Just a few of my favorites of little man Cade!  It's hard to believe this heartbreaker is almost ONE!  Seems like just yesterday we were shooting his newborn session!!

A few weeks early, yet everyone is already smitten by this sweet angel.  Welcome to the world Baby M!!

Merry Christmas my friends!  It is truly my most favorite season of all!

This Christmas, as I count my blessings and the amazing year I've had with KJane Designs, I want to take a moment to GIVE BACK.  I want to Pay It Forward and bless another family with what I do best... photography!

And so, I am asking for nominations of families who you think would appreciate this incredible gift.  I'm asking my friends, my family, my awesome KJANE Facebook fans to take a look around them and identify a family that they would like to bless during this Holiday Season. 

For nominations, please provide the three following things:

1. Nominee Name and Contact Information
2. Why do you believe this person/family should receive this special gift for Christmas?
3. How has this nominee inspired you and others?

Nominations will be taken up until Friday, December 21, 2012 and can be sent through my contact page, through email (kendra@kjanedesigns.com) or through a private Facebook Message.

Thank you for nominating someone special this Christmas season! By doing so you are providing them the opportunity to win an amazing gift of memories to be cherished forever. The winner will receive a full 2013 Standard Session with KJane Designs!!! Winner will be chosen by Kendra Catron on Saturday, December 22, 2012 and be announced on my KJANE Facebook page Sunday, December 23, 2012. Good luck and thank you for helping me Pay It Forward this Holiday Season!

The fine print...

• *Session will be a full one-hour session, with 25 edited high-resolution digital images available for download off my website.  (Valued at $225)
• *Session must take place in the Kansas City Metro area.
• *Session must be booked by November 1, 2013 and be taken by December 20, 2013.

Tomorrow is a monumental day for us.

Miss Priss will begin her very last first day of preschool and Lil Sis will be starting her first official “school year” there.  Quite appropriately, they will straddle across the school in the youngest and the oldest classes.  And sandwiched there, somewhere in between, is a mama wondering where the time has gone.

In theory, it’s both of their first days… but to be honest, the one who has me digging in my heels and begging to turn back the clock is this blue-eyed girl.

Little Sister is twisting and tugging at my heart strings in other areas… like turning two soon.  But we’ll talk about that later…

We decided to wait a year for kindergarten. But it doesn’t make sending her off to her last year of preschool any easier. And even though she has been going to some sort of preschool since the day before she turned one, the thought that this is the last year before the big leagues… well it just makes me want to grab on tightly with both hands and never let go.

But I have to let go, because that’s my job… isn’t it?

She’s had her first day outfit picked out for a week.  She’s packed and unpacked and repacked her backpack a hundred times.  We’ve gone to meet the teachers.  We’ve memorized her cubby symbol and the teacher’s names.

She is ready.

And tomorrow as I walk hand-in-hand with her through the school doors, when I hug her tightly at her classroom door and whisper in her ear how much I love her… I’ll be strong and encouraging.  I’ll be her biggest cheerleader. 

I won’t shed a tear.

Well, at least not in front of her.

This year, I hope her wings grow a little stronger and a little longer.  I hope she’ll learn to fly in new areas – in reading, in sharing, in doing things on her own.  I hope she’ll take this extra year we’ve given her and continue to bloom and mature and grow.

And next year, when preschool is a thing of the past and she eagerly begins her student career… we’ll know that this first day of her last year of preschool was exactly where she was meant to be.

Molly's Fifth Birthday was spent at the Happiest Place on Earth... Disney World.  And even though her dream photoshoot might have been with Mickey and Minnie, her mom'tographer thought elsewise!  So the day before, while we were still at the beach, we bought some balloons (five of course!) and made our way out into the ocean.  By the end of the photo shoot, both of us were sandy, wet and laughing so hard our sides hurt! 

This little girl is the twinkle in my eye, my muse, the reason I'm a mama.  And celebrating her Fifth Birthday was truly a milestone worth capturing!!