It’s just incredible how word of mouth works — one day you’re recommended to someone and the next you’re fast friends. I feel so fortunate to have met Regina of Sand Dance Designs.  This spring she contacted me about Bluebonnet sessions (see her session at the link to the left!) and a session to document her youngest daughter turning one and we clicked right away!   She is so sweet & fun & quite a talent in the sewing arena.  My kiddos and I were even able to visit her home studio this week — SO fun and impressive.

Her latest work of art is this fabulous jumpsuit. I could go on and on and ON about how much I love it (the colors, the mixed fabrics, the custom flower on the front, how she reinforces each and every area that might get some extra tugging). Plus, when we first tried the jumpsuit on, it needed a little adjustment and she’s SO into perfection that she took the whole thing apart to put some button elastic in. It made a world of difference.

She has some more incredible designs and dresses coming up, so keep your eyes peeled…we’re even thinking of doing a shoot with several kiddos in her creations. I just LOVE little concept shoots like that.

IF you want something fun like this, contact her. She’ll recommend, pull assortments of fabric, and really talk (and listen) to you to determine what your needs are. In fact, she knows my style SO well that she had a PILE (I mean, this pile actually tipped over when we were chatting) of patterns and fabrics for me to choose from — and I loved them all. If you want something custom for the holidays (or your holiday photo session!), think about it — I know I do.

Just SOME of her fabric choices are {here} My faves lately are: MMAlways coupled with the peace print called MMPeaceF. So many fun fabrics to pair — my fav though is to just let Regina do her thing.

Can’t wait to show you MORE!!!  And if any of you faithful readers missed my Facebook post, I am going to roll out holiday mini sessions for Dallas and Phoenix next week!  If you’d like to be on the first-to-know list, email me (maggiejmcd@msn.com) and I’ll email you BEFORE the details hit the blog. Sessions will go quickly!

Hope you have a lovely day!  We’re gearing up for a BIG birthday around here.    ~mm

If you had to guess how old these two sisters are…what would you say?

I was shocked to find out these two beauties are 12 and 14! They are SO super sweet, polite (everything was “yes m’am”) and stunning. It was an absolute pleasure to photograph them! Last week, I was asked by a lovely friend to photograph her extended family to capture all the cousins together with their Big Pops in town. It was speedy and fun — you see, when extended family sessions happen (I really don’t do many of them), we blast through like nobody’s business! Since that type of posing isn’t what fuels me, I typically quickly go through all the requested posed shots and then relish in the candids afterwards. Ahhhh…photographing candids of sweet extended family love and portraits of beautiful people is SO much F-U-N.

{Is this precious or what? I wish wish wish I had a pics of my kiddos like this with their grandparents and am making it a GOAL to do so…}

After finishing off our big family session, we had about 6 minutes to photograph the sisters. We got a TON — I just love teens and tweens!

Hope you have one WONDERFUL day.
~mm

{My little pirate!}

I had the pleasure of meeting Lisa and her cute, CUTE little son in March when we took pictures at the airport together. Since then, she’s been a wonderful support to me (thanks, girl!) and I’ve had fun watching her start her OWN business. She has recently started “A Taste of TLC” a yummy bakery business. Check out her website {here}! I’m so excited she wants some of my images on her website, so we’re starting out with some red velvet retro cupcakes. I had a pre-birthday roller skating session planned for Peach, so Lisa decided a retro look for cupcakes would be perfect — couldn’t agree more. She’s SUPER creative!

Also, check out this business on {Facebook} Lisa is always coming up with fun ways to get her fans involved — last week she challenged her “fans” to tell her what they were having for dinner and she’d recommend the perfect cupcake to have for dessert — I loved reading those!

Can’t wait to see what she comes up with for Peach’s birthday (and neither can Peach)!!!

Have a lovely day!
~mm

Ahhhh…rain!  My kiddos LOVE to play in the rain.  A rainy day is like a million bucks floating through the sky over here.    The kiddos started out with umbrellas and then quickly made their way to completely soaked.  These pics are pretty much right in the middle of that. 

We got a new skirt from Regina at Sand Dance Designs a couple weeks ago and Peach wanted to wear her “cheerleader skirt” to twirl in the rain.  Love it.  The bold colors are just perfect and it gets a thumbs up on the jump and twirl scale from Peach (obviously it was quite a rigorous testing process).    Sand Dance Designs is on a bit of a summer break, but will return shortly.  Stay tuned because we’re getting some incredible, I mean AWESOME stuff from Regina.   She is SO talented, sweet, and really listens to what we love in clothes.  Then she takes her talent and creates by mixing fabrics, altering designs, and making little extra embellishments.  SO fun.

Hope you’re having one lovely day!  Kiddos are at Nature School this morning discovering new mushrooms and creatures outdoors…I’m trapped inside editing.  Editing some AWESOME sessions though, so I’m one happy gal.  Can’t wait to show you more!!!  ~mm

I met up with this little beauty…

…and her super sweet family yesterday morning.  We had fun walking, talking, swinging from mommy and daddy’s arms…

and, of course, reading from a favorite book, Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram.   It was adorable watching their family interact and little O anticipated each part of the story where the characters would stretch their arms reaaaaaally wide.  She did, too — so cute!

