Saturday Evening Photo Shoot

A few Saturdays ago, we had an evening photo shoot of Katie Wynn with a local photographer.  I had actually scheduled this shoot so we could get some full-family photos, only to realize the day before that we had our weekends backwards and weren't going to have the big kids with us after all.  So the photographer focused on Katie Wynn and we'll schedule some more full-family ones later. All of these pictures are courtesy of Kasey Mcalpin Photography.  I have resized them for the blog so if they aren't showing up perfectly crisp, that's why.

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Kasey just plopped this yellow chair down right outside where we'd parked our cars, and Katie Wynn went straight to posing and smiling.

I love this one of her on the gravel road.

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We are pretty smitten with this little girl.

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Kasey was sweet enough to let us do a few outfit changes while we were there so all the pictures didn't look exactly the same.  Sitting KW in front of these pink flowers was a good idea...I love how they look in the background!

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You can see her two little teeth in this one!  (She's totally cracking up at her Daddy.)

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Oh man, I love this one too.  Kasey got so many great shots!

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Kisses!

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I think I'll get this one framed for my desk. :)

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I can't believe Kasey got this shot below.  As soon as I put KW down, she pretty much immediately sat down.  Kasey must've gotten her right before she sat.  Love it!

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And I saved my absolute favorite for last.  (We actually got a lot more shots than I've included here.)  Expect to see this one in a big frame at our house.  As soon as I get it printed, that is...

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4th of July

Sorry for the absence this week...a certain dog I know chewed through my laptop's power cord so I've been stuck with a dead computer.  I'm borrowing my mom's power cord right now and crossing my fingers that my new one comes in soon. How about a quick 4th of July weekend recap?  We started our festivities on the third with some fireworks.  But, as you can see in the picture below, we started well before dark. :)

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Love these two!

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A little girl on a big country road.  How cute is she??

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Bren is so sassy that she can't even pose with her sparkler without putting her hand on her hip.  Love it.

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Girl cousin love!!

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The boys broke rule #1 listed on the roman candles: do not hold them in your hand while lit!  They are so brave.  (Where is that sarcastic font when you need it??)

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My oldest brother texted me yesterday to inform me that I was behind on the blog.  I didn't realize he was such an avid reader.  For calling me out on it, I give you this picture of him.  Maybe I had really good timing with my camera clicking, or maybe he had tacos for dinner.  Who really knows?

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Doc started his fourth of July out on the golf course, while Katie bug and stayed home and made some treats.  These were s'more bites with a little 4th of July flair added on top.  They were pretty good, but the batch I made the next day was even better!

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That afternoon, we all gathered at my brother Ben's house for some fun in the pool.  But, we couldn't jump in before taking a picture of the matching cousins in their fireworks shirts.  :)

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Katie Wynn found herself in the middle of a game of water basketball between the guys.

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This float was perfect for these two cuties.

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All that swimming wore my baby girl out, and she passed out in her Mimi's arms.

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As the final shot from our 4th of July holiday, I give you my first homegrown bouquet!!  I am so proud of all my zinnias...they are really blooming now!

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It was a great holiday and we enjoyed having lots of time off work.  (I personally had a five day weekend...why isn't every weekend like that??)  I'll be back soon with more...maybe of the bathroom reno we knocked out last weekend!

9 Months!

Can you believe my last post didn't have a single picture of Katie Wynn in it?? This post should make up for that. :)

Time is just trucking along and Katie Wynn continues to grow like a little weed.  I think this past quarter has brought the most changes in her.  I had to go back to her six month post to see what she was up to then, and man, she has really grown since then!  Before I get into her stats, here are her monthly pictures.

Love this little grin!  Can you tell from the sign that she had a good time smearing all the writing?

I chose this one for 8 months because of that little elbow on the arm of the chair.  Just love it.

I was working alone for the 9 month picture and she was not in the mood to sit still.  I snapped this before running to grab her before she crawled out of the chair.

