Happy Easter 2021 - Pt. 2 - Edmonton Family Lifestyle Photographer

Thanks for making it to part two of our Easter egg decorating adventure! If you make it to the end, you’ll be able to see our whole collection of Easter eggs this year.

When my kids were smaller, decorating eggs felt like a bit of an ordeal. We had to put the paper down, have lots of cloths to wipe up messes, and help them make sure they didn’t spill the jars of dye. Now that they’re older, it’s really nice to just sit with them and watch them take the creative lead and do their own thing. They both have their own way and style of doing things.

We were lucky enough to have been gifted some farm fresh eggs this year. They are too beautiful to put in the dye, but look wonderful set out on the table. I had been holding off on eating them the week before so we would have them to enjoy for the Easter holidays.

So, we also picked up some mini egg donuts. I wasn’t kidding when I said we tried to make things fun for the kids… may have went a bit overboard on the sugar. (Luckily the Easter Bunny got the memo and didn’t bring them too much chocolate today.)

BUT - I had to see these donuts in person. I had been seeing funny videos online of people getting these from Tim Horton’s and them looking nothing like they were supposed to. We got lucky, and they looked great - and tasted pretty good too.

A couple photos up you can kiiiiiind of see he’s missing a couple teeth on the bottom. The second one fell out yesterday, so it was a double visit last night from both the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. He was pretty stoked about that.

Every Easter I make a point of having some Tulips on the table. I find they just bring happiness with them after a long, dreary winter. The first sign of light and spring colours in my mind.

And finally, our collection of eggs for this year. We made a lot, but they will get eaten over the course of the week for sure. I think these are some of my favourites yet. Every year they seem to get brighter and more fun.

Thanks again for following along with us this year. It was a long, cold, isolating winter and it felt nice to grab my camera again for myself. I am hoping to catch up and share more here on my blog too in the near future.

Hope you all have/had a wonderful, safe Easter this year.

-Meg

Happy Easter 2021 - Pt. 1 - Edmonton Family Lifestyle Photographer

Well, it’s been a hot minute since I have last blogged. Easter this year in Edmonton, Alberta is looking a little different for the second year in a row with all of the restrictions still in place here, but we still tried to keep it fun for the kids. Like every year, they always have a lot of fun painting Easter eggs.

A couple of years ago we picked up the “Eggmazing” egg decorator. It comes with markers, and you place the egg in it, and it spins it for you while you hold the markers to add fun stripes. It’s our favourite. You could easily bypass the need for using traditional liquid dye if you wanted to! We still do both - for variety, and because you can get some really amazing colours if you dye the eggs first and then add the stripes after. Highly recommend.

Just a note that I’ve split this post into two to ensure the photos load properly - there will be a link to go to the next post at the bottom. You can see our completed collection of colourful Easter eggs at the end of the second post.

We used white and brown eggs this year. We found the brown eggs worked way better with giving beautiful rich colours with both the liquid dye and the Eggmazing markers.

Another thing we tried was putting some rice into a Ziploc bag and adding food colouring, then dunking your egg in and mixing it around. The rice adds some speckles to the eggs. It worked OKAY, but wasn’t anything to write home about. We’ll probably skip it next time.

Check out that last image - our dye kit came with some gold paint to apply with a sponge. It worked really well with giving either a light shimmer, or thicker golden stripes. It looked really neat on the darker blue and green eggs - those were my faves.

I’ve split this post into two so click on to the next post here!

Happy Halloween 2018 - Edmonton Family Photographer

Happy Halloween - October 31, 2018 - Edmonton Family Photographer

Happy Halloween to you all! It’s my favourite holiday and I am more than ready for trick-or-treats, ghosts, goblins, and zombies, pumpkins and black cats. As always, I ventured out with my boys in their costumes and we went on some pre-Halloween adventures so they could test out their awesome knight Halloween costumes.

Knight Halloween Costumes - Treelines Photography - Edmonton Family Photographer

The kids had been going on about dressing up like Knights since last Halloween. In August, they changed their mind during a trip to Costco when their costumes were just new in stock. Luckily they have an easy return policy, as when I found these knight costumes at another store, I just couldn’t leave them behind. Only two on the rack, and in the boys’ sizes - it was a meant to be! The kids were stoked, and although they TRIED to get me to let them keep both costumes, in the end they decided knights it was.

Knight adventure. Edmonton lifestyle photographer.

Our adventure began on a beautiful fall evening. The kids had a blast exploring through the grass and trees with their armour on, swords and shields in tow. They had so much fun getting into character.

They didn’t stay in one place for long. Off they went running down the path looking for a battle.

Being knights was serious business. They were sure they heard something rustling in the trees.

They had to make sure to practice their battle stance. T had to find a new way to hold his sword as the handle broke about 15 minutes into the evening after he decided to wack it on the ground. Pretty sure I told him not to do that before we left, and when we got there, and shortly before it happened. Three-year-olds, amirite? >.<

And then again, just like that, they were off to another battle.

