Thank you for visiting our page! My name is Jessica Cardinal and my husband TJ and I own Cardinal Family Photography. We are a husband and wife team who share a passion for photography. I got my first DSLR camera, a Nikon D40 from TJ as a wedding gift (2009). When our second daughter was born TJ insisted that I take her newborn photos. They were not pretty, but hey, you have to start somewhere right?! Now several lenses and cameras later here we are. We now get to experience the joy of capturing your life moments. We are self-taught by means of countless hours of study online and keeping a camera with us at all times. We have also taken a ridiculous amount of photos of our four children.
I am also a teacher for Wooster City Schools. It's hard to know how to balance my love of photography and teaching along with my family. For now, we will be taking photo sessions in the summer, but photo sessions during the school year will be taken on a very limited basis.
TJ is self-employed in his own construction company, Cardinali Custom Construction. He has also just launched the new stage design business, Stage Skins. As you can tell, we have our hands full (mainly with the four children part). We feel so blessed that God has given us the opportunity to do what we love.
A little back story on us..
TJ and I met on Myspace. Does anyone remember what that is? :) We talked for two weeks on the phone before we met for the first time. TJ asked me to go to a family friend's wedding. This means that I got the pleasure of meeting his entire family on the same day that I met him. This is one of the reasons that I knew so quickly that he was the one for me. The way he was with his sister and his mom... and most of all with his beautiful niece, Maria. I remember very clearly thinking during the ceremony 'this is the kind of guy I need to marry'. Well..less than two months later...we were engaged! We got married almost exactly a year after we met on June 20th, 2009.
Fast forward to 11 months later and this little lady was born! Becoming a mom is by far the most amazing feeling I have ever felt in my life (next to marrying my husband of course)! Cadence is a typical first born. We may have catered to her just a little bit! She is very strong willed. She loves to to learn. She is very detailed and reserved (just like her Daddy)! Last year we gave her our first DSLR camera, the Nikon D40. She takes very good care of it and has been very interested in taking and editing her own photos. She says she wants to be a teacher and photographer when she grows up. I'm a proud mom!
..and then came Clara (2 1/2 years later). Clara is VERY different from Cadence. She is wild and funny and not shy! She loves to be silly. She LOVES her Daddy. Clara has so much personality sometimes I burst out laughing just watching her. When I asked her what her favorite thing in the entire world is, she replied, 'giving my family hugs and kisses'. This is so true. She will not let us leave her sight without giving us hugs and kisses.
TJ and I decided that we wanted one more child. I was certain that we were having another girl. When we went to the 20 week ultra-sound we found out that we were having A (single) boy. As the ultra-sound tech was doing the scan she told us about her third pregnancy. In her words, "can you believe that for 20 minutes the ultra-sound tech didn't know that we were having identical twin boys". Meanwhile, she continued on for about an hour with scanning our ONE boy. She went to show the doctor the images and came back what seemed like an hour later and asked me to lay back down. She said 'you know that story I told you about myself...it's happening to you. I. LOST. IT. I mean like screaming on and off for about 5 hours.
I cannot imagine life without these two little monsters.
Cason (the older of the two) has been the feisty one since he was born. He is vocal. He cries. He smiles. He has big emotions. He is so interested in everything around him. He studies things intently. He makes you feel so special when he looks at you. You might also notice that Cason has a different look from the rest of our family. We call him out little Irish baby. He takes after my dad and brothers.
Calon has been the laid back baby since he was born. He loves to eat and loves to sleep. He loves to be held. He also has turned into a little bully with his brother, constantly picking on him! He has his Daddy wrapped around his finger. Calon looks so much like Clara. We call him our little Italian baby.
