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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! -
music in the house
So since May Patrick has been taking guitar lessons (first with a borrowed acoustic guitar from our good friends the Nevill’s, then with a new electric guitar from his grandparents for Christmas) with the fantastic Pat from The Turn. He’s come so far and can play a bunch of songs (we definitely don’t have the same taste in music cause he hates everything 80s pretty much-blasphemy!!) but there’s a lot of Green Day and some Metallica & Ozzy, some Beatles, Rolling Stones, Nirvana, U2 amongst other things. He’s not home right now so I can’t ask him about the rest of his playlists. He’s doing so great and really loves it- I don’t ever ask him to practice- he just does! Pat is a fantastic, patient and fun teacher. And available for lessons for both guitar & piano! (if you’re interested, message me for his info).
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framing friday
On Saturday. But I took the pictures on Friday, so does that still count??
A few new gorgeous Organic Bloom frames in my clients homes. Love to see them showcasing their bsquared session photos of their families!
At Tammy’s a 20×30 Audrey in wine in her Living Room.
And at Kate’s 2 6×9 Charlie’s in white in her den:
2 12×18 Eva’s in french vanilla with brown glazing going up her staircase in the main entryway.
and an 11×14 Lucy in french vanilla with brown glazing in her upstairs hallway between the sister’s rooms.
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hakka’s suprise birthday
Yeah, I’m still in last summer with personal pictures. Well, at least they look bright and cheery compared to brown & grey of everything NY in the winter. I think I have that seasonal affective disorder. Or something.
Anyway, my mom planned a big surprise birthday for Ken over the summer, and it was almost a close call. Ken had been in and out of the hospital before his party with sepsis but was finally (thank god) well enough to get out and stay out. And he was really surprised! They booked him a suite at the LI Ducks for the evening. And I decided that that isn’t a bad way to watch baseball. Cause you don’t actually have to watch baseball at all.
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disney 2013
Been putting off blogging these cause I figured they’d just make me pissed that I’m not there right this minute. And you know what? I was so right. And now I’m hungry too. Dammit.
And by the way, where the hell is spring???
The pictures are pretty self explanatory. Took my iPhone and the little camera. And that’s it. And that was totally fine.
Meeting Wreck It Ralph and Vanellope. Disappointed cause Ralph doesn’t sign autographs. Couldn’t they get him a stamp or something?
Stare down with dad in Epcot.
With Olivia, Gavin & Jack at Jedi Training Academy.
The Land at Epcot (but it really looks like Hemingford Home from The Stand). <first picture below
Twins like you. I have to find the older pictures of this where they were up to Chip & Dale’s elbows in height.
Ariel’s (or really Prince Eric’s) castle in the new Fantasyland.
The Beast’s castle. (in the new part of Fantasyland). Where the amazing Be Our Guest restaurant is.
It snows outside of the castle. Snow!!! (yeah, I don’t mind snow at all when it’s 70 degrees outside).
The “west wing” of the restaurant/castle. It’s like you walked into the movie. Amazing!
Thanking the “master” for dinner.
One more of the enchanted rose. 
Timmy with Frozone & Uncle George (uh, I mean Mr. Incredible). And Nate, Colleen & their girls (ones a little camera shy) and us. As you can see, we didn’t have the best weather this trip (quite a few cold days, 2 with rain) but it was still a great time anyway!
Not sure when our next trip back will be which is a big bummer (with the big boys starting high school next year at Regis, they probably won’t be too keen on them missing school for Disney. And the lines this year were long as hell some days of the trip- they’ve never been like that for us before. I really don’t like going during the break when the rest of the world is there too. So we’ll have to play it by ear for next year.). Thanks to all of you who followed me on Instagram and already saw most of these pictures and didn’t kill me for posting all the time.p.s. you can still follow me on Instagram. There’s a link on the top of the blog.
