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www.honeybeeandpeony.com/blog

New "Hours" and Vacation

Hi All! In an attempt to keep my life somewhat sane and also have some time with my lovely little family, I will be adopting a new schedule and therefore I will no longer be doing shoots on Tuesdays or Sundays.

Also, I will be on "summer vacation" from August 10th thru the 16th in an attempt to catch up with things and re-group :)

If you know that you would like to schedule a shoot in August, September or October please contact me soon, especially if it is a weekend shoot you are looking for. I do not have ANY weekend shoots available in August or September unless I have a cancellation.

Happy Summer!
Leann

Catching Up!

It has been an extremely busy summer and I am so thankful for all of you who have been keeping me busy and all of your wonderful children who have been keeping me on my toes :)
I have not been doing so well on keeping up with blogging my current work. Here are some of the fun shoots I have been doing this summer!!

Thanks Choui

Above is my Jacob's little girlfriend Eva and her little sister Machara.

Congrats on new baby Morgan!

Sam's 6 month photos. What a ham :)

Logan

I had a great time photographing Logan at Lake Harriet a few weeks back. He was such a great little guy and so easy to photograph. Plus, mom and dad were nice and relaxed and low-key. It was a beautiful morning and a great shoot.

Baby's First Year SYDNEY

Sydney is officially the first baby (now 1 year old) to complete my Baby's First Year Package!
This package includes a photo shoot for each milestone age and at the end, you receive a frame-able printed collage of each of your favorites. Here is little Sydney growing before our eyes! It's amazing how time flies and infants grow to toddlers.

For more info on my Baby's First Year package, visit our website at www.honeybeeandpeony.com

Happy Birthday Nolan!

Nolan is the nephew of great friends of ours. I've been taking photos of him since he was a newborn and now he is ONE! I was so excited to take his one year photos. We had a fun shoot that started at home and then we moved on to Lake Calhoun for some fun beach shots.


One of my favorites is the one at the bottom right of the collage. We were headed back home from the lake and he was chatting on his cell phone in his wagon. Too cute! And here is a bigger shot of him checkin' out a little lady at the beach. Maybe he's calling her on his cell phone :)

and here is Nolan with his main squeeze, Mommy! Happy First Year, Nolan! I can't wait to meet your new baby sibling in December!

Sweet Little Victoria

I had such a blast taking photos of Victoria.  She was such an expressive little cutie and mom and dad brought lots of fun outfit changes that added to the cuteness factor.  My favorite from this shoot was the super close up of her cute little pout and beautiful eyes.

Summr Soiree 09

Thanks to all the wonderful ladies who attended our second annual Summer Soiree. We had amazing food, wine and fun conversation. Unfortunately, was too busy stuffing my face to take photos of the fabulous food. Everyone contributed 2 songs and a bottle of wine to the event. Sarah and Aaron so graciously offered up there home and made the delicious food ranging from caprese salad, gorgonzola gnocchi, artichoke dip, turkey tenderloin and more! Aaron and his brother Chris were our waiters again for the night. They brought out all of our food and served our wine and it was an amazing weather to sit outside and enjoy the company of 7 women.

Sarah sewed the cutest little monogram wine tags and purses for everyone and designed the cd covers.

I ended the night off with the lemon beehive cake I've been wanting to make for about a year that I saw in Martha Stewart. I have to say, it was quite tasty!

Thanks to everyone who made it a wonderful night!

Julia & Danny - Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

I had the pleasure of traveling to Mexico in April to photograph Danny & Julia's wedding in Puerto Vallarta at the amazing Playa Fiesta Resort.  It was an incredible week full of fun and memorable moments.  


Julia's dress and shoes were both from JCrew.

The mariachi band was so much fun and played all of the processional and recessional music.

The ceremony was officiated by a close family friend.

The reception was started off by fireworks and dancing went into the wee hours on the bridge that crossed over the swimming pool!

Thank You Danny and Julia and the Wolfe and Skalman families for an amazing week in Mexico and for having such wonderful children and loving friends and family.  Thanks also for sharing your Wedding Day with Jacob's 2nd Birthday and making his day special too.

Location, Food, Flowers, Decor, Music:  Playa Fiesta Puerto Vallarta, Mexico www.playafiesta.com

Bride and Groom's Attire:  J Crew

Bridesmaids Dresses:  Anthropologie

The Great Outdoors

It is so nice that it is summer now and I've been able to enjoy the sunny days while I am "working"!  Here are two collages from a day at the Arboretum where I got to take photos of Iris who was turning 2 and Sean's photos for his 9 month session.  It was such a great day - the sky was so beautiful and I had two wonderful subjects to photograph:)

Evan the Fireman

Evan is turning 5 and is OBSESSED with anything that has to do with a fire station.  He is lucky enough to have a neighbor who happens to be a fireman for the Eden Prairie Fire Dept.  So for his birthday photos, we got to spend time at Eden Prairie Fire Station #1.  He brought his awesome costume from FAO Schwartz for the photos.  This was such a fun shoot.  I think I was as excited as he was :)  Happy 5th Birthday Evan!

Summer Hours

Just a short note to let my clients (Leann's) know that I will not be doing photo shoots on Sundays during the summer and will be reserving this day for family time. I AM still available for photos on Saturdays.

