Last year around this time, while making these carmel filled cookies, I enlisted the help of my kids.  Not only was the process faster, it was more fun.  And so, a new Christmas tradition was born.  It's so much fun, you might want to try it with your family too.

My kids are at the age where dress up is one of their favorite activities.  So they were so thrilled to get these Santa hats this year.  It was their idea to wear them while they worked and sang their own song, "The Chocolate Factory."

The cookie recipe is from my mother-in-law, and I believe she got it from someone at church.  Coming from those sources, lets just say, these cookies are irresistible!  I've modified it for my family, so I'm replacing the chopped pecan topping with sprinkles.  And here it is...

CARMEL FILLED CHOCOLATE COOKIES

2 1/4 cups of flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup of sugar

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup margarine or butter, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 eggs

48 Rolo candies, unwrapped (9oz. package or larger)

sprinkles

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly spoon flour into a measuring cup; level off.  In a small bowl, combine flour, cocoa and baking soda; blend well.  In a large bowl, beat white and brown sugar with butter until light and fluffy.  And vanilla and eggs; beat well.  Add flour mixture; blend well.  For each cookie, with floured hands, shape about 1 tablespoonful of dough around a caramel candy, covering completely.

In a small bowl filled with sprinkles, dip ball into the sprinkles and place on ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart.  Bake at 375 degrees for 7 to 10 minutes or until set and slightly cracked.  Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets.  Cool completely on wire racks.

What we love most about this recipe is that everyone has a job that is simple enough for them all, but each job really makes a difference.  (Fortunately, they all like the jobs they do or else this wouldn't be such a happy tradition.)  

A little silliness with her dad while waiting for the cookies to bake.  

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!!!

So here she is, my little, ahem, grand niece, at 6 months.  I can't believe she's already 6 months!  Here are some photos from baby's newborn shoot.  And again, the sneak peek of this shoot too.  She patiently endured many wardrobe changes, did she not?  The photo below was just for her dad. 

Baby was feeling a little tired of us all calling her name, making weird sounds at this point.  But put on the right hat, and all your worries just melt away.  Her mom said she loves this hat.  And sure enough, baby brightened right up when she noticed it was on.

I don't get to see this little lady very often, but I'm so happy for the photos.  Makes me realize all over again how important photos are to us all.  Just makes you feel a bit closer to the ones you love.

This session was done while we were in Michigan a while back.  I was so excited when my dear friend asked me to shoot her family photos in her neighbor's barn.  Where I live, there are not many barns around, so this was really a treat.  I have to say, this is the largest borrowed photo prop I ever used.  Fortunately, the neighbors use it for entertaining, not for keeping animals.  Whew!

Aren't they sweet?  This fellow did not want to cuddle up with his sister at all.  But he gave us a smile anyway.  Mature beyond his years I think.  Closeness like this might feel awkward at the time, but it's so moving when you actually see the final photo.

The mom in this family happens to be a friend I've known always.  We grew up together only a few doors away from each other.  I consider myself so blessed by her friendship growing up and now too.  This photo above reminds me of how easy it was for us to laugh as little girls together...at anything...at nothing.  Ah the bliss of childhood.  Such fun memories.

This pose of the happy couple above is a reenactment of a photo I took of them while I was starting art school taking a photography class and they were dating.  I'm not doing the math on how long ago that was.  They still look fabulous, though, don't they?

The mama of all these feet let me know about the current photo challenge at I Heart Faces.  The theme this week is feet.  Crossing fingers and toes for this one :)

Anyone can enter in their challenges.  For more details click here at i heart faces.

I quick peek of my little grand niece from today.  More to come!!

The location for this shoot is a sentimental one for this family.  Most of the photos I took were of the park across the street where this family lives in Westmont, IL.  They have clocked so many hours at the baseball diamond they nearly consider it a second home.  What a fun way to grow up!

The two kiddos above and the one below loved having their picture taken. And the camera loves them back, don't you think? 

