Portrait Innovations (again)

Of course we had to make another trip to Portrait Innovations, our friendly neighborhood portrait studio, to commemorate Charlotte's birthday! We actually made it there on her real birthday too. It was fun to have Steve along with us on this special day, and we were also able to have lunch together at Pei Wei.

Here are some of our favorite shots -



Can't get this one to rotate for some reason, but it is cute!

I'm a 1 Year Old Now!

Well, it happened...our baby is now 1! This post is a little behind, as she how now been 1 for a week and 3 days, but better late than never I say. Her birthday was a busy day. Steve was working from home so he could spend time with us. We went to Portrait Innovations (see next post) and had a nice lunch at Pei Wei. Then we just played at home as usual until it was time to return to the scene of the crime for dinner. We were meeting Grandma, Nana and Grandaddy at the Buffalo Wing Factory where just 1 year earlier my labor had begun...the rest is history!

Grandma came to our house and rode with us to the restaurant. Here she is with Charlotte before we headed to dinner.


When we got back to the house we planned to have cake and have Charlotte open some of her presents. I forgot to take a picture of the cake before I cut it, but it was a pretty cute flower.

Here are some pictures of Charlotte's first experience with cake!

Hmmm, what is this?

I guess i'll try it!

I don't know....

Yum, that's pretty good!

REALLY good!

So I can really use my hands?


Charlotte showed the cake who's boss!


Charlotte opening a few of her presents (there were a few more, but no need to be redundant with the paper tearing)
A sweet new baby doll (and accompanying stroller) from Nana and Granddaddy

I like money, money, money, money. I like money, money's what I like!

Here's that paper tearing I was talking about...

Coming Soon

I am a bit behind on the blog updates, but here is what is to come hopefully by the end of the week...

*Charlotte's Birthday
*Portrait Innovations
*Charlotte's Birthday Luau

Our little cutie

I was just watching Charlotte play today and she was doing some pretty cute stuff, so I had to snap a few pictures!

She normally doesn't last long on her stomach, but I guess she decided it was a comfy position in which to read...




Charlotte also loves her mirror, and typically this is what she does with it...

First Mother's Day

This past weekend I was able to celebrate my first Mother's Day! I narrowly missed it last year, as Charlotte was born 2 days after. We had a nice morning at church and Charlotte enjoyed her time in the nursery. We got the report that she was "very content" which is always nice to hear when you leave your little one with others. We were going to venture out for lunch, but opted to feed Charlotte at home and then put her down for a good afternoon nap since going to church means she missed her morning nap. While Steve fed Charlotte, I prepped for an afternoon of shopping on my own! The perfect Mother's Day present, since it is near impossible to leisurely shop and try on clothes with a baby in tow.

After I returned home, it was time to go and visit my Mom! We headed over to my parents house and ended up getting to see pretty much the whole family while we were there. Chris, Sarah, Madeline and Gabriel were there, and later in the evening Bill, Dawn, Ryan and Brittany (who also turned 16 on Mother's Day) showed up for a little visit. My Mom was excited that she got to see all of her children and grandchildren in one place at one time!

Dad took Charlotte down to the creek behind their house. This is always a favorite pass time of Charlotte's Cousin Madeline, and will hopefully be fun for Charlotte as she gets older too! (that is if Nana and Grandaddy stay at this house...they have a tendency of moving every few years so we'll see... :) )



Madeline and Charlotte

Gabriel checking out what's under the rug

Madeline, Sarah and Gabriel

Me and Charlotte

Charlotte and her Nana

Gabriel and Nana

A family picture

Beware...

..the almost-one-year-old has a fork!!

I decided to introduce Charlotte to this new utensil just for fun yesterday. I "stabbed" pieces of food then handed her the fork. At first she would tap the fork on her tray a few times and then put it in her mouth, then she decided to skip the tapping part and just go straight for the mouth! She gets a little crazy with it and poked her forehead once but didn't seem to be bothered by it.

A Day at the Park

So as i'm about to write this post about an outdoor adventure on a beautiful sunny day, it is currently pouring down rain and a really gloomy day! Oh well, hopefully these pictures will make the day a little brighter.

After Steve got home from some errands, and after Charlotte took her afternoon nap, we decided to take a little walk around the neighborhood. We had planned to walk up to the local elementary school playground, but on our way we spotted another playground in the middle of the group of townhouses near out house. We decided to stop and check it out!

Charlotte seemed to enjoy the ride-on duck they had at this playground. There was also a chipmunk one but it seems to be the hiding place for several wasps, so we steered clear!

Charlotte sporting my sunglasses.



Sitting pretty on the slide

Check out that hair!

My attempt at an artistic shot (notice the reflection in the pole)

Having fun with Daddy

Hmmm...what is this stuff you call grass?!