Our little lady- 1st Birthday Celebration #1

Get ready for some cuteness! Charlotte got to kick off the birthday month celebration over the weekend in Dallas. My mother & father in law graciously hosted a birthday bash for the little bug. We had most of our family & some very sweet friends join us for cupcakes followed by a DELICIOUS BBQ dinner cooked by Chef Big Bob, aka Mr. Valentine, Pops, or just Bob : ) My good friend Brooke happens to be a wonderful photographer & captured the evening in photographs for us. Thanks Brooke! You did a fabulous job!

Char was dressed for the occasion in a dress my mom made for her. If you did not know, my mother is an incredible seamstress. She made many clothing items for me growing up & even made the bridesmaid dresses for my wedding. So far, she has spolied Charlotte with making her curtain, bedskirt & a couple outfits. All that to say, she is the mastermind behind the absolutely adorable birthday dress, embroidery & all : ) She came across the antennae at a party store & thought it would be the perfect addition to the outfit...and that it was! She actually wore it for 3 hours straight without ever trying to remove it! Guess all those days with the headbands & bows paid off!

Here is a family shot...yes, I requested that Robby wear black & red....how could he say no, at least I wasn't asking him to wear a ladybug costume right?

and the whole family together (minus Uncle Steve & Aunt Jenny)

Charlotte definitely enjoyed the birthday cake. I thought she might not touch it so I was pleasantly surprised when she dug in : )

Charlotte & her best buddy Levi....he really liked her antennae

The birthday banner I made

After cake, Charlotte changed into something a bit more comfy, the cutest little romper from my cousin Amy : ) Here she is with Great Gran, my grandmother....



and we will end with a picture of her cute little leggies.....my goodness she is getting more rolls by the day!



Charlotte recieved many exciting new toys, cute clothes & a pile of books for us to get started on. Thank you to all who took time out of their weekend to celebrate with us, it was so special!

Father's Day

We are enjoying another lovely day of celebration at our house for Father's Day. It is currently storming BIGTIME outside while we are relaxed on the couch watching the World Cup. What a great day! We did enjoy worship this morning at CCC after starting our morning off early with some breakfast tacos & playtime with Charlotte. We are looking forward to a steak dinner at home followed by our "Cheese & Wine" date night in, paired with some Office epsiodes.

It is wonderful to honor my husband today by making sure he knows how grateful we are to have a man leading our home that loves Jesus and us : ) He is such an incredible man that deserves to be celebrated everyday of the year for the way he cares for & serves us.

Here he is with his little chicky this morning...

Big Bob (Pops) & the boys in 1988....aren't they cute!


Me & my Dad in 1983

We love our Dad's & miss them alot today....we are separated by too many miles! They are both great father's that love their families. It is fun to look back at photos of us with them as kids & see how much they enjoyed us...just like we enjoy Char!

Speaking of little Charlotte, here she is standing! She has been up & down ALL day today! She is soooo happy when she realizes she is on two feet : ) I just couldn't capture the giant grin! We are just wondering when she will lift her itty bitty foot off the ground & take her first step : )

And that's all folks....for today at least! Happy Father's Day to those of you it applies : )

11 months old!

Little Miss Charlotte Grace is 11 months old! She is quite the busy bee getting into all sorts of exciting things around the house & keeping us entertained : )

Here is a little snippet of what Charlotte can do:

• pulls up on everything & cruises along the couch & coffee table
• dances to music by bouncing & waving one hand in the air like she is riding a bull
• feeds herself 95% of the time with her left hand
• encourages Bennett to chase his tail by clapping & screaming loudly
• feeds Bennett & Bella little snacks from the high chair when she thinks no one is watching
• walks with the walker
• says "Bear", "Dog", "Ruff", "Mama" & "Dada" -some words much more frequently than others & only when she wants to...no prompting!
• does sign language for "hat" & "milk" very well, "more" & "please" on occasion, & "eat" yesterday for the first time when we were taking communion ...haha...love it!
• has stood up from sitting 4 times & lasted for no more than 8 seconds before crashing to the ground
• claps when we say "yea!"
• puts her thumb in her mouth as soon as we say "do you want to go nite nite" even if it is not time to go nite nite
• pretends to eat pieces of food from my hand
• laughs when her Daddy does the noise a horsey makes....he does a really good horse impression!
• nods her head for "yes" & shakes it wildly for "no"
• sleeps 12 hours at night with 2 naps a day
• eats more than I do....not really but I am shocked at how much she can get in her little belly!
• bananas are definitely the most favorite for Char. In any toy food set she plays with at friends houses, the banana is quickly identified & remains in her hand for the rest of the time playing. There is also a banana hanging from the top of her jumperoo that she pulls down & chews on. On vacation, she pulled an entire banana out of my backpack & was chewing on the outside : )

Here she is with the new favorite toy at our house. We borrowed it from her friend Matilda. It plays many lovely songs that cause her to dance...hopefully I can capture it on video soon & share it with you all.

