Heart

We had such a great weekend with weather, family and friends! This picture from the park with Matt & Macy pretty much captures my heart (minus Dean of course but you get the idea!)

my life :)

SO I am totally failing at just having my camera handy for all those life moments with my kids...mostly because there are two of them and one of me most of the time ;) No excuses though today! I took some pics around the house and at the park. My BFF came in town today with her husband and little boy (they live uber far away in Texas where it's pretty much Mexico)! Anyhow...today we had pretzels for our second time and bbq chips for the first time..Aunt Stacey slipped the twins their first chips when I wasn't looking. And can you tell from these pictures that her little boy Ben and my Dean are going to find trouble together?!

Baby Bell Belly (couldn't resist!)

Today was a recipe for beautifulness - spell check is telling me that's not a word but I know it is after today. This morning the sun was shining bright over head and we were heading to an over 70 degree day, which is a fabulous treat here this time of year! I met up with some friends who are expecting their first little one next month. They are waiting to be surprised by who shows up, the anticipation would KILL ME but I am so excited for them. It was great to get to capture Kristen's expectant belly and their excitement for what is to come! They even had their dog Chloe along to be a part of the action...someone should tell that dog to get all the loving she can while she still has time :) And I love when this happens but there were too many good ones to choose from so here's a few that I decided showed our shoot the best.

Naptime & my own personal Heaven

So I am working on blogging consistency to please all my readers out there :) All 5 of you will be happy to see it! Haha...OK so if you want a glimpse into what keeps a mother of 8 month old twins sane, here it is. It is my deck during naptime. The ingredients are sunshine, warmth, an iced nonfat latte from sbucks (i got hooked up with giftcards on birthday, AMEN) or a diet dr. pepper and did I mention quiet..or relative quiet, birds and bugs. If you have been a mother or know a mother, these are the moments that help you get through the rest of the day! Yes the laundry is piled up, yes there are dishes to wash, but honestly, those are always there waiting so if you can get a few minutes to yourself - my advice for your sanity is to escape for those few minutes! Let the sun shine on your face, breathe deeply and refresh because in the blink of an eye the kids will be awake & need a diaper change. And seriously... those snow shovels behind me in the picture better go into retirement because spring better be here to stay!

STILL in the works..

No I have not fallen off the face of the planet! The twins have both been taking turns being sick for the past month, add that to all the bad weather and life in general...it's has put a literal damper on my blogging! The exciting news is that Matt (my cute hubby & graphic designer) has made major headway on my custom website. I really can't wait for others to get to see it...his skills in design and just a little piece of my heart in my photos! In the meantime here are a couple shots from a short weekend trip to Florida that Matt & went on a couple weekends ago. These were all taken in St. Augustine, it's a really rad town if you've never been!

I am also now booking for Spring sessions! Contact me if you are interested, emtroutman@hotmail.com

Fun in the Snow

So these pics of my kiddos are actually from last weekend's snow storm. This one was too ridiculous to even take them outside :) Don't worry - we sat them on a towel (which you can see in some shots) but hey, it was just for the fun of it. Dean even took a bite of snow to see what it was all about. Enjoy!

Logo Reveal

My logo is here and I am very pleased with it. I think it's a playful and literal at the same time, mostly it's a good representation of the brand I am beginning to build. I am looking forward to plastering it onto paperwork, images and all sorts of fun stuff. The hubs is now moving on to creating the website, a large but exciting undertaking. Sweet dreams for now...

Happy 1st Birthday Cody!

So sometimes the most impromptu, unplanned photo shoots turn in the best results. My little friend Cody is turning one this week & his mom (my friend Hilary) had a great idea for a photo shoot with him and a birthday cake. While I was there to do the birthday cake photo shoot, I took the 1st birthday hat I had made Cody & decided to throw up a black background just to get some shots of him in it. This is just a set up in their kitchen with natural light & some fill flash. I am IN LOOOVVEE with these shots!

We proceeded to do the cake shoot after these shots & I am still working on those. Lets just say Cody was a little less excited about the cake (not sure why - it looked delicious!) So here are a few of my favs from the impromptu session & I will keep the cake shoot to myself for now :)

Crafting!

So I was bitten by the craft bug this week and I did a couple of projects tonight. One is a tutu for Macy & I got the "how to" on this from another blog (Idea Room). I think it turned out great and can't wait for a photo session with her in it! BTW, if you are local to where I am, Walmart has all of their fabric half price. This is a fabulous $3 tutu :)

And on another note, I decided to create a special birthday hat for our friend Cody who is turning one next week! I wish it had some more embellishments but the twins were OVER being in Walmart, and to be honest so was I! I need to refill my stash of crafty fabric...oh and did I mention that a sewing machine is coming my way?! Can't wait to create :)

In the works

In the midst of cleaning things, changing diapers, cooking food & all the other glorious duties of a mommy - I have lots of photo related things in the works. One which I am very excited about is my own new logo. This probably seems small and most of you (that know me) are thinking - "her husband is a graphic designer, why is a logo a big deal?" Well it's a big deal because this logo is a long time coming - my husband had a hard time trying to capture me in a logo. Probably because I kept giving him ideas I liked but in the end he said it was really hard to encompass me into a symbol. I will take that as a sweet compliment that all he has come to love about me was hard to squeeze down into an image (& I will pretend he wasn't calling me a crazy, complex lady :)

As some of you also know, my husband, Matt, is working two jobs so that I am able to stay at home with our kids. This leaves little time for his designing that he's so passionate about. In his "spare" time he is also building me a website to display my work. I am doing lots of behind the scenes business type stuff as well. Starting up a business is never easy, especially when squeezing it in between diaper changes and naps but I am realizing every day the blessing it is to have a passion that can also help support my family. I am excited to see where God is leading with my business endeavors.

