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 :)

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?