13 and 14 Months

Where has the time gone?? My boy is suddenly almost 15 months old, and I'm so behind at posting his pictures I should be ashamed! This summer has turned out to be the busiest one yet... between running my business, taking care of our very busy toddler, going on vacation, among other things, we have just been on the move constantly. We have yet to have one weekend at home with no plans since this winter. We are certainly enjoying every second though. This is SUCH a fun age and Bobby and I are so enjoying being able to watch Camden grow.

We were in Paris for his 14 month birthday, so the pictures were taken a week later. Although he may not look too different, his development has really spiked over the last month, I feel like. He's saying many more words, communicating much more effectively, expressing opinions and feelings AND, he's able to point to each body part if you ask him where it is! (We are very proud, can you tell?!) He's just so much fun, and seems to really enjoy us all being together.

Thanks to both sets of grandparents (Wise's and Barrick's) for watching Camden while we were away. I know he really liked spending time with each of you!

Little explorer.

Love these tired brown eyes :)

Snippets of Paris

It felt like a dream... waking up and peering out to our little balcony onto the streets of Paris. I've been dreaming of that moment for several years now, and finally I was there.

We ventured out a lot, did a ton of walking (with only two small blisters, I might add), and felt like Parisians. We drank espresso like the French, ordered food in poorly-spoken French (I tried, ok?!), sipped on wine during 10pm dinners, and glanced at all the couples in love in the cafes and streets. It was glorious.

I have so much to tell and so many pictures to share, but alas my bodily clock is ready to shut down for the night. Can I just say that while Paris was a dream (and a whirlwind), I am so thankful to be under the same roof with both of my sweet boys tonight.

Here are some little snippets to tide you over until intensive editing takes place :)

Outside Versailles Palace

The Iron Lady in person... ahh...

My oh-so-handsome hubby of five years.

The Paris carousel next to the Tulleries Gardens

Paris! From atop the Sacre Coeur dome.

Sacre Coeur.

Moi.

Inside the Louvre. My favorite piece.

Outside the Louvre, right after it rained.

Flower shop.

My handsome hubby again. My favorite outfit.

On Ile Saint Louis overlooking the back of Notre Dame.

That's all for now!

Summer Nights in DC

I say it so often, but I never do much about it: we live so close, but don't spend nearly enough time in DC! We're only about an hour and change south of DC and it's relatively an easy drive to get there. Maybe now that we have a kid, we'll get some more use out of our taxpayer dollars at work :)

We were invited by some of Bobby's college friends to go to a summer concert at a park on the Anacostia river a couple weekends back! They have live music and you can bring your own picnic dinner. There's a really awesome water fountain (for lack of a better term) at the park, where kids are just let loose in the 1-foot-deep fountain to play around! It was perfect for small kids, which we all had (four in total) and it wore them out a bit before dinner. This was no ordinary picnic... Lindsay made some gourmet picnic food that's better than most of my nightly dinners! Bruschetta, chocolate zucchini cake, quinoa salad with avocados... we also had some homemade bread (still warm from the oven!), olives, cheeses, fried chicken and cookies! We drank wine out of sippy cups (minus the lids), and enjoyed great company and conversation while the kids ran around on the giant boardwalk overhanging the river! The weather was perfect, and it made me so excited for all the fun things we have in store this summer with our sweet boy!

Here are a couple pictures from our night... the park is called The Yards, and it's brand new in a nice little area of the city!

Jack LOVES to splash! It's so funny with the faces he makes!

I hope these boys will be best pals growing up... they are so cute together now!

My little, skinny boy... the water was warm, but his teeth were chattering! He didn't want to get out, regardless.

Stuffing his face with fruit and fresh bread.

Us <3

James, Lyndsay with their two sweet things!

Marie & her boyfriend - so cute!

Christina, AJ and Jack

Dancing... with the creepy baby doll!

Camden Turns One!

