Miss Charlie & Miss Marley

While we were in Phoenix, Chantae was kind enough to humor me (thank you Chantae) & go take pictures of Charlie & Marley in their cute pettiskirts at the Mesa Temple (I know I have sooo many pictures of Marley in this pettiskirt but I just loooove it so very much & one day she won't be able to wear it anymore!) And, of course, I have the hardest time picking out pictures, so I posted quite a few of them. I must admit that I can't take all the credit for these photos as I managed to get Chantae to let me have some of the really cute ones she took! The weather was so perfectly wonderful & the girls looked like little gems! In fact, we had a few people mistake them for twins! Mostly likely because they were wearing the same outfit, but still what compliment for Marley! Charlie must have left a wonderful impression of Marley because she still talks about Charlie, even though it's almost been a month since she's seen Charlie!

Per usual, it was very hard to get Marley to cooperate. She rarely looked at the camera, & if she did, it wasn't with a smile! I'm hoping that if I take enough pictures, that one day she'll learn to smile (or maybe because I'm taking so many pictures she'll resent me & never want to smile!)

Love this profile of Charlie. She's so beautiful!

One thing the girls did really well was lean in to give each other "hugs & kisses" which turned out so cute! It looks like they are sharing sweet little girl secrets!

I really like this one Chantae took.

I love the top middle on of Charlie...she has the most perfectly precious smile! SO CUTE! Chantae managed to get pictures of Charlie in a tree, but Marley wouldn't even think about sitting up there! She freaked out about it!

I love the one Chantae took of Marley sitting down & the one with the railing & Charlie at the top of the stairs.

These, again, are a Chantae special. Just love these!

I like the one of Marley sitting on the ground looking up & the one where she's holding the lamp post...I just wish she would crack a bit of a smile!

I don't know why, but I love Charlie's body movement in this one. The shoes she was wearing were insanely adorable!

As a way to "bribe" the girls to cooperate, I gave them Lifesaver mints. I tried to get them to look at me by asking me where there mints were. This technique got them to look at me, but with their mouths wide open. I wish I would've gotten a picture of both of them with their mouths open in the same picture!

I tried to get some action shots of Marley doing her twirl that she calls a "circle" but they didn't turn out as well as I would've liked (but when do they ever?)

The only time during this whole photo shoot I got Marley to smile was to let her play in the water.

It stinks because the one's where she is actually smiling, the light wasn't very accommodating & so my pictures didn't look as good as they could have.

I love the one that shows the back of Charlie & Marley's skirts! They just look so cute!

I ended up taking Marley's pettiskirt off because it was getting soaked from the water. Charlie's pettiskirt was too far behind in coming off!

Chantae tried to get them to pose together, but by this time, no amount of bribery or mints was working & they both started to turn for the worse! But I thought it was fun & I will forever be attempting to find that smile of Marley's!

Dress Up

Lately, almost every morning, Marley wants to pick out what she's wearing that day. It varies from pants to no pants & from my clothes to her clothes, but almost always includes shoes & socks. It always makes me laugh on what she decides that she's going to put on!

So in the first photo she decided on some Halloween socks, her white shoes, & blue jacket...pants are optional here. Then she wanted her skirt, but needed to finish it off with some stylin' pants underneath it!

In these photos, only Mickey Mouse crocs & socks required! (But apparently, a smile isn't!)

Then she found one of my work-out shirts, which she tried at first to put on feet first through the neck!

Then she tried to put it on over her head but didn't really like that either!

She also tried to put her feet through the sleeves &, finally, after she tried & tried to put it on, I helped her put it on the right way, which of course, she loved!

Marley and the Technicolored Dreamcoat

I have a pair of REALLY loud PJs that I was going to wear the other night. Marley saw me getting them out and practically begged me to let her have the PJ top and help her put it on over her clothes. She wore the top around all night even though she was drowning in it because it was so big!




I was in my bedroom the other day & I heard Marley come crying into my room from her room...low & behold she had stuck her baby carrier over her head & couldn't get it off. And, like any good parent, I got out the camera to take a picture. She actually managed to get it off on her own as I was snapping the last picture!

Recently, I found her with lotion smeared all over her face. I think she sees us putting lotion on ourselves as well as her, so she figures she's a big girl & can do it herself. She also loves to put on other people's shoes & attempt to walk around in them. Why is it so funny & cute when little kids try to do grown-up things?

What she's been getting into...

I'm sure that anyone who has children can relate to the fact that if you have makeup, they will get into it. Marley is no exception. I have a little case that has several different kinds of lipstick/lipgloss which she got into & proceeded to put on. Although she got lipstick on her chest & cheeks, she did manage to get some on her lips!


She's also really been into her little baby dolls. We caught her sitting all by herself caring for her doll. She likes to hug them & kiss them & feed them their bottles. Watching her grow & learn new things is just so much fun!!!!

