Odessa Newborn Photographer~ Mav’s Newborn Session

Taylor has done the grow with me package for both her babies, she is very smart to do so! It saves money on a newborn, 3,6,9 month and Cake Smash photo sessions and she get's priority scheduling for her sessions. She just sends me a message when it gets close to time, we set a day, she shows up, I take the photos and she’s done! My grow with me packages are very affordable and streamline the whole first year of photos for your new addition!

He was a sweet little snuggly boy for his table poses, but when it came to sibling shots…. big brother wasn’t so on board for the photo session. Their faces in the photo below is priceless! Siblings between the ages of 1 and 3 are a 50/50 chance of getting them in the photos lol Sometimes they jump right in…. sometimes they jump right in and smile!

I love the colors mom chose for the family photos! Nice and warm and neutral! I’m a little behind on posting and blogging, but Mav has been back for his 3 and 6 month milestone sessions already and he’s the sweetest little guy with the biggest smiles and looks exactly like his brother but so sooooo different at the same time! Taylor is blessed with two very cute and sweet little boys!

Brother did go ahead and hop in and smile easy peasy with mom and dad for the family photo!

Kansas City Neworn Photographer ~ Newborn Session

Truitt was an absolute 100% perfect angel for his newborn session. That doesn’t happen very often but I have been on a little bit of a roll…. (knock on wood).

Table Poses During Newborn Photo Session

He let me do all the poses I wanted and that made my day! His crazy hair probably made my day more though…. I mean look at it! If you don’t smile looking at that hair and that sweet baby, I’m not sure what would do it for you! I love the colors mom chose for his photo session, they matched his complexion and that red hair perfectly!

And that smile! Come on! One other thing I like to capture during the newborn photo session is the detail shots! They are something I think Is not really thought about sometimes. I have these photos from my son when he was a baby, he is 14 now and I am so glad we do!! Booking a newborn session is something you will never regret!

Blue Springs Photographer

Lone Jack Cake Smash Session~ Lawson’s The big ONE!

Believe it or not I have not done a fishing cake smash theme in years! I was so excited when Mercedes reached out to me last minute to get a smash cake session Scheduled for Lawson! I did a “You are my Sunshine” themed cake smash for her middle daughter and she said she couldn’t imagine anyone else doing his photo session! That made my heart so happy!! He’s the first boy of her three kiddos and rounded out their family perfectly! She wasn’t kidding when she told me he was the happiest guy.

At first he wasn’t to sure about the cake, a little angry in fact, as you can see in that first photo. But then he tried the smash cake……. And things got way better from there!

After lot’s of smiles and faces and smashing, this Fishing themed cake smash photo session was a success! He made a good little mess and we got him all cleaned up! His sweet faces kept coming the whole photo session! Don’t wait to book your cake smash session or one year milestone session, they are one of my specialties and they book up fast! It’s May and I already have some on the books for August and September!

The bath after the cake smash is often their favorite part!!

Carrolton, Missouri Cake Smash Photographer ~ Gentry’s Berry First Birthday

I can’t believe this is my first Berry Cake Smash Session in 10 years. It’s such a cute, simple, sweet, girly cake smash theme! And Gentry did not disappoint!

I knew when mom said she had been walking for awhile we had out work cut out for us….. they do not slow down you guys! They go go go!

Jackson County Cake Smash Photographer

That’s where chairs and props come in! I usually have about 2 min of them in the chair before they make their way out of it and on to other things…. Especially if there is strawberries laying everywhere! Didn’t take her long to find a fake one and try to take a bite, so we quickly subbed it for a real one and let her eat! Made for some super cute photos!

Berry Themed Cake Smash photo shoot

And then there is always the spoon! Once they get ahold of the spoon, rarely do they want to let it go! It is usually a lifesaver for these sessions. Gentry was loving the spoon to beat and smash her cake! After so much icing from the cake they are always ready for drink. It is becoming part of every cake smash session to have a “drink break” photo lol a quick drink works every time to get them back on board with us, if even for a couple minutes. This girl nailed her cake smash photo session and I love the theme of Berry First Birthday and I can’t wait to do the next one and see how I can switch it up!

Lexington Missouri Photographer ~Easter Mini Sessions

I have been so busy I never even got any of my Easter Mini Sessions Posted anywhere. So I decided to just do it here in a nutshell! You guys these mini sessions are a long day but I always leave meeting the sweetest, funniest, difficult, most uninterested little kiddos and it makes for some great memories for me so thank you! It’s always an adventure!

