School Pics...

I am going to go broke....matter of fact, I have figured out that I work to to support my picture buying. I can't help it that we have the two cutest kids in the world and they take fantastic pictures. I have the hardest time saying no to pics..but you know what happens, I get packages of pictures and give a handful out, then I am stuck with 50 extra pictures! Back in July, St John's came to Gateway and they usually do a really nice job. Matter of fact, Braxton has been the poster child twice for them. Well, the first attempt BLEW! It was horrible. I had it scheduled after work which is a rough time on any given day. Chappelle is tired, hungry and wants her mommy. SO when she saw me and I tried to put her down..well, she was not having it! We went round two the following day during school hours and the director would help them (didn't know that was an option). Apparently that wasn't too much better. The director even told me, that the photographer wasn't going to charge a sitting fee...yikes! Well....as soon as the proofs came in, school made a special call to let me know the code so I could preview. Holy Cow...there were some great shots in there. Out of 25, I narrowed it down to 17..which I then knew had to go down even further. What in the world was I going to do with 17 pics of my kids, when I knew Chappelle's one year shots were around the corner and soon enough we would be doing family pictures. So this is what I ended up with and am very happy! Can you guess which one is my favorite???

One day last week I was going over the "basics" with Braxton like what's your address, mommy and daddy's name, so forth and so on. It came to me asking Braxton what his name was. He told me Braxton. I asked what's your middle name? And he told me .. Goose! I laughed! And then he tells me his whole name is Braxton Goose Carpenter. I said it's actually Braxton Everett Carpenter and he said ok, it's Braxton Goose Everett Carpenter! Too cute!

Happy Birthday Sweet Chappelle

WOW!!! Happy Birthday to my absolute favorite girl. I can't believe you are one already. This year has flown by. I was so lucky and fortunate to have been able to spend 2/3rd's of it at home with you. It was tough while we were doing it, but I look back now and am so grateful. I wish I was able to do it now. These are the fun times. You are the cutest thing I have ever seen (well, your brother too)!

You are all over the place. You crawl and cruise everywhere. You have just started walking assisted with us. We got you a pretty cool walking/learning toy. So I imagine it won't be long and you will be running right along with your brother. Speaking of him, you adore him. You light up and laugh at him all the time. And you also laugh when he is getting in trouble too. I think this will be something that may continue for many years to come.

You are our eater no doubt. There may be two things that we have put in front of you that you don't like. I have learned to start introducing everything to you. Here are a few things you currently eat:
Breakfast: eggs, muffins, pancakes, yogurt
Lunch/Dinner: nuggets, lunch meat and cheese, grilled cheese, pizza, green beans, baked potato, peas, carrots, corn, spaghetti, ravioli and meatballs
Snacks: applesauce, diced fruit (pears, peaches, pineapples, watermelon, strawberries) cookies, fish, and of course anything sweet
Like I said, not much out there you won't eat. And you try everything!

You love playing with toys. You already don't like it when someone takes something away you are playing with. Apparently at school you don't like it when other friends come near you either. Speaking of school....they call you Chappoo!

You are not much into reading. I hope this is something that will come with age. I can't wait for the day when both you and your brother want to snuggle in the bed or on the couch and read books.

Chappelle, we are so blessed to have you in our lives. We were surprised, in a good way, when we find out we were having you and even more surprised when we found out on your birthday that you were a sweet girl. You have been an eye opener in so many different ways. I didn't know I could love someone the way I love you. Don't get me wrong, I love your brother just as much as I love you, but in different ways. I can't wait to see what else you have in store for us. Thanks you for blessing us and becoming apart of our lives. It is now perfectly complete with you in it.

I love you bunches sweet girl,
Mommy

I AM IN LOVE!!!!!!!

Here are a few more shots from Chappelle's first photo shoot. WOW! I am going to be broke after this. I love every single picture! Not only do I think she is the cutest girl ever - but I have another new love: Katie Mathews for her phenomenal work! I am so glad she was able to capture my sweet girl.

A real conversation with Braxton:

As you know, last week we were at Folly Beach with the fam. In the midst of everything I decided to give Braxton an actual bath as opposed to rinsing off and showering outside. After endless fun in the sun and sand in every crevice, I thought, maybe you need a good soak! So to the tub you go. I was multi tasking as usual when I heard him yell

Braxton: MOM!
Me: (looking around the door)"what's up Bud?"
Braxton: "I have balls in here. (holding his sac) Why do I have balls in here?"
Me: BRYAN......!!!! You're son is in the tub and wants to know why he has balls in there. How about you handle that one!

A family weekend!

Here is a sneak peek of Chappelle's one year photo shoot. What got me interested in doing it with Katie Mathews' is I had seen some work she has done for several of my friends and they have turned out incredible. Then she offered a discount for the person who wanted to try out a particular outfit. The outfit was a very bright colored tutu and monkey hat to match. It's the cutest thing EVER, so I jumped all over it. The timing was perfect too...because I wanted to do one year shots. I also wanted to do some "naked" shots with Chappelle diving into cake. We ended up keeping the tutu on for a splash of color and added the hat back too. And of course I found a onsie/tutu outfit that has "princess" on it..and well that's so fitting too! It will be the perfect outfit for her "princess party" in a couple of weeks.

I can tell you if Gateway had been opened Sunday, both kids would have been there. My goodness they were taxing and HIGH MAINTENANCE!!!! There was more whining, crying and drama in the Carpenter house, I thought I was going to lose it. This weekend was one of those weekends where it emphasizes, I am not cut out to do stay at home full time (part time...now that's a different story)!

Back in time - well, a few weeks anyway. 4th of July pics