Warning alert, warning alert: CUTENESS OVERLOAD ENSUES …. NOWWWWWWWWW :)

I’m reintroducing you to the Schaller Family. What a fun session this was! I’m always amazed how I can end a family session sometimes feeling just as tired as I do a wedding and I gotta say, this family kept me on the move! Mostly it was my efforts to keep up with the little ones. Annika and Matthew, you guys were a blast!

This probably sounds a little wackadoo, but I’m someone who believes a smidge in the whole aura of people. Maybe it’s all the years of yoga I’ve taken, but if the Schallers’ were a color, I’d say they were (collectively) yellow. (Which, coincidently happens to be my favorite! No wonder we got along!) Intelligent, creative, playful, optimistic and easy-going. Yep, I can’t think of better words to describe this delightful foursome!

Thanks again to the Schallers for a wonderful day of park exploring. And make sure to enjoy THEIR SLIDESHOW too! (My friend Betsy introduced me to the song I chose ages ago, and it’s always been a song that makes me think of my own family with a smile! :) )

So, so adorable …

On your mark? Ready … set … GO!!!!!!!

I love that Molly wanted to bring along the family pooch, Pierre. It was so fun to watch this little guy (a Jack Russell) tag along with us. He had to keep those little legs a-movin’!

Annika is EVERYTHING I remember about being 7. Missing teeth, a little camera shy (’til she gets to know you), coming into herself. We bonded over her Hello Kitty necklace, the American Girl series, and a mutual love of hats :)

Molly this photo is as much for you as it is Matthew. I feel like any child who has a photo like this with his or her mama is a very lucky child indeed

Molly mentioned that she and her husband, Soren, hadn’t had photos taken of just the two of them since their wedding 12 years ago this month. Well now, we had to take care of THAT problem! ;)

Perfection.

Molly is a knitter too and, turns out, she is one of my friends on Ravelry. So naturally, we had to fit in a little talk about our love of yarn and I had to go gaga over these precious hats she made for her little ones!

I love this photo so much!

What a beautiful boy who just happens to love his puppy very, very much

And….everybody cuddle!!!

Thanks again you guys and may these photos be a joyful reminder of your love for one another this holiday season!

See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Friend Gail on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.

What a way to end my 2009 season! When I booked Hilary and Tim earlier this year, I knew after friending Hilary on Facebook that I was going to be blessed with ridiculously good-looking clients to wrap up the year. AND HOW! Wow… these two are (as you can see) gorgeous! They’re great on the inside too and I really enjoyed getting to know the pair of them better during our Saturday afternoon racing around downtown Fort Wayne. Thanks you two for being troopers (including a few MacGyver-esque wardrobe changes in the car!) As I sit here listening to the wind blow outside, I am SO glad that this last session for me was one blessed not only with great clients but with beautiful, DRY weather! So winter, you can get on with your big bad self now … I’m READY ;)

Plenty more of these two come!

See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Friend Gail on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.

You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them. — Desmond Tutu

I love that quote. So, so much. And I’ve said it before here but it bears saying again that I feel REALLY blessed to have the family I have been given. Last month we got together at my parents’ house in the country for food and fun and games. Just a regular weekend with the fam, doing what we do best. Getting to take part in these get-togethers only every few months now (hopefully more with my busy season of shooting winding down), I was struck this time around by how much my family has grown in just the past six months. Nieces and nephews who seemed like kids at the start of the year are now, well … teenagers. With braces and video games and years of that awkward phase of life we call junior high and high school ahead of them. My nephew who was crawling last I saw him is now walking and my 4-year-old niece had to tell me all about her preschool. I felt overwhelmed with love for them all that day and these photos have been a nice refresher of that these past few weeks. Hope you enjoy the sneak peek of my fam! :)

My sister, Karin, her husband, Gary, and their kiddos.

My niece, Erin, is a Starbucks barista these days so in between asking her her thoughts about the Twilight series, I’m all, “So tell me again how you make a frappucino?” :)  I love this trio a lot (and again, for the record, my nephews, Cameron and Chris, are FRATERNAL! I know, right – they look so much alike! Only in recent years have I been able to tell them apart at first glance.) My sister loves to tease me about the fact she married a twin and had twins. And since I married a twin …. well, you can guess what conclusions she’s jumping to there!

