First Day of Pre-K

Monday marked Nolan's first official day of Pre-K.  It was a fairly uneventful day, but I felt the need to document it nonetheless.  So uneventful that I totally forgot about the fact that it was his first day until the night before.  That meant no preparation AT ALL.  No new outfit, no cute sign for pictures, no special breakfast…nothing.  Sooooo, being the crappy parent that I am I decided to make up for it by treating him to donuts for his first day.  The catch?  He had to pose for my camera in the parking lot before we went in.  Win/Win.  He got donuts…I got a picture.  I call that a compromise folks.  Donuts totally worked FYI, he was in a goofy mood for pictures which are always my favorites and he was an A+ breakfast companion.

Brush with Fame

That's right folks I had the pleasure of photographing a famous family the other day!  You may recognize them from this past season of "The Bachelor" where they were a part of the hometown dates for the ever-so-popular Drew (Meghan's brother).  That's right ladies I photographed Drew's sister and her adorable family!  Another fun fact, Meghan posted a picture that I took on Instagram the other day and Drew totally liked it! I think that officially makes him my friend too, right? Right.  Hi Drew, feel free to leave a comment if you are reading this!

Here is a sneak peak at their pictures.  It was hard to narrow down my favorites this time, they gave me a lot to work with.  Kids with smiles, parents with patience, outfit changes, perfect lighting…a photographer's dream session really.  Enjoy!

And I saved my favorite for last…I mean SERIOUSLY!  Too much cute for one picture!

Smart A**

Tonight I was watching Nolan put a puzzle together (in record time I might add) and this was the exchange of words:

Me:  How did you get to be as smart as your Mom?
Nolan:  Actually Mom, I'm smarter than you.
Me: Touche.

You're right Nolan you are some sort of smart…you're a smart a**.  And I'm not sure you will ever be better at that than me "actually".  That is a skill I have been perfecting all my life.

Lake Round II

Every year Chad's family plans a trip to the lake.  Some are brave enough to stay for the whole week, others (uh hum…us) usually only last a long weekend.  This year Nolan suckered us into going back for a second weekend because he's cute and he made us feel bad for leaving in the first place.  We didn't stand a chance.  I'm putting all the pictures into one post this time because I'm feeling lazy so this post might be a little picture heavy…deal.

Nolan is a big fan of "finding treasures", aka rocks at the bottom of the lake.

Billy brought these gems.  I THINK they are inner-tubes from a tractor or something?  

They are all sorts of redneck and all sorts of awesome.  

We even decided to venture out with the whole crew one night because we are crazy like that.  Welllllll, we didn't get that far before one of the boats broke down!  I swear we are a jinx when it comes to boats, I would say 9 times out of 10 when we are on a boat it breaks down.  I'm fairly certain we just lost all future invites for boating excursions.  Anyway, here are the men folk trying to fix the boat in the middle of the lake...  

Here is Billy smirking because HIS boat is NOT the one that broke down…this time.  So the Good Ole' Celebrity, Billy as the Captain, gave that puny little pontoon a tow home!

Oh, Bennett helped too...

While Nolan slept…with a gatorade mustache.

Don't fret.  That minor setback did not stop us from enjoying a night out on the town.  We hit up Jolly Rogers for some pirate fun.  If you were a waitress and walked up and this was your table wouldn't you be a little afraid?  There were 12 adults and 7 children at one table and that's just insane, most nights we can't survive the dinner table with just the four of us.

Photo Opportunity with a bird, I mean who could pass that up?  Nolan looks like he is trying REALLY hard to smile in this picture.  Success Nolan, success.  You don't look freaked out AT ALL!

Speaking of freaked out…

Walking the plank...

Uncle Eric felt the need to photo-bomb our little pirate picture.  And he thought I wouldn't still use it...

Sans Uncle Eric.  Next time he can only partake if he too has an eyepatch.

And here is Uncle Chad taking all the kids on a little boat ride.  Doesn't he look thrilled?

Strawberry Explosion

The time has come, the final baby shower.  I'm not saying there will never be another shower for our little group of friends again, but this was the last "first baby" shower which meant we had to go out with a bang.  I can't lie, I think we did just that.  Rachael had a slight craving for strawberries during her pregnancy so we went with it…full force!  By the time she left the shower she probably never wanted to see another strawberry again!  Check out the details...

So once everyone was in a strawberry coma we moved on to presents. Present opening had its Ups and Downs that is for sure.  There was laughter and tears and everything in between.  I blame the pregnancy hormones…but I'm not sure if that excuse works for the spectators as well!

Below Rachael is opening a gift that included a bear that her two nephews, Jack and Logan, made for her at Build-A-Bear.  Once she realized who it was from and pushed the paw and heard Jack's little voice…it was all over.

Then we moved on to this precious gift.  Apparently Rachael had made this blanket/pillow set with her Grandma when she was younger.  It had cats doing chores cross-stiched all over it (not a joke, I can't make this stuff up).  Let's just say it was a crowd pleaser!

Tiny Toms because they are just plain cute!

Proud Grandmas...

High School Friends and Shower Goers...

Dinner buddies and Shower Throwers...

Soooo, I'm a little late with this post.  Baby Charlee is already here!  Woohoo!  I haven't seen her in person yet, but I have seen pictures and she is nothing short of adorable.  Perhaps she'll make an appearance on the blog soon :)