Grandma and Grandpa Weston

Meet Grandma and Grandpa Weston.  The name Weston may seem familiar to some of you.  That's my son's name, my husbands middle name and my mother-in-law's maiden name.  Grandpa and Grandma recently celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary!! Isn't that fantastic?! They got married young and got pregnant soon after...kind of reminds me of another married couple I know (my husband and I).  They had six kids!!  Of course, they are all now grown up but this encourages me when I think I have hard days sometimes!  Additionally, they have now been blessed with an abundant amount of grandchildren over the years and now the great-grandchildren seem like they are coming every year (and not just from our family!).. I was so honored to capture some lovely moments of them to celebrate the special occasion. 

Grandpa and Grandma reside in Ohio living on their farm, except for a couple months out of the year when they come to sunny Florida.  Grandpa is a corn farmer....excuse me Weston's if I didn't get the terminology right there.  We are going to Ohio this summer to visit everyone (so excited for a few reasons...another special occasion :) but for this celebration Grandma and Grandpa were in town and decided on the Botanical Gardens as their location.  They were great and made me want to be married to my husband for 65+ years even more than I already do! 

Happy Anniversary!!!

Love you two,

Melissa and the Family
 (click the picture to see it even bigger)

Heather and Duane Maternity Portraits

Heather and Duane are expecting their first little addition any day now! I had so much fun with them. Here is a sneak peek....

(On a side note...I will be working on keeping up with the blog a little better so for the next week my entries might be a little out of order but I would still like to add my work to it! Thanks for your patience..anyhoo..nuff babbling!)

Oh and by the way...this picture was taken in front of the location where Heather and Duan had their wedding reception.  Isn't that so stinkin' romantic?  My clients are soooo creative and fun!

Thank you guys.... and more to come!

The week of LOVE: All You Need is Love Facebook Contest!

 

All You Need is Love Facebook Contest!

Everyone loves a good contest right? Well in honor of Valentines day, I am starting a Facebook contest starting today that ends Sunday, February 20, 2011 at 12 a.m. The winner will be announced next week.

Instructions:

Upload your favorite picture or two depicting love to our WALL. The picture does not have to be of children but of course I love to see all the cutie pies too!  Have your friends comment and or "like" your picture to vote. The winner will win a NICE prize! Contest submissions end Sunday, February 20, 2011 at 12 a.m. Limit is two pictures per entry. Make sure to share our Facebook page with your friends so they can vote for you! I will choose a winner and announce next week.


Good LUCK!

~Melissa

Bates Family Shoot

Some of you may know that before I was a McMillen...I used to be a Bates!! Ya, I have heard all the jokes.  Here a is a sneak peek from our mini session at my parents' house.

 Bates kid's plus a McMillen in the oven! (I obviously didn't take this one:)

I love them!  

It will be 20 years the 20th of this month!! Can't believe it!  More to come...

Baby Caleb

You may remember a few months ago when I did a maternity session with Katie and Christian, well now they are proud to announce the arrival of their beautiful knew baby boy, Caleb!  What a great name huh?  (For those of you who don't know that is my husband's name.)  Anyways, back to this beautiful baby.  I first met baby Caleb when he was just over a week old.  He was so precious and so good for us!   Here are some of my favorites...

 We started out the session right!  Dad's already getting in there on the diapers...Good job Dad!!

Look at how cute this "little man" onesie is! 

I think this must be one of his favorite places...Momma's arms!

Dad's got that hang of this thing too!

Proud Mommy and Daddy.

Don't you just love baby cheeks?

Not a care in the world!

 Aren't babies miracles??!!

 

 

Great Grandpa and Great Grandma came to visit!

Grandpa and Grandma joined in on the fun too! 

I kept saying, "Look at all that hair!!"

God is good!  Congratulations Katie and Christian!

Mini Session - Baby Cody

Colt and Amy are long time friends of Caleb and I.  We go way back to the elementary years.  Now, Colt and Amy have recently added a 3rd little addition to their family - Cody. 

These were actually taken during a visit to our house..I had to grab them because it was a great moment and Daddy wasn't present for our mini-session.

Here are the other two little angels...they were so good while I was there.

 

 

He's already getting the hang of being a big brother.

 

 

And big sis knows how this works!

 

 

 Smile!

 

 

Colt and Amy have carried a neat tradition on in their family (A tradition carried on from Colt's parents).  All of the girls names start with an "A" like Mommy and all of the boys names start with a "C" like Daddy.  I think their children will appreciate this tradition when they get older.

 

 

Ok, this one and the next were oopsy's but I like them anyways...

Baby's always look so cute when they stick out their tongue!

See?

Everyone needs a good stretch now and then.

He was putting up with a lot from me!

I think this must be his favorite place!

I was definitely impressed with Amy's ability in taking on her new role as a mother of three (which I must say from experiences is NOT an easy task!) just two weeks into the "job" :).  I look forward to our second session with the Martin's again soon!

Weston's First Time Going to School!

It's that time of year again...SCHOOL TIME!!! Except this time I have child going to school...I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! Weston as been eagerly anticipating the start of VPK for oh about a year now. He was even kind of disappointed that he won't be riding a school bus to school.  Most of the students started school last week but last week we went and visited his classroom and school officially started today.  Here are a few pics from last week and today...

 

 He looks thrilled doesn't he??  This was actually last week at open house and he is not happy because it was so hot outside...plus he didn't take a nap like Mommy suggested so he is pretty tired.

Trying out his cubby for the first time.

"I have a seahorse above my name Mom!"

 Checking out the stuff in the room with sister.  Notice Savannah brought her backpack along too.  She was quite jealous that Weston was starting school and not her.

Nothing like a good old fashion incentive chart...EAGLE BUCKS BABY!!

Snapped this one quickly before someone was about to walk in the frame...I didn't want to leave it out.  This kid loves science.  

We laid out his school clothes the night before...excuse the scuff marks.

 Weston got up and got ready all by himself...then he woke up Mommy and Daddy.  The alarm clock didn't go off...OOPS!!!  Thank goodness our 4 year old is responsible.

Weston drew a picture for his teacher of his family.  I think that's me he is pointing to and the baby is floating above everyone...ya the kid is a genius.

 Savannah drew a picture too!

"Mom get a picture of my backpack!"

Walking in on the big day.

a little bit...

of sibling...

love.

"I see my class....I'm ok!"

Putting his backpack in it's final destination for the week.

 He found his seat with his name on it.

Weston's friend...the teacher had a good idea of giving them play-dough to entertain them while they were waiting.

Bye, bye for a couple of hours!

It's ok Mom!

Boy did I need that...not until we were out of Weston's sight.  Weston's teacher packed some tissues, Hershey kisses and a cute magnet for the fridge with her phone number on it.  I am so proud of Weston for being such a big boy and being so eager to want to learn.  He is looking forward to learning all sorts of things at school this year and we are looking forward to hearing all about it!