Playing with mama on the front porch.

This face cracks me up.  What kind of grin is that?

And what kind of face is this?  This was the closest I had to a smile in this set.

You may remember the rainy day photos we took.  This was perfect for April Showers.

And those April showers brought May flowers.  In this case, the flowers were hydrangeas in my parents' yard.

My little swimmer!

Here's what's up with Katie Wynn at 9 months old:

  • At her 9 month check up, she weighed in at 19.2 pounds and was 27.75 inches long.
  • Two teeth!  Her bottom two teeth broke through when she was about 8 months old, and they're still the only two she has.  It wasn't too terribly bad the week they came in and thankfully, the drooling has majorly slowed down.  Maybe it'll be a while before more come?  Either way, it hurts when she bites now!
  • She really took off crawling on her official 7-month birthday.  She had taken just a few steps (crawls?) before that but April 23 is when she really took off.
  • About three weeks after learning to crawl, she started pulling up on EVERYTHING.  She can now cruise around a piece of furniture and has, on several occasions, let go and stood on her own.  We think she will walk any day now!
  • She has a head full of hair!  I actually have to fix it in the mornings because she wakes up with crazy bed hair.  I wet it down each morning and brush it (like really brush it) into place.  We have teeny bows that she is now wearing on occasion.
  • Occasionally she also wears shoes.  :)  I went a little crazy and bought about 8 pairs of shoes in the span of about a month, but apparently her feet are really short (and very chubby).  Only a couple of them fit her but she isn't crazy about having them on her feet.
  • She still loves to talk and jibber jabbers all day, but is most talkative in the mornings right when she gets up.
  • We are very much in the middle of a clingy stage.  It has been going on for about 3 weeks now.  She doesn't want to go to anyone else if she's being held by me or Doc.  And she gets upset if we set her down and walk out of the room.  Girl doesn't like to be alone!
  • Katie Wynn eats food three times a day now.  She has two just-bottle feedings too.  She love, love, loves to eat and will gobble up anything we give her.  We've tried just about every flavor of baby food now and so far, there hasn't been one that she wouldn't eat.  She now also eats lots of snacks throughout the day and is using her pincer fingers to eat things like banana pieces, avocado, puffs, crackers.  She has also tried water from a sippy cup, though she still won't hold it or her bottle by herself.
  • She can wave bye-bye and loves to get high fives!
  • She has said mama on a few occasions but it's not consistent enough for me to say she's talking.  Doc and I love interpreting her jabbers.
  • Katie still sleeps through the night but has learned that if she gets up around 6am, she might get to lay in our bed and snuggle.  I will have to break this habbit but right now I'm just enjoying our snuggle time!

I can't believe we've made it three quarters through her first year already!  The next quarterly update I do she will be ONE.  Woah.

Half a Party!

Saturday, June 8th was Doc's exact half birthday, so I threw him a party!  That might sound weird but it wasn't just any half birthday, it was his 39 and a half birthday.  As in, he'll be FORTY in December.  And we all know December is the worst time of year to try to plan a non-Christmas party.  Plus, I thought this would be a much better way to catch him off guard.  Did I mention it was a surprise party??

First, the details: I rented out a bar, yes a bar - one that used to be an old brothel, actually - for the party.  Obviously I couldn't have it at our house because he might notice me getting ready for it.  As far as food and drinks went, I just had to supply the wine (it's a beer-only bar and we kept it simple) and the sweets.  Since I knew I wouldn't be able to decorate myself before the party (because I'd be with Doc), I kept the party decorations very simple.  For the tables, I bought silver sparkly trees to sit next to black and white photos of Doc through the years.  But not a whole picture, just half. :)

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I'll go ahead and confess that I didn't actually know his ages in these pictures, so it's a total guess.  Bill and Pat, feel free to correct me!

The cook, pictured above with half of Doc, kept the soul burgers coming hot off the griddle all night long.  Man, these cheeseburgers are sinfully good!  In keeping with the theme, they were served in halves.

