Ilchester Elementary prepares for a night at Camden Yards!

Recently, the children and staff of Ilchester Elementary spent the morning with the very fun, hilariously animated Oriole Bird, the fantastic mascot for the Orioles!  Escorting the Bird were some of Howard County’s finest police officers.  And, although it was a dreary, rainy day outside, it was a bright and festive day inside the school!  Later that day, hundreds of the school children and their parents enjoyed a fun evening watching the game from the stands.

This was the seventh year that this phenomenal school community had attended Ilchester Night at Camden Yards!  Each year, several hundred people from Ilchester Elementary School make it an evening at Camden Yards.  When ticket sales begin, typically several weeks before the game day, the parents are asked if they’d consider purchasing an additional ticket to be used as a donation.  Donated tickets in the past have gone to the The Kennedy Krieger Institute as well as the Ronald McDonald House.

This year, for the third year in a row, the tickets were donated to the Howard County Police Department’s BearTrax Kids Program.  This is a mentoring program for elementary school children in Howard County who are deemed “at-risk” by their school administrations and would otherwise, for a variety of reasons, not have the opportunity to attend a baseball game.

The students at Ilchester are learning a valuable lesson about the differences between them and the caring of their neighbors.  Ilchester Elementary School is also fostering a wonderful relationship of cooperation between IES and the other elementary schools in Howard County, MD.  They hope to continue this for many years to come.  And, as a mother of two children at Ilchester, I hope they do too! 😀

Their night at Camden Yards was eventful, definitely a nail biter.  It went into 15 innings!!  Unfortunately, the Yankees walked away with the win on the scoreboard.  But I believe that the Ilchester staff, and children, along with their families, walked away with the win in their hearts!

Thank you to everyone at Ilchester, the Howard County Police Department and the Orioles organization for continuing to go above and beyond in providing for our children!  We certainly appreciate you! 🙂

I hope you enjoy this video of the student’s fun morning with the Oriole Bird!

Thank you!

Baby portraits for handsome Gabriel {Ellicott City Photographer}

I LOVE having the honor of photographing babies.  Truly, I love everything about it. I love the family portraits we capture, the photographs of mom with the baby, dad with the baby, all of it! Toes, fingers…so cute and tiny!

I’ve had the pleasure of creating many family portraits for this beautiful family. Gabriel is actually their fourth child!….and first boy! Yes, he will have THREE big sisters looking out for him. 🙂

As I look through the images from Gabriel’s session, I’m reminded of when I was pregnant with my now 7 year old and having tears in my eyes while sharing my excitement with Denise (Gabriel’s mom). I couldn’t wait for her and her hubby to experience the joy, the anticipation, the wonder of it all. Well now, fast forward almost 8 years, and they have had FOUR children since then! FOUR!! They handle parenthood so well. Denise and Rob, I admire how you work so beautifully together to balance your personal and professional lives. Your children are very blessed to have you as parents.  Your clients in your real estate company, The Garner Team, are real fortunate to have you as well, you really work hard for them so that their buying and/or selling experience is a good one.

Here are just a few of the images from our morning together.  I’m looking forward to his six months portraits when he is surrounded by all of his adoring sisters!

Thanks again, Rob and Denise, for the continued honor of documenting your family’s love.

xoxo

Custom Photo Jewelry {Howard County Photographer}

I’ve always been very picky about the items that I offer my clients and with whom I choose as my photography vendors. As a newborn photographer, children’s photographer, family photographer and wedding photographer, I need to know that my client’s products will last for generations. I wasn’t crazy about offering photo jewelry in the past because I hadn’t seen anything that warranted my attention. Last year I found some pieces from one of my labs and I was really impressed. Shortly thereafter, I found  Kotori Photo Jewelry and not that I make a habit of falling in love with things,  but I did this time.  With total confidence, Kotori Jewelry is my answer to offering a new wonderful product for my clients.  I know that when my clients order jewelry from me, not only will they love wearing it now, but also years from now it’ll still look fantastic!

You can imagine my excitement when I went to Kotori’s website the other day and saw my babies (okay, ages 6 & 7 are not babies, but you know what I mean 🙂 ) on their home page!  Thank you, Tonya!

John and Tonya are the owners of Kotori Photo Jewelry and I had the pleasure of meeting them in January.  They are so in tuned with what photographers are looking for when offering good, high quality products to their clients. I really appreciate that. I’m super excited about being able to offer this wonderful line of jewelry to my clients. Thank you, John and Tonya, for your  high quality jewelry, your creativeness and your exceptional customer service! 🙂

Here’s just an example of part of what Kotori has to offer, here’s a screen shot of their bracelets.

Click here to check out their website to see their full line. Fellow photographers, they offer some phenomenal sample packages, be sure to check them out, you will NOT be disappointed!

So, women, I see a win-win opportunity in your future!  You can purchase a gift certificate for your man for Father’s Day for some custom cuff links or keychain! and then he’ll purchase the photo session you’ve been dreaming about!   Stay tuned for some details coming up next week!

Have a fantastic day!