Addison at 10 months

Dearest Addison,

Hello my beautiful little girl! Today you are now 10 months old. Only 2 more months to go to reach your one year milestone. You are a wonderful little girl coming into your own and developing such a sweet demeanor about you. Looking back at these 10 months it amazes me how much you've grown. You've developed a great sense of humor and seem to get a great laugh out of throwing your toys out of your crib for me to toss back in. On my days off that we spend together, I've found myself completely exhausted from chasing you around the house. You have a knack of finding pieces of whatever and sticking them in your mouth even after I have just vacuumed... we're getting some serious mileage out of that thing since you started crawling. =) Your mommy and I have recently begun developing our strategy for "Addi-proofing" the house. It's not as easy as getting child proof locks and adding padding to sharp corners... oh no... you're much too smart for these things to get in the way of you headbutting the entertainment center or sticking you chubby little fingers in the wall sockets, what we need to do is line the entire apartment with padding, remove all electrical outlets and patching the holes they once occupied and consolidate all electronics or anything requiring power to a single room with a a deadbolt, combination lock, and timed entry. I think then you'll be safe from the dangers of home life. =) or we can do it the easy way and just buy one those kiddie fences and corral you in your play area...

Your mommy bought you your very first halloween costume this past week, we got you to try it on the other day and your mommy got some really cute smiles out of you...


Seriously sweetie, could you be any cuter???

So we decided last week to try on the absolutely adorable Converse Chuck Taylor's your Uncle Jarrel gave to you as a baptism present... I think they match your look completely.

With winter coming, Mommy decided it was time to try on your winter clothes that she has been "investing" in all summer.  You seemed to enjoy this hat. 

Like I was saying earlier, you've really come into your own.  I get all goofy teary eyed watching your personality develop, and from the looks of things you are a RIOT!  Always laughing, always smiling, always so very very sweet.  God has definitely blessed us with an angel and I am so very honored to be your Daddy.  Happy 10 months Addison, we love you dearly!

Loving you always,

Daddy and Mommy

Some big changes are a comin!

As some of you may have already noticed when you typed in the web address www.jcastrophotography.com, you were brought to a the splash page of our new website. That's right folks we're finally getting a website. We even have new logo. This blog will be updated shortly to reflect the change but for the next couple weeks or so, we'll keep it as is.

Couple of announcements:

-Happy anniversary to Sandra and John! Hope you two had an awesome first year as husband and wife.

-Congrats to Emily and Stuart who were wed on September 14. Thank you for choosing us to document your special day.

-Happy anniversary to my lovely wife and assistant, Audrey, who one year ago today defended her thesis before her board and recieved her PhD. I love you honey!

-For our 2009 Brides! The response for our contest has been amazing! Hurry up and book your date now and get your contracts signed and in the mail before December 31!

And finally
-To all past, present and future brides... hold on to your hats because we've got something up our sleeve. Stay tuned for more information.

-Jaymie & Audrey... and Addi too!

The wedding of Emily and Stuart

Emily and Stuart were married this past sunday at the Round Hill House in Washingtonville, NY.  Although it was a balmy 89 degrees with what seemed like 100% humidity, Emily and Stuart were all smiles.  Here are some of our fav's from the day.

Emily is indeed Fabulous!

Suit, 3 piece, brown, pinstripe... awesome!  Stuart, did this thing have AC?

Stuart is looking hot... no really... it was hot out!

The Dress...

The veil... the shoes...

The wrap around robe thingamabobber...????

The Bride with her lovely ladies. 

We felt bad for Stuart and the guys standing in the heat, so we kept them cool in the house unitl it was time for pictures... you should have seen how fast these four ran back into the house as soon as I said ""ok thanks guys!"

You should see Stuart's face as he's holding the bouquet...

By the way... their florist was Maryann of Flowers on the Porch, her and her husband did a fantastic job!

How cool is this?

The veil shot that Emily was dying to have!

I love shooting in the late afternoon...

Such a beautiful couple...

Our most whimsical and free spirited bride to date!  How cute is she?  Our associate photographer Izzac took this one.

Emily and Stuart, thank you so very much for allowing us into your family and documenting your most special day.  Below is the slideshow... for the full size version, you can go click here.

-Jaymie, Audrey, & Izaac

Our portrait session in San Diego

While on vacation in San Diego we visited with David, Kim, Rain & April of SD Ohana Photography. David posted a few images on their blog, and all I can say is wow... they are absolutely stunning. If your ever in San Diego take the time to visit them and say aloha!

