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I know I am supposed to be sharing some photos from the great sessions I had at the end of last year, but I just had to do one more of this little guy.

Ari in the morning+ my camera + the perfect light coming through our front door + lightroom = My Happy Place.  Simple as that.

We are on week 4 of Todd being  gone during the week and to be perfectly honest, it’s not so fun. He is a wonderful husband and father who does a ton around the house to help out and him not being here is making things a little stressful.  Ari & I cried when we dropped him off at the airport yesterday and at least 5 times a day I hear from each of the kids, “I want my daddy”. But..I do know though that is nothing and I really shouldn’t complain. My good friend Wendy is a military wife and I know she is laughing at me when I complain. Her husband is deploying this week  this week and he wont be able to come home on weekends like Todd.

Yesterday morning, the house was a mess. There were dishes to be done, laundry to be folded, phone calls to make, business stuff to be done, and the thought of all of it overwhelmed me, especially knowing that I am on my own until Friday night. Ari was looking out the window waiting for Zoe to come home and I decided to pick up my camera. As soon as I picked up my camera all the other stuff melted away. After getting some pictures of him looking out the window, I opened up the front door and had him sit tight there and chatted with him. This was one of those times when he was more than happy to look at the camera as long as I kept showing him the pictures I took. The result of those few minutes..my favorite pictures of Ari..ever.

What more could you say about this family, other than how sweet they are. I mean, how could they not be sweet, they own Pacific Cookie Company. I don’t have to say much more about those cookies. Anyone who lives in the area and walks by their downtown location already knows how great they are. It’s like a magnet for my husband, he can’t walk by without being drawn in to buy a cookie or two or a dozen.

I contacted Cara (mom of the 2 beautiful little girls) last year to see if Pacific Cookie Company would be interested in partnering with me for a bake sale to benefit cookies for kids cancer. Cookies for kids cancer encourages people to hold local bake sales to raise money to directly support research at Comprehensive Cancer Centers across the country. We met, discussed a few ideas, and like me, Cara wanted to do more. I was able to put Cara in contact with the amazing mom who started the organization and in the end, Pacific Cookie Company ended up being the ones to provide the cookies when someone orders online. When Cara and I initially spoke, we discussed holding a bake sale. This past September, with the help of some other local moms, we were able to make it happen. Pacific cookie company generously donated 500 cookies and through two bake sales at Vine hill School, we were able to raise $1500. I was so honored to be able to do a photo shoot for this amazing family as a little way of saying thank you.