at the beach

I have a lot to catch up on (of course)...

Christmas, Chappy's Sesame Street birthday party, etc. --

But for now, we are at the beach.

Reed's parents rented a huge casa for all of us on North Captiva Island, FL.

Sadly, it's been rather cold during our stay in South Florida and my legs are still white as snow. They say it's usually in the 70's and 80's this time of year, here... but not this week.

Oh well :)

Since the house has WiFi (thank the LORD), I thought I'd share a few pictures of what we've been up to since Monday:

Ummmm, how hilarious is Chapp's face in this???

Post Script

I'll have you know I didn't do a.dang.thing to Chappell's eyes in any of these pics. I usually retouch eyes (everyone does)-- but I didn't w/ these.

Swear.

Her eyes are CRAZY blue as it is-- but when I mess around w/ color tones (the 70's looking pics) they just pop.

Just sayin'.

My baby is 2!

I can't believe I didn't post on Chappy's 2nd birthday!

I've become quite the slacker, apparently.

So, making up for lost time: Chaps turned two on Thursday, December 9th.

Here I am, going all cliche on you - but, I can't believe it!

Two years ago I found myself about 50 pounds overweight, deprived of sleep and the mom to a 7.9 pound baby. Wild.

So much has changed... we've moved 3 times:

Birmingham ---> beach house ---> Santa Rosa Beach ---> Montgomery

and now our "baby" is a full blown toddler/kiddo.

At two, Chappellina is absolutely amazing.

Her personality is better than I ever could've envisioned.

She's funny, sweet, did I mention funny??, smart - beautiful inside and out.

But seriously, spend five minutes with her-- she's one of the funniest kids I've had the pleasure to be around. She has this way of speaking... she uses her hands and is super animated. IF she doesn't know the word in English, she'll slip one of her own words in there to fill the gap. It's pretty funny. She's Chapplingual.

While on the topic of language, she is doing very well. Her teacher often tells me that she's surprised by how verbal she is (and that she is hilarious, and keeps her entertained).

I don't know how many words she can say... well into the hundreds, there is no way to know. She can sing about 20 songs. She knows all animals, sounds, body parts, and every day objects. They say at this point in development they learn between 10 - 20 words every day. I believe it. Especially this time of year-- Christmastime brings its own vocabulary... and she's loved learning all about Santa, Baby "Cheezes" and all of the fun "lights" and decorations.

One of Chappell's favorite games is for us to draw a shape/picture/whatever on her magnadoodle and she then guesses what it is. I must say-- she is almost ALWAYS right! I'm not the best at sketching and she can usually tell what I'm drawing. It's a fun little game that we play.

Chappell loves to:

*tickle her mommy and daddy (and you better laugh)

*sing "Big Me" by the Foo Fighters, B-I-N-G-O, 5 Little Monkeys Jumpin' on the bed, Johnny Appleseed, Twinkle Twinkle, Row Row Row Your Boat and many other random songs...

*play with her little toddler friends

*watch the Little Mermaid, Lion King & Nick Jr. - sorry if you're anti-TV (we're not - we believe in moderation)

*play with dogs and cats

*read books

*go to the park w/ friends

btw-- I'm going to have to finish this 2 year old update later... before my 2 year old destroys our house!

Riley's birthday party

Chaps sure had a blast at her little buddy's 2nd birthday party!

This picture is just so funny to me, I had to share.

The party theme was "vintage circus."

gift certificates...

please let me know if you are interested.

i'm working on my website as we speak... not much longer!

a saturday in december

I'm not sure if anyone's still out there, but I just wanted to check in and say hello.

We are, in fact still here, but it's been hard to find the time to blog lately.

Although I'm hangin' on by a thread, I refuse to let the blog die after all of the time I've poured into this thing over the years.

Currently, the Chapster's upstairs taking a nap and Reedo is at the office finishing up a few things while the babe is asleep.

I had 5 sessions this morning. Whoosh!

Speaking of which, Christmas card shoots are what's keeping me so busy - but I'm not complaining... it's a wonderful thing to be busy! After our short time at the beach... where I learned what it's like to have NOTHING to do... I'll take busy any day.

I'm loving this new venture of mine.

There is still a lot to learn (there always is), but I've learned a ton so far and I'm so happy with what I'm doing.

It's December 4th.

I cannot believe - CANNOT believe- that Chaps will be two in five days.

I sound like an oldie, but where has the time gone? It's absolutely insane!

Chaps is growing like a weed and changing so fast it's becoming hard to keep track of it all.

She can say and do so many things. The kiddo understands everything we say and nothing goes over her head these days.

We're gearing up for Christmas over here and I can tell that Chappell is really enjoying this time of year-- even if she doesn't quite understand what the fuss is all about she's certainly enjoying all of the festivities that go along w/ the season.

The "liiiiights" and "chrimus tweee" are her personal favorites.

I'm going to get back to work while Chappy's asleep but I'll be back very soon w/ Chappy's 2 year update.

Ahhhh, the suspense!! It's killing you, I know.

Here are a few babies I've done recently:

(We had to cover his parts while posing/adjusting, right??)

This little man's daddy is a big hunter. He's already sportin' camo. I didn't know they made it so small!

and... Chappy...

Of course she's not looking at the camera. I'm her mom.

I'm Home!

Chapps and I drove to Pensacola early this morning.

Bloggo, please forgive me for my absence.

Hopefully I'll find some time to blog now that I'm home and there are two willing aunts and one extra willing Mimi to help me.

