Last winter I was experiencing some major pain due to the varicose veins that I get with pregnancy. Since I was in terrible pain, I had to be off of my legs a lot because standing was almost unbearable. It came to a point where I was struggling to care for my family. God provided (as he always does) during this trial…

Mom and Dad Kieser knew the pain I was in and offered to hire a nanny for our family until I delivered. I first was reluctant to the idea - not sure if I was ready for someone to come into our home to help me care for my kids and do my household duties. However, during that time, God gave me a change of heart and Tater and I began to pray for God to provide someone for us.

We didn’t know who would be able to help us. We both knew that we wanted someone consistent that would be able to help us on the days that Tater worked his 12 hour shifts - which are always on different days. We needed someone flexible because of that, and be able to work for only a certain number of months.

February came and a friend offered to watch our kids on Valentine’s Day so we could go out. We took her up on the offer right away. I met this friend when I was teaching at Peoria Christian School. She was actually my student aide at the time. We have kept in touch a bit throughout the years. That night she asked how my pregnancy was going, and we told her of the struggles we were facing. A few days later she emailed and said she was interested in helping us out if we wouldn’t mind considering her. After some prayer at both our ends, she accepted the job.

I can’t tell you how much God has blessed us with her as our nanny. Throughout these past few months she has helped with anything and everything we have asked her to do. She has seen both our good and ugly times and has done her job extremely well.

Today is her last day and as we say “goodbye” to her, we want to say…

Cassie ~ Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all that you have done for us. God has used you to touch our lives and the lives of our children. We have been so blessed by you, and you have taught us a lot by showing us your loving and serving heart. The way you hold our babies and shower them with hugs and kisses means more than you’ll ever know. You feel like a part of our family now, and we cherish the friendship that we share. So even though we may be saying goodbye to this job and this chapter in our lives, we look forward to the times we will still share together in the future. We are so thankful that God blessed us with you. We just want you to know that we love you…           you will be missed!

Happy Birthday Elle Belle!

She’s not the baby anymore, but she still is attached to this little guy.

Briana bug: We love when your face lights up whenever you see your teddy bear. We love how you drag it around and look forward to taking a nap just so you can sleep with it. To think you will not need it or want it someday makes our hearts sad as we don’t want you to grow up too quickly…

Speaking of… Paisley is 1 month today, and that first month went WAY too fast.

The people we were photographing…

the outfits and accessories…

how smoothly the session went…

everything about it was charming.

We had a beautful morning. The weather was perfect, and the people we were photographing are so special to us. This family was a joy to be with. We loved how organized this mom was. She came up with the fabulous outfits and had everything so organized and ready to go. We’re in love with them and their images.

Tater & I recently flew out to Utah for a photography workshop. It was a lot of fun! It is always hard to leave the kids, but once we are away we really enjoy our time together. This was probably our last getaway before the next little one arrives.

We got a lot out of this trip and enjoyed getting to know the other photographers. Below are the models that we got to style and photograph. It was so much fun having free reign with them, and they were really great to work with!

More baby love…

Little Jade Marie is such a sweet little newborn. She was born weighing 6 lbs. and 1 ounce. Newborns don’t stay little for long, so holding her in our arms was so fun! She was such a sleeper and let us try all kinds with her. We had a blast with her and her family. Also check out her adorable little brothers below. These boys were so obedient, polite and fun to be with. This family is beautiful both inside and out, and we had a wonderful time photographing them!

We couldn’t forget about Charlie… He’s part of the family too.

What a joy it was to be able to photograph this family.  They were awesome, and this little man is such a stud. This mom was so excited about this session and had been planning on it for months!!  We loved the enthusiasm, and it really shows in these images.  Enjoy your beautiful images.

This day was full of sunshine (both the kids and the weather). We love this family! We got to photograph this sweet little girl a few months ago, and we recently photographed all of the siblings together. These kids were so great in front of the camera and very fun to be with.

M family ~ Thank you for everything. You were awesome when it came to rescheduling due to bad weather. I’m so thankful we had a beautiful day - finally! We love your images, and we are excited about your Christmas card! Your kids are so cute!

Yep, you read it right. We are expecting our 4th little baby! It seems so unreal. We are early in telling, but we are very excited. I also didn’t want to fake feeling great all the time. We told our family on Halloween by putting what you see above in their trick or treat bags.  

Here are the kids all dressed up…

To see what we *all* looked like this Halloween click here…

They are family, and they are fun. Weren’t these kids just born!?!?… and now they are playing and taking care of our kids. We love them so much.