Also, I will be "on vacation" the week of June 22nd thru June 28th in an attempt to catch up on things and catch my breath! Thanks to you all for keeping me SOOOO busy! I will have new blogs coming very soon :)

Happy Summer!
Leann

Welcome, Ezra!

Congratulations to Sarah and Family on precious little Ezra. Although he weighs in at a hefty 9 lbs, he is still so tiny! Wrinkly toes and little grunts and funny faces abound. He's beautiful and it was so fun to get a few shots of a 1 day old newborn precious little being :) Mommy (and Daddy) are doing great and adjusting to having 3 children to tend to and very happy to be home!

Honeybee & Peony News

Peony News!!

Sarah and Family welcomed Ezra Christopher into the world this morning at 6:14am!
And darn it, it's about time!! (he is about a week late according to his due date)

He weighed 9 lbs even and was 20.5" long

Congrats to the whole family and especially to mama who achieved her goal of a totally natural childbirth.

Since I have not had a chance to take his first Honeybee Photos yet, her is a cute picture of Sarah when she was pregnant with Ezra.

Baby Ingrid

Ingrid is the daughter of my very great friends and while I was visiting them one day, I noticed the cool pink scale that they had been loaned by a family friend and could not resist doing a photo shoot of her on the scale. She is 3 months old now so we weren't so sure how well she would fit on the scale but it was a blast! And she weighed in at a healthy 15 lbs! She also got to be in an Easter basket and had huge smiles in the adorable hat the mom brought for her. Too cute!

Sean 6 Months

Sean always provides great smiles for me whenever we take photos and he did not let me down this time. But this was also a very touching photo shoot since his daddy was going to be leaving on his way to Iraq the next day. I (very embarrassingly) totally spaced out on our scheduled photo shoot so we had to reschedule for this date which actually turned out to be ok, since then dad could be home for the shoot. There is something so precious about a dad bonding with this child and especially bittersweet since it could be a year until they see each other again. My thoughts and prayers are with their family for his safe and speedy return.

Happy Birthday to Sydney!

What a fun way to take Sydney's 1 Year Photos! (She is actually little baby David's big sister!!) We went to the Como Park Conservatory and let her run around and have fun. I can't believe how time flies and that she is already 1 year old. She is also my first baby to complete the Baby's First Year Package.

Welcome Baby David!

Congratulations to Mommy, Daddy and Big Sisters, too on the birth of David. He is such a cutie!
One of the things I love is finding amazing furniture and fun colors in peoples homes that I get to use as props! This chair was perfect for David's newborn photos! It truly shows his size (actually a big "little guy"!) and will be a great way to chart his growth through his first year of photos!

Kiss Me!

Jacob loves his St Patrick's Day Shirt and wears it with pride! While I (Leann) am not even a wee bit Irish, I love all things festive and my husband is Irish therefore Jacob is, too! Jacob will not say the whole phrase but instead just says "I'm Irish!" Very cute! I have lots of new photos to post but I am way behind so just wanted to give a little festive hello to you all! Now it's back to working on all of your beautiful babies and wedding photos!

Charlie + Everett

Here are some photos of Charlie and Everett's Session at the "Old" studio! They are such cute little guys and had SO many great smiles for me!

And here is a thank you from their mom:

"Hello Leann! The pictures are once again amazing!!! You truly captured my boys! You are so talented. I love them. I cannot wait to decorate the house with them. Thanks for shooting my boys and our family again. I feel so lucky to have found you! I would never have guessed that Charlie was being a little stinker that afternoon and in need of a NAP. :) "

Thank YOU Jody for such cute little men to take photos of :) See you again soon!

Two Allies

I got the pleasure of taking photos of two Allie's in one day! The Allie above is 6 months old and getting so big already. Mom and Dad purchased my Babies First Year package so I come every few months to capture Allie's milestones. This time big brother and sister were home so we got photos of all of them. It's so sweet to watch how they all get along and play together. I'm sure mom and dad agree that they are all perfect little angels :)

My second Allie of the day was a super fun and energetic photo shoot at the studio. Allie was full of smiles and was enjoying running all around the studio. She actually started crying when the shoot was over (very flattering :) and didn't want to leave.

Grace + Lily

I get the joy of photographing these two little pumpkins a few times a year and every time is so much fun. We have done shoots at their house, at the park and at the studio. This time we did another shoot at home. Little Grace is just mastering the fine art of potty training. As you can see, she has some great reading material to help her along :)

Charlie+Jake 1 Month

Charlie and Jake were one month old and little troopers at their first photo shoot :) I always love the chance to photograph twins but up until now, have only had the chance to photograph boy/girl duos. It is amazing to me how they have already developed their distinct personalities. Charlie (the older brother) was the tough guy and Jake (the littler one) is the more contemplative and quiet. Congratulations to mom and dad on their sweet little men!

Happy Birthday Evan!

Happy Birthday to Evan who is turning 1! He was so much fun to photograph and full of smiles and hugs for Mom, Dad and Auntie. I am still amazed at his full head of hair - wow!

Sam+Arie Married!

Congratulations to Sam and Arie who were married in the very beginning of January and I am finally getting things all finished up!! Their wedding took place in Ames, Iowa at Memorial Lutheran Church and they then celebrated at their reception at the Prairie Moon Winery - a very cool location! Luckily, it was a nice day (as far as January days are concerned) and we were able to sneak outside for a few photos. Thanks to Sam and Arie and their families for having me be a part of their beautiful day!