Just Because ....<3

Miss Miley ...working the camera!

"All" of Emma didn't come home from School Today!!!

When Uncle Tony dropped Emma off at my office today this is what I discovered::::::

Oh My!
I was so not expecting this!! She was so proud of it! I am still trying to piece the story of how it happened together! Her class had a substitute today so I may never know for sure!

It is literally a 'lost' tooth because Emma didn't tell anyone she had lost it and couldn't find it herself! She was upset about the tooth fairy not being able to come, but we decided if she wrote the tooth fairy a letter she might be understanding! ;0)

Wouldn't you know that tomorrow is School Picture day!

a 'twitterfic' weekend!

**************UPDATE***********
Shelly left a 'sneak' peak for us on her blog!
http://www.shellykeefe.com/blog/
AWESOME!


Remember that contest I entered Emma in and she won???

Well, we traveled down to Charlotte, NC to meet the photographer this weekend!

It was well worth the wait!

http://www.shellykeefe.com/

Shelly was awesome! Emma instantly clicked with her and they had a great session!

Emma's 'thick' southern accent highly amused this photographer originally from New York!

She loved it!

We met downtown Charlotte at Independence Park and it was absolutely beautiful!

Shelly hoped to have Emma's pictures online later in the week so I will keep all of you who voted updated on that!

I know you will want to check them out!!

I actually left home without my own camera this weekend! **gasp** but Shannon came to the rescue with his new iPhone! I had to twist his arm all weekend to use it! lol!

He kept a log of our adventures via Twitter and I thought it would be fun to share!

There are even some pictures from along the way!

http://twitter.com/shannoncarter

A Baby Gift!

My Mom is invited to a baby shower for a friend's grandchild this weekend and she wanted to give the parents to be a 'unique' baby gift and she came to me! How cool is that?

We printed this awesome gift certificate which is redeemable for: a newborn photo session, 4x6 Finao photo album and 20 photos of the parents choice.

What new Mom wouldn't love that?! I am so excited about it for them!

Mr. Cool ....

My Favorite Flower Pots this Summer!

Homework in Kindergarten .. I do not remember this! ;0)

Kindergarten Prayers

When I picked up Emma today I asked her if she had a good day at school!

She said her stomach hurt only once and that she prayed "Please God Make it Stop" and she said he did! ;0)

Kingergarten ... Day 1

You know that commercial ... Life comes at you Fast?
I cannot even remember for the life of me what it is advertising, but anyway .... that is how I felt this morning!

I took Dalton to school first and he wanted to be dropped off at the front door! gasp! Did he feel confident enough to do this on his own or would I have embarrassed him?? I choose to believe the first! I was so proud of him! He just jumped out and disappeared into school! 4th grade.... oh man!

Then for Miss Emma! It took FOREVER to even get to the Elementary School's parking lot! After we got out of the car she grabbed for my hand and I mean she held on tight!! When we got in the front door Mom always comes and brings her preschool staff to greet the Kindergartner's on the first day so they will see some familiar faces! This makes the parents and children feel so much more relaxed. Of course we saw Nana first and she walked to the classroom with us! Along the way we got to see Mrs. Tracy and Mrs. Sharon too! This made Emma's day!!

Thanks to Nana for taking these pictures ... I am not sure my hands would have been steady enough! I just had this huge lump in my throat... especially when Emma turned to me and just hung on for a few seconds. I knew she was fine, but I could just see that look in her eyes!

I don't know what's wrong with me! The last two days have been unreal!







This is Emma's friend Luke from Sandy's! She was so glad to see him this morning!

Nana called awhile ago to report that Emma had gotten through breakfast just fine and she and Luke were catching up!

Off To School .....

Ready for 4th Grade!!

Kindergarten here I come!

The Purple Blanket ...

I really should have taken a picture of it, but honestly I didn't want to see it again right now! ;0)

I don't even really remember when Sandy and I noticed Emma clinging to her 'blankie', but it was definitely early on. We had a few times we had to go back to Sandy's to pick it up and/or trips back home to get it so we came up with a solution.... a Sandy's Blankie! The beloved blankie at home was pink so we chose a purple one just like it for Sandy's.

I honestly had not thought much more about it at all until yesterday .............................

Sandy is my Aunt and my kids' GREAT AUNT! She has been their childcare provider since they were old enough to go! This has kept me at Sandy's doorstep almost daily for almost 9 years!! When Dalton went to school Emma was right there in line to take his 'spot' so yesterday was a first!

The kids have had a teenage girl to come to the house to play with them over the summer so we really hadn't seen Sandy very much, but with the beginning of school and Sandy going back to work she invited Emma to come on Monday and Tuesday. Emma was so excited!

When I picked her up yesterday we were just chatting and then I saw out of the corner of my eye what Sandy was holding ....... the purple blankie. That was all it took.... we both were a mess. I didn't expect it to hit me so hard! It isn't like we will never see her..... I knew it wouldn't be the same! By now Emma is looking at us like we are completely crazy and finally says, 'Well let's just leave it here and I can get it next time!" Complete innocence!

We finally got it back together and went on, but my heart did kind of hurt a little this morning when I watched Emma slip her purple 'blankie' in her bookbag as we were getting out of the car to march to Kindergarten .......................................

Two 'New' Things at our house ....

First .... Dalton has a new set of eyes!

