I am totally into decorating for the holidays. It usually requires 18 trips to Michael’s and WalMart — not to mention I drag my mom over for hours and hours so she can do my fantastic bows and the finishing touches — but it’s worth every minute (well, *I* think so, but she may tell you otherwise — haha!). Here are a few pics of my decorations:

The red tree before Santa:

the red tree after Santa:

My angel topper:

My new Pirate ornament tha my mother in law bought me on a trip to Disneyland (I heart Pirates!):

The Baby Jesus “J” ornament my oldest daughter made at preschool:

The flocked “branch” tree with two white feather trees that we put the pink and turquoise ornaments on every year:

A Princess ornament from the pink tree:

One of the “Baby’s First Christmas” ornaments (it was the twins’ first Christmas, they are now 11 months old):

Jordyn’s stocking:

I’ll have to share more as I come across them. I realize now that I need to take pictures of my lights that my husband and father in law put on the house. They turned out really pretty this year. I also need to take pictures of the fabulous pink and silver “candy” wreaths that my mom made for the front of my door. She’s uber-talented!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

-shawna K

Yes, the studio is still closed for the holidays. Yes, I am still dabbling with pictures behind the scenes. I’m trying to take a vacation — and I did get some much needed sleep today — but I can’t help but post images from some of my most recent sessions. I’ve been sitting on my hands with these pictures because they were a Christmas present for some very important people, but I’ve been dying to share them!

I’ve been photographing Carter since he was 8 weeks old and he just looks sooo grown up in these pictures. This first one of him and his mom is one of my absolute favorites:

Isn’t he adorable??!!??

Carter is totally enamoured with anything Star Wars at the moment, so we had to do some shots with his light sabre. Of course, I have a Star Wars addict in my family (well, three to be exact: my husband, my cousin, and now my nephew - LOL). Anyways, since I know a little bit about Star Wars myself, it was fun to talk to Carter about the characters. He is also learning how to spell in school, so I had a fun time teaching him how to spell D-A-R-T-H V-A-D-E-R. It’s always so much easier at the session, too, when I find an easy connection to make the kids feel welcome and at ease. If it’s not Spongebob or Dora, I’ve always got Star Wars and Barbie to chat about! Fun stuff!

Okay, it really helps that mom is drop-dead gorgeous, too! Aren’t they beautiful??!!??

I hope all of the recipients of their “Christmas pictures” enjoyed them! I know they’ll be reading this soon . . . I’ll be waiting for the comments!

-shawna K

Well, I mentioned in my last post that we were headed to Children’s Hospital for Tyler’s kidney sonogram and VCUG because she had a raging kidney infection over Thanksgiving. Well, the sonogram was easy because there wasn’t anything uncomfortable going on and for much of the time, save a few moments here and there, she could pretty much wiggle and squirm as per usual. The VCUG on the other hand was very sad for my little Ty-Bo because they strapped her arms down with heavy towels so she couldn’t get up, and she had to have a catheter inserted with dye so it would show up on the x-ray.

We don’t have the results from the kidney sono yet, but we did find out that she most likely has Grade III reflux — with 1 being the least amount of reflux and 5 being the worst. Basically, the urine from her kidneys is supposed to travel down her ureters into her bladder and stay there. The ureters are supposed to be a one-way street. Well, Tyler’s aren’t. She has reflux on both sides and the urine from the bladder just goes right back up to the kidneys. Which means that if she gets a urinary tract infection, she can VERY easily get a kidney infection (which she did).

Right now she’s on a “preventative” dose of antibiotics — just enough to hopefully ward off any future bladder infections. We’ll find out next week if our pediatrician recommends trying to let her outgrow it (many kids do), or if she’s a candidate for surgery.

Poor Ty!!!!

Here she is during our Christmas photo shoot. I don’t do much in the studio these days, but I love a little high-key now and again. Yes, daddy took the ornament away before she could get it in her mouth. No, no babies were harmed in the making of this photograph!

I just want to add that EVERYONE at Children’s Hospital was just absolutely fabulous. You can tell these people are so accustomed to dealing with babies and children and nervous parents. I just couldn’t have asked for a better experience at a very trying time. So, my hat goes off to the nurses and doctors and staff there. Applause! Applause!

It’s been a whirlwind week trying to get everything done for Christmas. I meant to take a picture of Heidi assembling albums yesterday and the piles and piles of pictures we were surrounded in, but alas we ran out of time!

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The studio will be closed starting pretty much now until January 2. If you need anything, you can email shawna@shawnakstudio.com and I will get back to you after January 2.

On an aside, please keep my little Ty in your prayers today. She recently had a kidney infection and we’re off to the hospital for her kidney sonogram/VCUG thing. I don’t know what all they are going to be doing, but I know she has to have a catheter and that they say she won’t be in any pain, but she will be “uncomfortable.” Well, 10 month olds don’t understand discomfort, so I’m not looking forward to this for her. Hopefully the results will be good news . . .

-shawna K

P.S. Keep checking the shawna K blog next week for updates because there are tons and tons of things I’ve been up to this month that I haven’t been able to share because I had to wait until AFTER Christmas, like groovy holiday cards and super slick birth announcements. I didn’t want to blog any Christmas cards before they were sent out because I didn’t want to ruin any surprises. Anyhow, keep checking back because there are some fun ones! yeah!

Pattycake and shawna K studio gift certificates make an excellent present for those parents who didn’t find time to get their holiday portraits done or haven’t had their photos taken in a while. They also make great gifts for recent brides and grooms who need wall portraits and enlargements for their new homes.

Let me know if there is someone on your list who needs phenomenal images of their kids to adorn their walls! Our gift wrapping is always free!

-shawna K

I’m here . .. just drowning in a large pile of Christmas cards, albums, and enlargement orders for the holidays. It’s going to be a long weekend, but it will get done! Talk to you soon!

-shawna

Here are some pics of Aiden with his mom and dad, Wade and Caryn. Wade and Caryn are very, very good friends of ours. I don’t know for how many years my husband and Wade have been best friends, but sometimes I swear they are the ones that are married because they bicker like a couple who has been married forever. Before kids took over everyone’s lives, they used to do things together ALL the time: watched football, went to movies, played video games, etc. They’ve even worked together off and on at different companies over the years. Occasionally, they even dress the same and Caryn and I get pretty embarassed about that. It’s pretty bad.

But now you can see Wade has a gorgeous family and Aiden is SOOO cute! Aren’t they adorable? I can’t even begin to help Caryn decide which images to choose for her Christmas cards this year!

Someone likes to be tickled!

Devyn has lots of friends, and Aiden’s one of her favorites! Funny, we used to call him “Baby Aiden,” but as you can see he’s all grown up now! I’ll be sharing some with mom and dad, soon, but I couldn’t resist posting one of this handsome boy first!