The Growing Caldwell Family

We wanted Charlie's party to be relaxed and just family and a few close friends.  That is exactly the party that he had.  We set up little pools in the backyard for a few kids to splash around in, ate pizza, and celebrated our little guy.   Greg is a good buddy to Sarah Graves and was very sweet to Charlie! This is Jennifer with baby Cooper.  He and Charlie haven't noticed each other yet, but they can be friends when they get a bit older. Katie came with her two kiddos, Alli and Cooper. Greg loved the pool as much as Sarah Graves! He and Lovie had a chance to chat. Aunt Nay made over her favorite nephew! The tire swing was a fun spot! Big sister loves to help her brother. This pool with the little slide and the ball chutes was tons of fun!  Thanks to Aunt Nay for finding it! Maw Maw Yvonne came to celebrate Charlie's big day! He is growing up so quick! Charlie just climbed in the pool with the big kids like he

I picked this printable set out on Etsy.  I knew I wanted whales for my summer baby and fell in love with the chevron! I love the pinwheel as an addition to the centerpiece.   We only had a few kids over and I had fun putting together their goodie bags. I made the party hats and wanted Charlie to have a special one! Cute little water bottles!  Mini candy bars with a whale wrapper! The iced sugar cookies are my favorite and I love doing them for birthdays.  These little whales turned out great and the new recipe I tried was so tasty! I made these marshmallow pops and they were quite tasty!  SG is in love with marshmallows, so she was a huge fan! This cake was so darling and so delicious!  Mom and Dad made it based on a picture that I found and I think it came out so wonderful!  What a lucky boy Charlie is to have a Lovie and Pops who love him so much!   I kept it a bit more simple, but we still had a nice assortment of sweet and sa

Happy first birthday to my man!  You have changed me forever!  Your birth was one of the most wonderful moments of my life and you have given so much joy.  I look forward to celebrating the one and only you!

I am not great at the videoing piece, but here are a couple that capture Charlie at this age.

Aaron's new company participated in a 5K on Saturday evening for the city of Alpharetta's Rotary Club.  It had rained nearly all day and we weren't sure if they would really go through with it or not.  I got the kids dressed in pants and jackets (is it really August in the South this summer?) ready for a soggy ride. We met up with the team from his office and it was nice to have a chance to meet some of these new folks Aaron is working with now. We thought we might leave early if the rain continued, but we found ponchos to put over the kids and decided to hang in there with the team.  Sarah Graves was excited for a race! When the race started, something strange came over Aaron and me and we began to run.  We were with the pack and running along like we actually do more exercise than playing with two small kids!  I found myself laughing because who waits until a 5K to decide they might run a bit!  That lasted for nearly a mile and then we hit a long uphill stretc

This boy is a mess!  We try to limit him having the paci all the time, so he just finds anything like a paci and toddles around with that in his mouth!  In this case, he found the nipple and ring for a bottle for Kate! He recently discovered the Pooh train that Sarah Graves enjoyed when she was his age.  He delightedly pushes it around and has learned how to sit on it.  This has been a beloved toy from Grancy!

We even managed to capture some shots of all four of us, which is a major battle! I have to say thanks to Nay for coming with us and serving as baby wrangler while we posed for these shots!

When we went for the pictures, Sissy was a bit of a whirling dervish and hard to get her to sit still.  This picture below accurately captures her at three and a half; she is silly, spunky, and sweet all at the same time.  Her lovie in hand is the perfect touch to accurately portray just how she is at this age.   I love how sweet she looks in this rocking char that belonged to her great grandmother, Maw Maw Yvonne.  

We had portraits taken several weeks ago and I finally have the final pictures back from the photographer.  I love how sweetly these capture Charlie. This chair was Maw Maw Yvonne's when she was a child and I remember sitting in it when I was a little girl.  I was very excited to borrow it from Mom to have these pictures made with it.   I love his expression and his foot kicking up in this one! I don't think I will ever get enough!