Here she is at lunch today with yogurt all over her face. This is the usual face when the meal is over. It lasts for a split second & then she is fine : )

We love her....we love her.....we love her! She is a joy to be around & a constant reminder of God's faithfulness to us. One more month and we will be celebrating a very special birthday for this little one!

Sneak Peek

The exciting 1st Birthday is just around the corner.....my creativity is kickin' into gear!

Can you guess the theme? : )

First attempt at digital scrapbooking

My newest endeavor, digital scrapbooking. I think I am hooked! And my sweet husband says "but I built you that giant scrapbooking table to hold all of your stuff & now all you need is a laptop?" I still plan to make plenty of other things by hand : )

Family Vacation

Sorry for the long break in posts......after the extended birthday celebration, we jumped right into preparing to head out of town for our first official family vacation. It was a bit crazy to get a family of 3 ready & I cannot imagine how much crazier it would be with a family of 5 or 6 : ) Although I am sure by then we would be professional packers & travelers with children. Our drive went well. It took about 8-9 hours including lots of stops. Char was amazing! She was so happy in the car. She barely slept at all & did lots of talking to her toys & smiling at us in the mirror : )

We weren't going to take a summer vacation until about a month ago when Robby said we needed a vacation and gave me the task of selecting a location. I am so thankful we went! I came across a resort called Big Canoe in northern Georgia at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is basically a resort within a 5,000 acre nature preserve. It was BEAUTIFUL! We stayed in a treetop villa that had been remodeled and updated in the past few years. It was at the highest part of the ridge in that area and had a pretty view with lots of trees...something we aren't used to in Orlando : ) The days were sunny & hot while we were in torrential down pour overnight a few nights. Who doesn't love lying in bed listening to a good rain storm?!

Our week consisted of hiking, reading, cooking, reading, playing with Charlotte, reading, playing Scrabble, reading, napping and more reading : ) Robby made it through about 800 pages....I read closer to 300 & spent my extra time working on a few digital scrapbook pages. We truly relaxed & loved every second of it!

Here we are in Wolf Scratch Village overlooking the golf course & lake















We LOVED the Ergo carrier on this trip! I have gotten more use out of that thing than I ever imagined. It was super comfortable to carry my chubby little girl around in while we hiked. I think she enjoyed it too : )


One very special moment on our trip was Charlotte saying her first word! We were in the gift shop called "Oh Bear" & we picked out a stuffed black bear for her to have from our vacation. We told her it was a bear & then all of the sudden she started saying "bear" over and over. It was precious & quite entertaining. We headed over to the lake that afternoon to snap some pictures of Charlotte with Bear. Bear has been spending most of his time with Charlotte since he joined the family : )

We spent Sunday to Thursday morning in Big Canoe then headed to Atlanta to go to the Georgia Aquarium. What a neat place! Charlotte was pretty interested in looking at the fish but probably more interested in the massive amount of children running around screaming. Remind me never to go again when every summer camp in Georiga takes a field trip to the Aquarium! We had a great time though. They had a special exhibition called Planet Shark that was awesome. We have always enjoyed Shark Week on the Discovery Channel & it was fun to be up close to so many cool shark things! One random bit of information....it said that 44,000 people every year are injured by a toilet versus less than 100 are injured by a shark. I am REALLY interested to know what happens to the 44,000 people : )


















We left Atlanta to head home after lunch ready for a 7-8 hour drive. After an hour or so, Robby was doing something on his phone and asked if I was up for an adventure. I love that question! My answer was YES!!! He said we could turn left in 10 miles & head to Savannah instead of going home. We made reservations to stay at Hotel Avia where we stayed for our anniversary last year. It was an incredibly relaxing last night of vacation spent in luxury : ) I love a great soaking tub, some delicious fish tacos & the softest bed I have ever slept in! We woke up early Friday morning and walked through many of the historic squares before heading home for real.

Here is sweet Charlotte Grace in Savannah

One of our favorite things about Savannah is how everyone from there says Charlotte's name.

Think about it with a southern drawl...sounds sweet doesn't it?

Just before leaving, we were standing by this lovely water fountain....I couldn't help myself : ) I may have enjoyed it more than Charlotte but not as much as Rob & the rest of the people walking by and laughing at the lady in the fountain!

We vowed to take a vacation every year knowing the benefits of resting and reconnecting with one another. Vacation 2010 is officially named: The Tour of Georgia.

Beach Bums

This girl loves her daddy!

and her thumb : )

the girls, Renata, me & my sister in law Jenny with my niece Karis in her belly : )

not so sure about the sand!

sweet Owen relaxing on the blanket