Sometimes they come in and it might take them a second to warm up, but then they nail it and give us the sweet and silly photos that are exactly what the parents are hoping for!

Sometime’s Sister doesn’t want anything to do with it so we get lot’s of photos of brother and got lucky sis jumped in on one!

Sometimes the little one smiles and smiles and smiles and sis say’s nope! Not happening!

And then it’s middle brother that says no way! He requires a sucker in each hand and run’s poor mom ragged trying but we get lucky on a couple!

Then you get lucky and EVERYONE is on board to do their part! And the cheesy smile of one little lady has you cracking up! And then there is the sweet little guy that gives you all the big grins when he walks in and then when it’s time for photos he’s only got a couple left for you!

Photographing and getting to know these kiddos and families is such a blessing for me and I will take every smiley, moody, cranky moment with a smile on my face. I am so thankful for every single one of you!

Lexington Newborn and Cake Smash Photography Studio ~ Lela May Photography

Welcome to my photo studio! I wanted to give you a peek into what I have going on here! If your wanting to book a session, rest assured that I have everything we need for the session and you can just show up and let me handle it! I have a sitting area with a small couch, a changing station with extra diapers and other essentials, a mini fridge and a Keurig all ready to go!

Kansas City area photo studio

For your newborn session I have tons of wraps, tiebacks and hats, buckets, bowls and backdrops! You don’t have to worry about anything! We will discuss color and theme preference prior to your session and plan accordingly to make sure your session is exactly what you envision. You can also just tell me to handle it you don’t want to have to stress over it, I got you!

For cake smash sessions I have more balloons and props than you can even imagine! Just tell me the theme you want and I go to work! I even provide the cake! We discuss the details and what you vision is and I take it from there, you just show up for the photo session!

Richmond Missouri Newborn Photographer ~ Legend’s Newborn Session

This one was a special one for me! I want to introduce you guys to Legend Ezekiel Ray. Tay and Zayvion were so loving toward this little guy. Dad gave him kisses on his little forehead when I took him and it made me melt. They are going to be fantastic parents and I know he has an army at home to love on him. This is one of the sweetest families I know!

I did Tay’s Senior photo session in high school and she chose me to do her newborn photo session too! This boy was sooooooo good for all the different poses I wanted to do. She had sent me a few ideas she found on Pinterest and I tried my best to give her everything she wanted. The little bear is always a popular one.

Kansas City Newborn Photographer

I was swooning over this boys hair, All my newborn sessions lately I feel like they have had nice little heads of hair, which doesn’t happen very often! All boys too…… lot’s of newborn boys lately. I think I can almost see a little grin, he was having some sweet dreams in that bucket. One other thing I try to do in all my newborn sessions is get the little feet, lips, hands, ears…. they will never be this small again, we have to get the details!!

And mom’s hands wrapped around her sweet boy……

Warrensburg Missouri Newborn Photographer

Tay asked me to try this swing pose for her, I have only done it a couple times before, and by this time he was kind of over us messing with him, he just wanted to sleep and be left alone! This is why I do mostly wrapped poses for my sessions. When you unleash those arms and legs the babe tends to wake up and get wiggly. Took us a minute but we got it!

It was so good seeing Tay and meeting her two new loves, Zayvion and Legend, I wish all the best for you guys and thank you again for choosing me to capture these memories for you!

Richmond Missouri Photographer ~ Cake Smash Session

Grandma purchased a newborn session for this sweet girl but it never got to happen so we decided to use it for a little cake smash session instead. Alaina’s dad went to school with my daughter…it’s so weird to me seeing all these kids having kids! They aren’t kids anymore and it just reminds me how old I am getting! But your only as old as you feel right?!

This outfit is the cutest thing I think I have ever seen ….and the Vespa??? Come on! Perfect way to start out this girls photo session! Cake smash sessions include some pre-cake photos with any outfit that you want and then we will also do a few before the cake in their smash outfit.

Simple cake smash outfit

And then the cake smash fun begins……..

Missouri Cake Smash Session

Honestly she didn’t care about the cake….and a lot of times they don’t! But we fake it till we make it and I ALWAYS get the photos! I have done cake smash sessions for years now and all these little’s are different so we let them lead and work our booties off to make it happen! Grandma and Great Grandma were both here for this one and they were so much fun! We had a blast coaxing this girl to get into this cake! The best part is that she ended her cake smash session by sitting on the cake and not even caring!

