I am SO excited to share this post today! For the past 3 years, I have spent 2 weeks in early October photographing the adorable students at Waterstone Preschool and it is one of my favorite jobs! I have a history with Waterstone that goes back much longer than 3 years and makes me love my time there even more. I grew up at this church - my family started attending when I was around 5 year old. My mom taught at the preschool for 20 years, and just recently retired. When I was in my early 20's, I was hired as a teacher at Waterstone Preschool, and I co-taught a pre-k class for 3 years. Those 3 years literally changed my life. I learned more about children, parenting, and life than I ever thought possible, and I owe most of that to my co-teacher and incredible friend Char. I wholeheartedly believe that I am a better parent to my own children because of the things that I learned during my time there.

When my girls were old enough, I excitedly enrolled them at Waterstone Preschool also! My 3 girls attended school there for four years until we moved over an hour away to Kiowa and I transferred them to a local school out here. I will be forever thankful for the time that my children spent at Waterstone, and to every teacher and administrator who loved them while they were there!

When we were at registration in 2015, my friend Marla (the preschool director) asked if I would be interested in taking over for the school photographer who wouldn't be returning and I told her, "NO thank you!" I offered to help her find a different photographer, because the idea of photographing 160 children (give or take a dozen) and figuring out an ordering system that was efficient was overwhelming, especially as a parent with 3 preschool-aged kiddos myself. Thankfully, she had more faith in me than I did, and she asked me to meet with her to find a way to make it work. We ultimately decided to forego print packages and create a streamlined digital purchasing option for parents, and the feedback that we received was amazing! The parents that we talked to were thrilled to be able to view their children's photos online and easily purchase and download them in minutes instead of waiting weeks for a CD or prints.

The rest, as they say, is history. I have had the privilege of photographing these awesome students for 3 years, and I absolutely LOVE watching them grow each year! Waterstone Preschool enrolls children from 12 months through Jr Kindergarten, so I hope to see some of these kiddos for all 5 of their years at the school!

I wish that I could share a giant collage with all 170+ smiling faces, but as a school photographer I have an obligation to protect the privacy of the children and their parents. I will never share photos online in any capacity unless I have permission from my clients, so I will only be sharing the photos of four little girls whose moms happen to be teachers at the school (and friends of mine) because they have given me the green light to share. You will just have to trust me when I say that the other 166(ish) boys and girls were just as cute! ;-)