Camp Redeemer pics are here! I’ve got loads to go through, so I plan to have more posted soon. Last weekend a bunch of us made our way to Camp Solaris in Firth, Nebraska, to enjoy a day of sunshine, games, BBQ and fun. It was kind of epic, I can’t lie. (Pssst… Watch out for some hidden water balloons, especially if you happen to be playing soccer amongst the corn fields!)

It’s hard to select photos to post because I love them all this time around. Little Noah and Mary utterly charmed me during our family portrait session last month. I had a strong feeling before I met with them that I’d want to soak up all their energy while they played, and that’s exactly how our time went together. They are super cute children and it felt like a complete privilege to capture these memories for their parents.

Thanks for letting me play with your family, Meagan & Ryan! You’ve got a special bunch of people to call your own.

And the cuteness keeps on coming. This precious little one couldn’t help but collect flowers during our shoot last weekend. What a charmer!

Sometimes the skies outside are cloudy and rain keeps on falling, but the pictures on your computer screen are all you need for illuminating your spirit. This child. Oh my! Editing the images from last Saturday’s photo shoot is a joy today.

The Nebraska Statewide Arboretum hosts this fundraising event every year, and this year Renae Morehead and I had the privilege of photographing it. Plants, photography and Renae on a Friday night? I daresay it doesn’t get better than that. Extra kudos go out to Christina Hoyt who spearheaded the event! Well done, friend! Thanks for inviting us to take part in it.

I was going to type “The Baby” and then injected “Last.” Wow, that sounds kind of intense! But really, I think this will be the last small nugget we foster around here. There are loads of reasons why, but you have to take me to lunch to hear them all.

So I’m going to show you some pictures, okay? Because this baby boy is SO DANG CUTE. Boy, blog, have you missed out. Ready?

Here’s a shot of him climbing into an extra carseat in our living room. Isn’t he funny? Can you tell he’s proud of himself for conquering it?

Here’s another. He’s towering over the dog, who has his ears back as he wonders if the Baby will squash him. Baby is a solid 10 pounds heavier than Shiloh, and as you can see in this shot all those pounds are in his tummy.

Oh and this one! He’s chugging a sippy cup of milk. In a minute he’s going to throw it down the hallway. Cute. And strong. Never forget, this boy likes to throw things!

Oh and this one kills me. See him all cuddled up in Jeremy’s arms? The boys. They do love each other. The Baby hasn’t always liked to cuddle, but now he does. Every single time Jeremy walks in the room the Baby expects a daddy snuggle. Man, what that does to a woman’s heart!

Did you enjoy my foster baby photo album? I hope so. I’m sorry if this was confusing to you! Foster babies—though real flesh and blood—are pretty much invisible online. You can imagine how fun that is for a photographer mom, right?

This big bouquet of beautiful sat on my dining room table for a few weeks making me pretty darn happy. Thanks, Jeremy. You know how I like to be loved.

I’m finally getting around to blogging awesome photo shoots from last fall. Hooray! Nothing like a delayed posting to get through the final days of winter. So here’s a little happy for everyone!

The Wittmanns are some of my favorite clients because their kids are hilarious and love to pose for my camera. We have our own rhythm, one that leaves me breathless because, as you can see, they keep adding kids to their posse. Precious baby Betty—included here in utero—came along in November, so you’ll have to wait until Fall 2015 to see her sweet mug here.

We moved around the country as I grew up but landed permanently in Nebraska when I started junior high school. So much of who I am is molded by those moves. I think I am still surprised with delight by the fact that I’ve called Lincoln homebase for the last 24 years now. One of the joys of staying put is getting to see families—particularly families at Zion and Redeemer—get older and start new little families of their own. Such is the case with the Grossmans.

I remember babysitting Caitlin and Lucas one time and, for some reason, I recall most breaking a pot when Caitlin and I tried to make something in the kitchen. Caitlin was also there when Jeremy and I began to fall in love as youth leaders at the old Covenant Pres (where Grace Chapel resides now). Seeing both Caitlin and Lucas grow older, get married and have children is a beautiful thing. Thanks for inviting me to your family time last fall, Christy! You all are wonderful.

I took Shiloh, our 6 year old Coton de Tulear, to visit his veterinarian the other day. Since we’ve been fostering, I haven’t been on top of many smallish matters of life, so Shiloh was a bit late on his vaccinations. On the phone the receptionist told me to bring in a stool sample. O-kay. All day long I stayed glued to the bathroom activities of the dog—super fun, let me tell you—and finally at dusk his little dog body hunched in that familiar pose. I ran for a plastic baggy and when I came back? He was eagerly waiting at the door to be let in.

Have you ever seen a person act oddly in their yard or out on the street? You wonder what in the world they could be doing? Well, that was me that evening. Not only was the sun well on its way past the horizon but the yard was covered in small patches of snow, thus turning this experience into a real life Where’s Waldo with dog poop. I like to imagine the neighbors saying, “Honey, come see this! What in the world do you think she’s doing??” Because there I was, iPhone held high like a torch shining down on the ground with its capable flashlight app, making circles in the yard. I couldn’t have had more intensity in my pursuit if I had dropped my engagement ring. And you know what? I was successful. I WON! I won the, um, stool sample award? Yeah. Who’s keeping tabs on my awesomeness?

So yesterday was another moment like this one, except more gratifying because there was an end product and less humiliating because it didn’t involve poop. As many of you know I frequently collaborate with Maralee Bradley on columns both for her blog and for Her View from Home. Sometimes Maralee will come to me with a specific need, but more often it involves general ideas and I get to figure out what it is we’re looking for in terms of art. (My favorite example of this was when Maralee and I both received new foster children in a matter of days. She literally ran into my house and mumbled something like, “Now Hulk likes them, now Hulk doesn’t” and that was it. Somehow we made it work and it was one of my favorite shoots because I got to play with toys like a kid.)

I knew Maralee was looking for images of plants pushing their way through snow as they come up in the spring. After searching my archives and coming up with nothing, I went exploring. In the snow. And the wind. In the snowy wind. Snow rarely ever delicately floats to the ground in Nebraska; it usually comes down in a sideways driving-rain kind of maneuver, only it was driving frozen bits flying into my eyeballs. So again, were the neighbors wondering what in the world was going on with Mrs. Tredway yesterday? Kneeling on a plastic Trader Joe’s tote bag, I dug through the dirt and dried hosta leaves and found green gold. There it was: Spring making its way through Winter. Spring! It’s coming. Doesn’t matter that we were having a mini-blizzard on the last day of February or that snow is frozen in large patches on the sunken part of our front yard. Doesn’t matter that we’re still donning hats and mittens to run errands or that my snow boots are encrusted in salt from so many days of winter wear. Spring is coming.

I should’ve gotten on my hands and knees earlier. No matter what the neighbors might say.