Capturing Joy with Kristen Duke
Capturing the Joy in Life
If you have kids that love One Direction songs as much as mine do, you might want to pull up a chair and listen to what I have to say. ARM & HAMMER has recently launched their Tooth Tunes toothbrushes featuring 2 of One Directions hit songs: One Thing and What Makes You Beautiful and I got to review one of the brushes, along with my adorable little helper. I’ll admit, I love a little… Continue Reading
My husband built this adorable play Vanity for our girls, and finished it JUST before midnight on Christmas Eve! He only started it a few days before at my request, and I love how it turned out! I originally pulled up plans for a play vanity from my friend Ana White (who by the way featured plans she made from my Sliding Barn Door TV cover on her site here), but then we modified the… Continue Reading
I discovered a new website for kids clothing shopping that I’m so excited to share with you! I got these adorable dresses for my girls for $22 total! Oh yes, it’s true! Cookie’s Kids is a store front that has been around since 1972 (It’s their 40th year anniversary) in the NYC area with 7 stores in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Jamaica. In the past 5 years started up their website after a surge in… Continue Reading
I feel strongly about raising my children to be independent thinkers. I also believe that sending them off to school is the best way (for us) to do that. I don’t need to get into a big public school/home school debate, but I’ll admit–homeschooling is very tempting. I LOVE having my kids around, I’m sad to have them away from me, after having them around so much over the summer. But I also know that… Continue Reading
Ask almost anyone who knows me well, I’ll take a Capri Sun over a soda any day. When I’m at birthday parties for children, I’ll often hear the host of the party point to the cooler of sodas for the adults, then the cooler of Capri Suns for the kids. I’ll wait til they aren’t looking, and sneak a kids drink for myself. I’ve always loved the little jolt of sweet sugar I get when… Continue Reading
Summertime invites outdoor activities. In our home, it beckons the triathlon. This year, my husband organized a kids triathlon to kick off the summer the day after school ended. The kids had a blast! We also plan to hold it again at the end of the summer to compare the times. My husband is a triathlete. Just before we got married, he participated in a half IRONMAN and has dreams of a full IRONMAN, but… Continue Reading
Now that school is out, the snacking can be out of control! I had this idea last year, and wanted to share how we control that boredom snacking around here. First, I printed some fake money that I found online here. I told the kids that at the beginning of the week they get 5 $1′s and 5 $5′s. They can use it as they’d like, but ideally they would spend a $1 and a $5… Continue Reading
We had such a fun day today with my son’s 5th grade graduation, and 2 other school parties. Let’s just say, he wasn’t thrilled to wear a tie to school (even though he does to church each week). He isn’t a fan of all the attention. As bad as it may sound, I had to think twice before I wore the dress I had previously decided on b/c it clased with him (and my little… Continue Reading
This cute boy is a really great friend to my oldest son, so it was a lot of fun to photograph he and his sister. I loved her coral dress, and his blue stripes coordinated nicely with it. It was really fun to see these two enjoying each other. I’m sure (as with all siblings) they have their moments, but they sure showed me that they are buddies. This is the end of my mini sessions,… Continue Reading
This was such a special party to attend, as I was able to witness and photograph his birth last year. His momma, one of my dear friends, also a photographer. We met 2 years ago when we were both on location shooting a session and quickly exchanged biz cards and got together later. I just love the sweet details from this party–chalkboard signs & and brunch complete with stacks of pancakes instead of cupcakes and… Continue Reading
Little Wesley is number 5 in his family, and his momma has a tradition that at 8.5 months, they have pictures taken. So guess how old he is? He is simply adorable, and this was a fun one. You can see his most recently family pictures last fall, here. I’m at SNAP, are you following with my pics on Facebook?
Today, my adorable youngest child turns 3, and I couldn’t be more bummed about her growing up older. I love every stage of my children, but the transition from baby to toddler is a tough one. She still says so many cute things like cha-lockit milk, but she corrects herself so much when she realizes she says something wrong. I have never been one to correct my children at this stage for saying butchering words… Continue Reading
I had planned to advertise about some mini photo shoots while on my trip, but I was so worried about filling the class that I forgot. Nonetheless, I was contacted by 3 different families, one in New York, Baltimore, & Philly, but only the Philly shoot panned out at the right time for both parties. It was SO much fun to do a photo session in a new city, and Historic Philadelphia did not disappoint… Continue Reading
This petite session was super easy–3 happy and adorable boys made it that way. Did they want to run around and explore? Yes. But we had so much fun, and it was tough to narrow down my faves.
I’ve always liked to send a little note to my kids in their lunches. I want them to know throughout the day, that I love and miss them. My boys are 8 and 10, and I don’t want to embarrass them with mushiness when it could get into the wrong hands. So last year I decided to do something a little different and sent jokes in with their lunches….. and they absolutely LOVED it! On the… Continue Reading