Baby Bootie

Just before bath time one night, Marley grabbed her purse and modeled it for us. She absolutely adores carrying purses around and I just thought this was so cute!

A Case of the Wiggles

I was fortunate enough to borrow lighting equipment from Meriann again! A good friend, Chantae, made the most ADORABLE little pink skirt for Marley. So, of course, I had to get her picture in it. However, it was more difficult to get any sort of picture because Marley would not sit still! She was up, down, and all over the place!! Ack!

She kept wanting to get up on this chair...it looks as though she wants to do some 'light reading'!

We got her to sit in the chair for all of two second before she was up and running again!

My sister got this dress for her in New York's China Town. I wish that she was sitting still more so I would have been able to get a better picture! Sigh!

No Tan Lines

Marley's Uncle Ryan & Aunt Trina went out-of-town and said we could use their pool while they were gone. Marley does so much better in the pool now...I guess suffering through those first tear-filled swim lessons were worth it!

I adore this swim suit Grandma Ruth gave Marley for her birthday.


Their pool is absolutely beautiful with all the trees and rocks (but makes it hard to keep it free from leaves and debris). Then there is the awesome slide. You pick up so much speed going down...just don't go down face first otherwise it sends you into the pool doing a belly-flop! Ouch!


I put a life vest on Marley but it was way too big and awkward, so we opted out of it.


I love these little pictures of her bum and her holding a super-soaker.

Budding Picasso?

Marley loves to "draw". If she finds a pen and paper (paper meaning anything made of paper, including books) she starts to "draw". I have found several of my books with pens marks in them. The other day she grabbed a pad of paper and a pen from the coffee table and sat down on her little rocking chair and attempted to draw. I ended up having to scoot her chair to the coffee table because she was struggling to draw without a hard surface. I was surprised by how long "drawing" held her attention. I actually had ample time to snap these pictures. Hopefully this doesn't lead to pen marks anywhere else besides paper...ie furniture or walls!
Below is a sample of her artwork....

Cactus & Botanicals

We had Marley's one year pictures taken by a photographer named Laurie (per my wonderful mother-in-law) and she really like the tutu Marley was wearing (thanks, Mandi). She said that if I made her a couple of tutus, she would trade me free pictures. So, of course, I was all over it!
Pictured above are the tutus I made...they were supposed to have a fairy-type feel. I thought they turned out pretty cute, especially the blue one with the little butterfly (again, thanks, Mandi). So I guess this post is a thank you to Mandi, the Tutu Guru, for showing me all there is to making tutus!

Laurie was taking pictures of little kids dressed as fairies at this really awesome greenhouse, Cactus & Botanicals. Marley was a little apprehensive about standing in the middle of the flowers, but we managed to ease her into them by slowly arranging the flowers around her while she was standing. Ack! What you end up doing to get a decent picture! But it worked out perfect for Mother's Day gifts!


Marley was supposed to wear a crown of flowers...as you can see, it didn't quite work out that way! She was fine, until I attempted to place it on her head, and that's when the tears started. Even when she noticed me moving the crown of flowers out of the way, she started to cry because she thought I was putting them back on her head!


Marley played with the wand for about 10 seconds before trying to give it back. I was really surprised because Sadie has a princess wand that she really liked.



I really like the ones where she is touching her little chin!

The Nightmare we call Swimming Lessons!

It started as a normal Saturday. Things were calm and nice...she even smiled after she donned her swim suit....


As we entered the water Marley started to turn...she pretty much cried through out the 45 minute lesson! It was kind of embarrassing because all the other parent's children were model swimmers: no crying and willing to playing in the water! The instructor asked me if she was tired and I'm like, 'no, she hates the water!' The instructor suggested I just hold her and get her used to the water and not do all the activities. So we powered through it (I mean we have 5 more lessons left and I want her to get comfortable with the water!) even though I got the evil eye from some of the parents. I'm sure they thought I should just give up!



During the back float (which was the last 5 minutes of the class) she actually calmed down and stopped fussing! Maybe next Saturday will be better!

Nap Time

While at Grandma Ruth's, Marley had a great time playing around and spending time with her grandma...then she decided it was nap time! She stopped playing, came over to her grandma and just feel asleep in her lap!! I thought it was so cute!

First Year Pictures

Grandma Ruth wanted Marley's year pictures done by a photographer that also does
2-dimensional cut-outs of the pictures taken. And, of course, I broke the tutu out again
(thanks Mandi!) because I think it's completely adorable!! There are TONS of pictures
because I have this problem with making decisions...so I ended up getting the CD with
all the pictures!

I love the first picture in this series because of her sad looking
face and that you can see her crocodile tears!



I loves these pictures as well...especially the one wear she
is attempting to read the book!



I love the top middle and right pictures. The top middle
is so cute because she looks like a little ballerina and the
top right because it looks likes she's doing the hula.



My favorite of these pictures is the first one...JUDO
CHOP!!