To Dave, Kim, April and Rain...
Thank you so very much from the bottom of our hearts. We are glad to have met you and truly appreciate what you captured for us that day.

Jaymie, Audrey, & Addison

The Engagement Emily and Stuart

I spent the early evening with Emily and Stuart yesterday at Bear Mountain State park... one of our most popular spots. the will be getting married next week so stay tuned for more images!

Our first family vacation

My Dearest Addison,

We went on our first family vacation on August 22, 2008.  I would have posted pictures much much sooner, but I was up to my eyeballs with work... now that I have some time, here's a pictorial of much of what we did...

This trip included your first ride on a plane... thankfully, you were as sweet as an angel the whole time.  It may have helped that your Mommy packed a whole lot of munchies to snack on and toys to play with and your uncle Dewey kept you smiling!

We arrived at our first stop in Colorado Springs to meet your Auntie Liza, Uncle Jon, your cousin PJ and Alex and the rest of your Mommies relatives.  Here is a picture of your Grandma, some of her brothers and sisters and of course your little cousin, Alex.

We were in Colorado to celebrate the baptism of your cousin and the wedding of your Auntie Liza, and Uncle Jon.  This is Auntie Liza giving her daddy a big kiss during the rehearsal.

You also made a new friend!  Here is Noah and her mommy, Auntie Terry.

You two are soooo cute!

Right after the rehearsal, we jumped right into Alex's baptism.  Here's mom and baby sharing a moment.

Family picture!

Your Uncle Jon and baby Alex

Here's your Auntie Liza after her bachelorette party... I think she had a whole lot of fun!

Your Auntie Liza and Uncle Jon had their wedding at the Air Force Academy where your Uncle went to college.  I won't put up any pictures on this entry because I already put up a slideshow... 

Anyhow, the day after the wedding your mommy and I really wanted to take you up to Pikes Peak for some mountain adventures but chose instead to go see the Garden of the Gods.  

It's a really neat place to walk around...

and... although you slept through most of it...

we managed to catch a picture of you awake as we were leaving.

On Monday, August 25 we flew to San Diego, your Daddy's home away from home.  I lived in San Diego of nearly 12 years miss it just as much as I miss Hawaii. 

August 25th is also your Uncle Marc's birthday.  We went to go pick him up from the 32nd st. Naval Base where he is stationed so he could spend the day with us.  I took this picture of him as we were unloading the rental car.

We took Marc out to this awesome Korean BBQ place... 

...mmmm Kim chee!

Mommy wanted so much for you to make a present to give your nana and papa so we went to Color me Mine of Rancho Bernardo

Here you are getting your hand painted for a coffee mug that you made for your Nana and Papa.

Awwwww... tiny little hand print!

This is a paint brush!

It's... for... ummm... painting...nevermind.

The final product.

We even took you to the San Diego Zoo

Here's you and Mommy at the petting zoo.

You are both such dorks... really! =)

At the Panda exhibit... How cute!!!

Hammin it up!

Your beautiful Mommy.  Oh how I heart her!

On our way out of the zoo, we decided to get a caricature of you... I see the resemblance.

We even visited one of Daddy's very good friends, Rick, his wife Thelma and their family for a portrait session.

This is Anthony...

...Jaelyn

...JR

...Tim

and of course, Justin

Woohoo!!!

The Miller basketball team!

Your Nana and Papa, my parents, arrived on my birthday, the day before we were to fly back to New York.  Here is a pic of your reunion with them.  We were all amazed at how fast you warmed up to them again... It seemed that you still remembered them from their last visit

back in June... Oh how they missed you!

.

On our last night, we as a family, celebrated your Daddy's and Uncle Marc's birthday by going out for some sushi!  Here you are proposing a toast! =)

So here we are again, back in New York.  You are now 9 months old.  A couple of milestones this month... You grew so much just in the 9 days we were away on vacation.

-You learned to stand on your own.

-You can finally hold your own bottle.

-You can say, Mama, Papa, Nana, DaDa, JoJo... although you haven't quite figured out who's who yet... =)

It's been a crazy summer, but we've had a blast little one.  Today, we're packing our things to go on a road trip to Newark, Delaware for a couple nights...  Hope fully you and I can have some fun while mommy is at her meetings huh?

With love,

Daddy