Blue Springs Cake Smash Photographer ~ Dinosaur Cake Smash

I love that the mom picked the theme for this cake smash session to be dinosaurs! I have done several dinosaur themed cake smash’s but not for a GIRL!

Blue Springs Cake Smash Photographer

I did this girls newborn session, twice in fact because she wasn’t having it the first time. She was a little little bitty thing and she still is petite as can be! She is however not just walking but RUNNING and she was all over the place for her session! She keeps her momma busy that’s for sure! One thing these littles do at their cake smash session almost every single time is put their foot in the cake.

Pink Dinosaur Cake Smash Session

AND they always prefer to pick tiny crumbs off the floor, and play with the wooden spoon instead of the cake.

Cake smash photo session

We make a giant mess and then get cleaned up! Cake smash session complete with adorable bath photos!

Carrolton Missouri Newborn Photographer ~Newborn Session

Clover is this girls name and she couldn’t have been more perfect at her newborn photo session! She let me fly through 3 or 4 setups before she decided she needed a snack and mommy cuddles, then let me do a couple more! Fastest newborn session I have had in awhile! I also took her big brother’s newborn photos and his cake smash session as well. One of my favorite parts of being a cake smash, milestone and newborn photographer is getting to see these babies grow up and their families grow too! I have had a ton of newborn sessions booked for the next couple months for second babies coming my way. Very excited to see all these families again!

Newborn Photographer Kansas City

Carrolton Missouri Football Cakesmash Photography Session

Noah’s football themed cake smash was so fun to design! I have done this theme before but this time I was excited to add my giant football! I am just starting to learn this technique of prop design for my cake smash sessions, and I am looking forward to all the new possibilities it opens up for my set designs! Every theme is personalized and never repeated so your kiddos cake smash session is one of a kind!

Noah was in my studio for a Christmas Mini Session and he was all about the cookies to the point mom had to intervene before he choked himself. Because of that we were thinking he would be all about the cake, but he was NOT! However I have done over 200 cake smash sessions and I know how to get the job done and get the photos to give you a complete gallery of memories no matter how much your little one does or doesn’t like the cake. I have a few tricks up my sleeve!

Carrollton Missouri Photographer

Kansas City Football Cake Smash

Cleaned up after cake smash session

Kansas City Cakesmash Photographer ~ Robbie’s Mickey Mouse Cake Smash

This isn’t the first and wont be the last Mickey Mouse Cake Smash I do, He is a timeless character that ALL the kiddos love! I remember watching the Mickey Mouse Club house after school when I was young, when Justin Timberlake, Brittney Spears, Christina Aquilera among others were on there! ( showing my age here). But my son who is now a teenager, LOVED Mickey when he was little, it wasn’t a normal day if I didn’t hear the hot dog song a million times! Robbie obviously loves Mickey as much as my son did, 13 years later!

I did his sister’s cake smash session when she turned one and it was Minnie Mouse of course!! They both had their newborn photos done at one month old and they both slept like a log right through them, I got lucky! When you do a 1month old newborn session you never know how it’s going to go, if they are going to snooze or be up and ready to party! Luckily most the time I find they do great, sometimes better than when they are in the prime 14 day window to do the newborn session. But back to Robbie’s cake smash session…… This boy was a HOOT! He smiled and laughed, made faces and ran around all over the place, he was awesome!

Then came the cake! He wasn’t to sure at first……..

But then he warmed up and went to town on this smash cake!

Yep… he slayed it! The best part was his bath though! I have never seen a kid go crazy like he did in this tub…his mom and I laughed so hard at this kid! His arms were going as fast as they could splashing and water was flying everywhere! Arms and legs were both flying ! End result was a clean baby, adorable bath photos and a huge mess for me to clean up. Perfect cake smash session in the books!

Lexington, MO Cakesmash Photographer ~ Jade’s Cake Smash Session

They truly do grow way to fast. One day I’m doing their newborn session and the next the cake smash. As much as I love newborn sessions I have to say cake smash sessions are probably my favorite! I get to see their little personalities they are growing into and I feel I get to be more creative with cake smash sessions than newborn sessions. Here is Miss Jade at her newborn session and the rustic boho style cake smash we just did for her a couple weeks ago.

She is the sweetest little girl, but she doesn’t give up smiles at her photo sessions very easy, the cake smash session however she was all kinds of smiley! I would be too if I got to eat cake… just saying. I love the theme her mom picked out, we just kept it pretty simple, I am in LOVE with this balloon arch. I get better and better at them all the time.

