Capture - verb. cap-ture, To take by force or stratagem; take prisoner; seize.

I can barely remember the time before camera phones...how boring. What would we do if we couldn't capture every moment as it happens? I guess you could say the same thing about cell phones in general. So, I use my camera phone a lot, to capture X being adorable (there are a lot of him because he's always adorable) and to capture moments I want to share with someone, and since I can email pictures to any one at any time, I can. I've uploaded a couple of my favorite from the last couple months, as you can imagine I have hundreds more but these are just a few.
On one of our daily walks I captured this azalea bush, quite possibly the biggest one I've ever seen...I think they need to take control of it, although when it's blooming it's so pretty.
My phone, really I am, too slow to catch X man going down slides...especially when he goes head first, he started that on his own, I don't know how/why, I've always set him on the slide sitting up.
This was at a local deli, The Common Market, it was too incredible to not photograph.
Tree hugger. We found a little park to wait for Caleb while he was at the dentist. Xander's first experience climbing trees, he didn't want to get down.
Xander waits with Mama, listening to music. Dolce Vita, the local wine bar, is a great neighborhood hang out, and a very easy 3 block walk.
X-man being cool in Mama's glasses, you can see my reflection in the glasses.
This sign at a close Chinese restaurant cracks me up...They write with Asian accents...'We Open Sunday'.
We invested in some foam letters for little man's bath time, he loves it, I've taken to spelling the word, b-a-t-h, instead of saying it because he gets really excited if he hears the word. It gets tricky leaving notes for each other in the shower because you're only given one of each letter and the numbers 1-9, so, we're creative in our letter usage.
X stays busy drawing while I work in the garden.
Waiting for Caleb in the car, you know I'm bored when I start taking pictures of myself.
This should be a Mac advertisement.
I think this was Valentine's Day, after our date and after we changed, I realized we didn't get a picture together.
Cutie.
This sweater vest is too cute.

Social - adj. so-cial, Seeking or enjoying the companionship of others; friendly; sociable; gregarious.

We've been busy, between our social schedule and Caleb having oral surgery to our daily walks in the incredible Charlotte weather, it's hard to keep the days straight. We've also been super busy planning a wedding, yep, finally, right? I have to say though, these North Carolina allergies have hit me harder than any state I've lived in before, even Georgia...maybe it's just because of the time we spend outdoors compared to the past. Who knows and regardless, it's pretty miserable and poor little X has a runny nose too. Like I mentioned, it's becoming summer here and we love it, the garden is growing, landscaping is happening and things are coming together in life...a good time all around. Enjoy some pictures from our last week.
This NoDa baby, hanging on Davidson in front of Solstice, out for a Saturday walk with Mama and Papa, looking for an ATM for some cash, we went yard-sale shopping.
That's me...all the way across the street.
Rollin' with the top down.
Little X man loves Jacob (jacobchills.com), we haven't seen him in what seems like forever, at least a month, and Xander ran to him with arms up.
Goodness. He's so cute. A giggly little munchkin.
A shot of the family, hanging with Rob and Amanda at their church cook-out.
Xander looks like he needs a nap, and Caleb looks like he's on drugs...because he does and because he is.

Picture - noun. pic-ture, A visual representation of a person, object, or scene, as a painting, drawing, photograph, etc.

Getting behind the camera more these days and I'm starting to feel it again. I wonder if it was just the winter hibernation that kept me away from it for a couple months. I'm also back into Photoshop, playing around and learning all I can from Caleb, he's a wealth of knowledge, I can't imagine how much there is to learn there. I had a small shoot last weekend and had fun with this little baby, they are so freaking cute, babies...

Beauty - noun. beaut-y, the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind.

This little man is my favorite subject in front of a camera. Probably because he's too beautiful.

Growth - noun. The act or process, or a manner of growing; development; gradual increase.

You don't notice time go by with your child until you see old pictures. You see him every day and you notice his hair has gotten longer but you don't remember what it looked like when it was short. You notice his clothes are smaller and you get out the bigger sizes but he still looks like your baby...then you see an old picture. Your baby is now a toddler, and it's heartbreaking, he might as well come home with a girlfriend or a new job. Time goes by too fast. You push him to roll over then to crawl then to walk and after he does it all you wonder why you wanted it so bad...
Taken in August of '08.
Taken in April of '09.

Creative - adj. cre-a-tive, Resulting from originality of thought, expression, etc.; imaginative: creative writing.