We'll see.

I have a lot going on this week... I'm photographing a great friend's newborn baby, I have a shoot for Smith, Chappell's Christmas card photo, Parent's card photo... the list goes on and on and on and on... I won't bore you anymore.

Here are a few pictures I took this weekend... I'll upload more later... However, I've learned that high res photos take forever to upload on to Flickr... so, I'm doing it less and less.

There are many more... I've had lots of babies lately!

Happy Turkey Day!

Ahhhhh, hopefully I'll be back soon. Lots to record...

Coffee: Recession Style

Until about six months ago, I was frequenting Starbucks almost every.single.day.

At five bucks a pop, that's around $150 a month!

I think Reed got a little fed up with my overpriced coffee habit...

Then one day, this baby showed up in my kitchen:

I cannot tell you how much money I've (we've) saved.

It costs around 30 dollars for 80 K Cups at Sams or Costco. I'm sure you can find an even better deal online.

I think the machine costs around $109.

You do the math!

Add this to your coffee and it tastes just like Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte.

My lil' Punkin

I wish I could freeze Chappell right now.

I think I've said that every month... of her entire life (well, maybe not when she was getting up each and every hour, on the hour),

BUT,

I really mean it now.

She is just so precious and adorable and says the funniest things.

It is amazing how much she understands now. She hears and catches everything you say-- so watch out if you come over to our house.

It's just crazy and unbelievable to me... she can count (!) to around 12, say a lot of the alphabet, knows colors, about a zillion animals and sounds... all of her body parts. And that's just the beginning!

She cracks me up. Non-stop. The kid is hilarious.

This morning I told her I was going to the kitchen to make breakfast. She looked at me and said, "I no hungee, mama. No hungee. No hungee."

You probably had to be there...

Last night, I gave her some white cheddar puffs for a little snack before dinner. When she didn't think I was looking I saw her push a few of the puffs off of the table and on to the floor.

She then comes to tell me that she had some "taaash" (very urgently, btw) that she needed to put in the "taaash."

So, one by one, each puff was taken to the trash can. After touching the "taaash," Chaps asked me to wash her "hannnns" in the "ink."

Ohhhh I love that child.

I don't think I've posted since Halloween?

Wow.

I guess it's been a while?

My best friend from college got married here in Montgomery on Halloween weekend.

Her wedding was FABULOUS!

I cannot wait until her pictures are ready-- since I wanted to fully celebrate her big day, I decided against lugging my camera to the reception.

So.. sadly, that means no pictures to share.

We had the best time.

My mom came up for the weekend to help us take care of Chappell since we had a house full of guests and I was busy with wedding events.

Needless to say, we were a little "tired" on Sunday.

So, Chappell dressed in her costume for a little while and answered the door for trick or treaters.

Next year, we've vowed to step up our Halloween night a little bit.

I'm not feeling too guilty after a month of celebrating Halloween.

Here's our little elephant:

These pictures will also serve as a my reminder to never ever shoot in JPEG again...

I'm an editing fool

Anyone recognize this cutie?

He belongs to Mary Margaret (Slaton) and Austin Brown. His name is Slaton and he is super cute! I'm working on his pictures right now, but thought I'd take a little break and post this picture.

Love it!

I am ridiculous!

I forgot that I already posted some of Thomas. Do you see how frazzled I am??

Another of E:

what's goin' on

hey friends and fam!

we've been even crazier than ever recently. hence, no punctuation in this post.

this weekend i had 5 shoots! including my first event (a first birthday party) on saturday.

we headed up to birmingham after the birthday party to attend one of my good friend's engagement parties.

on sunday morning, i had three "mini sessions" with three equally adorable babes that reside in the hammer.

anyways, this weekend-- my best, best friend is getting married, and so the busy life continues-- however, in a wonderfully fun way!

i still have lots to do around here to prepare for 5 friends that are staying with us for the wedding. it wouldn't seem like much, but with a busier (than heck) toddler running around un-doing everything that i do... things tend to get complicated.

so... this week, i will spend every free second getting ready for my bestie's wedding and editing photos.

i'm just plugging along and learning new things as i go in Photoshop.

meanwhile, on the home front -- Chappell (i have to capitalize her name... since she is muy importante) is obsessed with The Little Mermaid (also muy importante)... just got her first tricycle... first barbie doll (ariel) and is talking up a storm. for any of you that are worried about the barbie doll and choking (i know you are- ha), i stripped ariel of her high heels and crown. i think that's why they were recommended for children 3+. ariel seems safe now.

chappell is hilarious. she is at the best age... perhaps that is why baby fever has been kicking in full force??? God has wiped away the traumatic experience {that is} life with a newborn baby.

we get a few tantrums from time to time but it's worth it.

she repeats everything you say, including:

"oooohhh Lordy" ---- oops. it could be worse, right??

here are a few pictures from eleanor's shoot in birmingham yesterday-- i have so many more pictures to edit-- this is just a little preview. a work in progress, if you will.

here are a few more of thomas-- another cutie!

More of Thomas

Well, since my photography blog isn't exactly up and running yet-- here are a few pictures I took this morning. I'm not done with the editing process yet, but I'm working on it!

In case you didn't know, I've decided to just go with it and start a business-- it will be official January 1st.

So... right now I've been keeping quite busy with my fam and future business!

Hope you enjoy!

Thomas was precious. Even after he took a tumble mid-shoot!

More to come, later...