Because I am hopeful that warm weather is right around the corner & because maybe your walls could use a little pick me up….I am going to host very limited edition mini sessions in March!

Mini sessions are a quick way to get a new photo or two of your littles. We will meet in downtown Doylestown and spend a little time together (about 20 minutes) to capture some great contemporary portraits of your kids.

Mini sessions are all inclusive~you get your session fee, (1) big print (10×15 or 11×14), (1) medium print (8×10) (2) desk prints (5×7)  and a  $50.00 gift certificate from Stacey Crescitelli Photography to use towards a regular session at a later date….all for 175.00 complete~~a savings of over 125.00!

The date for the minis is March 26 with a raindate on March 27.  These spots go fast!  Shoot me an email if you are interested.  There will  be both morning & afternoon times so let me know your preference.

Bust out those spring clothes and let me see those smiles:)

Most mornings for the past 14 years I have awakened to find a child or combination of children in my bed.

I know that this is controversial.  In many cultures, the family bed is the norm but in modern America, it is the source of heated debate & whispered confessions from mothers who think they are breaking the rules by sleeping with their babies. I imagine each family decides what they are comfortable with and they take it from there. There are the strict no bed sharing families, the special occasion families where allowances are made for illness or bad dream, and then there are the others, my people, who never even used a crib & allow their bigger children unlimited access.

Truth be told, I never gave it a lot of thought before I had my babes. I had my first born in my bed at home & she just kind of stayed there. My husband and I felt good having her there with us & and she seemed to like it too. When babies number 2,3 and 4 came along we never even set up a crib. Each child had a bed of course~a big girl or big boy bed~ and usually they started the night in there but there were always one or two who stumbled in late night for whatever the reason.

The older two children still  like to hang out to watch a movie or just talk and laugh but they of course prefer the comfort of their own beds now. My little two however, cannot seem to give up the habit. We have bribed them and tried to lay down the law with them; tried to tell them that they have to stay in their beds now that they are bigger and that everyone will sleep much better having their own space. My son is 85 lbs now & my baby girl is nearing 50 lbs~it’s a lot of people and frankly, it’s been 14 years!

I have sometimes resorted to sneaking to the couch or into their abandoned beds for space. Once in awhile I wake up & feel frustrated with it all…with them. But most mornings, I wake up & look over & see their sleeping bodies~smell their morning breath~remove their elbow from my ribs and remind myself that one day in the near future, I will awaken to an empty bed and a longing in my heart for these little moments.

Or a brother.

I hate to play favorites. I had a big brother who made it his life mission to torment me, scare me, insult me and then, on particularly bad days, try to kill me. We have moved on from this dynamic. Mostly.

Sometimes when you are out building a snowman on a cold winters day you see Mom with her camera and you feel pretty cute so you stop and pose…

Why not. You are in fact adorable & the blue sky & white snow only accentuate your eyes…

But your younger sister thinks, “Mom has the camera out. Now is my chance to ruin this shot”. And she does. Cause after all,  she is pretty cute too.

It has been a long, long time since I have paid any attention to my blog. Mostly because I have either been taking photos, doing laundry, taxi cabbing kids, cooking something or sitting in a vegetative state and catching my breath in between all of the above. All the while though, I was feeling like there were things I wanted to say~~photos I wanted to share and stories I wanted to tell….

In this new year I have been thinking a lot about how to slow things down and simplify. Is a life at warp speed the one we want? A life where we get to busy to really play with our kids, stop and talk to the neighbor or just take the long way home so we can listen once again to our favorite song? We get so hung up on getting things done and yet we can never get finished the huge over expectant list we create…..we wind up feeling anxious & blue and feeling like we hardly ever feel happy.

In 2011 I have promised myself more happy. Not a happy state of mind per se…I don’t believe in that. Happy is more of a moment. A little event that makes an hour seem more bearable or a whole string of little events that leaves you laughing a bit more or thinking that the sun is shining brightly today and maybe the sky seems more blue. You have to stop or at least slow down long enough to see it.

