The first Jani Photography contest of 2010 is over and what fun it has been for me, watching 45 new fans join our Facebook page! Thank you to all who became a fan–I wish there was a way for me to fan each of you, because you know I would.

How to select a winner was a bit of challenge for me–in the past I’ve used random.org’s true random number generator to select a winner from blog comments, but since the new fans weren’t numbered by Facebook, that wouldn’t really work in this case. Instead, I captured a screen shot of each page of new fans and imported those into photoshop.

See that lovely lady second from the bottom on the fan list? That’s my beautiful auntie. *Hi Aunt Katy!*

Once I had all five pages of new fans in Photoshop, I simply combined them into one page and printed them out. One handy dandy pair of scissors and an absurdly large bowl later, I had my contest participants all ready to go.

As you can see, we have not one but TWO winners. When you’ve got two very active an inquisitive children with a monkey-see-monkey-do attitude, it’s really the easiest way to avoid fights and tears. So congratulations, Amy Denison and Jodie Piton! You’ve each won a March portrait session with Jani Photography and one digital image from your session. Contact me in the next week to schedule your session!

The March portrait incentive will be released on Monday, so be sure to check back to see the free gift I’m giving away with each session booked during March. Gadget and tech-loving moms and dads, this incentive is for you!

Did you know you can find Jani Photography on Facebook? Between now and Friday, February 26th, become a Jani Photography Facebook fan to be entered in a drawing to win a free session and one digital image. The session will take place in March at a location within 30 miles of Visalia, CA (zip 93291). All new fans are automatically entered. If you’re already a fan, refer others to our Facebook page by blogging about us or putting Jani Photography in your facebook status updates to receive a entry–just be sure to comment here with a link so we can track your entry. Have fun!

Surely it’s not just me. Blossoms all around town. Fields of lush, overgrown GREEN speckled with singing yellow. Puddles, puddles everywhere. Citrus trees so heavy with fruit I’m amazed the branches haven’t given up in protest.  This is the time of year for a portrait session!

And yes, portraits are about people, but how could I resist these delicately beautiful little blossoms. My girls couldn’t resist them either. (Though next time, we’re not bringing any home–I’ve never smelled anything so terrible in my 30 years, and I’ve been changing diapers daily for the last five. Phew!)

The flower dance, with my flower girls. Let me tell you, mothering girls is a daily adventure. Sure, not in the WHAT-have-you-smeared-all-over-the-carpet-and-the-walls-and-the-cat? sense of adventure, but the daily highs are so high, but the lows come just as swiftly. My three little drama girls keep momma hopping!

And then other times they just break my heart all over again with their sweetness. Boy, do they love each other!

This girl, this one right here collecting flowers, she is little miss sunshine personified. Always smiling and making me laugh, she also is quick to point out that others, and never she, are the ones making poor choices. “Mommy, I never sneak candy from the bowl” or “Mommy, are you happy with me?” just after I’ve reprimanded her sister for something. Ahem. She reminds me of a goody-two-shoes little girl I once knew.

Then there’s this little chunk of adorableness.

Don’t mind her mussed hair. It has a mind of its own, and many days I just can’t bring myself to tame it. Here she was starting to get just the teeniest bit annoyed with me for abandoning her in a field of wild flowers, poor thing. Isn’t life just rough?

Hmmmm, more annoyed with mommy. I’ll spare you the end result, but I definitely think the means justified the ends. Or something like that.

For portrait sessions with springtime blossoms, NOW is the time to schedule. My available weekends are few and far between, so drop me an email (jan@janiphotography.com) or give me a call (559-331-8253) and we’ll get you in the books! I can’t wait to show you the free gift that I’ll be offering for every session booked in the next two weeks. Oooh, so exciting!

To my sweet, adorable big girl. You’re changing so much every day.

A few days ago we did some portraits together. You laughed, you acted silly, and I took many pictures. I have thousands of images of you smiling, giggling, grimacing, goofing off, and just being you from your five (and a half!) years as my daughter. Taking pictures has become one of our “things”–you adore having the attention, the time to shine and express your you.  I love the one-on-one time with you, the chance to drink in your ever-evolving little personality, and the continual attempt at capturing that YOU with pixels and light.

Then today, your YOU changed forever! Sure, you still love cuddles and hugs, bossing your sisters, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and a tall glass of milk with everything. But that smile, the thing I’ve seen every day for nearly five (and a half!) years is permanently different. When you lost your first two teeth, I knew this was coming but I had no idea how drastically different you’d look once you got serious about this permanent tooth thing. Even your voice and speech are slightly changed. Goodness! I love the hint of a lisp you have (probably temporarily). And your grin is infectious, adorable. I am going to love watching your mature smile grow. But promise me you’ll still want to cuddle for a while longer, okay?

I love you,

Mommy

So if you have a take-a-photo-a-day project going on that you’re faithfully photographing for every day, does it still exist if you don’t share the images anywhere online?

Hmmmmm, let me think about this . . . .

What’s that? The idea of a busy mom-to-three sitting down and uploading at least one image every day online is preposterous and a mother with such an intention should not be help accountable?

I completely agree.

So I’ll keep plugging away with my images at home, since I’m finding so.much.joy in photographing the minutia of every day. I promise I’ll share. I will.

I just don’t want to be accountable for every day.

I think probably every mother on the planet can attest to the above statement.

First you take a sweet, loving, but completely helpless little being who cannot voice how they’re feeling or what is going on in their tiny body. Add a pitiful little body-wracking cough, a drippy nose constantly in need of wiping, and sleepy, tired eyes. You get an illness that cannot be treated by antibiotics, the wonder of modern medicine.

We just have to let it pass.

Thankfully it has been passing. When she realized she could breathe through her nose again yesterday, she spent hours snuffling and snorting, delighted in her freshly cleared nasal passages. It’s sort of like having a diaper-wearing puppy in the house. Delightful.

Goodness, wasn’t the rain glorious last week. (Glorious for the farmers and agriculturalists who needed it. Glorious for the snowpack and drought conditions. Glorious for the coming spring. Glorious for the mothers of small children who were forced to stay inside all week . . . well, perhaps not.)

Perhaps instead of new shoes for both big girls I should have gotten new rainboots.

I’ll probably buy those this summer in the blazing heat, instead. Why be practical?

I’m so behind. These images were taken last week. My goal is to get everything I’ve got on deck prepped and posted TODAY! Or tomorrow at the latest. Thursday, perhaps . . .

Dominoes, anyone? These girls worked me over! Don’t let those puppy eyes in the middle photos fool you–they schooled their mommy proper and celebrated their victories. Stinkers, don’t they know they’re supposed to let me win? I grew them, I gave birth. Surely I deserve something.

Nope, nothing. Gleeful celebrations. Ah, well, as long as they had fun.

As for this other image, it shows one of my very favorite things about our home in a very, very poorly executed way. We won’t talk about this image’s faults (and oh, are there faults!). I love this counter they’re sitting at. As I cook or clean or bake (yes, I bake occasionally) they can sit and chat and enjoy themselves. So fun for us all.

What do you do when it rains for days with no sun in sight? Make your own rainbows, of course!

I have a little confession to make. I didn’t take these pictures.

Shocking, I know! I think I could have made this happen with the self-timer. Meter the shot, adjust settings, place camera just right for the funky, playful tilt, set timer, leap into position, and pile on three small adorable children. It could have TOTALLY worked. Right?

Or not. Thanks, sweetie!