And if you are looking to book a shoot, I am now booking for spring lifestyle sessions. If you want more info and pricing, shoot me an email - emtroutman@hotmail.com. I also am getting booked up on weddings for this year but would love to chat with you if you are a bride to be!

My Sweeties

Ok so I know they are mine but I still think that they are really cute. I want to share a few more pics from last weekend's impromptu photo shoot. I really can't believe how fast these babies are growing or how much my life has changed, but I embrace one day at a time. It's hard not to smile looking at these two - they are just precious!

A friend & her soldier

I had the fun opportunity to have a session with my friend Liz and her dog, Marley, this past week. The sun finally came out in DE, can I get an Amen?! so we headed out for a shoot....and we ended up in Maryland for a great session. I do think we were technically tresspassing the whole time but we decided on the way there that between the 3 of us (we had another friend, Markie, along to be the dog trainer) we were going to sweet talk any type of law enforcement that came our way and hope it worked. Thankfully for us, we didn't have any run-ins with the law but just a great morning shoot! These pictures are for Liz's husband, Matt, who is serving in Iraq. In honor of their first anniversary she is sending him a little slice of home with pictures of her and Marley. Well that's enough from me...

Here we grow again :) Ben at 14 months!

This is my best friend's little boy. I am pretty sure the pictures say it all but if you don't want to reach in there and grab his cheeks, you just aren't right :)

Wedding in a Blizzard!

Here's to Brittany and James, a couple who has anticipated their wedding day for some time! They have dated since high school and their date was set for December 19th, 2009 - who was to know that it would be the date for the largest recorded December snow storm ever for the Northeast? In the 17 whatever inches of snow, the wedding must go on :) So those who made it, made the best of it! Everything from a delayed start to a stand-in groomsmen, the day was an adventure. Here's to Brittany and James, just a few of my favorite photo moments of their day. And no, I didn't only do b & w but I happen to be in love with a lot of them from this wedding day.

Because I can't resist...Luke David

I was asked by a good friend to take some shots of her sweet two-month old Luke, in hopes of capturing that Christmas card shot! So I am only sharing a shot from this shoot so that I don't spoil the card...I might put up a few more later when they choose their card :) Enjoy...let's just say babies know when you are trying to get a good picture of them looking adorable...and they aren't up for it!

In love..with this couple, this winter day and the moments that follow!

On a cold Sunday afternoon, Alan, Nicole and I ventured to Old New Castle (for those of you not from around here, it's a historical part of the original 13 colonies on the Delaware River). The sun was a yummy yellow and the Christmas spirit was in the air with all the fabulous decorations. I have to say couples like Alan & Nicole make it easy -they're in love, they're nice to look at, and were up for anything I wanted them to try! I found myself smiling at my computer today while I worked on these because of the sweet moments we captured and the fun we had! It was actually pretty hard for me to choose what to post... enjoy!

Oh to be two again...

Last weekend I got invited to do a shoot for a friend of her two year old nephew, Christian. What a stinkin' cutie! I mean he was dressed perfectly and could work up tears that would break your heart at the drop of a hat! He even already has a strategy for how to eat an oreo, he just eats the cream and he loves choo-choo trains (lucky for us there was one where we met). What's not to love about this adorable boy?! Enjoy him as much as I did!

Ashley's Engagement session

So as many of you know my little sister (sister in-law technically but she's just a sister in my book) is engaged! It will be a bit of a longer engagement until she is done with college but exciting all the same. I had the chance to shoot her and her fiance Sean about a month ago on his fall break from college. We headed to his hometown, Chesapeake City, MD to get some great shots! Enjoy!

Stale blog like stale bread

The definition to stale is "no longer fresh or pleasant to eat; hard, musty or dry" - that pretty much sums up my blog :) Stale! As many of you (my 2 readers) know though, I have almost 5 month old twins, so that has consumed my every waking (& sleeping) moment! I have recently been able to start doing official shoots again and have been having so much fun doing it. In the next few days I will post some images from recent shoots. I have been posting recent shoots in my "notes" section on facebook so some of these images will be repeats for you facebook stalkers.

In recent weeks I know that I have been growing in my photographic ability and desire to keep pushing it. I have always had a vision, since I held my first camera in my hand at 5 (it was free from buster brown's with my pair of shoes!) I actually still have the pictures from that first camera and although the skill is much improved (as well as the equipment) the vision is the same, snapping moments in time in our lives. I am daily contemplating what it would be to go into business for myself on a larger scale. I am a small operation (me) & love what I do but fear sometimes holds me back. You know all those "what ifs" that keep you stuck.....hoping to get unstuck & keep pursuing my passion (in between diaper changes, naptimes and never-ending laundry) :)

So long for today!

Troutman Twins Update!

Here's the latest on our babies.... http://troutmantwins.shutterfly.com/