Happy Birthday Charlie!!!

Our sweet Charlie girl turned 1 on June 10th!

I kept wanting to double check all the calendars because it just doesn't seem like it could have possibly been a year already!

On the day of her actual birthday, we took donuts to her class.

I think they liked them!

That night we went out to dinner - again, I think she liked it!

Her birthday party had a Hawaiian luau theme.

We were so busy rushing around the day of the party that I didn't get very many photos unfortunately.

We had about 40 people at our house on a hot summer day, and our AC went out!

Luckily, they sent someone to fix it quickly.

Charlie had lots of friends and family come celebrate with her, and everyone had a great time swimming and playing.

The birthday girl took a little mid party nap, and when she woke up we let her have a go at her cupcake.

She wasn't really sure what to think about it but she did her best to smear icing all over the place!

It was a truly great day and we were so thankful for everyone who came to celebrate and who  brought Charlie gifts.

This past year has been challenging in many ways, with two small kids so close together and working full time. People have asked us how we do it, and there really isn't an answer to that - we don't have time to think about it, we just do it!

We call it survival mode.

But I can say without a doubt that I would not change one single thing about our lives right now.

Charlie has been the perfect addition to our family and I can't imagine life without her in it.

Her birthday was bitter sweet for me as a mom, because she is the last baby in our family, and I know how fast they grow and change during their 2nd year.

I look at Emily  now and she seems so grown, and she was a baby just a minute ago!

But at the same we are looking forward to all the fun we are going to have with these girls as they grow.

It is still surreal to us that we went from no babies, to a family of four in under two years.

We thank our lucky stars for these amazing children!

Girls of summer

We have had a great summer!

The girls love to be outside and love playing in water, so we spend as much time as we can hanging out on our deck and in the yard.

We have still not gotten the maximum use out of our pool because it is too hard for either of us to take both girls swimming by ourselves, and it seems like we always have so much going on.

But Emily definitely loves the pool and I am sure Charlie will too when she gets bigger, so we are very excited for summers to come!

They both love to splash around in the water table.

On one of our Kentucky trips, Emily had a blast swimming with the big girls.

She was holding hands and jumping off the sides with them over and over again.

And Charlie discovered the joy of cheetos!

One day Emily insisted on wearing this hat to daycare.

One of her teachers took her outside for an impromptu photo shoot.

Her legs look so long!

This is my favorite shirt so I had to get some pics of my other little model.

She was skeptical at first....

Emily tried to recapture her youth in the bouncy seat.

Charlie made sure that the living room never got too clean or organized.

Thanks baby girl!

And, after watching Emily fall in love with other kids' tricycles everywhere we went, we got her one of her very own.

She was So excited, clapping her hands as Mikey put it together and saying "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!".

And then she sat on it, and couldn't reach the pedals.

Oops.

Luckily we found a smaller one for her to ride until she grows into this one.

Month 11

Charlie's 11th month was another busy one for the Smith Family!

First we headed to Kentucky to see cousin Ryah take her first Communion.

Well, when I say "see" her take Communion I really mean "hang out in the glassed in family room in the back of the church and then go sit in the car when the girls get restless" but close enough!

Ryah is growing in to such a special  young lady and we were once again grateful that they are in Kentucky now and close enough for us to be able to participate in each other's important milestones.

We also went to a cookout while we were there and Charlie got some good cuddle time in with her Titi 'Chelle.

Our next journey was to Atlanta for sometime with Titi Katie, Uncle Ty Ty and Anna Kaffrine.

Here Emily is repeating "Hi Anna Kaffrine, I am your cousin" over and over.

Charlie looks thrilled.

On the way home, we stopped at Mickey D's to eat and Emily had her first experience with a Play Place. She loved it!

She looked so little to me climbing in that big thing all by herself but she wasn't scared at all.

Everytime she would get to the top, she would run to the windows and scream "Hi Mommy!!" as loud as she could.

Not embarrassing at all...

Back at home we did fun things like 11 month photo shoots....

spaghettio picnics in the living room...

cruising around town like famous people hiding from the paparazzi....

And napping on our high chairs.

Some of us, who shall not be named, also learned how to stand up in our cribs, but did not learn how to sit back down. Therefore others of us would have to listen to some of us cry until someone went in and sat them down.

We also took advantage of some of the warm days to sit outside and shout at each other.

And then apologize for shouting.

The Scarbroughs came to visit us and brought this gorgeous hair bow that Charlie was excited to model.

I don't usually put bows on the girls, but she truly seemed to think she was looking fine with this one on!

She also gave us her best super model pose in the window. 

Look at those rolls!

We took the girls to eat at Mommy and Daddy's favorite old post-hangover lunch spot, SATCO.

And then we had the first get together of all of our girls!

Getting a pic together was challenging but we gave it our best shot...

Next month Charlie will be one! ahhhh!!!!

Month 10

Let's all grab a slice of cold pizza for breakfast and talk about the 10th month of Charlie's life!

In April, we all welcomed a new family member, and the girls got another cousin to love on.

My cousin Abby had her first baby, Claudia - another sweet baby girl for our crazy crew!

Abby is not only my cousin but one of my dearest friends, and I know we are all excited to have all the little Hartman girls growing up together.

Charlie celebrated her first Easter in April.

Katie, Tyler and Anna Katherine were in town that weekend so they all got to open their Easter baskets together.

Charlie really liked the tissue paper!

The girls got matching swimsuits and Emily wanted to put her's on right away while she hunted for eggs.

It was rainy and cold that day so we hunted in the playroom.

We also went to Paul and Leslie's farm for Easter weekend. 

Emily would trust Paul to the ends of the earth with most things, but she doesn't look too sure about this whole "take a picture with Gunner" idea.

She did enjoy "driving" the tractor though!

Here are the girls having an impromptu drumming session.

And here is Charlie's precious-as-always photo session!

Charlie had lots of changes this month - she got her first two teeth, she learned to crawl, and she started eating school lunches!

She's growing so fast!