Captured IV (Sponsored & Giveaway)

The following post is the last of the "captured series" posts brought to you by Best Buy. Get unbeatable prices on all digital cameras to capture your family memories this holiday season.

I was up late last night going through all of the entries trying to narrow down my five favorite photos. (Many of the images posted were blocked from embedding and/or downloading so I was unable to include all of my favorites. Like this one. And this.) I could have posted fifty photographs because there were at least that many that were incredible and moving and verklemptish but the following thirteen (choosing a top five was impossible) made me audibly gasp from the magic and joy so lovingly portrayed. So thank you.

Guardian: "While we packed up to go home from our camping trip, James sat on a stump, armed with his bow, overlooking the other kids playing on the tire swing below." via AprilAnn

"Dorothy fell asleep in the middle of her one month photo shoot. I put the camera down and curled up next to her, and Jeremy grabbed the camera... I don't think any of my other pictures so effectively capture the calm yet overwhelming love that I feel when dozing with a sleeping baby in my arms." via Jeremy Wakeman

via elk

Family: "I snapped this at the arboretum on one of our visits this summer. Gray was upset and wouldn't go sit on the bench (not unusual for him) so he slumped on the grass. And I remember just watching them through the bushes. I couldn't even hear what they were talking about, but I couldn't get over my beautiful family." via adventuresinbabywearing

via urbanbrat

Salermo Brothers: "This is a pic of our two boys Griffin and Gavin a few weeks after we brought Gavin home from the hospital. When I was pregnant, I was so worried about how my 2.5 year old would adjust to the big change. Being an only child myself, I never fully grasped the sibling relationship but was always intrigued by its complexity. I asked everyone I knew how I should help "foster" their relationship. I wanted them to be close but knew it was something that was probably beyond my control. I knew to expect bumps in the road because every great relationship always has them. But as I watched my two boys lay on my bed and my "big" boy reach around to embrace his sleeping brother, right then, in that instance, i saw the power and instant love two siblings share. Regardless of whatever changes he was feeling, his need to hold his baby bro close was something that came natural...the love is there from the beginning and all we can really do is help it grow and watch in awe. So happy I caught this moment." via takebacktables

Dusk via candykempsey

Magic: "My son, two years ago, really experiencing the magic of the holidays for the first time." (via Ashley)

Angela & Ella: "These girls are attached to each other when they are home. My daughter will drop whatever teenager type stuff she is doing, at any moment, to be there for her little sister..." via candykempsey.

Sisters: "We were renting this townhouse in the 'burbs and the large shared field out back was why we chose it. No one was ever out there. We spent most of our time our back and the girls could wander all over. I loved these Cherry Blossom trees that would bloom for such a short time. Seeing the girls "on their own" playing together so far from me made me observe them in a way I never could up close." via littlereddogstudios

Practicing Levitation via Candace Laning

Meeting Harper: "Harper Mae was born 2:46am November 10, 2010. This was the first moment I laid eyes on my daughter." via jberthume

Four Kids: "These four. From four different places on the globe. From four different genetic backgrounds. And somehow so absolutely siblings, so absolutely belonging to one another and to us as a family. We are so lucky to get to witness the miracle of them every single day." via KCHK

Walking to the farm: "I spend a lot of time with my cousin's three boys - basically my nephews. One of the common daily pasttimes is to walk up through the woods to the farm where our grandfather grew up. I just love this shot with the black-eyed susans." via welleslypiffy.

"This is one of my new favorite photos. OF ALL TIME. Playing in the yard at Papa and Nana Deur's house in Iowa." (via Jana.)

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Thank you for sharing your photos everyone. I'll be narrowing down this final bath to one within the next few weeks ($500 Best Buy gift card c/o Federated Media = hooray!) If you haven't submitted your favorite five photos and still would like to, please do so by uploading to flickr and tagging them #CapturedPhotoContest_GirlsGoneChild. Please also remember to make them "public" so I can see them. (You can also link them in the comments if for whatever reason, they don't show up.) You have until December 24th to enter. (Eprize will contact the winner through flickr mail from the "family memory photo contest notice" screen name on/around 1/16/12.) For more info, see this post, contest rules and regs are here.

...Thanks again for sharing your incredible photographs. Gorgeous, all of them, as are all of you.