Prayer’s for Aiden

Last summer I did a session for a wonderful and precious little one year old boy. I knew that Aiden had been hospitalized at 4 months of age for an  illness that had caused him to have trouble with his kidneys.  At the time of his session the cause of his illness was unknown.  Since then Aiden has been diagnosed with a rare disorder called Atypical HUS (AHUS) which causes great damage to the kidneys and blood cells.  Very little is known about this disorder, but there is no cure and the treatments are “trial and error”.   I hope you will all remember to keep this sweet baby boy in your prayes.  Click here  to visit Aiden’s website.

Friends of the Cross Family have set up a non-profit (tax-free) account set up at the Citizens Bank in Kilgore to help with the bills and travel fees that they have incured with Aiden’s illness. 
Donations to the Aiden Cross Fund can be sent to:

Aiden Cross Fund
c/o Citizens Bank
PO Box 1700
Kilgore, Texas 75663

 

   

Facebook!

Ok, it seems like I’m going to be much more likely to update my facebook than this blog so if you have an account I’d love to have you as a friend on my facebook!  I’ll try to post any specials etc when I get the opportunity here AND there.   I never thought I’d be one to get addicted to anything like facebook/ myspace, but just the simple fact that I can keep up with clients, friends, and family at the same time is great.  Of course many of my best friends ARE clients and family so I can keep up with everything at once!  Anywhooo….I am on facebook as Amber Anschutz Bowins.  Of course I had to throw in that maiden name for those old classmates  who won’t remember me by my current last name.  Oh and on that subject….As of this summer I have been officially graduated from high school and MARRIED for 15 years!!!  I’d love to hear any advice as to how to celebrate this milestone.  I’m sortof a romantic by heart, but I work so much that I’ve drawn a blank the past few years.  I simply cannot let my 15th go by without doing something really romantic so please send your ideas!!!  What can I possibly surprise him with this year??? LOL, keep it clean, cause my kids read this stuff too!!!  Keep in mind that my husband is a bit strange in the fact that he doesn’t hunt or fish or watch sports so a weekend in the woods or at a stadium will just make us both hot and cranky!  Best idea will get a free session and 8×10!    Also I am having baby withdrawals.  I love newborn babies soooooo much that I am willing to give free sessions to the next 3 inquiries that call to book for newborn (2 weeks or younger) sessions that mention my blog!  Also I am dying to photograph twin babies, so the first person to contact me to photograph newborn twins, or 6-9 month old twins and mention my blog will also get a free session!  Send all inquiries to a_bowins@yahoo.com

January Favorites!

New Years Resolution

Ok, I’ve never been one to try to make or keep these so called resolutions each year, but I do promise to try to do a better job of updating this blog.  I had a great (although crazy at times) Christmas season and really enjoyed getting to photograph many long time clients and some wonderful new clients as well .  January is usually my slowest month of the year, however It is actually filling up pretty fast so far.  We are planning a re-model of  my studio bathroom in the near future so I will be trying to schedule around that so that my clients can avoid the mess.  I’m really excited to start the new year and have several new backdrops and props on order. Be sure to call soon if you want to get Jan-Feb appointments since time will be more limited than usual due to the remodel!

Holiday Season has begun!

Well actually it began about a month ago for me which is why I’ve done nearly two dozen sessions since my last blog update!  I’m going a bit crazy trying to keep all of my sessions, orders, phone calls, emails and such all straight so just be patient with me if I’m more delayed than usual getting back to you guys.  I think an assistant will be on my list to Santa next year to help me keep up with every thing.  I am pretty much booked for the season now, but as usual I will work in any newborns that are born during this time.  Now for all of those sessions I’ve been doing!

First of all I’d like to introduce my new baby cousin Addalyn. She is on the front page of my website, not just because I’m proud that she’s my cousin, but also because of the amount of time and patience it took to get her to sleep on a big pumpkin. She had some other beautiful shots, but this was by far the most challenging of the session!

 Next is another session I am particularly proud of since she is my daughter! I don’t get to take many images of my kids these days, but  I found a few moments to sneak in a mini session with my 12 year old. I just cant get over how old she looks now!!!

This session was a hoot!  We always figure it will be a challenge to get a toddler and a baby to sit still and look at the camera in any session, but with rambunctious boys its always fun! I just love these two cuties!!!  What a beautiful family!!!

This little man has been coming to me for a few years now and I think he just keeps on getting cuter every year if that is possible.  He is the best little guy too.  Never a complaint no matter how many crazy things I ask him to do!

This family is a very sweet and loving family and it shows in their pictures.  I just love their yearly  sessions. The boys are so well behaved and polite and just a joy to work with!

This young lady is due in early December and I can’t wait to meet their new baby soon.  This image is will have a reflection of her holding the baby in the mirror after she comes for her newborn session. Isn’t she beautiful!!!

This sweet little lady is just precious. I recently did pictures of the whole family and they are just the sweetest most beautiful family you’ll meet.

This little man is a bundle of sweet energy!  He’s just the cutest little cowboy you’ll ever meet!  I know you can’t tell in this image but he seriously has half inch long eyelashes!

These two little girls are just the perfect models. I had so many cute images from their session it was just impossible to narrow it down!  Their gallery was huge!!!

I did family images with this little girls session, but she just looked so cute in my hat that I have to show one of her individual images. What a little doll!

I also did family images with these two boys.   It was really fun to see how much these brothers love each other. They are just so adorable!

This young lady never wants to have her pictures made but always takes the best pictures anyway. I wasnt even sure if we’d gotten a handful of keepers from her session and it turned out that nearly every image was just great!  I love how her cute spunky personality shows in her images!

