First Skinned Knee

Smiling despite her injuries


The skinned up knee


Daddy makes it all better

Our one and only time at our pool Charlotte fell down and skinned her knee. She was not quite sure about the band aid she eventually wore and asked to take it off constantly. I had to document the first of many more skinned knees in the English household. It is a wonder she hasn't gotten one before now.

Big Boy

Douglass Charles deserves his own post - seeing as so many are about his big sister. About a month ago we broke out the exersaucer (spelling I am unsure of) and tried it out. He is a pretty big fan and loves to squeal at all the bright toys. He turns round and round in it and when I say squeal, I mean at the top of his lungs. I swear, I didn't think I could have another child as verbal as Miss Charlotte. I think he is just trying to keep up. He does give her a run for her money.

Bikini Babe

With the baby being so young we are not making it to our pool very much this year. There is always a nap that seems to interfere. Thanks to Nannah we have a little plastic pool for the backyard that Charlotte can keep cool and play in. If you are wondering about her bathing suit, yes, it is the bikini she wore last summer. I guess it doesn't hurt to be long and lean. I must say, though, she's too cute with that pony tail. :)

The Other Side of the Moon

There are so many things going on in my life that sometimes I feel like my business stuff - like Chick-fil-A and The English Pea - are on the other side of the moon. I sometimes feel that it takes that much work just to get to those things. Regardless, I decided to post about The English Pea today because I can't find the cord to download my photos so I could share photos of my babies as promised. Oh well, like I said, I have too many things going on.

These pictures are some of the packaging I have done on the giveaways and orders that I recently received and a calling card that I am offering. I am also currently working on a new invitiation, border, bag tags, and a few Christmas ideas. Laura Alvis with Laura Alvis Photography has also graciously offered to take photographs of my products - thus helping me promote my items better - photography is not my forte (to check out her stuff please visit www.lauraalvisphotography.com - she has a little giveaway of her own if you want to become a fan on facebook for all you local folks).

I also have a few things that I hope to launch in the fall - a hostess promotion, a birthday bash giveaway, and a few other ideas. These are all in the works right now and it is so hard to keep the details to myself because I am so excited about them.

Again, thanks to all for your support as I start this little creative venture. Stay tuned for those kiddo photos - if I can ever find that darn cord. :)

Heat Wave

Sorry for the lack of photos. I have plenty to post, but they remain sitting in the camera waiting for their turn to be downloaded and shared.

I feel completely caught up in the recent heat wave. Summer is supposed to be a slow time but with my going back to work and launching my business I am feeling the heat of the stress I have put on myself. Posting on my blog has gone on the backburner.

We have been busy with other things too. Doug's father offered to sod our back yard and he and Doug spent ALL day Saturday and most of the day Sunday laying the sod. It was quite a job and probably not the most relaxing thing to do on Father's Day. I believe it was a good bonding experience for the both of them and our back yard looks absolutely beautiful. Thanks for all the hard work guys!

Father's Day was uneventful since the guys were so hard at work. I did treat Doug to a Braves game last night - a definite splurge - not something we can afford seeing as it requires a sitter for about 5-6 hours in addition to the price of the tickets and food. We had a great time and I think he enjoyed the game - at least they won.

I have been so busy with work and The English Pea (I had a nice bulk of orders last week and am working with some other local people on some promotional things coming soon) that I am feeling the strain on my body. Migranes and teeth grinding have found their way back into my life and I am trying to figure out a way to relax - not to mention I am not sleeping well. I am praying that all of this will pass as I adjust into being a working mommy again. It seems my brain never shuts off.

Other than that, Charlotte and I are off to visit cousin Adeline and Aunt Mary Catherine this week. We are going to have a girls night with our girls on Thursday and we are looking forward to spending time together - the girls have such fun together. Hopefully pictures will be posted next week. Until then... enjoy surfing this heat wave. :)

Momma?