You can see it in her eyes how much fun she was having smashing up this cake! She didn’t really want to eat any of it, and a lot of times they don’t, something I will never understand because personally I would be living my best life and eating it by the fist full! Then of course the bath… they almost always love the bath after the smash! And you get to leave with a clean baby! I had a cake smash session done for my son, he’s 13 now so it’s been awhile, but after the smash was the worst part, I went through a package of wipes and his skin was red and we STILL hadn’t gotten all the cake off. He was one sticky baby for the ride home and immediately got a bath. It would have been soooo much easier if I had a way to clean him off when we were done.

I hope you had a great birthday little lady and I saw your party pics on facebook and I’m pretty sure mom and dad made sure it was everything a little girl could hope for!

Lexington, MO Cakesmash Photographer ~ Vivian’s Smash

Ok, First of all. I LOVE her name! If my son Mack was a girl that’s what his name was going to be! And I love the very simple theme mom picked. Cake Only for this girl’s cake smash session!

I did this cake smash session shortly after my mother passed and I was kind of thankful it was so simple, as it didn’t require much thought on my part, but it was also a welcome distraction. Vivian’s mom has brought me something almost every time I have done a session for this girl and this time she came with flowers. I can’t lie, it made me cry a little. She is the most sweet and thoughtful lady and Vivian is lucky to have her as her momma!

Vivian definitely loved the icing! Her favorite part of the cake was the icing puffs up top because she could just pull them right off! Her momma also had the last minute thought to bring a prop of her own and I was so glad she did! It was perfect for her big first birthday photo session! She got to show off what a big girl she was and how well she could stand up on her own! And then of course we ended with the bath part of her session, most ALWAYS a favorite with these little kiddos, even if they won’t smash the cake they will usually give us big smiles for their bath photos!

Norborne, MO Cakesmash Photographer ~ Maliya’s Mermaid Smash

It is hard to believe that these babies grow up so fast. Newborn photo’s one day….. cakesmash the next. Maliya is another one of my sweet babies that in a flash is ONE! I had just moved into my makeshift temporary studio when I did her newborn photos, I remember we included her stuffed Elephant in her session and at the end we did some football pics with mom and dad……GO CHIEFS! Mom decided on a mermaid cake smash for you one year milestone session. Maliya was Jibber Jabbering non stop the whole photo session, mom and dad are going to be in trouble when she really starts talking because she definitely has a lot to say!

She wasn’t really in to smashing the cake. She was more about snacks. Cookies mainly lol she was all about her cookies and happy as can be when she had one. Oh…. and her little Christmas carousel that played music, that made her smile too! I am glad they thought to bring it! Anytime you have something you know will help make them comfortable or smile you are welcome to bring it to their photo session.

The splash after the cake smash however she was all about! She had herself a good ‘ol time and left me a river to clean up! It was great to see her have a good time though! I LOVE cake smash sessions! These little personalities make my job so fun and I’m so blessed to get to work with these families.

I love the dress mom found for her for her simple portraits. One of the perks of my cake smash photo sessions is you also get some pre-cake photos on a simple backdrop so you can dress them in whatever you like! These photos are timeless and can hang on your walls and never outdate.

Happy First Birthday sweet girl! I hope you get to eat all the cookies you want that day! lol

Holden, MO Cakesmash Photographer ~ One in a Melon!

I just met this sweet little lady and she came in with some sass let me tell ya! She was FULL of personality! It was so fun getting to meet her during her cake smash session!

It’s not to often they are walking when I do their cake smash… not usually anyway, but my past few have not only been walkers but RUNNERS! It wears mom out but it makes for some fun photos! This girl even picked up my stool and was trying to take a big ‘ol bite out of it.. we were dying laughing at her! (see photo below)

Then comes the smash part of the photo session! She was NOT into the cake at all. Given her spunky, fun personality we thought she was going to really tear into it! NOPE. Not even close! But see, that is where my job comes in ! It may not go smooth as we would like and isn’t always as fun as it looks… but you pay me to capture these photos and I will do my absolute best to do it no matter the situation! See the photos below and you would never know she didn’t have the time of her life! We did it! It takes some work but we get through it! Now mom will have these photos to remember this time in her life forever and I know when Aspen grows up she will get a good laugh out of them too!

And then there’s the bath….. they almost always love the bath even if they don’t love the cake…. Aspen however was over us at this point…… but we still managed to get a smile.