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The birthday cake was made to match the party invitation - both designed to look like they had been cut in half.

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Now, getting the birthday boy to the party venue was a little tricky.  It started at 7:00 and this is a bar that doesn't get hoppin' until well after midnight.  I tried my best to make it seem like we were going out to dinner, and then right when we were passing the bar on the sidewalk I grabbed him and said "Hey, let's stop in here!"

SURPRISE!

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Truthfully, I think he knew something was going on because I don't often make plans without including him.  But hopefully he was at least surprised at the location and the number of our friends that showed up.  I was so thrilled to see such a crowd!

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Here are pics of a bunch of the people that came to party.

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(Jenny's date was out of town!)

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Me and my bridesmaids!  So glad these girls are still a big part of my life!

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One of the most popular things about this bar - right after the soul burgers - is that the music is all from the juke box.  I didn't really think that through when I was planning the party but our guests didn't seem to mind filling it with dollars to pick good tunes.  These guys were pros at picking the best ones!

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Only Emily would "halfway" pose with half of my husband.  :)

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This was really the most perfect venue to have the party.  Good food, good beer, good music, tables to sit at, room to mingle, dance floor and pool tables to further entertain you.  Oh, and no cleaning up at the end of the night!

Christopher and Matt carefully line up a good shot.

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Obligatory picture with the cake before cutting into it.

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Looks like he loves me!  I wonder if I'd told him yet that there'd be a bill to pay at the end of the night, and that I was going to let him take care of that.  SURPRISE!

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It's not a half party without half a party hat.  We sang the birthday song to him too - but just half of it.

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Dancin' the night away.

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Several guests brought gifts for Doc, so towards the end of the night we sat him down to open them.

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He got SO many fun gifts!  Half pints of beer, half handles of liquor, half six packs, cards cut in half, half boxes of golf balls.

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Allison and Jenny brought a half martini tray.

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Hopefully you can read all the half items included in the picture below.  So creative!

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My dad gave him a half of a golf hat.

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And with it came - wait for it - a half a golf glove!

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Not pictured is the half a bag of tootsie rolls from my mom (Doc's very favorite candy!).  The first thing he said the day after the party was, "I wonder where the other half of the bag of tootsie rolls is."

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This is the picture of all his loot that we took the next morning, and I think a couple things are actually missing.  We'll have to have another party just get rid of it all!

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More partying!

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My mom and three of her besties.  My friends and I hope we're like them when we grow up.

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So we tried to recreate their picture together.  Not too bad, I think.

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The party was so, so, so much fun!  And I think Doc really enjoyed it!  I am so grateful to all of our friends that came out (and go babysitters!) to spend their evening with us; it really means a lot.

Oh, and this post would not be possible at all if it weren't for Allison graciously taking pictures all night.  She also decorated for me in advance.  Many, many thanks, Allison!

Vacay: Days 5 and 6

As much fun as we had at the beach, I'm ready to wrap up these posts so I can move on to all the other fun things we've been doing!  So this is the last of it.  Days 5 and 6: here we go! Katie Wynn liked to start every morning with a little dance party on the bar while I prepared her breakfast. If I have anything to do with it, this will be the only bar she ever dances on. 

Day five started with a trip to the big community pool for Katie Wynn and Everett.  In typical KW fashion, she fell asleep on the walk there.

Everett, on the other hand, was ready to get his toes in the water!

You know I'm a sucker for things that match, and Allison did a great job of making sure their swimsuits coordinated!

He wasn't so sure about the water at first...

...but warmed up to it in now time!

After about a thirty minute nap, Katie Wynn finally joined the pool party.  While I love these little bucket hats for the sun protection they provide, they sure do make it hard to get pictures of her face!

I love, love, loved the community pool because it had a nice big wide step that was the perfect depth for Katie Wynn to sit and splash in.  We could've spent all day everyday there.