Well who’s THIS?! It’s the BIRTHDAY BOY!!!! :) This is my nephew Sam, who turned 1 back in September. Seems like forever and a day ago I shot these newborn photos of him. Now he’s a lovebug who I want to swallow whole when he flashes this little grin at me. We have a series of photos of my brother in our stairway at my parents’ where my brother Jeff looks EXACTLY the same as his son here! SO CUTE

This is Sam’s big sis, Emily. She’s made an appearance a time or two on the ‘ol blog. What can I say, she’s QUITE the ham :)

For real do I not have the cutest kids for nieces and nephews? FAVORITES!!

Some family time — I love everything about these next two images of Jeff, his wife, Amy, and that tangle of limbs that is their two kids!

And this is my oldest brother, Mark, his wife, Lynne, and their four children. I feel like these guys have grown up SOO fast! One day I’m holding their oldest, Grace, at my high school graduation and the next I know she’s turning 12 on me! Oh my! (doesn’t my brother have strong genes? ;) )

From left to right: Jake, Chloe, Grace and Ethan

Now for my parents— if I had a way to bottle them as they are right now, I would give all the money in the world to do so.

And one final parting shot — a gratuitous self-portrait of me and my sister. I’m horrible at trying to take self-portraits while using the back button focus on my camera, so the fact I got one to turn out is a major accomplishment!

See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Friend Gail on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.

I love people who are real. What do I mean by real? I mean the kind of people who show up for something ready to go with the flow. No fuss, no drama. The kind of people you just know would like, tip their waitress extra after seeing her embarrassingly drop a huge platter of food on the floor in front of them. Or go out of their way to hold the elevator for the little old lady with the walker who hasn’t even come ’round the corner yet.

I spent two hours with Kinsi and Jeff and in the time I got to know them, I could tell that is the kind of people they are. Real. Genuine. Sweet as can be.

And you know what’s great about that? It shows in these photographs. Sometimes I’m so moved to look at images like these and to see the little ways in which a couple love one another. A stolen embrace when they think I’m not watching or a whisper in one another’s ear. It’s the little things like this that spell love to me. And Kinsi and Jeff’s love? Yep, it’s real too. If you want to see more of it, WATCH THE SLIDESHOW (Kinsi, I picked an Over The Rhine song for you. I love that you love that group because I love them too :) )

Kinsi the way you’re looking at your man here says it all :)

We all need to remember there’s still a kid inside each of us. It’s times like these that I encourage my clients’ to let it out.

This? This right here? This is totally what I mean about the sweet as can be part.

Oh I love how Jeff is holding Kinsi here.

Going in for the kiss. Kinsi doesn’t seem to mind …

We ventured next to Kinsi’s aunt’s house, which, with all the dogs and cats and chickens and horses, was a menagerie of sorts. Kinsi spent some time out West and just seemed to have a way with her aunt’s horse. She also was wearing a sweet pair of cowboy boots she bought at a vintage shop out in Wyoming so you know, combining a love of thrift store finds with an instinct for nature made her my kind of girl :)

If you couldn’t tell here, Kinsi is one of those gals who have like, THE BEST SMILE EVER. I kept telling her that and Jeff proudly exclaimed, “She was voted ‘Best Smile’ in high school.” Yep, I can see that!

This embrace is the way every woman wants to be held by her man. FAVORITE!

Okay, okay, I lied. I have TWO favorites. I’m sorry, this photo is just awesome. And it’s not ’cause of me. It’s ’cause it’s these two. And they’re sexy. And because of Kinsi’s hair. KINSI, I WANT YOUR CURLS :)

Jeff and Kinsi, thanks again for a wonderful fall evening!

See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Friend Gail on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.

I will not play at tug o’war.

I’d rather play at hug o’war,

Where everyone hugs

Instead of tugs,

Where everyone giggles

And rolls on the rug,

Where everyone kisses,

And everyone grins,

And everyone cuddles,

And everyone wins.

– Shel Silverstein

One of the best things about photographing children is being reminded of your own childhood. Sometimes, as in this case, in the most unexpected ways. As soon as I took this photograph, I was reminded of my favorite children’s book, Where the Sidewalk Ends. Of all the books in my current collection, its my tattered copy of Sidewalk that perhaps means the most to me. Inside is an inscription in my mother’s sweet handwriting that reads: To Gail — my little sweetheart. Merry Christmas — 1988. I hope you always have such a love of reading. It will give you endless hours of enjoyment. Much love, Mom

Truer words have never been spoken … thank you mom. And thank you sweet Annika and Matthew for reminding me of this.

See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Friend Gail on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.