Promise yourself more happy. From where I sit, it looks like fun.

I always go back & forth about these short sessions.

On the one hand, I love the whole process of the time spent connecting with families & the idea of sharing their lives for awhile but I also understand that not everyone has the need or time for that. Some of my clients love the mini session as a “filler” of sorts~a quick way to update & capture those growing babes.

This year I will hold summer mini sessions on July 24 & 25th in downtown Doylestown. I will have 5 or 6 open slots each day & in the past they have filled up quickly so if you know you want one, make sure o email me right away.

Minis are 135.00 which includes about half an hour together to photograph and (2) 8×10s, (2) 5×7s & one 3×3 mini album of your favorites which is perfect to keep in  your purse for those moments when  you need to show someone just how darn cute your kids are!

Email me with any questions you have. There will be both morning & late afternoon times available.

Welcome to the world. You look like you  have been here before…

So calm & happy.

This new little family is lucky indeed.

I want a do over.

I want to travel back in time & get another chance at being a teenager & I want to look like this.

Thank you.

This face sitting at my table.

And that’s just one.

Sometimes people tell me that they could never homeschool their children but since I have never even had my kids attend preschool I have nothing to compare it to. It is simply what we do and all that we know. It affords us a level of freedom that we could not have otherwise and cultivates some real and amazing relationships between all of us.

And also, I have 3 other faces like this one to look at all day. Yum!

Poor winter.

Everyone moans & complains about winter…the cold…the snow…the cabin fever! Once Christmas is over, winter is wished away & the calls for spring start. I think the reason winter gets such a bad rap is that it impeeds the quick pace of life.

The elements of winter force us inside. Our systems slow down. We want to sleep more, eat more & generally be more lazy than when the sun is shining & our skin is soaking up the warm air of summer. Sometimes it even snows & then we are all trapped inside with our newly purchased eggs, bread and milk. Everyone moans even louder then…

But why? Winter is a reminder. A little whisper in our ear telling us to sit still for awhile & just do nothing. Enjoy each others company & bust out the Monopoly. The art of being still seems lost to most of us these days. Why not reclaim it?  Make some potato leek soup & chill. Summer will be here soon enough & then we will all be moaning about the heat.

One way to enjoy a snow day is to steal your sisters ipod touch & play endless rounds of Rat on the Run with your dad. Henry gives it 2 thumbs up!

Yesterday was a big deal around here. My littlest girl, my last baby, turned 5.

I don’t throw big birthday parties 4 times a year for 4 children. It’s neither in the budget nor in line with me holding on to my last bits of sanity. Around here you get a big party for milestone birthdays like your fifth. You can have whatever theme  you want, invite all of your friends & family & whoop it up a little as you leave babyhood behind.

This party was extra celebratory. Anyone who knows my Grace knows that me letting her live to 5 is reason enough to celebrate! HA!  She is a force of nature my girl. She posesses boundless energy, a will of steel, and the vocabulary and thoughts of a much older child. She has been through a lot in her short little life and I thought that her day should be extra special. It was. She was up most of the night before, restless with excitememt & ooohhhing & ahhhhing over the cake hubby and I were making for her. She was thrilled over the decorations I had strung up and kept saying to me, “It’s to much! I don’t deserve all this!”  But you do Grace, you deserved that effort and much much more.

When Grace was 2 I posted a long post about our journey together & how difficult it had been. Some people thought I had been to honest and that maybe I shouldn’t have shared so much but I did and I ended my post with this. It was true then & even more true today so it is worth repeating.

 I have always felt that our children come to us to teach us things. To heal our own childhoods. To help us grow up. Grace has taught me more than I could have imagined & I will be forever grateful to her for that.  More than any other, she has taught me about being grateful, about unconditional love, about patience, honesty, & about being humble.
Happy Birthday to my girl. My Grace. My teacher.