I think what makes family portraits so powerful is including personal elements.  And that can be a favorite article of clothing a child nearly lives in, or a toy a little one considers as a best friend.  For this family, the main component of their story was their home and the park across the street.  So what is your story? Hmmm.

I am so excited to share with you a little vintage style, brought to you by my style savvy friend, Susan.  All of these beautiful coats are being offered at her Etsy shop, Sugarcookielady, along with other timeless treasures. Susan made my job ridiculously easy by providing me with a beautiful model (her sister), amazing coats with matching accessories, she scouted out this unique location (a private family graveyard), and was make up artist too.  All that to say that Susan is incredibly creative and talented and it has been so fun to work with her. 

I love this kind of photoshoot and would love to do more work influenced by fashion.  So, any of you high school girls out there who are going to be looking for senior pictures in the near future, I will be announcing casting calls in the spring.  And I promise, we won't be shooting in a graveyard.

When I first considered homeschooling, the thought or rather the song that kept coming to mind was by the comedian, Tim Hawkins.  It's called, Homeschool Family and it goes to the theme song of the Addams Family. (If you need a laugh go here for more of Tim's comedy.)  Hmmm... we are going to be weird and people are going to think we are weird.  But oh well, they probably already do.  I've found that homeschooling isn't quite like Tim's song.  Our nine year old is not a lawyer - at least not yet.  And homeschooling is really fun - to my surprise.

Above is the face I see everyday.  Happy, ready to learn.  Really, what more could I want?  Sure, there are bad days, and we are only 7 weeks into this, but the good days, the great moments watching them learn, make the bad days seem trivial.  Please don't think that I am extraordinarily patient, or naturally have the heart of a teacher.  So far, my strategy is following the amazing curriculum that we bought.  Sometimes I wonder who learned more me or my kids.

A little about this photo shoot.  These photos were not taken in front of our house - they are at the historical Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oakbrook, IL.  A variety of events are held there and the grounds around it are considered forest preserve land.  Truly a haven for local photographers.  As for the prop, it's an old school desk left in the basement of our house by a previous owner.  So I dusted it off and thought I'd use it for our little school photo shoot.

Doesn't it seem that every class has a class clown?  Even in my small group here is our funny guy.  No surprise that it's the middle kid, eh?

Yet another perk of homeschooling.  I get to take the school photos!

...please sit down.  I've borrowed this couch before from my very generous friend Julie.  This time, we swapped photo shoots.  I took photos of her and her family and she, the brave girl that she is, took photos of my crazy family.

Here is her oldest daughter posing for some test shots for me.  Since Julie is an amazing artist and photographer herself (check out her etsy shopand her blog), her kids are used to the camera.  I've found that it can go either way with children of photographers.  Either they love the camera and fall into poses almost naturally, or they treat the camera like the little sibling they never wanted.  Mine tend for the latter.  

Ah, some time on the couch without the kids.  Lets not think about how to get that couch back home.

I've taken photos of these kids before.  And as last time, they are up for anything.  I'd love to hire the girl to help me with posing.  She has endless, creative ideas.  In fact this year, as you can see, they came prepared with a theme - Go Downers Grove Panthers!  I've decided I absolutely love themes.  These shots were taken outside, in a small envelope of time between rain storms.  Even though they look like they might be taken in a studio with turf and a sky backdrop, it's just them on a very high hill.  

The weather was so strange that day.  Earlier I confirmed a cancellation with these guys because it had been a downpour with no hope of stopping.  But suddenly, like a faucet, it turned off.  The sun was shining again.  Mocking me.  So out we went after all only to beckon the rain clouds once more. Normally, I don't use such dramatic photo processing.  But since the theme is sports, and the clouds were so moody in the background, I decided to enhance the clouds to give the photos an epic feel.

Oh I almost forgot to mention the special I am running this fall.  The first five clients that book with me by October 8, 2011 will receive 8 free digital images with your order.