family photos Archives - Moments of Musing

3 Tips for Photo Shoots with Kids

Filed Under: family photos, Uncategorized // August 23, 2022

We get professional family photos taken at least once a year. To me, they are a beautiful way to capture our family in the present moments. Life together is a beautiful gift. Sometimes, it can feel like a blur, with how quickly it goes. Photos are my way of pressing pause to get intimate glimpses of us all over time. If you’re interested in tips for photo shoots with kids, this is the post for you.

I hope our kids appreciate these professional family photos. I think they will enjoy looking back on them, and maybe even keep some as their own little keepsakes. As for me, I do a poor job of printing everyday photos I take. However, I make sure to print professional photos to hang up in our home.

I know photo shoots can be stressful with little kids. Keeping kids’ attention (and getting them to smile while at it) for an extended period of time can be challenging. We usually wind up having a lot of fun, though, especially this last photo shoot.

Here are three tips I have for tips for photo shoots with kids:

If your kids still nap, have them nap at home before you leave for the photo shoot. If they do not still nap, give them some quiet time to relax at home. Car naps en route to the photo shoot are not ideal, especially if your baby or toddler will wake cranky.

Bring all the snacks! If your kids are anything like mine, then are constantly hungry and snacking. Avoid hangry tantrums by bringing lots of snacks.

Try not to stress! Photos with kids will not go “perfectly” and perhaps not as 100% planned but rarely do things go exactly to plan with kids. Let’s be real, though, life happens. Stress less and you’ll enjoy the photo shoot more. Let the photographer work their magic and you will likely be pleasantly surprised by the images they are able to capture even if a photo shoot feels chaotic.

* Bonus tip: Mamas, if you can, get your hair and/or makeup done so you have less to worry about when getting ready. Plus, you deserve to be pampered!

Without further ado, here are some sneak peeks from our recent beach sunset photo shoot with photographer Tiana Marie:

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Summer 2019 Golden Hour Family Photos

Filed Under: family, family of 4, family photos, motherhood // July 10, 2019

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Photo by Lily Raya Photography

When Tim was in the Navy stationed, and then deployed, thousands of miles away, he was my anchor.

He’d remind me that the time would pass and that one day we’d be together just as we’d planned. So, some days I still find myself wanting to pinch myself / tell younger me that he’s right and that these days will be worth all that distance… and more.

Our life wasn’t easy then and it’s not 100% easy now (hello marriage as parents is challenging.. and we could use a million dollars haha)… but it is 100% my dream come true.

When Lily of Lily Raya Photography reached out to work together, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to capture our little family at this time in our lives. Both boys are walking and talking — well, R’s only sentence currently is “I want milk” but still 🙂

Lily was great to work with. She was very understanding when we had to reschedule due to Tim’s recent back injury. She is friendly, scoped out locations prior, and was so good with the boys. Perhaps most impressive of all is that she managed to capture these beautifully photos just 5 minutes after the boys woke from naps during our 45 minute drive! Definitely contact her for your photography needs!!

Mommy & Me Tulips Photo Shoot

Filed Under: family photos, motherhood // May 9, 2019

Motherhood is so hard to define or put into in words. Words really do it no justice. There is simply nothing like it. As for me, it is my calling and my greatest privilege. It is an honor (albeit a stressful one lol) to be responsible for growing and nurturing and helping to shape little lives.

They are my little best friends, my biggest loves and the greatest parts of my existence. Really. That saying about your heart walking outside of your body when you’re a parent? It’s 100% true.

I can only hope they know how loved and capable of anything they always are. This Mothers Day, apart from the popular request of sleep, I simply wanted to get photos of me and the boys. Unfortunately, we didn’t get any of the four of us but I did get some of my husband with the boys that I’ll share in a bit.

While photo shoots with kids are hectic —as you can see R is only wearing one sneaker in most of the photos haha!—it is worth it to us. They capture moments in time that would otherwise be left to memory.

I hope they will treasure these as much as I do. 🧡

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Christmas Photos 2018 — Sneak Peek + the Phrase I Used to Get my Toddler Excited for Photos

Filed Under: Christmas photos, christmastime, family photos, life // December 10, 2018

This year, we were fortunate to have our Christmas photos taken by my sister-in-law Ashley Bellis Photography. When she reached out about including the boys in her Christmas minis ad, I was ecstatic! The shoot went much better than I anticipated. It was pretty cold for the time of year on the day we took them but both boys cooperated so well.

R had been in and out of naps, which you can kind of tell due to his mug, but he’s flashing his gummy smile in a lot of the photos, too. S wanted to run around with his cousin but I told him “We’re taking pictures for Santa!” so that got him more excited for the photos.

It’s becoming our little tradition to take photos for our Christmas card each year and I’m enjoying it. It gives us Christmas card material but also a way of documenting that time in our lives. Here are our Fall 2017 family photos.

I’m just sharing a sneak peek and some behind-the-scenes photos for now since our Christmas cards haven’t gone out yet. Here they are:

Do you get family holiday photos taken?

Newborn + Family Photos (Spring 2018)

Filed Under: baby #2, family photos // May 30, 2018

This post is sponsored. All opinions are my own.

As I mentioned before, we did things a little different with our firstborn. One of those things was professional photos. We opted for professional maternity photos and took our own newborn photos. This time around, I took my own maternity photos and we decided to get professional newborn + family photos. I couldn’t be happier with our decision!

My day started with a blowout at the local blow dry bar Luxe & Co. As was my first blowout there, the service was wonderful from start to finish, and my blowout had me feeling brand new. All in all, it took about 45 minutes for a wash and blow. Pretty amazing, especially with my thick and curly hair, if you ask me!

I then went home to finish getting ready for our photo shoot. Faryl of Faryl Loew Photography was such a pleasure to work with. She was efficient and oh so patient. We still had some things to get together when she arrived. Then, our toddler was not really into the photos so it took him some warming up to the idea of sitting still and posing. And our newborn was hungry, despite me feeding him right before Faryl arrived. Luckily, we got all the shots we wanted and some—she offered to photograph my nursing session both just R and me and with S and my husband. They’re photos I’ll treasure forever. Be sure to book Farly if you’re in the NYC area!

Without further ado, here are some of our photos: