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eleana’s christening
After photographing this gorgeous little baby and her equally gorgeous big sister & parents several times, I was so happy and exited to shoot her christening day. The christening was held in the Greek Orthodox Church and I knew it was going to be awesome- and it SO was! I really love learning about different cultures and religions and their customs (I even got a special blessing on me from the priest at the church!) and photographing the rituals involved.
So total picture overload coming up.
A beautiful (but chilly) day in NJ.
The christening begins at the back of the church. The priest explained to me after the ceremony that it was done that way as a throwback to the old days when people were converting from idol worship or other religions so they were assumed to be possessed when they were coming to church for the first time. They had to be blessed/baptized by the doors so that the devil was left outside. (ok, so that’s not word for word, but that’s the general idea).
She was very interested in grabbing the prayer book. 
Godparents. 
This may be the last time she was happy for a while!
Getting totally undressed for the baptism. 
Her expression is priceless. It’s either “what are they doing to me?” or “listen camera lady- are you going to just stand there and not help me?!?”
Even the very little guy is enjoying the scene.
I was very happy no one dropped the baby, but I can tell you it made me really nervous and I was so glad I wasn’t the one who had to hold her. She was covered in oil and then put in the water. Very slippery!
Lots more prayers, other oil applied, cutting of the hair and a change into her white communion gown. 
Communion (the Greek Orthodox church does all 3 in one shot: Baptism, Communion and Confirmation.) Pretty efficient, no?
Proud parents & godparents. And as long as she was being held by Mommy, a happy baby!
And off to the reception. 
This one cracks me up. Never thought a little baby could do such a “cheese” face!
Not being held by Mommy? No thank you.
Lots of familiar faces!
Grandparents.
“My” Jake. You’ll remember him from his birth session. Since he’s literally been trained since birth (and even before) to take pictures, look how well he does for me!
Such pretty ladies. And sooooo nice!
Sisters.
Can’t even tell you what was going on here.
No party is complete without face painting.
Sisters in law.
And again, no mommy? No picture.
Congrats to all of you and thank you for holding me hostage and feeding me dinner before letting me leave. Much love to you on this day and all days! -
dougstrong
If you live locally, there’s a good chance you already know about Dougie and his fight with Medulloblastoma (a cancerous brain tumor). Dougie and his parents are previous bsquared clients and Facebook friends (and Dougie is a student at the same school as the boys) and when I found out about his diagnosis I was shocked and so sad to hear that he’s going to have to fight thru this (but I know he’ll win that fight!). The family is currently in Boston for treatment for Dougie with chemo, radiation, PT, OT, tutors and other help. They’ll be living there for a while so Dougie can complete his treatment and come home healthy. He’s already gone thru at least 2 surgeries to minimize the size of the tumor. But the kid is tough and from his mom’s daily reports, feeling as well as he can and constantly fighting thru.
(posted with permission)
In support of the family, a local silkscreening/embroidery shop, SST (this is also where we got the boys uniform tshirts, Cooperstown towels, bags, and parents shirts for the Royals) started printing up DougStrong tshirts for sale for the community to show support for Dougie and his family. They’re also selling them at the Middle School. Everyone is posting their DougStrong shirt pictures on Facebook, tagging Dougie’s mom so he can see all the kids & parents around town and elsewhere who are supporting him. Apparently, he’s loving seeing everyone wearing their shirts and it’s really giving him a big boost.
We’re DougStrong at the Beyrer’s house, too.
And when Dougie is home, all well and feeling up to it, he and his family will be getting a free bsquared family session to celebrate his winning his fight against Medullosblastoma. Which he will. Cause he’s DougStrong!!
If you’re interested in getting your own DougStrong t-shirt, you can pick one up at SSMS, at SST if you’re local, or just give Ronni (the owner at SST) a shout on the SST Facebook page linked above and you can order yours for $10. Kids and adult sizes. Be DougStrong!
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introducing…baby michael
A brand new to bsquared family with a brand new baby boy. Who was 9+ pounds at birth. Yup, you read that right. Mom cooks them up big and looks absolutely amazing, especially for being less than 2 weeks postpartum at our session. I loved her gorgeous hair, her daughter’s very sparkly & sweet personality, dad’s love & attention to his whole growing family. And of course the baby. With baby chub.
Someone’s quite smitten. 
Love that their dog had to be right in the middle of the picture. Hiding, but there.
A beauty. And a smarty too. 
Seriously? Beautiful family. Loved the whole relaxed session we had. 
Death from lips. It could happen.
Um, hi. You’re 10 days old. Smiling and eye contact should totally not be happening. But I’m sooooo glad it did. 
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introducing…baby kieran
A friend and bsquared client and her lovely family (who I have no doubt you’ll recognize from years of photographs here on the blog) welcomed their 3rd child recently and I got back from vacation just in time to photograph him. He’s welcomed with so much love and joy, it was a pleasure to see.
His wife was telling him to make one kind of face, I was asking him to make a different kind of face. So the picture on the left is what happened. 
Love these two.
And my favorites.
Can’t wait to watch you grow, Kieran! Looking forward to our next session!! -
the capp family
Couldn’t have asked for a better group for my very first session of 2013. I photographed them the day after I came home from vacation and while it was chilly out, it wasn’t terrible (other than feeling the tan leach out of my skin). Karen, who set up the whole session for her family, had a great idea to do the shoot at Carltun on the Park (in Eisenhower Park) where they booked a lunch date. This was an extra special shoot as it was the first time the whole family was together since last Christmas- with both girls away at college, and their son, daughter in law and granddaughter living in Japan family get togethers are few and far between. They have such a great family dynamic and you could tell they were so happy to be together.
How much do you love this little lamby?
A change of clothes and warming up indoors for a bit.
And a Christmas dress. 
