Christmas 2009

So another Christmas has come and gone. I think it's safe to say that the kids had a GREAT one! My house now looks like a toy store exploded and keeping the toys contained has become a never ending battle. It's so worth it though. Aidan told me numerous times that he had the "best Christmas ever", and that makes all the craziness go away and spreads love across my heart.

So, here are some total snapshots from our holiday. Nothing fancy. It's very hard to take pictures of kids in a room that is dark and about 12 feet wide!

We celebrate Christmas Eve by having dinner and then the kids open the presents that their Grandma and Grampa Hosking send them and the presents from us.

Aidan was VERY excited to get this Imaginext castle.

Believe it or not, Addie was excited about new clothes!

Aidan wasn't as excited about his new pajamas.

Addie loved her new books.

He's such a goofball!


Then we open presents from SANTA on Christmas morning...

Addie LOVES her new baby crib. LOVES IT! She's feeding one of her new dolls while wearing her Dora Backpack.

Aidan loved everything.

We also went to my parents house where they got even MORE!!!! The kids had such a great day. So much fun and so much to keep them busy!
Here was Addie earlier today playing with her Kai Lan doll.

And Aidan, as I often see him...


Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family!!!! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday and wishing you a fabulous New Year!!!

My Addie Joy

This girl is so funny. Last week she came into the kitchen dressed like this...


According to her, she was "Glamorous Princess Kitty Cat Addie".♥

The funniest part is that AIDAN is the one who set her up with this ensemble! LOL!

And for a new pic of her that I LOVE! I had taken this one a while ago. It's been sitting here waiting for me to get to it and I'm so glad that I did! I remember the two of us were hanging out on the floor of the family room being silly. I remember the way she was looking at me and took a picture. This is SOOOOOO Addie.

And because it looks equally nice in B&W..

Christmas service

Yesterday was Aidan's preschool Christmas service. Those little kids singing are so cute! Aidan did much better than last year. He actually sang! Here is a snap all the way from the back row!


Afterward we got a photo opp for the kids in his classroom...


Addie and I even got a pic together!

Baby Chase, 6 days old

Look at this cute little guy! I got to meet sweet baby Chase earlier this week. His mom is the beautiful Jenny who's pictures I took here.

This little cutie definitely gave me a run for the money! Hard to believe when you see this sweet little face!

The little guy couldn't help it. He just wanted to sleep without me messing with him. I can't say I can blame him one bit!

He was his happiest when he was with his mommy and daddy. They just love him so much.

Congratulations to Jenny and Jerry. The three of them make such a beautiful family!

Five Years

First off I want to apologize to family members for not posting many pics of my kids lately. Things have been so crazy busy, especially these last 6 weeks that I can barely keep my head straight. I promise to catch up with some back photos soon! To make up for that I'm about to get real sappy. haha!

Five years ago I became a parent. My sweet Aidan made his way into the world via C-section on a cold November day. When I arrived at the hospital, I remember feeling excited, scared, happy, unsure and a bit overwhelmed by what was going to happen when they wheeled me into the OR. Well, I've been through those feelings and more over the years.

I don't know what it is about your child turning five. It's definitely a bittersweet milestone. It seems just like yesterday that I was holding a little baby in my arms. Then he started crawling, then taking steps, then talking. Was it really that that long ago? And more importantly, how am I old enough to have a child this age? :WINK:

Now I look at him and am so proud of the boy he's becoming. He's long since been a baby or toddler. Gone is the Preschooler, he's a kid. A KID! The thought just baffles my mind. He's such a great boy too. So loving and sweet. So smart and funny. My heart swells when I think of him and I love him with every breath I take.

OK, enough with the sappy thoughts. Here is a little slideshow of the last five years I put together. Mind you, most of these are from the old point and shoot camera days, a couple studio pics, and a few fumbles as I learn photography. I laugh and smile looking through them, because no matter what, he's my boy. ♥

Happy 5th Birthday Aidan!!!!

The Pollard Family ♥ Sneak Peek

Last weekend I got together for a little shoot in Mt Clemens with my friend Lisa and her family. It was a fairly quick session since the kids weren't quite in the mood for the camera. Hey, who can blame them!

The one shot I got of everyone together!


Here's Sethe! He's a very funny kid and my Aidan just loves him.


And his little brother Ethan. He was a bit tired, but I'm so happy to get this great smile from him!


Thanks for coming out Lisa! I had a lot of fun exploring a new location and hanging out afterward!