I took the kids for their eye exams before school starts and discovered Dalton's eyes had changed quite a bit from last year. I really hadn't noticed him having any trouble. It just broke my heart to realize he had inherited my eyesight.

We picked up the new frames on Tuesday. He put them on for a minute .... looked in the mirror.... took them off and put them in his new case. I thought to myself that this may be a long battle so I asked him to try them on one more time so they could check their fit before we left..... well that was honestly the last time he has taken them off other than bedtime.

I think he quickly realized that his world was totally different around him!

The first thing he said was, 'Mom, things don't look fuzzy like I thought they were supposed to!'

Then this one really got me .... he was doing something on the computer up on the loft and he asked me to come and let him show me something... I was starting supper so I walked around to the great room and looked up at him and he looked over and said, 'MOM! I can see you!'

Oh that hurt! I had no idea ......

I really think starting school with them will be easier than getting them mid year! He hasn't seen a lot of friends in his class during the summer and I am sure everyone has grown and changed! He worried about it before the glasses came, but has not mentioned it since.

He would NOT let me take his picture with them on when he first got them! I thought he looked so handsome..........so I finally 'tricked' him into taking a picture with Miley yesterday ... even though she wouldn't cooperate! ;0)

This is the other 'new' thing! Emma's Kindergarten haircut!! Thank goodness the 'mouse' didn't do it! She actually wanted it cut like this so it would be like Caroline's!

It just so fits her personality! She is so proud of it... although she wouldn't sit still long enough for me to take pictures of her to show it off! I caught these last night at VBS!

Look what I found while sorting through some files ...

How did I miss this one?? Love it!

You Gotta Love My 'New' Red Couch!

I never get tired of these eyes .....

The coolest Gift .............EVER!

I absolutely adore Jessica Claire! She is Named one of the TOP 10 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHERS IN THE WORLD: 2008 by American Photo Magazine. She just has the coolest style and I want to be her... when I grow up! lol!

She designed this cool bag called the "ShootSac' to make on location photos shoots a breeze while protecting your lenses! (They are also pretty stylish!)

I have wanted one for awhile now, but just couldn't justify it in my mind when I had a nice heavy and clunky camera back pack.

So the story begins when I got home from work yesterday ........

Our sitter this summer casually mentioned the UPS man being there and then something about the driveway sensor not working correctly. No big deal.... so I asked Dalton where the package was that UPS brought! He completely ignored me. I thought it was odd so I asked again..... because I was expecting a package from the print lab. He still ignored me. I asked again ... and he finally replied that it was a new Nintendo cover and Dad said to put it in his room and he would get it later.

Now why did I not leave it at that?!!!

No...I just didn't.

I asked again about the where abouts of the package so I could see if maybe it was mine instead.

He ignored me AGAIN!

I finally was like 'Dalton you need to tell me where that package is!'

Then to my horror he starts crying! I had no clue what was going on. He was a blubbering mess saying something about Dad was going to be so mad, and Megan ruined the surprise and that I was going to be mad .... and on and on.

I finally said ...'You better tell me know what is going on!'

This is when he blurted out, 'Dad ordered you something for your anniversary and he wanted me to keep it a secret...................and now YOU ruined it!'

Can you only imagine how my heart felt at this moment!

I tried to soothe it over by saying, 'Dalton it is our anniversary! Mom and Dad sometimes get each other something. You didn't ruin anything ....I still have no idea what it even is!'

(While secretly in my mind thinking I am going to get Shannon because we had agreed to not exchange gifts this year!)

But anyway .... I couldn't help but just bust out laughing at this point and Dalton just cried harder! He is so mad at me at this point and I am feeling worse by the minute!

I assured him it was not a big deal at all and I was so sorry!

When Shannon got home I said, 'The funniest thing happened with Dalton today...." So I proceeded to tell him the story and I could tell by the look on his face he was busted.

I said, 'What did you do!?"

He takes off to the bedroom and comes back with this super ultra cool present!

I was just stunned!!

He picked it out and ordered it without me knowing anything about it!

Another cool thing ... He got the limited edition JC Birthday cover! Only 100 of them sold and I got one of them! It came with a signed and numbered card!

I am still excitied about it this morning!!!!

I keep telling you my husband is the best!!!

Okay ... anybody got any really cool ideas to get him! ;0)

And another really funny thing ............my package came from the print lab as well! Two packages in one day! They could have planned more carefully and still totally threw me off!

They were sneaky, but not sneaky enough!

I promise I haven't forgotten about my Blog ....

I have had a 'house guest' this week and we have been a little busy! ;0)

Would you consider this a 'bad' hair day?

I shouldn't laugh .... I sure didn't let her take a picture of me! ;0)

Has the suspense killed anyone!? ;0)

Since I have been getting numerous hits on my blog per day I guess maybe I have stirred a little bit of curiosity?
Maybe? Just a little?

This has been a long time in the making!
From a fleeting thought to just a day dream to a reality!
With the encouragement of family, friends and most of all my wonderful husband I want to share with you:

Kellie Carter Photography
http://www.kelliecarterphotography.com/

I am so excited!

I am currently working to build my portfolio.

Email me to find out more about about the great portfolio building pricing specials available.

I love to work on-location with natural light and I look forward to photographing newborns, maternity, children, families and seniors.