The helmets of these costumes were my fave! I loved how fluffy and bright they were!

Their favourite was obviously the sword and shield, but they also loved the capes because they would float and fly through the air when they spun around.

As the sun began to set, our little knights were beginning to get tired, so we ventured back to the car through a beautifully lit pat. You just can’t beat that lovely autumn light this time of year.

Fast forward to the next evening. The kids wanted to head back to one of our other favourite spots - where we shot their Halloween photos last year - because, hay bales. haha. Since we were having such a beautiful week weather wise, I couldn’t say no. Here are a few from then:

All day the kids talked non-stop about going to the “field with the hay bales”. They were super excited. It’s one of our favourite spots, and this year the bales were close enough together they could run along the tops. Made my heart skip a beat a bit since these are city kids, but they managed just fine. hahaha.

Finished the evening off at an attempt at radial blur. He thought I was nuts spinning my camera, but when I showed him the photo after he thought it was pretty neat and wanted to try himself. I love it that my kids are showing an interest in photography themselves lately.

Thanks so much for following along on our Halloween adventures once again. It’s my favourite time of year, and I love seeing how much fun my kids have with dressing up and participating in all of the fun activities. I feel very lucky they still let me drag my camera along to do these little sessions with them.

If you want to take a peek at our Pirate session from last year, you can here.

I’d love to know what you and your kiddos dressed up as this year, as well as your favourite Halloween activities. You can let me know in the comments below. :)

Pumpkin Picking at Somerset Farms - Edmonton Family Photographer Lifestyle Photography

We went U-Pick Pumpkin Picking at Somerset Farms!

In September we headed out on a pumpkin picking adventure to the U-Pick Pumpkin Patch at Somerset Farms in Parkland County, just outside of Edmonton, Alberta. The kids had a blast exploring through the huge pumpkin patch picking their own pumpkins for this year’s Halloween Jack-o-lanterns.

This was our second year picking our own pumpkins, and I have to admit, it’s pretty much my favourite autumn activity. There’s just something about being outside, among all of the huge pumpkins that grew there from just a tiny seed.

We made it just in time, too, as the night we went was the last evening they were open, as it was our season’s first frost (which felt so early).

When we got there, it was raining a bit and it looked like a big rain storm was about to hit. We kept on anyways, and brought a couple of umbrellas with us. Luckily, the storm passed and not long after we arrived the rain stopped. The kids loved looking at all of the different pumpkins and were so excited to pick a few for our carving this year.

It was so hard not to pick them all, there were so many beautiful ones. The kids made their way through the patch, and didn’t think lightly about the ones they chose to bring home with us. Pumpkin picking is serious business, haha.

Somerset Farms was beautiful. They had the huge pumpkin patch of course, but also a gorgeous row of sunflowers dividing the patch from a field of cows that were happy just grazing on the grass. The kids loved peeking through the flowers to spot them, and loved how close they were.

A little dirt never hurt anyone - just a sign of a well spent evening outside.

In addition to the pumpkin patch, there were also a couple of little games set up and a hay bale playground. The kids had just as much fun there as in the actual pumpkin patch. haha.

Thank you to Somerset Farms for the wonderful evening. Your staff were all so helpful and informative and your farm was the perfect pumpkin patch. We hope to be back next year!

I’d love to know your favourite autumn activity to do with your family! Let me know in the comments below. :)

Flower Picking at Birchwood Meadows - Edmonton Family Photographer

Flower Picking at Birchwood Meadows - Edmonton Family Photographer

A few weeks ago we headed out with friends to Birchwood Meadows Flower Farm, just north of Edmonton, to pick some flowers and make a beautiful bouquet.  It was such a fun family activity.

When we got there, we were greeted and given a little tour of the farm and shown how to pick the flowers correctly. They had so many beds full of blooms, and a greenhouse with others. We opted to take a walk through the greenhouse first. The lush greens were so refreshing.

We then ventured outside to see what else they had. The sky was still orange and mokey from the forest fires and it created a bit orange softbox in the sky. It didn't deter from the beautiful flowers though. Townes was drawn to the Snapdragons and instantly declared them his favourite.  My favourite were the beautiful sunflowers.

When we were all done picking our flowers, we had them all wrapped up for the drive home. Townes was proud of his bouquet and wanted to show it off, despite the borderline grumpy look on his face. haha. 

On the drive home, I spotted a gorgeous spot that showcased the odd hazy, smokey sky we had that night, so I pulled over and grabbed a few shots of Townes exploring and finding some rocks. It was nice having some one-on-one time with him, as that doesn't happen very often these days.

Thanks for following along on our flower picking adventure.  Have you gone to a flower farm before? You can leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear all about it!