My sweet baby turned one last month. I can hardly believe how fast the year went. I still remember his birth and the events leading up to it like it was yesterday. I suppose that's not something I'll easily forget! The year has been amazing, and I am just amazed at how much our little boy has grown in just 365 days. From a helpless, little babe to an active, busy boy, his little personality is sprouting daily. He is so loved, and will continue to melt our hearts with his sweet, toothy grin and crazy hair!

His first birthday party was a huge bash! I started planning 6 months in advance (ok, may be a bit crazy), but I can assure you, it took every bit of 6 months to put all of this together. We had about 60 adults and roughly 30 kids at our house on May 5th. Thanks to my Mom and Mother-in-Law who helped a ton with the food and "manning" the kitchen, the party went off without a hitch.... if only our birthday boy had been feeling well. He was sick the day of his party, and was not his usual self. Regardless, I'm so happy that so many people were able to come and share this happy occasion/milestone with Camden, Bobby and  me!

Thanks to the amazing and oh-so-talented Krista Jones (who is also the Graphic Designer behind MB Photography's new branding!) for driving down from Annapolis to document the party for us! I knew I would be running around and wouldn't be able to take many pictures, so I'm so grateful that she was able to capture so much!

I had so many Instagram pictures from the past year and I wasn't sure what to do with them, until I found THIS template! It's perfect for the size of pictures (and the quantity) and just had it printed by a canvas printer!

This is actually a "chalkboard" banner, so it's reusable! Camden's smash cake was homemade, organic Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

Krista also designed the invitations! They were so cute!

The party favors were for the kids and were just cupcake boxes with baseballs and vintage baseball cards! I used bakers twine to tie the card to the box. The baseball cards I found on Etsy and I hand-lettered the names on all the baseballs myself.

Homemade Sangria... this didn't last long.

My attempt at a DIY wreath... I made the little flag bunting and tied the twine around an existing wreath.

It's not a southern picnic without some chocolate pie!!

We had a cotton candy machine at the party (thanks to my brother-in-law for being the designated cotton candy maker!). One of our local hardware stores rents party equipment like that. It was very inexpensive for the rental, and the supplies were inexpensive as well. But it did take 3 Engineers to figure out how to work the machine!

We had some lawn games out for the kids. Since there were so many small kids there, planned activities weren't the most successful! Thanks to my other Brother in law who brought his hand-made Corn Hole tables!

We had a total of 8 pies that day. My mom made homemade apple pie (with homemade crust, of course) and they disappeared. I was left with a whole chocolate pie and pecan pie afterwards, which was totally fine by me!

Bobby's parents: Nana and Jido with the birthday boy!

My parents: Grandma and Grandpa with their NINTH grandchild!

Popcorn bar... Regular, Caramel and White Cheddar. Yum!

THIS is my boy and his adorable smile. He was feeling a little better here.

Even my sweet nieces came up from Raleigh. We had a sleep over at my house after the party with them :)

I picked up a bunch of flowers from our local Scarborough Farms that morning and arranged them myself. Thanks to Bayside Bride for the tutorial on the twine-wrapped flower container!

All the Cousins on the Wise side!

Resources:

Camden's Outfit: Zara Baby
Photo Booth Props: Paper Source
Fabric (Table cloths, back drop, etc): Fabric.com
Mama's Polka Dot Dress: Anthropologie
Cake Banner Sign: Etsy
Photo Booth Wasahi Tape, Camera & Film, Photo Book: Amazon.com
Flowers: Scarborough Farms, Southern MD
Peanut Basket: Pottery Barn
Baseball Party Favors: Balls from Walmart, Cupcake Cases, Baseball Cards
Oversized Balloons and White Paper Lanterns: Amazon.com
Paper Straws
Photo Display Template, Printed at WHCC
Sangria Recipe
Chalkboard made by Melissa
Chocolate Pie Recipe - Do not skip the meringue topping!
First Birthday Hat - Etsy