I've really been busy these last couple days, I can't remember the last time I had something to do after every thing I just finish. Thursday and today were blurs, I feel like tomorrow might be the same, the morning will be anyway. I've been getting in the mood for photography again, which is always nice, and sometimes profitable, which can be even better. Our local farmer's market has opened back up and we couldn't be more excited. We love fruits and veggies in this house (Caleb and X take care of the fruits, I love the vegetables). I think we'll take many, many trips there over the summer, that is until MY garden starts to bring us fruit. Below are some random pictures from the house and from my latest photo shoot. Enjoy.
Here's our healthy boy. I'm trying-trying-trying to raise him with a good pallet. I don't want him to crave bad food like his mom so I hope giving him fresh foods when he's little will give him the taste for it. Let's hope. Here's the little ones' lunch; apples, cherry tomatoes, blackberries, cheese and edimame (soy beans).
Carlee and Xander having milk-time together.
Oh my gosh, I don't want to brag, but my pizzas are the best. Asian veggie pizza, margarita pizza, grilled veggies pizza and by far the best; caramelized onions/grilled apples and goat cheese pizza.
This is the beginning of something beautiful...I'll post the final product sometime soon, or you'll get it in the mail, if you're lucky!
I'm glad he didn't move too fast for the camera, it's hard to get him to stand still these days.
One of our neighborhood friends.
My favorite shot from my mini-photo shoot...I love shooting kids, candids are always the way to go.

Easter - noun. eas-ter, An annual Christian festival in commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

What a fantastic Easter we had this year; great service, wonderful friends and we couldn't have asked for better weather. It's raining now, on Easter Monday, but Saturday and Sunday were perfect. We had a fantastic weekend, on Friday we had family time, on Saturday we joined our church for an Easter egg hunt and a cook-out, our friend's Rob and Amanda joined us for that and also hosted a 'Mimosa Sunday' after church on Sunday. Our church service was a special event for us because we joined Easter Sunday with our sister-church Greater Christian Fellowship, it was a full house! It was a learning lesson for us as well, GCF is a primarily African-American church, it was such a good time, you could tell everyone was enjoying it, smiles all over. Afterward we headed to Rob and Amanda's for an amazing brunch and mimosas, eventually we migrated to our Sunday hot-spot, Solstice, for dinner and The Masters. All in all another great weekend for our records, we love Charlotte! Now my sister and mom just need to move here!
Xander's new favorite spot to watch tv.
Not the best picture but Caleb bought me this shirt for our Easter egg hunt, I love it!
Caleb and Rob being Caleb and Rob.
Our Easter Sunday outfits, I should have gotten a full shot...
Our packed-full church, we had to sit in the balcony there were so many people.
Having some fried zucchini, mom needs to change HER eating habits so X doesn't eat all fried foods like her.
Friends gather to listen to Matt tell stories.
Rob is our resident babysitter when we go out, it's always a nice break.

Satisfied - verb. sat-is-fied, To fulfill the desires, expectations, needs, or demands of (a person, the mind, etc.); give full contentment to.

I love busy weekends, and this last one certainly was busy. Caleb took Friday off which meant we got a three-day weekend and we took full advantage of it. Friday we went to Ikea and Home Depot, I finished off my garden (only to find out tonight will be 33 degrees, dang!). It was a gallery crawl night here in NoDa, so while our chicken roasted in the oven we took a really quick walk up the strip. On Saturday we went antiquing at the Metrolina, one of our favorite things to do when it's in town, usually once a month. We got home and cleaned and had some chicken and wild rice soup, nummy! Sunday was busy as usual, we had church and then a picnic and church softball, it was our service team Sunday so we were in our red shirts. After church we headed over to Dolce Vita, our new Sunday tradition with friends, the local wine bar. Friends and neighbors joined us into the early evening, then we migrated over to Solstice for dinner. All around a great weekend, here are all the pictures...
Me and X at the antique show, he's finishing off his snack.
He couldn't handle all the stuff and crashed, which was nice, he needs his naps.
Me and Caleb, I'm showing off my drink...it was actually hot, which was so nice. I noticed the next day that I actually got a little red in the shoulders...Ahhhh, sunburn, gotta love it!
My boys.
Having lunch outdoors, what a great weekend for our church picnic and softball game.
X loves playing, he chased around that bright yellow ball most of the day.
We arrived at Dolce Vita and Amanda's chair broke right under her, it was pretty funny.
Rob, Xander's entertainer, showed X around the bike, he loved it.
The wheels of a bug.
So cute in his little fedora.
It looks like a good story that I'm telling...
The end of the night, time to go home and go to sleep...we were all pretty worn out!