On June 10th at 4:02pm we welcomed Jacob Douglas to our family! He was 7 lb. 9 oz. and 20 inches long. He is almost one month old already! I meant to post this a long time ago, but it's been a little busy in our house. He's a very good baby and we're loving every minute with him-especially his big brother. We have to keep Zachary from squeezing Jacob's head off! Things are going really well, and I'm slowly getting back to doing sessions. Looking forward to seeing everyone soon!

Hopefully everyone has received Pancake Patty or Pancake Pete! We're really excited to see all of the wonderful images that you take of your new friend over the summer! If you have received Pancake Patty and prefer to have Pancake Pete or vice versa, just let us know and we'll get another one sent out to you. Also, if you have more than one child in your house who would like to participate, we'll get more copies sent out. My son has already colored Pancake Pete and we'll be posting images of his adventures soon. Have fun!

The Dog Days of Summer event is one of my very favorites. It's so fun for me to do something totally different than what I normally do every day and I love to meet everyone's adorable pets! This year we will be celebrating our second annual Dog Days event on Thursday, July 31 from 2pm-8pm and Saturday, August 2 from 10am-2pm.

The details are pretty simple. Call to schedule your 15 minute appointment, bring in your dog (cats are welcome, too!!) and a bag of cat or dog food and receive a complimentary session of your furry friend! All donations are given to the Capital Area Humane Society. Science Diet brands are preferred.

I've already been booking sessions for the Dog Days event so I wanted to get the info out there a little early. Give me a call if you have any questions at all!!

So last week was the big backpack week for the Junior League. I am just finishing up my first year as a Junior League of Columbus member, and this year I was on the committee for ABC Backpacks. The Backpack committe raises funds through the year to fill backpacks with school supplies that are donated to local school children. This year, the Junior League stuffed 4100 backpacks for local children, and it's pretty amazing how much stuff gets put in each one! My main job was to sort out folders for the backpacks because it was a job I could do while sitting since my baby belly is starting to take over the world!

Kudos to the Backpack commitee and all the Junior League volunteers who commit their time and energy to help someone else. Here' s a link to the Junior League's website if you're interested in getting involved.

Junior League Website

Many of you know that our second little one is due to arrive on June 14th. We do not know if the baby is a boy or a girl, so here's a fun little event that only takes a second to do. Click on the link below and let us know what you think. Anyone who guesses correctly will receive $25 off their next portrait order! Have fun with this one!

Click here to vote

Thanks to everyone who came out and saw us at our first annual Girls Night Out! Here are some images that were taken that night. It was a great turnout considering it was raining cats and dogs that night! We had a great time meeting everyone!

Here's a pic of some of the other stuff going on at Girls Night Out. A huge thank you to all the vendors who donated amazing items for the gift bags and the raffle! I've had tons of response from people about the gift bags already.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the raffle as well. We ended up with about $250 that will be donated to the ABC Backpack project of the Junior League of Columbus. For the 2008-2009 school year, the Junior League will be stuffing 4100 backpacks that will be distributed to children in the Columbus area.

Cheers to all the vendors who came to participate in Girls Night Out. They all had great-looking displays to complement their amazing products! I've purchased items from a few of the vendors already and am looking forward to working with all of them in the future.

Because of the great success of the first Girls Night Out, I'm already looking forward to next year's! Kudos to everyone who was participated and attended!!!

A new contest is in the works at Portraits by Knight. The contest will take place this summer from June through August. All of our clients will be receiving Pancake Patty and Pancake Pete in the mail at the end of May. Simply pick your favorite character and with the help of your family, decorate your new friend with markers, crayons, sequins, yarn or anything else you can imagine.

Next, take Patty or Pete to your favorite spot and snap a few pictures with the location and your paper friend clearly visible. Whether it's your grandma's back yard or the Eiffel Tower, Patty and Pete like to go everywhere. They don't want to miss a thing!

Finally, write a few words about the location you chose and why. Then e-mail your photos to info@portraitsbyknight.com. All entries will be posted on our blog so check back often to see your photos. Also, at the end of the contest, there will be great prizes awarded for the following categories:

1. Farthest Location Away From Home

2. Most Original Location

3. Best Use of a Columbus Landmark

4. Most Creative Home Location

If you aren't currently on our mailing list, but would like to participate, please contact us at info@portraitsbyknight.com or 614.475.1355. Pancake Patty and Pancake Pete are packing their bags and looking forward to spening the summer with you and your family!

Beautiful baby Brayden brought his family in for a session one week after he was born. Here are some of my favorite pics of him. Congrats to Brayden for being born in to such a great family!! Hope those sisters don't dress him up in pearls too much!!

Our first annual Girls Night Out is just over a month away and we have some exciting news to share. There will be 8 vendors attending the event, and they have some pretty cool stuff that they're planning to include in gift bags that will be given to the first 100 guests!

Here's a list of each vendor that will be attending and their websites. Check them out online before Girls Night Out. We look forward to seeing you there!

1154 Lill Studio-www.1154lill.com

Tastefully Simple-www.tastefullysimple.com

Arbonne-www.arbonne.com

Uppercase Living-www.uppercaseliving.com

Decor & You-www.decorandyou.com/ecajacob

Jewels by Park Lane-www.jewelsbyparklane.com

Pinney Kelly Paper-www.pkpaper.com

Card Supply-www.cardsupply.com

Here's a lovely photo of our son out in the middle of the 20 inches of snow we got over the weekend. This weekend we had planned to move everything in to my new studio, but that didn't happen exactly as we expected. We are still working on several things this week, but should be pretty close to getting the major stuff done by this coming weekend. My computer is up and running so if you need to e-mail me, that is at least working. I'll have updated info on my new phone number and website soon!