Well!  I am FINALLY getting around to posting Carter’s 7th birthday!  My sweet boy turned SEVEN on May 31st and boy was he excited!  I think he started counting down the days at the beginning of May and he could not contain his excitement the day before and the day of….lots of screaming and shouting and all around happiness.  I am not sure if it had more to do with the fact that he was turning 7 or the presents and cake haha!  Either way, he was extremely happy.  We celebrated his birthday that morning with chocolate chip muffins(his request) and opening gifts.  Later that afternoon, we met all of his friends at G-Force and had pizza, cake, ice cream and lots of laser tag!  We ended the day with some swimming at my aunt and uncle’s house.  I’d say it was a successful birthday!  And I just want to say a quick THANK YOU to my friend Meredith who let me borrow her camera….without it, I would not have been able to capture these special moments!  Speaking of camera….I have an update!  With the AMAZING SUPPORT from friends, family, and compassionate human beings in this world, I have been able to purchase a new camera body and lens!  I am SO GRATEFUL for everyone’s love and support and could not have done it without you all!  THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!  Below are some photos from Carter’s birthday this year!  2015-06-01_0001PIN IMAGE 2015-06-01_0002PIN IMAGE 2015-06-01_0003PIN IMAGE 2015-06-01_0004PIN IMAGE 2015-06-01_0005PIN IMAGE 2015-06-01_0006PIN IMAGE 2015-06-01_0007PIN IMAGE 2015-06-01_0008PIN IMAGE 2015-06-01_0009PIN IMAGE 2015-06-01_0010PIN IMAGE 2015-06-01_0011PIN IMAGE 2015-06-01_0012PIN IMAGE 2015-06-01_0013PIN IMAGE 2015-06-01_0014PIN IMAGE 2015-06-01_0015PIN IMAGE 2015-06-01_0016PIN IMAGE 2015-06-01_0017PIN IMAGE 2015-06-01_0018PIN IMAGE 2015-06-01_0019PIN IMAGE 2015-06-01_0020PIN IMAGE

  

I know its taken me forever to get this blog post up, but its finally here!  If you didnt know already, I love planning for the kids’ birthdays!  I have so much fun coordinating everything and watching it finally come together on their big day.  They have been sharing their birthday party together for the last three or four years now and I love that they do that.  This year, Kaleigh’s theme was art and Carter’s was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Below are the images from their party.  I actually made all of the designs for Kaleigh’s birthday this year and Carter’s designs were from free sources I found on the internet. 🙂  I did make the subway art print and I have to say, I am pretty proud of myself!  As always, the cakes and cupcakes were made by the fabulous Alicia from A Peach in a Pear Tree.  She is currently working on getting her new bakery opened and I am SO excited!  If you havent tried her desserts, you need to, they are delicious!  And lastly, Kaleigh’s awesome shirt was custom made by the talented Rebekah Crisco from Esty!  You can see Kaleigh modeling the shirt here. PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE

  

It is still hard to believe that my little baby is six years old.  It feels like yesterday I was holding him in my arms with his beautiful eyes looking up to me in pure contentment.  Today, he is non-stop….playing with friends and any kind of sport there is, and pretending to be anything from a ninja, spy, or power ranger, to a baseball player, teenage mutant ninja turtle, Luigi, or any given superhero.  He has such a big imagination and I love that this phase has not disappeared just yet.  Just this morning, he received a Power Rangers mask and costume(complete with the awesome sword) and he is currently wearing that while playing his new Power Rangers Wii game with his big sis Kaleigh.  Before that, he had woken up to balloons in his room(his request), opened all of his gifts and eaten chocolate chip pancakes….all before 8 am on a Saturday.  Ahhh, life with children. 🙂

In honor of Carter’s birthday I wanted to share a little about him with you all.  Carter has always been a very sweet boy.  And Im sure all parents say that about their kids, but he is SO attuned to other people’s feelings and has been like that since he was very, very little.  He does not like to see anyone upset and really tries to make everyone around happy.  Can you imagine how sweet this makes him?!?!  Dont get me wrong, he can get into with his sister and really push her buttons, but for the most part, he is always thinking of others and in general, is a very optimistic and happy-go-lucky little guy.  I love his positive disposition about life and the fact that nothing gets him down.  He can make the best of any situation and has a heart full of love.  Carter is a very dedicated person.  He puts 100% effort into everything that he does…whether its chores, homework, or playing…he tries his very best at everything he does.  He is a cooperative, playful, intuitive, loving, kind, sweet soul.  He is also a very funny child.  He is always making crazy faces, doing sill dance moves and just being a goof.  His comical personality can get the best of him at school sometimes but its all in good fun.  😉  His teacher asked me yesterday if he had a brother in kindergarten….she really did not know because Carter had apparently told her that Emmons(his best friend and “brother”) was his brother.  This had her really confused so she had to ask haha!

