This and That.

These two wild children spent an hour playing with this Magic Mirror app on my phone.

Mackenzie graduated to level 4 of 6 in swimming class! Only two from this class were ready to move up.

Found in Mackenzie's room. Rules for Mason to live by.Seems like a lot to ask.

Practicing my photography skills with some tricky lighting. I ended up loving this shot so much.

Cool hair, Dude!

Last weekend the kids and I went to a park next to a railroad outlet and watched the workers hook up a train from start to finish. We missed Daddy and I am sure Grandpa Ralph was smiling down on us.

And of course, there was time to play after the train was long gone.

Found this after I dropped Mack off at school " Mason Tomiths Long "

I really love spending time with my dad's horses. Gus is a favorite for sure.

Official!

Check out my brand spankin' new website here! Between my new business cards and my website, I'm lookin' kind of official. The plan for the slower season is to fill my time with newborns that will hopefully lead to more business as the babies grow!  Thanks so much for all the support I've received!

Fall-o-ween

 Clearly, I have not been so great at keeping up with my beloved blog. With fall family photo season nearly over, I hope to be back at it regularly!  Here are a few snaps of what our fall has looked like.

Where's Mason?

He immediately regretted this decision.

My rose bush was fully of roses well into November. Mack found this heart shaped petal.

We had so much fun playing in our huge pile of leaves this fall. I'm really thankful our neighbor helped me clean them up after his girl and mine turned the pile into tiny grains of leaf dust.

Pumpkin patch day!

Good choice, Mack!

Mase was very happy with his choice. The only prerequisite was that he had to be able to carry it himself.

Straw bale maze

Hmmm...This is against the rules but it's also a very good photo op. Click first, then remove child from fence.

Finally Halloween! Both kids set their minds back in August and never really wavered from their original choices, though Mack really preferred to be a dolphin. Mase had a lot of fun being Papa.

Handing out candy to our " customers" meant that each " customer " got two treats because Mason was not about to be left out of the treat doling.

Our fall has been very mild. We usually have at least one early October snow fall and that didn't happen this year. Instead, we enjoyed temps well above average until this past Monday when we went from 70 degrees to 19 in 24 hours. Since then, we've watch snow flakes flutter past our window, accumulating to about 2 inches and our high temp today was 4. Moody Colorado, how we love you.

My little snow girl is so excited to have snow! She spends at least an hour outside every day after school.

Even Mason had fun playing outside until his gloves fell off and his soft hands met the harsh , frosty air.

Photogin' it up

I was the third shooter for a friends wedding in downtown Denver. It was fun to only be in charge of the detail work and not the big moments. Weddings are definitely not my thing!

 Mx4 Lifestyle Photography has kept me mighty busy! Since my first shoot in June, I have done 25 sessions, two weddings and a baptism. Fall is a busy time for most photographers and is for me as well. Lots of families are looking to have family photos taken for Christmas cards and I am happy to have been able to book so many sessions with people I know and with those who are now new friends. October was booked for me by early September and I'm currently booked for November. Here are some shots from my last week weeks sessions. And if that wasn't enough, I've also joined another blog circle with fellow photographers- a 365 day project- one photo every day for one year . You can find those posts weekly ( and monthly for the Kids Were Here circle) here .

It really doesn't get much cuter!

These two sisters and their adorable little brother were apart of one of my all time favorite shoots.

Fun with a 2015 Senior

Pretty Bride

Double the fun!

A fellow 08 Marchie

This sweet boy was born almost a year ago at 24 week gestation. He was a micro preemie who is now thriving

I saw the twins again! And their parents, too!

Personality plus, right here!

My oldest friend- I've known Brittney since we were in 3rd grade together.

This little lady bug kept me on my toes but all of her shots were beautiful!

Sweet P and her daddy. This session was extra special because I took a picture that would announce that she will be a bit sister!

One of my favorite couples photo

Anatomy of a temper tantrum

Though they are fewer and farther between, we still see the occasional temper tantrum in our house. When Mase does throw them, he means them and the entire house knows it.

Potty 'punkins' and other tales from the mens room.

Potty punkin

More and more Mase had been asking for undies and going longer with a dry diaper. We devised a plan/ reward and prepared to put it into action. Mase decided that when he no longer needed diapers, we would celebrate with a trip to Target for a special toy and new undies followed by lunch at Taco Bell - his favorite place to eat.  While at the store prior to this, I'd found some little jelly pumpkins which quickly became known as " potty punkins" :

Potty Punkin

Mackenzie, who is more excited than any one else about potty training, set out to make a reward chart that would help us keep track of Mason's progress. Often times, I'll find Mason and Mackenzie both sitting on their potties, her reading an appropriate book like " Everyone poops" or " Find the poop":

Mackenzie's potty reward chart

Mason did famously on day 1. He had no accidents and many potty pumpkins. We even made a successful diaper-less trip to the store! All was well.

Day 2: Tummy virus strikes. It was messy. A lot of laundry was done.But we carried on the best would could.

A week later, Mason's tummy issues aren't totally resolved so we just follow his cues and requests. If his sweet tooth is active, lots of peeing is done because he has figured out pee=candy. He's working really hard to get to the potty in time and I think it won't be long before the Long household is diaper free!