and didn't mind at all. She is very excited for the tooth fairy to visit tonight. This is the youngest any of my children have been when loosing their first tooth. Zaylee is four. I did some reading and apparently it happens at this age. The boys were five (almost six) before they lost theirs. I was set up for a session today, and she wanted to show off her toothless smile.