Travis Dew Photography

“L”……You’re such a sweet little guy and I have been so fortunate to document your milestones nearly every three months since you were 3 months old.  Can you believe it?  You’re THREE YEARS OLD today.  Give your Mama and Daddy a BIG OH Irish KISS for continuing to pull me along for your journey.  Oh, and “L”…. I think Spider Man is pretty cool too.  Happy Happy 3rd Birthday my little friend.

 

What a beautiful day – and I got to do one of my very favorite things in the whole world.  I love LOVE shooting deliveries and this one was extra special.  Mama did a FANTASTIC job and Daddy was awesome.  I know it’s been a long day – but I’m sure you’ll agree….Sweet Miss “L” was worth every contraction and push.  Another pretty cool thing about it…..”L” and I share the same birthday…(just found out – SO DOES MAMA!  How neat is that?)  Thanks for including me – it was the perfect gift for me today.

Daddy was concentrating…..making sure he cut the cord just right.

Finally!  Done with all that poking and prodding…wrapped up cozy!

Mama’s first time getting to see and hold her …..

…and “L”, this is what it looked like outside the day you were born.  Welcome to the World!

So…..one of my very best childhood friends (the kind that can trigger laughter with tears, urine and hyena noises in about 2.5) and I were on the phone today…..and she says to me, “The Zoo was great and all…..but it’s time to update.”  Okay bossy boots.  Here’s a little peek at a project I’m working on for an upcoming Fashion Show for Charleston Fashion Week – it benefits the MUSC Children’s Hospital and these little cats are some really cool patients who will be struttin’ the runway next week! (I’m trying to remove my BIG FAT WATERMARK …I have to geek out and remember how first….)  Go HERE for tickets….

 

 

 

 

 

 

P.U. we went to the ZOO.

Last night at dinner I was asking the children if they had gotten their reading done…blah blah blah…and my youngest says something along the lines of…”what are you about to say?”  I don’t understand what kind of ~vibe~ we give off…but every time we try to surprise the children – they know we’re up to something.  “R” was 6 years old….came downstairs for breakfast and saw a suitcase downstairs and said, “What, are we going to Disney World?”….uh, yeah, we were surprising them with that THAT morning….but what in the WORLD about a suitcase downstairs screams DISNEY WORLD?  I’m not really into things like this….but I do sorta kinda think I possess this talent to guess things as well….one time, when my husband and I were newlyweds…..he walked outside of our apartment and I got this OVERWHELMING feeling that he had gotten me a bicycle…..so I wrote it down on a piece of paper so he would believe me if I had to say…”you ain’t gonna believe this but….” and doggone if he didn’t roll in a green bicycle with a basket.  No birthday, no Valentine’s, no anniversary.  Just because.

So….bring it back to yesterday….and because the children have a long weekend and I wanted to do something fun…..I took a bag of change out of our closet….cashed it out at the bank….and bought tickets to the Zoo with it.  They brought along some spending money of their own and we had ourselves a grand day at the stinky zoo.  I must say the theme song of “Freaks come out at night” played through my head….I’m just sayin’.

On our way there – we were the FINE recipients of a good old fashioned HIT-N-RUN on the Interstate.  A girl…side swipes us ever so slightly in a red Honda CRV…she speeds up only to bob and weave in and out of traffic to get out of sight….we FORTUNATELY get her tag # (GA – Henry County – AXM 0891….uh huh…I know it’s a long shot but I mean, she could be your next door neighbor’s baby sitter and you could be lookin’ at the tag right now) and call police.  Low and damn behold….those tags come back to a Chevy Camaro…not a Honda CRV  Well, poop.  I reckon we better start saving those quarters again to fix that little swipe mark.  We decided: instead of overwhelming frustration….we are going to count our blessings that we weren’t sent spinning down the Interstate at 70 miles per hour.  And here’s what we continued on to see…

 

Last night’s benefit concert for MUSC’s Children’s Hospital was a booming success.  Darius Rucker gave an unbelievable 90-minute show singing Frank Sinatra classics…..backed by an orchestra led by Peter Graves.  The concert brought in $260,000 for the Children’s Hospital……incredible.  Many thanks to Beth and Darius for all they do…..and I’m pretty sure I speak for everyone in Charleston…..

(I’ve uploaded a slideshow – different than the one below – that was shot for the benefit…..it’s HERE….)

Good grief…. I enjoy these people.  Mama is so great and calls on me every now and then to capture these fun, little, crazy daisies.  I really can’t explain these eyeballs……they’re ALL unbelievable.  But, the most enjoyable thing about this crew is how they live life…WIDE OPEN.  And…instead of Mama getting uptight about a little rough-housing….she enjoys watching it herself.

Thanks for calling me again.  I LOVE playing with you guys.  Oh, and “J”….hang on tight, brotha.

 …It’s just the baby’s blanket….

I’m not sure anyone ever noticed this wardrobe malfunction….and nobody cares.  Perfect.

 

My sweet neighbors had some family come into town to celebrate Lash’s daddy’s 80th Birthday!!  The energy was FANTASTIC……a house full of children, grandchildren and great grandchildren all enjoying each other’s company.  I appreciate you letting me barge in and whiz you all around before (what looked like) a fabulous meal at a great, big table.  Love those times.

Happy 80th Birthday!  Enjoy your sneak peek!

She slept through the e-n-t-i-r-e morning…….with ALL the kisses, moves, and outfit changes.

All I can say is if I could start every other day with a fun shoot like this …..PLEASE…easy breezy!  First of all, these three little girls have names that make you think of PINK, Curls, Bicycles with baskets and SkiPpiNg all wrapped up in a big fat GIggLE.  They have the GREATEST girls’ names EVER.  Mama and Daddy have been friends of ours since my children were about this age….and are two of the nicest…..

Thanks for having me over to meet little Miss “T”……what a fun morning.

 

 

I’m about to start working on a project that helps support this fabulous benefit coming up in February….the MUSC Children’s Hospital is one of my favorite places to be and Darius and his wife give, give and give some more to the hospital.

Darius is putting on a BIG BAND show in February benefitting the Children’s Hospital – so if you like Frank Sinatra and you haven’t ever seen it……it’s FANTASTIC and a must!  Get your tickets HERE and type in “Darius Rucker” in your search…..

Hey…..A great Valentine’s Day date night out.

I know you’ve seen some of these cool cats before…..but they had the whole crew down under one roof for New Year’s…..so I had to get out to see them!  9 grandchildren…..and out of that bunch…..1 sweet, little, red-head girl.  She rolls with them just fine though.

As always, great to see you all.  Thanks for having me out for a little play time with the FROGS……a little duck-duck-goose on the trampoline…..and of course: a cousin pyramid.

Happy New Year Crew!