Great Minds...

First and foremost, this was the very first day our little girl made a basket in her new hoop! :) Secondly, here's a funny small WORLD story. My friend Natalie and I went to H&M to shop for Clara. I picked out this shirt it reads "I have a strong will and a stronger will not" I thought it was cute, being blue and pink and having an anchor. I dunno, I was just drawn to it. So I showed it to her but decided on another dress and other things. That day I went home and got a box from Kris!! SOOOO excited! He had been shopping in Dubai and bought her this shirt.... Great minds think alike, even if we ARE on the other side of the world from one another... too funny.

clara's smiles.

Botanical Gardens trip We keep saying we need to make a collection of Clara's extreme facial expressions. It only took this beautiful child a week to smile at her Momma.. not just gas and stretches and all the other reasons people say their kid smiles... no, i would laugh and she would smile... this facial expression reminds me a lot of Kris. I'm not too sure why.... but I can't wait to see them together making the same faces.

Zoo Trip

Took a trip to the zoo with Auntie Natalie. It was a lot of fun, but a little scary. I'm beginning to figure out that Clara is NOT afraid of ANY kind of animal... TIgers?? Nah, they just look cuddly (which I kinda have to agree! I've never been this close to one before either!) Monkeys??? Clara ran towards them "ooh oohhhhh aaahhh aaahhhh" making monkey sounds! Maybe when I'm having a bad day with her one day I'll just send her to the zoo so they can understand her! :)

Mommy's birthday

For my birthday, I got a cold. Which in turn turned from us going to Busch Gardens to waiting to stay indoors which was probably a good thing because it HAILED while we painted pottery at Color Me Mine. Clara made a Fish sign for her room. Afterwards we had Pho Vietnamese Noodle Soup to clear out mommy's sinuses. When we start getting sick, we head there to get some soup. I swear it helps. :) But, it does cure an appetite!! YUM! Clara had bunny snacks with her dinner, she likes to kiss them first, don't you kiss your snacks first?

Beach Day

Our baby girl who once would glare at the thought of getting her hands dirty.... LOVES the sand. And by love, I mean, she is a mermaid.... The child has no fear of anything that has to do with water, beach, etc. In fact, she was even chasing the seagulls... into the water! Oh how I love our crazy child... Oh, AND living at the beach!

Slides are fun... POUTY FACE

Seriously??? How can you possibly turn down that pouty face??? She's got the best lip ever! She got the hang of sliding down her slide today, but she needed help from the neighbor to teach her how to climb up the back. Sh ethought you had to climb up the slide in order to get back down.

The Riley Twins

Goodness these girls are cute.... It's so great to see babies and all their differences... These girls are very simlar in age to clara and combined they weigh as much as her. It's hilarious to look at them next to each other, Clara's SO huge!! But, these girls are just full of happiness and smiles. I had a good time stopping by and snapping a couple photos, nothing too formal, just some babies and a camera :) cute cute!

Expressive Clara

I LOVED this face Clara was making, "Mom, you're boring me" hahaha She just looked cute today in her little shirt her MeeMaw got for her. She kept tugging at it though, probably thinking "what the heck is this? get off me!" Her pigtails end up all over the place after her naps, some high some low.. I never know what to expect when I pick her up from daycare versus the mornings when I struggle to do her hair in literally 20 seconds while she eats her breakfast.... depending on the breakfast I may or may not get 10 extra seconds... bananas, that's when she gets pigtails... here's your banana... now, let me get this hair up! :) ahh the things you discover as a mother.

the gardens :)

I just love this place. Norfolk Botanical Gardens is so pretty. Our membership has been paid for itself. It's so nice to have a beautiful place to photograph and visit... too bad everytime I line up a perfect shot and put Clara down she runs away... Gone are the days that I could just throw her in the grass and shoot a bunch of photos... yep... now she just runs away! But, for now, the action shots are fun too!

The photo of her next to the flowers, she was talking to the bumble bees... they apparently had a lot to talk about, she stood there for over 20 minutes laughing and babbling to them :) smelling the flowers and then talking some more.

before a night out on the town

Before our night out for a dinner date with the girls, we snapped a few photos in the yard. I just love those little chunky legs.. :) Who can resist them? She's getting so used to posing for me now, and I love it. I hope she's always this cooperative... phew. PS...don't tell her she has a clip in her hair because she will yank it right out!

I DUNNO?!?!?

If you ask Clara something she doesn't know the answer to, this is your response.. hahha only my child. :)

I LOVED this outfit when I got it for her... I just love a baby girl in red.. :) Plus, you notice, one of her favorite toys... a stick... the child has hundreds of toys but nope, just a stick will do. :)

our smiley baby

My she always be so happy. Our baby girl is just too funny. She is always laughing, joking and now even trying to tell me jokes in her own language... Her contagious giggle just keeps me going through the day. I honestly am not even sure that laughing exists outside of her beautiful smile. It's infectious. Everyone laughs with her and if you don't and she notices... she will laugh harder and LOUDER until you smile... she's an entertainer already... I have a feeling I'm in for it :) "Mrs. Nichols, we are calling from school to tell you Clara won't stop laughing..." hahah yep, that'll happen soon. Also, everytime my phone rings she "answers" it... putting her hand to her head and saying "LOOO??? LOOOOWWWWWW?????" hahah

beauty in acontrapposto stance

A figure of beauty :) Yeah, most people wouldn't understand what was meant when I stated that Clara was standing in a contrapposto (counterpose) stance. I guess for a little while there I was a bit of an Art History nerd. Yeah, me, a nerd... hard to imagine, right? Considering I graduated Magna Cum Laude... yeah, yeah. Anyway, so I notice this stance a lot. In fact, it's pretty much the way I stand constantly. But, it used to be seen as a beautiful stance, such as that of the ROmans and Greeks in their sculpture. Normally Children don't stand this way, but she probably learned it from me. I stand this way a lot out of favoring my left leg because of my bad foot... so much for image of beauty I guess I would be limping along if I didn't stand "beautifully" :) anyway... here's a bit of Art History for you, David, Leda and the Swan and Venus de Milo... all in the contrapposto stance... oh yes, and my beautiful girl rocking her mermaid tie dye shirt that we made for her along with lots and lots ofother tie dye treasures. :)

The Basdikis Family

this beautiful family stole my heart on friday. their little girl, was so scared of me and the camera, but I definitely captured her beautiful spirit. :) Their newborn is unlike any newborn I have ever seen, she wants to be awake for all of her photos!! It was a beautiful time and definitely challenging to get a smile, but I got a few!! :)

unplanned photos.

I've said this many times before, but sometimes the most unplanned photos turn out the best. Clara looked cute with her messy hair and polka dots today. I couldn't help but snap a few of her :)