I’ve been wanting to do some very very styled darker fairy sessions for a while. I put together the whole session, start to finish, everything planned, which is really not the way I normally work. I was going for a bright, sparkly ice fairy for this one. This one I had a LOT of fun with. I made the wings and crown myself out of foamcore and pipe cleaners. They turned out really great when she was holding still, not so great when she was running.

These sisters couldn’t be more different. The older sister is shorter than her younger sister, blonde, curly headed, quiet and hangs back to watch and think before doing anything. The younger girl is tall, brown headed, always running ahead and jumps both feet into anything. These two remind me a lot of my own sister and I, actually. These two are amazing though.. you can really see how much they just love each other. That photo of the princess smooch was totally unasked for.. she just felt like her baby sister needed a kiss. Say it with me: Awwwww!

Kylie’s nominator, Kandace writes “I have an amazing little girl that I would like to nominate. Her name is Kylie Hill. Kylie is three years old and has been down a rough road from day one. She was born at 27 weeks and was in the NICU for 2 months and while she was there she was diagnosed with Poland syndrome which affects the muscular system. Kylie had to go through several months of intense therapy to help her move her arms. After winning this battle, at 19 months, Kylie was diagnosed with AML which is a type of leukemia. Kylie was in a children’s hospital for 6 months. Kylie is now in remission but will not be released as a leukemia patient until the age of 6. After reading about your contest, I believe strongly that Kylie is deserving of the title of the Second Annual Memorial Princess. Thank you for your time and consideration.”

Kylie’s mother, Brittany writes “Our Courageous Little Fighter – One Battle After Another
I am here to introduce you to my hero. This is my daughter Kylie Hill. She is an amazing little girl. Kylie has been a fighter all her life.
Kylie came to us April 24, 2008 weighing a whopping 2lbs 4.4 oz. She was 3 months premature. I didn’t see how she could survive. Prayers started immediately. She was in the hospital almost 2 months. I would go and hold her during the day. She finally became big enough where I could feed her. After 2 months, she was able to come home.
Kylie got home and was such a blessing. She was the sweetest baby in the world. She never crawled because of a weak muscle in her arm but she made up for it. Kylie would hop like a bunny. It was so cute watching her hop through the house. I often worried about her knees but it didn’t seem to bother her. I never knew a child could bring so much joy to my life. Kylie got sick one weekend with a cold. She didn’t act like herself. We took her to the emergency room where she was diagnosed with patch pneumonia. She was sent home not to get any better. We were back at the emergency room the next week. On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving 2009, as she turned 19 months old, she was diagnosed with AML leukemia. Our hearts were crushed. What was going to happen to our little angel? Not knowing much about leukemia, we were terrified. All I could remember about leukemia was it was a disease that usually led to death. How could God do this to our little angel?
The treatments started. Kylie was in the hospital for 6 months going through chemo. She was able to come home a week every three weeks or so. It was a long journey in the hospital. Trying to keep a small child with a lot of energy confined to a hospital room all day. She had to wear a mask if she left the room. That in itself was a job. She didn’t understand why she had to wear the mask.
I, being a young mother, knew I had to be strong. I learned all about blood counts and knew what numbers I needed to be listening for when labs returned. I could always look around and see someone not having the results we were getting. Luckily the hospital kept activities going to keep your mind off of what was really happening.
We had visits from clown doctors. Nellie, the rapper, came by for a visit with Christmas presents. Football players, baseball players and hockey players visited. It was an eye opener to see the community support for my daughter and my family. Kylie is now in remission.  She has more energy than we can keep up with. We do have a team in the Light the Night Walk for leukemia. We thank God for our little angel.  We also thank Children’s Healthcare and all other organizations for helping us make it through the experience of leukemia.
In life we have role models and people we look up to. For our family, it is a little 3 year old girl name Kylie Kenimer Hill. She is our fighter and hero.”

This little girl is SO adorable. She has the most amazing eyes and the longest eyelashes I’ve ever seen. I thought her mother might have been putting mascara on her or something, but it turns out that Kylie was born with really dark straight hair but it all fell out during the chemotherapy and came back in honey colored and curled at the ends! Her eyelashes fell out also, but came back dark. Plus, she’s missing her two front teeth. I asked about that and apparently being born so premature meant that Kylie couldn’t develop enamel on her teeth. When the chemotherapy was going on, brushing would introduce bacteria that Kylie’s body couldn’t fight off. Her poor baby teeth just gave up and fell out, but her permanent teeth will grown in just fine in a few years. It just means she looks even more adorable now! We were in two different outfits for this one because the owl fairy ears kept falling off her head and the fairy wings kept slapping her in the face, so we went with a burgundy princess second. She didn’t chatter or talk a lot for her photos, she sings. Humming to herself for over an hour. I loved it. ]]> http://www.fairyography.com/memorial-princess-2011-winner-meet-kylie/feed/ 7 http://www.fairyography.com/princess-in-brown/ http://www.fairyography.com/princess-in-brown/#comments Mon, 18 Oct 2010 21:48:02 +0000 Heather Lickliter Larkin http://www.stylizedportraiture.com/?p=3325 NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized or removed for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

So I finally got to test drive my brand new chocolate brown gown this evening! This sweetheart is super shy but so so gorgeous. I LOVED to watch her with her little brother because it’s so so plain that she just loves him to bits. He strolled up and patted her dress and said “Oh, so pretty!” and she replies “You should have been born a girl if you wanted to be in the pictures!” This lovely girl did every single thing I asked of her and she is a brilliant princess!