This beautiful woman is a co-worker of mine.  I did her wedding a couple of years ago and they decided to have some new pictures this year. This is one of the sweetest couples I’ve ever met.  We did lots of pictures with their adorable dog, but this was my favorite from the session.

This was a senior session for one of the boys but we did family pictures as well. This was my favorite of the three kids.  They were all so sweet and willing to do any crazy thing I asked!

After literally months of playing phone tag, I was so happy to finally schedule these adorable little ones. I did big brothers 4 month pictures and when he showed up for his session  it was amazing how he looked exactly the same. Only taller and a lot more hair!  Aren’t they beautiful!  They also have the sweetest mom in the world!

I’ve been doing pictures for this family since the little girl was two weeks old.  I just love working with their family!  Her little brother is the smiliest baby I’ve ever met. What cuties!

This little one has the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen!  Isn’t he just perfect!  We got to do some pictures with his beautiful mom as well.

This sweet little  girl is so cute and bashful. It’s had to get her by herself to take any images but she is just adorable.  She really loves her mommy and daddy too!

Have you ever seen knee socks look so cute!  I can’t believe how much she has grown since our last session. Her mom always brings the cutest clothes!!!

 

And last but certainly not least, this little one came for his family christmas pictures. I just love his little long johns. He is already standing by himself at just 9 month so I’m sure the race will be on very soon.  I just love his sweet cheeks!!!

Holiday Schedule filling up fast!

Wow, I thought that the holiday season would not fill up as fast this year with the economy being the way it is, but my Saturdays are almost booked all the way to Christmas already!  Last year I was completely booked with a cancellation list by the end of October and it seems that it will likely be the same this year. I do still have a few saturday appointments and several friday appointments still open. Also this year, I have some Mondays and some Thursdays available as well.  To be fair I will be scheduling on a first come first serve basis so please contact me ASAP if you want to get in before the holidays!

FUN!

That is the one word I would use to describe todays session.  I couldnt wait to sit down and edit the images I took of sweet two year old olivia today.   Most two year olds are challenging and I won’t lie; this little girl didn’t want to sit still, but when I did get her to stay on the backdrop for  a few moments it was worth it.  First of all her curls were TDF and she is just absolutely adorable!  I see a little model in the making. You can tell her mom and dad are pretty smitten with her and who could blame them.  I sure had fun hanging out with this sweet family today!

Back in town

Well I didn’t get to take many pictures this week.  Me and my girlfriends from the ortho office went to the annual orthodontic meeting in Dallas for some training and a little fun.  We had a good time, but I guess Im just a homebody ’cause I was so glad to get home! Well here are just a few sessions from last weekend and one I did before I left this week.  The baby boy is a new client. What a beautiful family. Mom and dad looked like models and were so sweet!  8 week old baby chase was pretty tired, but he was trooper and did really well. 

The birthday boy is a face I’m sure you’ve seen before on my site and blog postings.  Price was supposed to come the weekend before, but we had to cancel due to the hurricane.  Price’s big brother was not even crawling very fast at his one year session, but price was almost running!  It was a bit of a challenge to keep him on the backdrop as he seemed to think it was a fun game to run the opposite direction. He is such a sweetie and I never see him fuss at all.  He loved his cake and had fun making a big mess.  I just love cake sessions.

 

Sweet little Addy has been coming to me since she was two years old. This year she is 5!  She is so tiny (just like her beautiful mommy) and incredibly sweet.  Addy’s mom must have the most fun shopping for her since she always has cutest outfits I’ve ever seen.  She is one lucky little girl ’cause she has the sweetest mom and dad and I always look forward to seeing them!

New Blog!

Ok, I just could never get the old blog to do what I wanted (operator error undoubtedly) so I am trying out a new blog site.  If you would like to view older posts just visit http://www.timelessportraitsbyamber.blogspot.com/ .  Wow have I been busy lately!  I thought I’d have a lull before the holidays but it doesn’t look like it will be slowing down anytime soon. First I have a beautiful Maternity to share. This cute little mommy is actually a cousin of mine. No one should be this tiny at 7 months pregnant with their SECOND child!!!  The outdoor family images are of a co-worker and friend of mine and her family. We had perfect weather all day with no threat of rain until we got to the children’s park for pictures.  We had exactly 10 minutes until strong winds and rain ran us off and back to the studio. I did a newborn session for a sweet family I got to meet for the first time. This is number 3 for them and what a beautiful bunch they have!!!  The older two kiddos were just as sweet as they could be and that baby girl was nothing short of perfection.  The sweet baby boy is one part of one of my all time favorite client families.  I’ve been taking their photos since his big brother was born and  I always look forward to their sessions.  Fun doesn’t even begain to describe the beautiful couple you see here. These two kids are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary this year so it was time for some new photos.  This is the aunt to a couple of kiddos that I photograph regularly and it was a real treat to get to spend time with them.  It also reminded me how much fun adults can be too!  The three siblings you see are also new clients. These were some of the most well behaved kids I’ve ever photographed.  The story behind the little “teacup” image is that it is the sweet baby boys favorite song.  Anytime we wanted him to smile we’d all break out in song and dance to “I’m a little teacup”.  My job is so fun!!!  The little cowboy you see is Mr. Aidan who is now 18 months old.  He loves his horsy and didn’t hesitate to climb in the saddle as soon as we set it in front of the camera.  He also had some fun with his wagon and my cocker spaniel puppy.  I think this is my 4th time to photograph him (if I am counting right) and he’s been a perfect angel every time!  Another of my favorite families came this last weekend for family photos.  I won’t lie, there was a bit of photoshop magic involved in getting this whole group all looking the same direction and smiling, but I won’t tell if you won’t…I also got to take some individual shots of the newest family member, sweet little Myleigh. I just love her name and she is absolutely adorable.