Back in the day, I would jump at any and every opportunity to babysit my (numerous!) younger cousins. Watching them was a job that I loved, felt proud to do, and took very seriously. My Auntie Jen and Uncle Ed would let me and my sister come over every once and a while to watch Matt and Joe…brothers who are a little over a year apart. Even though I was young myself, it was very clear then that Jen was an unbelievable mother who was raising two respectful, thoughtful, kind, smart boys. Fast forward almost two decades later (yikes!) and I now know that Jen and Ed were successful in their parenting. What’s more, they are role models to me and my husband as we navigate life with two boys, fifteen months apart. Jen and Ed have the somewhat overwhelming task of watching Matt enter his next phase as a college freshman, with Joe close behind. To mark the occasion, we got together for a session in late summer. Proud doesn’t even begin to cover how it feels to witness the two little boys that I used to watch swim in my Gram’s pool, eat funfetti cake during birthday parties, and sing along to the latest song on the radio (Wooo hoooo!) now grown into young men who are undoubtedly going places.

Thank you for letting me capture these images~what a moment in time to cherish. I can’t wait to see what the next phase brings!