Miss Annabeth here is one of the nominations for our memorial princess sessions. Annabeth was born deaf and was fitted for cochlear implants a year ago. In that year, her Mommy says she’s gone from a shy, scared little girl to an adventurous, willful self-saving princess. I tell you, she had me in stitches at our session tonight! She’s just so darn funny! She was in the water, running through the grass, hopping up and down, she had it all. I can’t wait to see what kind of person she turns into!

We started out in this wonderful little sapphire fairy outfit, but it was itchy and the wings were tight. I think everyone with a two-year-old know what happens when you have an itchy dress. Sooo we ended up with another dress.

The funniest thing about this session? I LOVE this grass and wanted her in it so bad, but she wouldn’t put her feet down to stand in it, so I said to her mommy “Okay, you are going to laugh, but if you lay down and let her stand on you and put your hands under the dress to hold her up, I won’t be able to see you at all. Are you game for that?” Bless her, but she giggled at me but laid right down in that grass to let me get my shot! Ah.. the wonderful life of assisting at a photography session!

This little sweetie started out so so super shy at first, but it wasn’t long before she was dancing and running like the true princess she is. I always love the magical looks I get out of them too, and everyone notices a Fairytale Princess coming!

Check out this spunky girl! She sure knows how to run things her way, and gosh I loved her. She held my hand, I carried her over mud puddles, and hugged me as we left. She’s sure got a ton of sassy in there too, and I love that it shone right through the princess dress.

Oh, just LOOK at these gorgeous girls! I got to play dress up with these sweethearts for a nice long time Saturday. I was told that the older girl is the one not so into dresses, and the younger was the talkative one. Then they got there and the older one is the chatty one! Both had a blast there though, and we got some great photos.

Ava’s story: Here’s the story of the little girl who really deserves to be treated like a princess, written by her nominator:
“Ava Jane is truly a princess who deserves to be treated like a queen. Ava Jane was born on July 12, 2006 with a congenital heart defect that required immediate surgery when she was two days old. After that surgery, doctors realized that Ava Jane’s heart defect was much more extensive, and recommended a heart transplant. After twelve weeks of waiting, Ava Jane received her new heart on October 11, 2006. She flourished with her new heart, finally having the energy to grow and thrive. Unfortunately, because of her compromised immune system, Ava Jane developed bacterial meningitis in December 2007 and spent her Christmas at Egleston. In order to relieve the pressure in her brain, neurosurgeons placed a shunt in her brain in February 2008. As the effects of the meningitis began to subside, Ava Jane again began to make progress and grow and thrive. However, the months of the illness delayed her development, and as a two year old, she is more like a nine month old in her motor skills. In March 2009, finally feeling better, Ava Jane began taking some steps with assistance and was quick to scoot around the house, pulling down toilet paper in the bathroom and getting into general toddler mischief. She began to slow down by the end of April and after weeks of inconsolable tears, Ava Jane was admitted to the hospital on Mother’s Day. After running tests on every part of her body, doctors discovered that she had ulcers in her colon, the consequence of the immunosuppressant medicines necessary to protect her transplant. She is beginning to feel better, and armed with answers, medicines are being adjusted and plans are being made to relieve her distress. Ava Jane is a beautiful, social two year old with a quick to smile and amazing eyelashes envied by all the adult women around her. She truly needs a chance to be whisked away to princess land. We realize that our times with her may be shorter than we wish, and we would treasure special pictures of her for our family.”

Ava Jane is truly special. Her sisters just love her to bits. The oldest girl is a girl after my own heart, a tomboy in every sense of the world. Hates getting dressed up. so she was being quite kind to come along and take photos in a pink *gasp* dress! The middle sister is in love with dressing up for sure, and was having a ball. Ava spent the time watching her sisters, being smooched on, playing with her dress and listening to the birds!

This pair of girls are identical twins. It’s really funny though, their personalities are so apparent even in photos that they don’t LOOK like identical twins! It’s more obvious in person than in photos. I was worried that I’d never be able to tell them apart, but it’s pretty easy once you know what to look for! I need a LOT more practice with twins and a much smaller place to do sessions like this. They both ran two different directions at once and it was really hard to get them both in a photo.

]]> http://www.fairyography.com/what-a-pair-3/feed/ 3 http://www.fairyography.com/princess-clouds/ http://www.fairyography.com/princess-clouds/#comments Sun, 12 Apr 2009 18:55:28 +0000 Heather Lickliter Larkin http://www.stylizedportraiture.com/?p=1302 NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized or removed for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

This session was a blast in more ways than one! This session was scheduled for Friday the 10th at 5:30pm. We’d been watching the weather all day and though the rain cloud were hovering close, we decided to just go for this session and hope the rain held off. We had a great time for our fairytale dancing and twirling and talking about everything. We ended with no rain and managed to get out of the Botanical Gardens just 30 minutes before the tornado sirens went off at my house!

Another tea-party, this time for Miss S and her very best friend. A see-you-later party until Miss S gets back from St. Jude’s in Memphis. Miss S is battling a malignant tumor on her brain stem and took a turn for the worse this weekend. She’s headed to St. Jude’s for a while until she gets better. Miss D is a wonderful friend and can’t wait until her return!
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