cousin photo shoot for nonny's birthday!

group shots

the girls

the boys

hard to pull out the REAL smiles:)

LOVE this one!

and these

some chasing

LOVE it!

how cute is SHE??

SO cute!

LOVE that smile!

SO big!

When I found out that we were watching Nicky and Abby I already knew I wanted to try and do a photo shoot with all the grandchildren for Nonny's birthday. I am NOT good at keeping secrets (especially ones I'm SUPER excited about) but was able to hold it in. It was pretty interesting trying to get 6 children ages 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 to all look at the camera and HOPE for a smile but we were pleasantly surprised at how well they did! We took them to WRAL gardens and wandered around looking for good places for pics.

I brought candy to bribe them with but it only worked with Abby. I'm sure outsiders thought Brian was crazy with everything he did to get the kids to smile but I'm SO thankful he was willing and got great results! Nicky would smile if I said, "who wants a truck?" but Abby would only smile if I said, "who wants candy?" SO...I just kept saying them both over and over again. And then we had to get Ephram to not only STOP eating grass and pine needles but also look and smile.

My plan was to get frames and make a photo wall for her at their house when we go next week. (while she's out one day to totally surprise her.) BUT I was just too excited and ended up telling her about it the day we celebrated her birthday. She was still excited! The frames came yesterday..can't wait!

oh...AND THIS is where my second round of poison ivy came from. i was laying on the ground and running all over to get these shots...the things you do for great pics!