Happy first of July! I cannot believe we’re in the seventh month of the strangest year ever already. When quarantine began in mid-March, most people believed it would last a few weeks, then the rumors began swirling that we might not even go back to finish the school year (at the end of May!). This seemed completely impossible at the time, but as the weeks of lock-down continued, it soon became clear that we’d be homeschooling for the rest of Isla’s kindergarten year.

Now, all of those thoughts and conversations seem like an eternity ago. Staying at home seems like the new norm! And it’s wild how much has changed in 3.5 months in our family. Most significantly for our family, Georgie learned how to walk and her vocabulary has exploded, and Emilia learned how to swim and ride a bike by herself! Sweet Isla has learned that she really loves going to school, misses her friends like crazy and on a more serious note, her reading has gotten so smooth with nightly reader books.

I have only posted 31 personal photos on Instagram since we started the quarantine, but as you can imagine if you know me at all, I’ve been taking thousands of photos. Alas, below are my favorite 200+ photos (casual, I know!) that I’ve taken during this strange time. If you make it down to the bottom of the gallery, you deserve a reward! While there are so many tragic impacts of COVID-19, I am grateful for the extra time we’ve had as a family (but seriously, let’s not homeschool again in the fall! Ha!).

Last weekend, I photographed one of Isla’s friend’s family, and these four kiddos are so darn beautiful – I still can’t get over it! Will impressed me during the session with his ability to capture multiple tiny little frogs – you can see his closed fist in a few of the photos. Jake, the youngest Carroll kid, is at the perfect let-me-run-in-the-opposite-direction age, which actually makes for fun on-the-go pictures. He loved being swung in the air by his mom and big sister, Kennedy. One of my favorite photos is the one where Jake’s big siblings are all tickling his cute little belly! Catherine was a little dancing queen, and Will was all smiles (probably due to the aforementioned frogs!). I absolutely loved capturing this sweet family at this stage of their lives!

This morning, I met the Talbert family for a portrait session at The Arboretum, which is a recently revamped public park in Houston. The weather was beautiful (considering it is June in Texas!), which is a game-changer, but I’m convinced not even scorching hot, humid temperatures would have affected this family of six! All four kids were unbelievably well-behaved, and I’ve been meaning to post some family sessions on the blog for ages now (will hopefully catch up on recent ones too soon!) – this family was a good one to start with.

Almost two weeks ago, I started a business Pinterest account – I would love if you followed me here! One of my main motivators to sharing more family portrait photos on my blog is for the purpose of pinning more regularly on my new account.

I have a few more sessions in the next three weeks that I’m so excited about. It may be hot, but I love the bright summer sunshine in these photos! Also, can we talk about what a little ham sweet Evy is? Her three older brothers are truly wrapped around her tiny little finger.