Kindi's Professional Cake Smash

 Look at my cutie pie!  She looks just like a little dolly!  A local photographer, Brandi Varnell, was looking for some 1 year old volunteers to come and destroy a cake in her studio so she could add some cake smash pictures to her portfolio.  (I have been watching for them, but so far I don't see any of the 3 cake smashes she did that weekend on her website.)  I of course hmmm'd and hawed and debated for all of 1/2 a second before I spouted out, Kindi will be one in a couple of weeks!  We'll do it!  Gotta love FaceBook and the unique opportunities it gives us.  I had never met Brandi, but she did some family pictures for a family I know and love so I 'liked' her on FB so I could see the pictures.  She is so creative.  I love all the fun contests that she does and her photography is always beautiful and touching.  Being the poor family that we are (okay, we aren't really poor, but with only one income we have to be careful how we spend our money) we have never been able to afford to get our pictures done by an established professional before.   We have been so blessed to have Heather come and take pictures for us with Kindi and she does a terrific job, but it isn't quite the same.

Such a regal looking princess!

 I had so much fun 'working' with Brandi, because if you have ever tried to take pictures of children you know it takes more than one person to be very successful.  Especially if they are not your kids.  I do fine by myself with my kids, but if I wasn't there to help Brandi, Kindi would have just been a hysterical disaster crying in the corner.  Brandi has some really cute props, I would love to have the pink chair in my stash!  She had a sweet little princess crown and an adorable green (The coolest color ever.) tutu with a matching hair clip.

 The cake was from the new bakery here in town, 4 Sisters Bakery, Brandi even sent them a picture of Kindi taking her cake eating very seriously on facebook.  It was a beautiful cake!  It was even strawberry flavored so that it was pink!  There was too much frosting for my taste, but then I don't really like more then a thin layer on the top.  So any cake, even ones I make, that are decorated all pretty, has too much frosting for me.

 Kindi started off by gently poking her finger into the cake and licking the frosting off, but you can see that that didn't last!  She was cracking me up though.  She would take a bite then wipe her face with her hand, pretending that she didn't like to get dirty!  Most of you don't see Kindi as she usually is because I typically change her 2 seconds before walking out the door, and put a bib on her in the car which I rip off as I get her out.  But if you were to show up to my house unexpectedly you would likely catch her with some sort of food running down her shirt, mixed with the drool ring that goes to her belly button.  Residue of something sticky that she found and shoved into her mouth on her hands and face, and hair either in her eyes or sticking up like she had been electrocuted!  Oh man, now my secret is out!

 There is something special about baby feet!

We worked and worked with Kindi getting her to smile (eating cake is serious business you know) and play a little.  We jumped up and down, danced and sang.  She had a great time until Brandi told her to try to pick up the cake.  Oh man did she get mad when she couldn't do it!!!  The session ended after that.  My Kindi girl has developed a fiery temper!
It was so hard to narrow down the 30 or so pictures and pick my favorite 5.  Since we came to help Brandi out she gave us a disc for free with 5 pictures of our choice.  We could pay for more if we wanted, but we stuck with the 5.

Our bonus picture!  Kindi's classic froggy pose.

But when Brandi showed up at my door with our CD (so sweet of her to surprise me and hand deliver it), she had put one extra picture on it as a bonus.  I was so excited because this picture was the last one I had eliminated and I had agonized over it!
After the session while I was getting Kindi cleaned up and dressed, Brandi was so sweet to share lots of photography tips with me.  She even invited me to come and be a second shooter at some weddings this summer!  I had told her that I've been asked to do 3 weddings but chickened out each time and begged them to find someone else.  So she offered to let me come and get some experience.  It would be a great ice breaker for me.  A chance to get some wedding photography in and if I totally blew it at least they would have all the beautiful pictures that Brandi took!  I think that would really help me to relax.  I'm hoping that I do get an opportunity to go help her out.  How fun!