Crista Acosta Photography »

There are days in parenting that aren’t easy, and there are days in parenting that are down right hard – but I sincerely hope our kids know how much we love them, and more than that – how lucky they are to have C as their dad.

I just came across this blog entry written by a single dad, and while he’s speaking in general to fathers, this is applicable to all of us who are raising young children – men and women alike.  If I’m honest, there was more than one line that that I winced reading, remembering my own voice in a moment of frustration.  What a great reminder of how important we all are in the lives of our children.  How important it is to take the time to let them know that we are here for them, through thick and thin.  We’re the ones who will raise them up, and to a large extent, shape who they become.  It’s a reminder I needed today.

L.A., P2 and S.G. – I hope that one day years from now you look back on your childhood and see how amazing your father is.  From the hours he loves to spend playing outside with you, to the crazy dance parties after dinner, and the quiet moments reading stories all snuggled up in bed.  You three have been blessed beyond belief to have a dad who wants nothing more than to be there – to see your faces light up when he walks through the door, to hear about your day (even when you make up stories, L.A.), to go along with all your elaborate games of make believe – and to simply spend time with you – with us… all of us.

This just may go down as my favorite wedding of the season.  It had all the ingredients for a perfect wedding – an incredibly emotional ceremony in which I quietly wiped away tears as I was shooting, amazing toasts with the perfect mixes of laughter and love, a gorgeous (and cooperative!) bridal party, but most of all – a couple who is truly meant for each other.  Being around Ashley and Charlie for just moments allows you to see their connection, their balance, and their incredible love for each other… never mind the fact that they have chemistry for days.  I cried several times through their day, and as I went back through their pictures I lived it all over again… the smiles, the laughter, the love…. a perfect wedding.

Ashley and Charlie – Thank you.  Thank you for choosing me to be a part of such an incredible day.  Congratulations!

A big huge thanks to Barbara for second shooting!

Venue: The Log Cabin

New babies bring an immense amount of happiness (and sleepless nights, if we’re being honest)… but there’s nothing quite so amazing as when a family all gathers together to enjoy, to help, and to just drink in the magic of their newest member.  Addie’s session was a celebration of the women in her family, with her (almost) aunt, grandmother and mom all hanging out the whole time.  It felt more like a girls afternoon than it did work, and I’m certain that Addie is one lucky little lady to have such amazing women in her lives.

Addie’s grandma MADE this hat.  Hello, talent!!

Happy baby!

Though I’ve been going on and on about my love affair with the fall, the gift of these last few summery days isn’t lost on me.  Yesterday after nap the boys and I needed some fresh air – perhaps me more than them – but I knew we needed to get out and enjoy the day.  They’ve both been under the weather and I thought a change of scenery would be nice.  So I packed us up a picnic lunch and we headed to the park.  Amidst the squabbling between them trying to get out the door, I thought to myself – “is this going to be one of those things that I get into my head and it turns out nothing like I planned?”.  Still, we went… and it was better than I could have ever hoped.  One of those afternoons you want to hang on to, to record and press rewind over and over again.

We had our sandwiches and strawberries on a red blanket in the shade.  (Very high tech set up here – my big ‘ol camera balanced on L.A.’s token must-take-everywhere-monster truck)

Big dude gave me a (rare) moment of eye contact

Little dude – totally not into it.  Check out those red rimmed eyes, poor guy.

We held hands

They held hands…

We explored…

Yeah, it was a good day.  The kind of day you soak up and finish off with a cozy dinner and lots of snuggles after bath time.  Then…. then you pray that the Croupy boy and teething toddler with a head cold sleep more than just two hours that night… because amidst all the love and mush of the day, there is a tiny goal hidden in there.  ;)

Sure the change of weather has brought some runny noses and a bought of Croup for L.A., but it has also brought these out.  Let’s be honest – what’s better than babes padding around the house in bear slippers?  In my world… not much.  It’s the little things that make me smile.

As a side note, L.A. is so in love with his slippers that he’s been wearing them to bed and they *may* have made an appearance at playgroup last week.  Hey, I’ve got bigger fish to fry… I’m not going to argue over footwear.  Plus, they make him so happy and that’s kinda worth the silliness of it.

I can’t believe that it’s been three weeks since Barbara and I shot this gorgeous wedding at The Inn at Longshore.  This wedding had the perfect amount of smiles, emotion, poignant toasts, AMAZING mini cupcakes, crazy dancing… and oh, did I mention?  Steven serenaded Lori on his guitar.  So sweet!  I met Lori through one of my very favorite client-turned-friends, and I’m so grateful that they chose me to capture their wedding day.  Coincidentally in chatting about wedding plans, Lori and I found out that they were headed to the same resort that C and I went to on our honeymoon.  A little slice of heaven.

Lori and Steven, thank you for being so patient with your sneak peek!  I hope you enjoyed your honeymoon and are settling in to the bliss that is married life!

Back in the early summer, I was contacted by Jenn of Kennadi’s Closet to do a session for her sweet kiddos.  Kennadi’s Closet is a new children’s consignment shop right down in the center of Windsor, located next to the train station.  It’s an amazing old brick building, and Jenn has a huge selection of clothing, toys, strollers – you name it, she’s got it.   Jenn told me about her idea of using portraits of her own children as art for the shop’s exposed brick walls, and I was sold.  We were both excited, and then weather – sick kids – traveling husbands – you name it, it seemed we were doomed to ever actually make the session happen.  Somewhere along the way after exchanging tons of emails, we decided to get our families together (our husbands play basketball together) and a new friendship was born – yay for that!  Finally last week we were able to make their photo session happen, and it was worth every minute of the wait.

CJ = future heartbreaker.

I love the way Olivia looks at her little sister.  They absolutely adore each other.

…and the star of the show – Miss Kennadi herself.  I could eat this little one up, I swear.  She is SUCH a doll.

For some time now, L.A. has been calling P2 Monkey Baby.  He’ll walk up to him, grab his hands and start dancing saying “I wuv you, Monkey Baby!”.  If you ask P2 to do his monkey dance, he starts twirling around and lifting his arms up and down.  So when my friend Robin sent me the link to this hat on etsy I knew I had to get it (as if I need any further prompting to buy from etsy!).  I ordered it a few months ago, and the seller was very ill so time went by, and I sort of forgot about it – until it arrived last week.  I took it out and realized it was now or never – P2 is clearly SO over my camera – no amount of hopping around, quacking like a duck, or offering bribes was going to get him to give me eye contact.  Man, I love those squishy cheeks.