The great thing about the pool is that it's just around the corner from our house, so we just had a short walk home for lunch.  After getting our bellies full, resting for a few minutes, and putting on dry swimsuits, we tried to load back up to go back to the big pool for the afternoon.  Sadly, we had to turn around due to a small "accident" that had occurred in the pool.  They had to close it down for an hour to shock it - I'm just glad my baby wasn't the cause of the accident!

 

Since the big pool was closed, we spent the afternoon at our little pool instead.  And once again, Katie bug fell asleep.

When she woke up, I snapped a few pics while she was still sitting in my lap.

Not so sure about these sunglasses.

This one is in the running for my favorite picture from the trip.

That evening, our family of three got cleaned up in an attempt to get some cute family pictures.  I totally forgot to pack us some coordinating clothes, so we had to work with what we had.  Big thanks to Allison for shooting these pictures of us...all while a huge storm rolled in!

Another one of my favorites.  This one will be in a frame soon.

We are working on learning how to wave bye-bye.  I guess she was practicing in this picture.

She is obsessed with noses!

Another HUGE thank you to Sarah who pulled up in her car right before the rain came pouring down.  We did get a little bit wet from our run into the house, but we would have been completely drenched if we'd had to walk home!

Gus was just chilling in his chair when we got home.

Everett and Katie Wynn did some playing while Gus ate dinner.

This picture is just proof that we did use the dining table.  In fact, we ate here four of our six nights.  I think this was fajita night.

Some quick pictures of the four couples while we hung out one night after the kids were in bed.  Me and Doc.

Chris and Allison.

Darrin and Jenny.

Sarah and Charlie.

Our last day there was the day we decided to venture out for the day.  Doc and Christopher left early in the morning for a six-hour fishing trip.  The rest of us decided to head out to do some shopping on our own, and then meet up in Baytowne for lunch.  That was much easier said than done since there was a huge car accident right by the entrance to Baytowne.  We all got stuck in traffic for a while but eventually met up at Hammerhead's Bar and Grill.

Everett and Katie Wynn spent most of the meal perusing the menus.

Thank goodness they kept them occupied!

Happy babies after lunch.

Remember those really cute pictures of the boys in the grass from Day 4?  I was really sad I didn't have one of Katie Wynn to match, so on the evening of our last day, I put her back in the bubble and had another photo shoot.  Unfortunately, she would NOT lay down in the grass, no matter what!  She popped right back up every time I laid her down.  But I did get some cute ones of her just sitting in the grass.

Have you ever seen a funnier blade of grass?!?!

While we were taking pictures, Gus was playing in the splash pad again.  He finally ran over to tell us enough was enough, it was time for Katie Wynn to play too!

Sitting with his mama just waiting for the right moment to run back in.

And he's off!

Driiiiip!

Katie Wynn was finally suited up and crawled right in.

Gus loved the spouts of water!

Hey Gus?  Crack kills, buddy. :)

With the help of her daddy, Katie Wynn got brave enough to stick her hands in the water too.

"Oh my gosh, this is so much fun!"

More bravery and splashery!

Whew.  Got a little tiring after a while though.

Katie likes to inspect my teeth on a daily basis.  I hope she's not disappointed that everyday, they're all still there.

When they were tired of splashing, we dried off and went to the nearby park.  How cool is this mountain hill that you can walk up?

Gus (and his mama) was a fan of the slide.

There were swings too!

Katie Wynn couldn't keep her eyes off her daddy when he sat down to swing beside her.

Love these pictures of Gus in the swing!

Doc and I tried out the zip line that was there.  It was a really cool playground!

Before long, it was time to head back home.  The evening of Day 6 was your typical last-day-at-the-beach night...packing things up and eating all the food in the refrigerator.

Quick photo after Katie's last shower before we hit the road early the next morning.

All in all, the trip was perfect!  We had such a good time with all of our friends.  Hopefully we'll get to do it again next year when Katie Wynn and Everett can join Gus in all the fun running around!