Lexington, MO Cakesmash Photograher ~ Knox’s Farm Smash!

The work family of Knox’s mom bought her a newborn session as a gift and that is how I got to meet this sweet family for the first time. I remember he had the longest thickest eyelashes I have ever seen on a baby and he still does! I am always so glad to get to see these kiddos again and experience their little personalities as they grow up! He was all about his pre-smash photos, showed tons of personality, and ran all over the place. I don’t see a 1 year old very often that was running around quite the way he was! I think it’s important to capture all the personality we can! I still cherish photos from my son’s cake smash and he is almost 13! I am so glad I decided it was worth it to do those photos back then, in fact it’s part of what inspired me to keep working on my photography, I knew cake smash sessions were something I would LOVE doing!

His set up turned out adorable! A couple of his own little stuffed animals were the perfect addition! We ALMOST had some baby piggies that mom was going to bring from their farm but they little piggies grew a little to fast on us and we weren’t able to do it. I can only imagine what kind of fun we would have had with them in this setup!

Unfortunately Mr. Knox was not a fan of his cake, and sometimes that happens! More often than not actually they don’t care about the cake to much, very rarely do they just go for it and really smash it! I do have a few tricks up my sleeve that most the time gets them going on the cake pretty good, but not always! We fake it until we make it…whatever it takes to get the photos you will cherish forever. Sometimes patience is the key and we just give them time to warm up to the whole ordeal lol

Look at that last photo, see those lashes I was talking about? I have to say I am a bit jealous!!! I am so thankful and have so much fun taking these photos! So thank you to the work family of Samantha’s that bought her the gift certificate for her newborn session and brought this sweet family my way! She did comment that it was a gift that she absolutely loved and cherished so keep that in mind if you know anyone having a little one! A newborn session makes a great gift!

I am now booking Newborn sessions into October !

Lexington,MO Newborn Photographer ~ Ellington Grace’s Newborn Session

I actually did this session back in November but life has dealt me with quite a few obstacles the last month or so and I am waaaaay behind! Covid has me stuck at home for the moment so I figure I might as well catch up on some posts! Emily and Shawn were the sweetest couple and they were just head over heals for this little lady!

I don’t usually do newborn sessions on Saturdays but this one I had to make an exception! I had just closed on my studio and spent that week getting all moved in, Ellie was the very first session in my new studio! Dad doesn’t even know how lucky he is that he got to sit on the couch and chill and not roast in an oven like the other’s did in my much smaller space!

Lexington, MO Newborn Photographer ~ Easton’s Milestone Session

Mr. Easton was back for his 3 month milestone session a couple weeks ago! This lucky guy has two older sisters and the best mom and dad a boy could ask for! I love them all to pieces! This little guy is just the icing on the cake! He is 100% his daddies twin and has the biggest dark eyes, which is a stark contrast to his sisters who have the brightest blue eyes like their momma!

Did I mention that he has the BEST hair? lol I love it!

I have done multiple Newborn, Milestone, Cake Smash, Maternity, and Family Sessions for Caitlin and she ALWAYS goes above and beyond and picks the cutest clothes for her and her family, she could be my full time session stylist! No joke! lol My favorite memory of them has to be her maternity session when pregnant with this boy….. Emerson wasn’t having it… well because she was almost two and that’s just how two year old’s are ( they LOVE photos… NOT!) ….. we have a lot memories from that session for sure. It was pretty funny! So Here is one more of Mr. Easton, mainly because I love the face he was making, they are always my favs.

Lexington, MO Newborn Photographer ~ Robert Earl Lynn’s Newborn Session

So It’s storming out… I had this whole Blog typed and the electricity went out and I lost it! So here I am again….. I’m sure I wrote some rather clever things and now I can’t remember any of them. Ok, maybe I didn’t have a lot of clever things so say… but I knew to this blogging thing and I’m pretty clueless really. So you get what you get. Ha!

I have only done newborn sessions at 1 month old twice and it was little Mr. Robert here and the other one was his sister Melissa! With his sister I took the milestone session approach, but she slept like a log so I ended up wrapping her like I do newborns. What I really remember about her was she had crazy hair, it was the best! So I decided to just go full on newborn session for Robert and he rocked it! He wasn’t a huge fan of the table poses but for 1 month I was kind of expecting that. Being wrapped however… he was all about! Had to include a pic with him and his momma… 1. because he had the sweetest little grin and 2. They are TWINS! Ok, now that I have done this blog twice…. It’s time for some wine! Then time for bed.