Due on Turkey Day! ♥ Maternity Sneek Peek

The other day I got the opportunity to shoot the adorable Jenny and her loving man Jerry. They are such a sweet couple and love each other so much. This shoot is a bit of a milestone for me since this was the first time I met them! Jenny works with my brother in law, Matt and he pointed her in my direction. I'm so glad he did, because this is my favorite session to date!

Aren't they just the cutest couple?



Jenny is seriously pretty...and one of the cutest pregnant women I have ever met!


It was a BEAUTIFUL fall evening. The weather was PERFECT!


This was all Jenny's idea. If you can't see the tag, it says, "To:Mommy and Daddy, From: God" So cute!


Thank you so much Jenny and Jerry! I appreciate your patience with me while I figured some things out. This was a great experience for me and I hope you love your pics!

A little early Halloween fun!

So last week the kids and I met up with my parents and my sisters family camping up at the KOA near Port Huron. I'll be honest and say that I'm not normally a huge fan of KOA type campgrounds, but this one is really cool! Not to mention less than an hour away. Anyway, every year they have "trick or treating" for the campground. The whole campground is filled with kids and decorations and it's just tons of kiddie fun.

This year, Aidan is a Ninja for Halloween. I'll be honest and say that I'm disappointed that he's not being something more "cute", but his heart is set on it. I have to say, he does look pretty tough....which if you know Aidan says a lot!


Miss Addie is a witch. A good witch because she's so cute. And to make it sound even cuter to her, she's a princess witch. She just won't keep her hat on. ;o) Here she is with not one, but two suckers while trick or treating. That's my girl!


And here's Uncle Matt! For those without young kids, he's dressed up as DJ Lance Rock from Yo Gabba Gabba! This is a favorite kids show of MINE! Haha! But what is even cooler is that he was very into character and all the little kids loved him.


And we can't forget his lovely wife and my little sister Aunt Kim! I think she's one cute kitty!


Here we have Addie hanging out with her Grampa Wilkins. I need to make a mental note and take more pics of the kids with the grandparents!


Aidan got tired of wearing his mask. I actually like his costume much better without it. And doesn't he look like he's up to no good here?


This is a very typical face that I see very often from Addie. She's no doubt voicing her displeasure about something. Always drama with little girls, but still so very cute!


It was such a beautiful day. I love fall days like these...



When we got back to the campsite, I tried to get pics of my parents dogs for them. I really really love this pic of their crazy dog, Gretchen. I curse myself for cutting off her little paw at the bottom! Darn it!


Addie just loves this dog. Not the best focus,I admit, but cute nonetheless...


This is Molson. He's getting up there in years! If memory serves, he's about 13 or 14 and isn't doing the best health wise.

Check out this smile!!!!


Of course I can't forget my little cutie nephews! Here is my little Oliver...look how big he's getting!!! I love love LOVE his blue eyes. ♥

And who can forget Elliot? I've mentioned this before, but this little guy gives me a run for the money! Seriously, I tried to take a picture of him and what does he do? Scream and run away! You'd think he was one of MY kids! LOL! Somehow, I managed to get a shot of him on the campground train. I count my lucky stars that I got both eye contact AND a smile!!!!!

My newest favorite pics of the kids.

OK, so I probably say that a lot. I'm OK with that. That means that I'm taking better pics each time, right? While I'm not saying these are photographic perfection, they're my kids and they are perfection to me.

Here is my Addie Joy, just hanging out on a ride on toy. I tried getting a little funky with my processing on this one. I hope it worked!

And my silly boy Aidan. I love this, because it' "him".


And lastly, one of the two of them together. I just love this. Now, I can't tell you how hard it is to get the two of them both looking at me with nice expressions. Then add that it's even more hard to do what I mentioned without their hands and legs all over the place. I've attempted to take a similar shot to this earlier this summer and failed. I can't tell you how many more I took with this attempt. Not one perfect keeper. So, I had to do a photography secret. Let's just say I had to do some swapping. I took and cut out a shot of Aidan that I really liked a few frames up and pasted him into this pic. There's a little more to it than that, but I have to say, I think it worked!

First day of school 2009

So Aidan started back up to school this week! He's now in the 4 year old Preschool program, going 3 days a week. I still can't believe he's getting so big!

While he was excited for school to start, he wasn't too happy about me taking his picture to commemorate the event. As you can see here...

I have at least a dozen more with this same expression.

Still annoyed with me....

Then I think he figured out that if he just smiled, I would leave him alone.