My goal is to do one (yes only one) personal blog post a year. Last year I shared the story of Kyndall's adoption, so this year I decided to share how we celebrate birthdays here in the Thompson household.
Our birthday tradition started back when I decided to actually learn how to use my "fancy" camera and I began this photography journey. The only expectation I had of myself was to learn to take good pictures of my kids so we weren't spending hundreds of dollars every year to capture all the special moments, events and holidays that we make such a huge deal about as parents.
I said I at least want to do a birthday shoot for my kids every year as part of their celebration where we would come up with something fun and unique that would remind us of what they were like at that age. And let me tell you, Kyan just turned 5 and it is one of the few personal projects I have stayed committed to over the years! Ever year Kyan has become more and more involved in deciding what her wardrobe will be, what the theme will be, which of her stuffed animals will be included, and yes, even which poses she would like me to capture. (I'm not making this stuff up, you can ask my husband).
This year I knew I wanted to do a Photo Booth, so I started buying the props when I would find them really cheap and I found a pennant banner with her name on it for the background. So, Kyan got to help put her props together while I got the background and lighting set up and we had a blast! Kyndall was napping so she missed out on the fun...but here are some of my favorites from the session.
And the pose above....This was a special request from the birthday girl. Now, it is not technically the best picture because her face is a little fuzzy, but I love it because it's what she wanted!
Once the photos are done and edited, we pick out one photo that will go on the mantle for the year, one photo that will go to grandparents, and we do customized thank you cards using the photos. We have so much fun picking out the photos and the thank you card designs, and the grandparents love getting them in the mail. The small collage above are what the grandparents received this year (small as in 5x5 size) and a thank you card.
Now onto my girl Kyndall, whom we adoringly call Busy Lizzy and there is very good reason for that! That girl is the busiest kid we have ever encountered. I had no idea what I wanted to do for her birthday shoot....that is until I walked into The Flying Cupcake shop here in Carmel to pick up some goodies for Valentine's Day...The decor was just as amazing as their cupcakes. After figuring out the proper channels to go through to photograph there, we were good to go. Now, Kyndall is not as easy as Kyan when it comes to photo shoots, but because there was a cupcake in her future, she totally cooperated. Here are my favorites of our littlest person.
The picture above and to the right with Kyndall running is the one we chose to send to grandparents and crew this year, why you ask? Because that's what she does...run like a crazy person! And below are Kyndall's thank you cards. Out of pure coincidence, both girls' thank you cards are from the same designer. I guess I am consistent with the style I like!
I hope you enjoyed reading about our birthday traditions and I would love to hear what you and your family do to celebrate. This is just how I choose to use my Mommy time and talents, because quite frankly, I am terrible at planning birthday parties and doing crafts lol...
