childrens photography at the beach

 

we are starting to feel warmer temps here in AZ, which is making me miss the beach, which is making me realize i never posted these photos from Avery’s 5th birthday photo shoot.  Avery was lucky to spend her birthday on the beach with siblings and cousins.  i knew i would shoot her birthday pics here and brought this dress.  then my mom bought the girls these floral wreaths and a special portrait was made.  i don’t think i will ever look at these photos without remembering all the fabulous times we had during fall break!  not the least of these memories was celebrating a milestone birthday with this little lovely.  i can’t believe she is 5!kids beach photosbeach portraits are among my favorite for children.  the beach gives kids such a natural opportunity for play and exploration.  i feel like you can just see the wonder and vibrancy of childhood in beach portraits.

it’s a frozen birthday party!

my daughters are obsessed!  Frozen has taken our family by storm, pun intended.  so, when Madeline started planning her  birthday party, of course she had her heart set on a frozen party.  and of course, she made this decision after the holidays were over, so i did not get a chance to capitalize on all the holiday sales!

help came from a surprising source.  i was at the San Tan Chick-Fil-A for one of their incredible family nights, and they were setting up for a Frozen party.  the decorations were unbelievable.  i asked the manager if she would sell them to me, and she agreed to LOAN them to me.  i was floored.  Jennifer’s creativity and generosity knows no bounds.  thanks to her, Madeline had the Frozen birthday party of her dreams!

it ended up being a windy days, so our grand entry way was a little tossed and turned, but magical non the less.  so many snowflakes, just like Elsa’s winter wonderland!

frozen party ideas

the kids could not get enough of the “melted snowman water.”

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probably the most popular activity was making (and eating) “snowmen”.  the girls stacked powdered donettes and used pretzel sticks for arms, chocolate chips for eyes and buttons, and of course carrot noses.  
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i saw this craft time and time again on Pinterest but it took me forever to find really good instructions.  even then, we had a few tries before we got really good at Epsom Salt painting.  Here are my instructions for Epsom Salt painting:

1) mix equal parts  very warm water and Epsom Salts (i found Epsom Salt in the pharmacy aisle at Target)

2)  when dissolved nearly completely, paint the mixture on dark construction paper

3) you shouldn’t be seeing many salt crystals in your solution, in fact it will look pretty boring for a while like water on paper

4) be patient

the magic is after the paper dries.  we set them aside for the rest of the party and afterward the kids saw their paintings transform into beautiful crystallized snowflakes, snowmen, etc.

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frozen party ideas

our next Frozen birthday party craft was making rubber band bracelets.  i purchased the ice blue, royal, and raspberry pink bands at Michael’s and found these silver snowflake charms on Amazon.

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the food for our Frozen birthday party was fun and festive.  of course there were the snowmen.  but that’s not all.  obviously you have to have blue raspberry lemonade, snow covered pretzels,

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snow-covered ice cubes.

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sandwiches!  as in “we finish each other’s sandwiches”
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and of course frozen cake and ice cream.

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even batman was mesmerized by the pretty Frozen birthday party decor.child portrait photographer-5180 child portrait photographer-5186 child portrait photographer-5189 child portrait photographer-5190 child portrait photographer-5191 child portrait photographer-5207this was one happy birthday girl.