Charlotte's vocabulary seems to increase every day. She not only says single words but she can put two and three words together. She is aware that she is communicating because she gets really frustrated when I don't understand her. Lately, since Doug has been home for his summer break, we have noticed that she has been calling him Momma. We correct her repeatedly but much to our dismay, she continues to call him Momma. Don't know why and don't know how it happened, but somehow she has gotten all mixed up. So, what does she call me? Nothing, just "uahhhhh" whenever she wants me or something from me. I think she is doing it just to spite me because she knows how badly I want her to call me by name. :)

Portraits

Kisses


Douglass Charles in the Christening gown that my brother wore. It is so nice to have such wonderful heirloom pieces in the family. They really do mean so much! Hopefully he will be baptized later this summer.


Charlotte all smiles - for the split second she would stay still.

Doug and I took the kids to have their portraits done yesterday. Douglass Charles was in a foul mood and wound up with the hiccups and Charlotte wasn't too sure about the whole thing. The first picture was truly the only one the photographer was able to get of them together. It was nice, though, to finally have some nice pictures made of the kids together. All in all we had a good day was we later shopped at the mall, bought a freezer for all my grocery store sale items, and had a great lunch at Johnny Rockets. Just an all around good family day.

Reading with Nannah

Charlotte, Adeline and their Nannah

My mother will kill me for putting this on the blog. Sorry, Mom, but it is too sweet. I was so glad that we got a brief moment of my mom reading to the girls. My mother is crazy about her grandbabies and now that she has moved to Austin her limited time with them is more precious to all invovled. The girls didn't last long, much to my mother's disappointment. They were too busy wanting to play in the great play room she set up at the Atmore house for the kiddos to play in. :)

Check It

My line of notecard and prints were featured today on Erica's Bloggity Blog - www.ericasbloggityblog.blogspot.com. This is one of my favorite blogs - I follow her nearly daily. Just thought you would like to check it out.

Thanks for all the support. I have found my little shop popping up all over the place and many of you have told me that you have forwarded info onto friends. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it and how honored I am that you would promote me.

Cheers!

Pigtails

Unfortunately, I believe I am going to be one of those mothers. You know, the kind that cries everytime something happens with their children. Like when they graduate kindergarten, play their first soccert game, do their first shave, etc. When I put Charlotte's hair in pigtails, I felt just this way. I wanted to cry. She looked so big and I just thought to myself "She's not a little baby anymore." Anyway, I wanted to post these too cute pictures of my little girl all grown up with her pigtails. Enjoy!

(More pictures from Nannah's house are coming. They just need a little editing due to some pictures where clothing was optional.)

Swimming Poolside

Stylin'


Kind of Scared


Drunk from too much water


Drinking that water


And again

While at Nannah's, Charlotte had her first real time in the pool. I was very curious how she would react. She is a mix of both her father and mother. She is pretty cautious (me) in the beginning and after building her confidence she goes full throttle (her dad).

She wasn't too crazy about the pool this trip. She was more interested in drinking the water out of the baby pool (Yuck, I know). She did enjoy sitting on the steps and we went back and forth for a while between the big pool and the baby pool.

Douglass Charles didn't get much pool time. Since he is only three months old he isn't able to wear sunscreen. I was too concerned about him getting burned. So, we sat outside for a little bit, put his feet in the water and that was about it. Doesn't he look cute, though, in those swim trunks and hat? :)

Beginnings

It is officially summer when Doug finishes school. He is home now for the next two months so I get lots of help. His summer begins and I start back to work. I must be crazy because last week I launched my shop, started back to Chick-fil-A, and came back from a week long trip - thus the reason for my not blogging. I have lots of cute pictures from our trip and I am hoping that I will get them posted this week.

On a side note, I received my Blog Scrapbook that was my Mother's Day present. Let me just say that my husband truly gets big kudos for all the hard work he put into that thing. He had to shorten it to 100 some odd pages. While the quality is poor (seriously, people, take a little pride in the print quality at least. In some of our pictures we look like we are kin to Barney seeing as our skin is purple) the book is precious and I love it. I had forgotten so many things that I blogged about and so many of them were special moments, lessons learned, passions being shared. It will be so wonderful to read over and over again - and share with the kids when they are older.

Doug saved a little part of it fo me to see when I got it. The dedication. It was incredibly sweet and made me feel loved, appreciated, and most of all blessed that I have such a wonderful little family. It all seems like a worldwind, but I can't complain. God has blessed me with my hearts desire... a wonderful husband (my best friend), and two beautiful children. What more could I ask for or want. :)