Christmas traditions: with Gymboree

11 / 4 / 17

When Gymboree reached out to collaborate for their holiday line, we were psyched! Christmas really is “the best time to be a kid” – they’ve asked for us to share with ya’ll a few of our holiday traditions, and I’d love to hear what yours are as well!

Growing up, I remember the excitement of every thing we did being amplified. We would always pick out a live Christmas tree, and have continued that tradition with our own kids. Curious how that will work living in the airstream now – if you have any ideas, we’re all ears. hah! Right when we get home, Christmas music goes on and we begin decorating. In true minimalist fashion, all of our ornaments have sentimental meaning, so we take the time to talk about each one as we put it on the tree.

December begins with our advent – which includes activities, recipes, or crafts for each day, as well as coloring pages to help them understand the story of Jesus’ birth. As the month progresses, we see Christmas light displays with my side of the family, and go to a near by amusement park that lights up after dark with my husbands side of the family. Theres even fake snow! Which has been a huge blessing since we’ve had less and less snow storms in our hometown. When there is snow though, you better believe we’re outside building snow men, followed by hot cocoa indoors.

Its been such fun incorporating Christmas memories from Steve and I’s childhood, but one thing we’ve started all our own is a giving manger. On our table, we keep a manger empty with only baby Jesus, and have a jar of hay next to it. With each thoughtful action and kind word, we add a piece of hay to the manger, giving Jesus a bed to lay on. The kids love reading the corresponding book each night, and we love to see the excitement build as they understand more and more what this giving season is about.

We were sure to grab options from Gymboree that were timeless basic pieces – easily mix-matchable but also warm and cozy. Both of their pants are fleece lined, and truth be told, I’m a little jealous. they’re SO cozy! we paired them with boots for picking out Christmas trees, walking in the woods, caroling, etc., and sweaters for layering as the cold weather progresses. Olivers look was finished off with extra warmth in a fleece lined vest, while Maribelle opted for a sparkly headband (girl loves her sparkles).

Gymboree and I want to know – why are the holidays the best time to be a kid? bonus points if you can tell me which outfits you’d like from their Christmas collection you can find here. and by bonus points, I mean a chance to win a $50 gift card. woohoo! check on our instagram as well for more ways to enter. xx

terrain autumn bounty festival

9 / 28 / 179 / 28 / 17

if you live on the east coast (and honestly, even if you dont), you’ve surely heard of terrain at styers. every which way you turn, every where your look, its full of inspiration and beauty. we’ve photographed a handful of weddings there with many more to come this year, and were honored to photograph this years autumn bounty festival!

though the weather didnt get the memo – hellllooooo 90′ what?! – the grounds were decorated in pumpkins, mums, and greenery turning fall colors, the chili competition was cooking, and the crowd was phenominal. check out my personal instagram for a photo of our table display!

we’ve decided to offer a 10% code for family photos to those who attended the event – you lucky ducks 😉 if youre interested, please shoot us an email mentioning this post.

the photos of the event can be found HERE.
all photos are full downloadable through this gallery, or you can order prints through the gallery as well. if youre sharing online, please give us a shoutout with @demibrookephoto on instagram or linking to our website demibrooke.com

it was great meeting all of you this past weekend! xx

adventuring with wheat ca.

10 / 7 / 16

for the second time, we’ve been honored to partner with wheat canada to photograph their clothes as their storyteller (more can be seen about that here) for this collection of photographs we decided to go about our normal activities – a trip to greenwich to observe the water and the creatures it holds, followed by a trip to my grandparents. the kids found mushrooms and minnows, crunchy leaves and cold waves.

working with wheat is always such a dream because they’re close are seriously amazing! my favorite thing about this collection is the fact that maribelles tulle skirt is ADJUSTABLE. say whatttt?! it isnt often that a skirt like that is, and i am forever eternally grateful because little miss has the tiniest waist. ollie is obsessed with his bear shirt, and i just love how soft it is on his super sensitive skin. we really can’t boast wheat clothing enough. here are a few of my favorites from the 60+ images we captured today —

to see more of wheats clothing, visit wheatkidsclothing.com

lost my name – book review

8 / 7 / 16

if there is one thing we just cannot pair down – one thing we collect – it would be books. not so much books for steve and i as we have kindles (praise, or we would legitimately have a library) but kids books are totally and completely our weakness. not a bad one to have though i’d say, right? could be worse. ; )

the kids each recently recieved a book from “lost my name” – they bring stacks of books for us to read to them, and this one has been in constant rotation. though maribelle is still a bit young to understand the concept, ollie has taken an interest in letters and what each word starts with. he was so excited to see that the story is all about him and his name, and especially excited to see that for the letter “l” he had “lion”. lots of “rawrs!” during bed time!

