Portraits: Gabby & Tim-tim

It's no secret, I love kids ...

For you all who don't have any younger siblings, would you go out of your way to intentionally just hang out with ... let's say a 6 year old ... just for fun? I would. And I did.

This is Gabby. One of my favorite girls ever, one of my sister's many goddaughters, and one awesome playdate.

On a Sunday night after church a few weeks ago me and my family took Gabby to my sister's other goddaughter's birthday party {sans her parents} ... and we also found out that Gabby didn't have school the next day. YES! There was only one thing that we had to do to make the weekend even more perfect. We called her parents and begged if we could keep her and if she could sleep over and hangout and we'd take her home the next day. Don't worry we don't do this with just any kid .. and Gabby's parents trust us to take care of her whereever we go ... Gabby is just seriously that much fun and that sweet to have around.

So her parents said yes and oh boy did we have a great time!

Mind you, me and my sister are in our 20s, but this is really what we like to do for fun.

The night she slept over we spoiled her rotten with icecream sundaes, new clothes and new shoes. A night of painting our nails while watching a late night movie, and video chatting with her family before going to bed! That was just that night.

The entire next day me and Gabby had some crazy fun, while sister went off to work.

We hung out at home all morning, then for lunch we met up with my sister on her lunch break.

Before I go forget, did I mention Gabby is my carbon-copy mini me?

Gabby is the spitting image of me 16 years ago. If you put our baby pictures side by side you wouldn't be able to tell the difference, and when she was much smaller I had a few adults who knew what I looked like as a baby, ask me if Gabby was my daughter because of our similarities. And because we're silly sometimes I go by Gabby and sometimes she goes by Ica because of it. Heheh.

Also she's definitely a girl's girl, like me and big sister. It's probably all our fault ... hehe.

And she's my photography protege.

FACT.

Gabby is THE ONLY kid I trust fully and completely with my SLR. I can give it to her and know she'll know how to hold it when shooting, how to carry it safely, and most importantly how to use it. She actually wanted an SLR for her birthday awhile back {seriously} ... but sister got her a digital point and shoot for now ... but soon, very soon I know she'll out grow it and want that SLR of her own. But for now she can always play with mine.

She's the one who wanted to go out and take these pictures actually.

And we had a blast doing these. She could be a Gap Kids model don't you think?

Goodness I love this girl!

Later in the day after lunch her older brother {who had no school either} and dad came by to spend the rest of their day with us.

I can't tell you enough how much I love these kids.

<3

Timtim is adorable.

One second they are tough as nails .... the next second they are all laughs.

And moments after this picture something awesome happened.

Gabby lost her first tooth!!!!!!!!!!

This whole weekend of fun Gabby had a loose tooth and we were just waiting till it came out. It came out all by itself, no yanking, no bitting any apples, nothing special ... we just walked into the house from the balcony .. and BAMM!

"My tooth just came out Ate Ica!" - Gabby

Good times ey?

As if we didn't have enough fun already ... we decided that it was a perfect day to go to the park, and we brought our friend Jerek along with us.

Besides being awefully sweet,

These kids are talented to. Timtim is a Blackbelt in Tae Kwan Do.

And Gabby is a gymnast.

This was such a fun day.

And no I wasn't baby sitting, and no I wasn't getting paid. I just wanted to hang with the kiddies all day and leave all the 'grown up' things aside for once and remember what it's like to be carefree.

Last little thing about our dearest Gabby.

She really is the best.

The night before, I offered her a cookie before she went to bed and brushed her teeth ... {I know I'm bad when it comes to sweets} ... and for a second she looked the cookie up and down, but in the end just said,

"No thank you, I just had an icecream sundae earlier. I want to brush my teeth."

Even with her parents not around ... Gabby is always at her best. She taught me alot that weekeknd.

As for her budding photography skills, here's one she took of me. Hahah. Gabby is going to be amazing I just know it!

Awesome day.

I love these kiddos.


*****All headbands, hats and clips seen on Gabby are made by yours truly.
Look out for them in my shop this spring!! SHOP: Rini and Faith *****