I asked Carter how he would like to spend his birthday and he replied, “I want to go putt-putt and the peanut place.”(aka Texas Road House) so we did that along with hitting a few ball at the batting cage.  Today he has a t-ball game so I made the cutest baseball cookies(thanks Pinterest!) to help celebrate his birthday after the game.  After, we are heading to Hampton for the night…Kaleigh has her state meet for gymnastics tomorrow so what better way to spend a birthday than in a hotel?!?!  I think anyone who has kids can attest to this….kids LOVE hotels…especially ones with pools!  He is extremely excited about this.  What a fun birthday weekend we have planned!

So I realized yesterday that I hadnt taken his birthday pictures yet…this makes me a little sad, but this time of year is incredibly crazy with weddings, school functions, sports, both kids birthdays, and other miscellaneous things…not to mention the cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc. etc. etc!  Ahhhh…I start stressing just thinking about it!  Anyway, we did a quick birthday session at the park where he plays t-ball…I figured we are there twice a week anyway, whats one more day?!  And so what if he needs a haircut, has green Frankenstein socks on, I forgot his awesome aviator sunglasses, his shoes look awful, and I would have picked out a different outfit if I had actually thought about it….THIS is Carter 100%!  This guy is SIX years old today!  Happy Birthday to one of the sweetest, most kind-hearted and incredibly funny kids I know!

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A couple of weekends ago I had the privilege of documenting sweet Harper’s 1st birthday!  She is such a precious little girl and her family is great!  I enjoyed meeting everyone and being able to capture her 1st birthday with her closest family and friends.  It was a very special day that I am sure her family will remember for years to come.  Below are some favorites from the celebration. PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE

  

I cannot believe my Kaleigh is NINE years old today!  WHERE did the time go??!  I cannot believe that she is in her last year of single digits.  She is growing so fast and each day becomes more and more like a young lady.  It is so much fun to watch her around her friends, she has such a great and funny personality and her smile lights up the room.  She has a contagious laugh that everyone loves and is almost always giggling when she is having fun.  Unfortunately, I dont always see that side when I am with her because she is very strong-willed and likes to get her way.  And when she doesnt, watch out!  I am grateful that she has these qualities because it will be so helpful to her when she is grown, but boy she can be tough to live with sometimes lol.  But she can be very sweet when she wants to be and we had a lot of fun a couple of Saturdays ago when her and I had a girls birthday shopping day.  We went to Toys R Us, Barnes and Noble, Justice, and Claire’s…..all of her favorite stores!  After, we had lunch at Arby’s then headed to the movies and met Jay and Carter to watch Epic.  What a fun movie!  It was a very fun day and I am grateful that I was able to spend time with her.

Happy Birthday Kaleigh!  You are such a strong, independent young lady.  I cant believe how fast time has gone by and each day I look at you, you have grown just a little bit more.  I have loved each and every moment of these last nine years that I have spent with you and I look forward to all the wonderful things you will do as a nine year old!

Kaleigh didnt want to do a shoot for her ninth birthday 🙁  So I decided to compile some photos of things she loves.  🙂

 

Kaleigh loves to have fun and be funny!….she loves hiking….

PIN IMAGEShe loves swinging and swimming… PIN IMAGEShe LOVES reading…I mean LOVES it!  We went to the strawberry fields to pick strawberries and she took a book and read it lol!  Currently she is reading about four novels at the same time!!  One of them is Oz the Complete Collection Volume I(it has 574 pages…she started this book last week and I am sure she will finish it in the next couple of weeks lol) PIN IMAGEShe loves hanging out with her friends from school… PIN IMAGEand girl scouts… PIN IMAGEand gymnastics…. PIN IMAGEShe loves doing gymnastics and she is a great gymnast!  She was the 2013 Virginia State Champion this year and we are SO very proud of her! PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGEShe loves to flip, do daring things, and stay active! PIN IMAGEShe loves her family…. PIN IMAGEAnd whether she likes to admit it or not, she loves her brother dearly. PIN IMAGEShe is a model….when she wants to be… PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGEHAPPY BIRTHDAY KALEIGH MARIE! PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGEYou will always be my baby…. PIN IMAGE