when ordering multiple books, lostmyname makes sure to give each kid a different story even if they have the same letter in their name. for example, when making maribelles book, their site asked if i wanted to use something different for L since olivers book already had lion. i thought that was seriously cool, and so thoughtful!

the best part about these books in my opinion is the unique learning experience. letter sounds, learning their name, and animals/people — as we’re entering homeschooling preschool with oliver i feel like this book will help a ton with multiple lessons.

have you guys heard of lostmyname before? do you have one (or more) of their books already? share what you think below! x

this week in motherhood {+ wildbird review}

5 / 26 / 165 / 26 / 16

i remember when taylor announced wildbird slings — her vision was clear, and her slings were downright adorable with cute bird-themed names. at the time, oliver was already humungous so we were working with double layer slings to accommodate that extra baby chub.

when i found out recently that she had introduced double layers, we jumped at the opportunity to test and review one. this past week, we’ve snapped a shot each time we’ve used it (and missed a few times in between — i swear i’m wearing this thing 24/7)

last weekend, we had dinner at terrain — we managed to get there about two hours before they opened the cafe, so we walked around the greenhouses and ran a bit in the rain. it was a cold afternoon, so a bit of extra snuggle for belle was perfect. plus, i had free hands to chase ollie, while he apparently had free hands to pick a boog or two. boys! haha

while eating, maribelle began to get really tired, so i loosened the sling a bit for her to nurse and cozy up. i’m almost positive their is nothing more peaceful than nursing your babe in a greenhouse with the rain drizzling around you. moments of motherhood i don’t want to take for granted.

monday, i had a terrible migraine from shooting a wedding the day before. while most of the day was spent in bed, ollie stole a few moments of alone time. he’s at the max weight for slings, and only occasionally asks to be worn, but when he does its my favorite. while wearing him monday, he felt completely weightless, which is always a plus whether feeling under the weather or not.

he is the reason i chose swan — when ollie was a baby we had a different (and much more complicated) carrier that was a very similar pattern. everytime i look at this wildbird sling, i think of those first moments of motherhood and how far we’ve come. this peachy boy has grown so much, and continues to amaze me. my first born, sweet oliver.

tuesday was spent at the zoo with my sister, where she snapped the above photo of the kids and i without me knowing. (sneaky!) i wore belle in our sling for about three hours straight, no problem. she had the perfect view to see over the fence at the animals, and got a kick out of those sunnies ; )

wednesday was my first beach trip with the kids by myself (without steve). we spent the day with mama friends and their babies and had an absolute BLAST. it was this day that i realized once again how much of a lifesaver this sling is. when it came time to leave, i laid belle down on our towel to change her out of her suit, and once changed slid her quickly into the sling. i was able to bring ollie over and change him with belle attached to my front, rather than having her wander off or get covered in sand and water all over again. even though this sling is a double layer, it was super breathable and i didn’t feel like i was overheating, regardless of the crazy temps we’ve finally gotten here in new jersey. ollie carried his bucket while i wore belle and carried our beach bag. we were off the beach and onto the boardwalk easy peasy!

and then today: today is our friday this week, and it felt like such. we had a slow breakfast and then oliver and i got our boots on to check on the garden and cut some lettuce for tonights dinner. grabbed our sling on the way out the door and belle was able to be a part of the process — sampling bits of herbs i would pick for her while harvesting. ollie repeated “i help? i help? otay!” while belle peaked over at the greens, wiggling her toes in the sunshine.

