Milestone sessions are the perfect way to preserve your little one’s personality and interests from year to year. From capturing baby steps to favorite toys and carefree personalities, milestone sessions seem to freeze time, if only for a moment. While each milestone session is important, a five-year-old about to head off to their first day of kindergarten sure tugs at my heart right now. 

I’ve been photographing Evelyn since before she was born when I did maternity pictures for her parents Luke + Lydia. Every year since then, I’ve had the honor of capturing all her baby milestones, yearly family photos and now she’s heading off to kindergarten! To celebrate, Luke + Lydia wanted to capture the moment in a memorable way by using Evelyn’s new school as the perfect photo location.

The first day of school, especially kindergarten, can be scary for a lot of kids. But, Evelyn could not be more excited to start her education journey and was so so proud to be able to show off her new school – not to mention her new matching backpack and lunchbox! 

From Lydia: I am so excited to watch Evelyn soak up knowledge like a sponge and learn to read! She is so excited for school and more than ready. As her parent, it is so exciting to see all the pieces of the puzzle come together. I can’t wait for her to read her first book to me as I’ve been doing the same for her for the past 5 years. I am excited to watch her make friends. In discussion prior to beginning Kindergarten, this was what she was most nervous about. But, she is so amicable I am sure she will be very loved and make many friends. Hopefully, many that will last her lifetime as we have been fortunate to have! (That’s you, Jame!)

This session is so special because we often only capture our little ones standing in front of the house about to head off to their first day and rarely get to commemorate their school environment. The place they learn, forge friendships and create lasting memories has such an impact on their lives, it’s just as important to capture that space as it is to capture all their favorite things.

Evelyn’s teacher already had her room set up so we were able to spend a few moments with Evelyn in the classroom – even capturing her seeing her name on the desk for the first time! From there, we went to my favorite part of the school, the library. The rows of books created such a fun backdrop as Evelyn showed off some of her favorites. I can already tell she’s going to love spending time here throughout the years. 

Before our session ended, we made one final stop on the playground. Luke + Lydia have been bringing Evelyn and sister Amelia here in the evenings to run around so Evelyn can get used to her new school. She’s already so comfortable in the environment, she’s going to do amazing when the school year begins!

Luke + Lydia, I can’t believe Evelyn is already starting kindergarten. It feels like yesterday I was snuggling up with a teeny tiny Evie! She’s already such an amazing little girl and I know she’s going to rock kindergarten. I can’t wait to see how she thrives in this environment!

-xo-

Jamie