Thank you, K family, for allowing me to photograph your lovely family!  Hope you have a wonderful rest of your weekend.    ~mm

Hubs away ALLLLLL weekend = Me being ultra-entertaining
(hard work, I tell ya!!!)

The kiddos usually do a pretty good job of keeping themselves busy, but they’re used to daddy-o being around and doing cool stuff with them on the weekend. So, we tried. We even braved the EXTREME Texas heat/humidity and hit up a park yesterday. Apparently, we were the only brave souls because we were the only peeps there! Kinda made it nice for picture taking purposes, I must admit.

I decided to bring my camera because I don’t do a great job recording my kids when I’m busy (and I’m BUSY!), so it was time. They had a blast and I had SO much fun playing with them in between snaps. They tried poles, rings, swings, tightropes, played castle, pet store, and a bajillion other fun things.

:::Here are a couple more (the Grandparents will THANK me big time!!!):::

Annnnnnnd….one of me. I know, it’s huge. Peach took this pic — yay!

I guess it’s only fair that I make an appearance once in a while.

I hope you have a lovely week. I’ll be popping in with sneak peeks, in between sessions and client ordering appointments, so be on the lookout! I have some AMAZING sessions planned this week — a couple, a bridal session AND a fun family. So fun. ~mm

I can’t even begin to describe all the work this little beauty’s parents went through to get here here. After countless doctor appointments, procedures, and more, the parents of little H finally heard the “you’re pregnant” news and have been beyond elated ever since. She is truly a miracle and I am SO incredibly honored that I was able to capture her cute-ness yesterday!

Guess who (at SIX months) started crawling last week??? This little lady! So happy we were able to capture this milestone.

Thanks T for having me yesterday — so excited to finally meet you and your family. Can’t wait until our fam session/bday celebration for little H!

Hope you’re having a lovely day! ~mm

I had the pleasure of photographing this fun-loving family yesterday.  They made me laugh — the kiddos were silly and smiley and I just love that!   When mom submitted their session booking form, I saw the words “soccer, soccer and more soccer” all over what she was writing about them.  I just KNEW that we had to fuse our session with their love — the good ol’ game of soccer.

Mom used to play…dad currently plays and coaches…and both kids play.  It was awesome to watch them in their element –  challenging each other, recognizing and celebrating good moves, teaching new tricks.

{so FUN!}

We did get a couple semi-serious portraits, too!  You just have to show off gorgeous kiddos… 

Thanks so much for having me, guys!

Have one super day. ~mm

Looks like this little guy is almost asleep up on dad’s shoulders! He was only foolin’ — a couple seconds later he was a busy, busy three-year-old discovering bugs, leaves, grasses, and nearby trains with his parents.

I LOVE his little face in the picture. Love how the family unit has just come together in this perfect little lovey-dovey package. When I was downloading my card from the session and came across this image, I melted.

I have SO many images from past sessions I’d love to share…be on the lookout.

Hope you’re having a good day!  ~mm

Oh…and if a photography session with Maggie McDonald Photography is in your future (it WOULD be super fun!), let’s get you/your children/your family on the schedule…time’s running out for 2010 (I can’t BELIEVE it!)…

:::SESSION UPDATE:::

June is booked.

Limited number of July sessions available.

August is booked.

Currently reserving September and October sessions (think HOLIDAY!!!).

Limited November sessions available.

[A holiday session trip to AZ is in the planning stages for mid-October.  Can't wait!]

Give me a jingle/email if you’re interested!

817-455-6756  or  maggiejmcd {at} msn {dot} com

This awesome mom was one of the very first smiling faces I saw when I went to a “The Bump” business networking meeting when we first moved to Dallas. It was so refreshing to chat with such a fun and friendly gal who was JUST embarking on a new business venture. She runs Stroller Strides for Grapevine/Colleyville and Coppell . . . AND she’s amazing. Her classes are positive and full of energy PLUS there are always many sweet new moms and kiddos to meet. If you’ve considered a class like this in the past, try it out — the first class is FREE (can’t beat that)! Farrah also runs Luna Moms Club after Stroller Strides classes, which are activities planned for little ones AND there’s a Moms Night Out once a month, too. You don’t even have to be a Stroller Strides member to participate. I love how Farrah schedules group meetings in different areas in the Dallas Metroplex, so we can discover new kid-friendly places. When we were in Arizona, the moms group I was a part of was invaluable — so much support, knowledge and fun. I made some amazing connections there!

Okay, back to the portraits…I was fortunate enough to take some family photos for this terrific family of three yesterday. We had tons of fun exploring with their little guy! Aren’t they stylin’???

Their son even brought “Monkey,” a stuffed animal that he’s had ever since he was little. Monkey doesn’t have to go out as much as he did in the past, so I’m GLAD he suggested they bring him to the shoot. I, in fact, LOVE the monkey pic — he looks so content as he holds his stuffed animal pal.

And lastly, look at dad and son — an athletic family for sure!

Thank you, Farrah and fam for allowing me to capture your love! Many more to come…
Have an awesome eve.
~mm