all week, the sling has been necessity for us as belle is teething, and as you mamas know, that means attached to me all day, er’day. i’m able to get along with day to day chores while still wearing, and the bond with both bebes from sling wearing is undeniable. its been the biggest blessing being able to review this wildbird sling, and its quickly become our go-to with every outfit, every outing, and every memory. x

sabbath

4 / 3 / 165 / 19 / 16

1,2,3 // reading with oliver before our church starts. 4//tiny toots sleeping in. 5// sick house means online sermons. 6// oliver hanging up the (dry) laundry, sucha cutie. 7,8,9// firsty daddy daughter tea party; belle got a kick out of her saucer hat. 10// toy bits left by oliver 11// bath time! 12// a quiet moment to myself, second cup of todays tea in hand. 13// meal planning – steve’s giving it a whirl this week.

reminded of this quote as we attempt to honor the sabbath as best we can:

“our family attends church services on sunday morning, no matter how tired or frazzled we feel, unless we are ill. we dont do laundry, clean house, go shopping, or cook elaberate meals. we take walks, read the bible, visit with friends, nap, or putter in the garden. this kind of sabbath-keeping requires a certain amount of descipline. housework and homework must be done ahead of time. family members may grow restless with the quiet. but those who have made sabbath-keeping a priority testify that the balancing power of sabbath rest is truly worth the sacrifice. after all, God gave us sabbath because he loves us.” — from having a mary heart in a martha world

a good good friday

3 / 26 / 165 / 19 / 16

steve had off work today for good friday – what a blessing today is! any day he’s able to stay home during the week is so great, but today especially, with all that this day holds. today we remember our Lord on the cross, beaten verbally and physically, but we also remember that in this moment there is such hope! it truly was a good good friday.

wheat canada had recently asked us to be a part of their mini storyteller group, asking us to grab a few shots of the kids wearing their beautiful clothes. we has a slow day of waffles for breakfast, our favorite local mom-n-pop shop for lunch burgers, and a trip to terrain. oliver insisted on picking out a plant for his bedroom, picking out a pot just as orange as the hair on his head. we let both the kids explore, get dirty, and have fun while i snapped away. here are a few images that are just my absolute frame-them-all favorites —

free people | equestrian shoot

8 / 28 / 145 / 19 / 16

A few weeks ago, we had the HUGE privilege of shooting for a few Free People stores. Have you guys checked out their clothes? Insane. Fantastic. currently obsessing over every single item. There were three current models/employees, and three girls who won the chance to be featured in this FP shoot. We had such a fun day, trying on the cutest clothes, loving on the horses, and exploring the farm. Our day was finished with a sunset picnic, including one of the models chocolate chip cookie squares that were made with chickpeas. What?! amazing.

* featured in this shoot is Free People of Walnut street, King of Prussia, and Ardmore — as well as the models who you can find on instagram at:

@rievictoriaaoki @jessehope_ and @maggie_emerick

featured | beyond the wanderlust

5 / 1 / 14

A while back, we were featured on one of our favorite blogs we follow — beyond the wanderlust.
Our feature included Gillian & Ryans creative backyard wedding. Its such an honor to be a part of their blog,
and to get to share one of our absolute favorite days!

to see our feature, click here !

recent features | a bit to brag.

4 / 17 / 13

In the makings of our new site we are in the works of creating, we’ve been thinking of showing our features in our photography – to share with brides and other clients alike the moments we’ve been praised and acknowledged. There is such excitement in finding out your work has won you an award, or finding that you are featured on a website. Here on our blog, we will begin to post these to share with others.

If you are a client and wish to share your shoot with another website to be featured, please let us know! we are ALL for it, and so excited to continue sharing our work with others, as well as our time with you!

We are on The Knot – South Jersey. my goodness, do we LOVE the knot! We both feel it is the best business decision we have made, and have met the sweetest couples (and friends!) through it. We are a featured photographer on the knot based on our work and reviews.

Kristin & Robs engagement was featured on HowHeAsked.com – a great site where brides can submit their engagement photos along with the story of, you guessed it.. how they met. Families, friends, and passerby’s of these couples can vote on whether the engagement was funny, romantic, a tearjerker,and so on.

finalist in the 30th annual college photography contest (for the above print, New York)
– mention in Photographers Forum Magazine
– a photo spread in Nikon & Photographers Forum Book, “Best of College Photography, 2010”