Family stories are my favorite. I first met Donna and Mike in 2008 and it has been an honor and a privilege to witness their story unfolding as they built a life together and started a family. Now, eight years and two kids later we met up in May for a family photo session at Northmoreland Park to celebrate Cole and Cora’s birthdays! The weather was perfect and we had fun playing outside till sunset!
I love this photo of all of them together, technically it’s a one-off (which are always my favorite) from the perfect shot where everyone is looking at the camera smiling. Cole can’t contain his laughter, Suki the dog is distracted by a duck in the distance, and everyone is happy. This is real life, skinned knees and all, and it’s perfect.
Cole and his Daddy practicing their fighting moves.
It took a while since Cora is Miss Independent but eventually she decided it was ok if her brother sat next to her, LOL!
One of my favorite things about the Ward family is that they are willing to roll with it – which is good because the outtakes are awesome!
*dinosaur roars*!
Apologies to everyone fishing at the park that night that thought we were filming a scene from Jurassic Park.
Check out these awesome dinosaur socks Donna made for the kids!
Seeing Cole’s personality develop over the years is so cool. I said “Cole, show me your silly face! Now your MAD face! Now show me you’re happy face!”
When Cole was feeling a little shy, Donna didn’t mind being a little silly. Eventually he couldn’t keep himself from smiling cause he knows his Momma is hilarious.
A good mom doesn’t mind when her kids are silly, a GREAT mom is silly right along with them.
Cora kissing Daddy on the nose.
The best part of any family photo session are the shots that catch the unscripted moments where you can feel the love and hear the giggles. These are the moments I want to freeze in time.
Here’s a little look back over the years that have led us here. It’s fun to look back at the posts on my old blog and see photos from their wedding.
Then fast forward to their first maternity session in 2011 with Suki dog along for the ride before there was any grey in her muzzle. Flash forward through time again and see Cole excitedly awaiting the arrival of his little sister, and again to last year when Cora celebrated her first birthday and we got photos of their family of four under the dogwood blossoms. Even Suki was smiling that day!
All because these two people fell in love.
I can’t wait to see what next year brings. Love you guys <3
