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 :)

ga and sc

We took a very brief trip to SC and GA to go to a family reunion and got to see Clara's Aunt Katie and get a cuddle and Uncle Jordan and get a tour of the firehouse. Although she barely sat still in the 103 degree weather at the firehouse, I still was able to capture a couple laughs.

sunflowers and water

My little girl loves the outdoors.. and water....and sunflowers, apparently. She runs over to talk to her sunflower buddy just about every day... it's the cutest thing. She peeks around it as if she's expecting it to open it's eyes. :)

Sleepy girl

I was given an assignment by one of my godmothers. She has a frame that says "Nap Like You Mean It" and she bought it because it has a little girl in it that is passed out with one leg ropped up against that back of the couch... zonked out. :) Well, she said she just couldn't have a frame of someone else's kid, and that my assignment was to capture a photo of Clara sleeping for the frame. For now, these will have to do. Bu I will get another funny one soon. You really take these small moments for granted. Clara woke up at 530 this morning and Momma was NOT ready for that.. so I grabbed her and brought her into my bed to cuddle a little while, she laid on my chest for a long time before I got way too hot and moved her to the other side of the bed. I didn't think she would fall asleep there, but she did. So I immediately surrounded her with pillows while I went and got ready. Our bed is on a platform, it's a long fall! Trust me, there have been times when I wasn't happy about how tall it is! She just looked way too sweet to not capture this moment with her. Ugh... I love that girl. And, seriously, Whats NOT to love?

My girls

These girls are my life. I don't know what I would do without them. :) They make me smile like no other... They are my rock when my hubs is halfway across the world. I love you guys :)

all in a half day's work.

About 3/4 of the way into last deployment, I started watching Army Wives. For what ungodly reason, I'm unsure... but, it was something to pass the time and keep my mind on the fact that life could always be worse. Well, I just watched the last episode and it really made me mad. Basically, two wives went away for a weekend and were mugged while on vacation and another one is pregnant and there's lots of other underlying stories, but I was mainly upset about the mugging instance and it really got me thinking. First and foremost, what about all of the wives at home who don't need to go to a "beach house resort" to be mugged... What happens when your husband goes away and leaves you behind and you HAVE to deal with life things on your own. Well, The producer of Army Wives needs to know you don't need to go far to find a plot during a military wive's life... Please, let me give you an insight into my life for the past few days.. I wake up in a pool of sweat, it's 100 degrees outside and my air conditioner won't work... great... So, I get up and feed the baby and shower and head out the door. I get to work and am relieved to spend the day in an air conditioned hospital. Phew. Well, then the thought of going home to a hot house wasn't very conforting and inviting... so, I pack up the necessities and head up north....only to realize if I want the flowers my husband sent for our anniversary not to sit ont he porch, i have to turn around and get them.....which ends up adding 1.5 hours onto the drive due to traffic... I spend the weekend up there and come back this morning.... this is where it gets great and fun and exciting... ...No sooner do I get in the car and Clara starts... talking, singing, screaming, begging for toys that I can't reach to hand her, hitting the dog, some more screaming, then there's the fact that I can't take a sip of anything or even chew a piece of gum without her acting like a crazy starved child...Now, I must add that she would have cooperated a lot better had I not been stuck in 2 hours of DC traffic on the way home.....you think traffic is hard? Try having a screaming child in your ear... So, we sang Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes and the ABC song until I was just about to explode....finally traffic lets up and we get home...almost 6 hours instead of the normal under 4 hour trip... Get home, have to unload the car that is now as if you tried to cram all the toys in toys r us into a clown car and then add in half a grocery store of puffs and cereal and crackers... fun time... Get the car unloaded, start some laundry, unpack all of the random things you've shoved into different bags along the way, set up the baby monitor, check the milk for the date expires, tomorrow.....there IS a god! FInally get Clara down for a nap....time to cut the grass, but first I need a break this is where I watched my recorded episode of Army Wives....ugh...pitiful This ends and I go out to cut the grass... no biggie, it's actully not in NEED of a cut, but I had to take advantage of the day because I work everyday for the next week except one where I have a session...busy busy... so, I cut the grass, get almost done and realized the monitor isn't working because the battery died. I only noticed this because Clara was watching me through the window near her crib screaming and banging on the window.... so... I finish as fast as I can because it's either finish now or I have to put her in the carrier and take her along... Get everything cleaned up, come inside, wipe down because I don't dare get in the shower, that will be VERY unproductive with a toddler... feed her and then finish the 5 loads of laundry... This is all in one section of a day.... take that, army wives.... oh, and also, did i mention the fact that there is a bee's nest growing under my flower bed that I got swarmed by... or possibly the fact that I stepped in dog crap as I was coming into the house? Or even the fact that when the lady fixed our AC over the weekend she left the hose nozzle in the yard and I ran it over with the lawn mower and almost knocked myself out... Now I'm sitting at my computer and having to send out the emails and check up on work stuff... fun times.

My beautiful life.

June 22 marks 3 years of being able to call myself Mrs. Nichols. I have moved 3 times, had a beautiful daughter, graduated college,been through one and half deployments and grown in more ways than I had ever hoped or dreamed. For our anniversary, Kris sent me flowers from deployment, "happy" daisies for our happy little family. Well, it just so happened that I had packed this dress for our mini vacation to Maryland. If you ask me, I don't think I could have planned it any better. Sometimes things in life happen this way... Clara and her dress, me and Kris's entire relastionship. It seems like the more you plan, the more let down you are when things don't go your way. So, in our family we tend to just go with the flow in hopes we will have great outcomes. In my book, we have the GREATEST results... a happy, healthy family full of love and laughter. What else can we ask for?

HELloOOOoOooOOOooo???

My little girl has decided that answering the phone is a pretty cool thing. :) She normally picks it up and says "Daddy?? Gramma?? Mommy??" She's so funny with her little things she is learning.

Suffolk with Clara

Clara and I went to a friend's house for dinner down in Suffolk. Saw the light in this field and couldn't pass it up. :)