Avery's one year photoshoot

Oh my cuteness.... Avery is officially ONE and I am still recovering from her birthday weekend! I SHOULD be "reclaiming" the house and giving it a nice "I'm sorry we abused you on Saturday" scrub BUT instead I've been a photobooking QUEEN today! How could I not? Scroll down and check out the cuteness that is Avery's 1 year photoshoot book in the post below that I let Shutterfly post in exchange for a free $10 gift card that I am way too excited about.

I am a SUCKER for pretty pictures. My friend Alicia Sutton from Alicia Sutton Photography graciously waddled her 8 month preggo belly to Freedom Park in Charlotte last Thursday to capture this cuteness...

Seriously, y'all.... there has to be some contest I could submit this to and become and instant millionaire. No? OK... how about this one?

I could just eat her up! She was too cute! She kept looking up at me like "is this really OK?" Once she finally decided it was, she'd dip her face in the cake and say "YUM" and giggle. My heart is still warm from the preciousness that was last Thursday morning's photo shoot.

I bet my frequent blog followers are thinking "Did she FINALLY get the elusive family photo?" No. I didn't actually invite Daniel since the plan was to surprise him with pretty photos of the kids for Father's Day but my plan was foiled when I caught him purchasing the same living social deal for Mother's Day that I was buying for Father's Day. Great minds think alike right!?! Anyways, I DID drag Parker along in a coordinating outfit with the promise of a duck siting and if the photographer could have walked on water, I think we would have been golden. Note to self: next time bring an inflatable boat. I'm sure my 8 month pregnant friend/photographer wouldn't have minded?! Anything for the sake of good photos? (Except for taking them on the side of the interstate in a wild flower patch which yes... we did actually ponder).

All kidding aside, we did get a few action shots of the kids thanks to a little shameless bribery:

Parker has learned how to voice his opinion lately and I can't tell you how many times we heard "I do not want to take my picture anymore!" Everything is "anymore!" (Throughout the weekend he declared he was not going to poop, pee, eat dinner or be nice to Avery "anymore!".... bless his little dramatic heart). This might be my favorite "No. really... I'm done. Get the heck out of my face so I can see the ducks" picture:

You have to admit he's SO handsome! Wouldn't it be funny if one day he were a model or something photo related? Oh the arsenal of terrible family photos I have to show his future wife one day!

This one is pretty sweet of Parker's though:

OK, back to the birthday girl. I loved the simplicity and genuine smile in these pictures and the adorable outfit from Smockadot:

I may have to order more frames to have an ode to cuteness with all of these cake smash pictures! I'm seriously obsessed with them!

These pictures have brought me SO much joy as the children have been a bit AWFUL spirited today. They're reminders of the innocence of children, the joy found in "the little things" and the incredibly fast pace of time and to truly cherish these moments. I'll laugh one day about Parker's potty training backslide, Avery's tantrums at 12 months old, the sheer amount of times I've caught her drinking toilet water, the battles over pictures and hair brushing, the list goes on... How many times over the last year have I stated "this too shall pass?!" Of course, it does pass and something new comes along to replace it that I also wish away... Oh mommy guilt. Bottom line... I'm so glad to have these sweet moments captured on film of Avery smashing her staged birthday cake, Parker doing darn near anything to spend some quality time with water fowl, and a sweet moment of shared oversized lollipops at way too early of an hour... all for the sake of a pretty picture! ;)

Preppy Baby goes to the Nature Museum

Today my girlfriend and I took the kiddies to the Charlotte Nature Museum. It's located beside Freedom Park which is a beautiful and large park I plan to revisit when it isn't so stinkin' hot! The facility wasn't large but that didn't stop the kids from having fun! There were snakes, turtles, butterflies, baby mice, an owl (or oooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwlllllllllll according to Parker), water table, reading room, slides and tunnels and more! I'm not sure if Parker got anything out of it educationally at this age but I enjoyed visiting a new place and mostly eating Monterray's for lunch while we were on that side of town!

This was obviously going to be a major picture taking outing so I put Parker in the most naturish outfit he has.... a blue gingham crab and starfish jon jon. ha ha... Actually, he has a monogrammed and appliqued T-shirt with a snail that would have been more appropriate but it's in the wash. Darn!

Here's a recap of the museum...in pictures, of course!

Pressing buttons to hear what sounds each insect makes and checking out turtles!

Playing with blocks



What a dramatic little ham!



Overall, fun time had by all and I definitely recommend planning a trip there if you have young kids in the Charlotte area! My advice would be to go in the morning when it opens (don't bother with a stroller), wait until about an hour before it closes or wait until Summer camps are over since the facility is SO small and the camp counselors are middle school girls on their cell phones not watching the kids! ha ha I give it 1 1/2 thumbs up for toddler friendliness!