top twenty

we did davis's  one year portraits today.  i'll share my top twenty, though there are lots more.  davis stood up today for the first time!  very exciting....

oh the humanity

imparting knowledge

for those of you interested in some trivial info, let me explain the difference in the first two photos from the last post.  in the first one i used a flash and in the second i used natural lighting.  isn't it crazy what a difference using or not using flash makes?! 

tomfoolery

so yesterday was ben's day off for the week.  mandatory overtime.  but it should be over soon.  and ben has a good job, so no real complaints.  anywho.  we headed to b/cs to make the most of our day together.  i wanted to go to the mall to go to this girly girl bow store since ms marls is into everything girly, but alas it is no more.  but there was a pet store.  with puppies.  and then i got this face:

 and this face is hard to say no to.  very hard.  but i managed.  no new puppy for us.  yet.  i told her she had to talk to  louie about it and see what he thought.  i haven't heard that convo happen yet.

she even through in an eyebrow lift for me.  doesn't this just break your heart?!  i mean if granny  had been there, we would've ended up with a new dog.  granny can not resist this face.  i barely could.

mmmmmm berries.

 d is ready to go shopping.  if only someone could please hold her johnny jump up for her.  she still refuses to stand.

unbeknownst to me, davis stole my band aid (marley insisted i needed one) and put it on herself.

d got a teething necklace.  those canines were about to kill us all.

 so i am busy cleaning the front room and just finish sweeping, when i turn around and discover that davis has not only managed to get the cheerio box down, she has gotten the bag out and open and is busy stuffing her face as fast as she can before i come and get her.

blue collar ballerina

there's her pretty smile.  no worries about all the band aids.  she's fine, just like wearing them.

national dance champion!

that's right.  you read that right.  marley mae is a NATIONAL DANCE CHAMPION!  proud momma right here.  although really she was more excited about her goody box than her trophy, which i kinda like.  i mean we didn't go for a trophy, we went for fun.  and fun we had.  these pictures are all out of order for some reason.

the beautiful bush i parked in at the hotel.  litterally.  but hey, it gave me shade.

granny and mrls backstage preperformance.

so excited to dance.

with ms tanya, one of her teachers.

with the two other soloists from her age range.

pre awards with the other performers of the morning.

winners!  all of them!

that is ms marley mae getting her first place platimum ribbon and trophy and medal.  she is standing up and all the other kids are sitting down.  she's just tiny.

pre show.  i asked her to strike a pose.  this is what i got.  i love my wonderfully weird daughter.

the balloons were all butterfly themed.  we took it as a good sign for her butterfly kisses routine.

at the hotel with all her sparkle on

night before the show.  one tired puppy

pretty sure she was faking here.  she jumped up seconds after i snapped the picture and was wired for quite a while.

faker or not she's still adorable.

overwhelmed and awesome

so i have had so many things going on lately and they have all involved my camera.  so i am quite backlogged in photos to add here.  and tomorrow granny, marley, davis and i are off on an adventure!  we are headed to the dallas area for marley to perform at nationals.  we say perform, not compete, b/c it is all about having fun.  marley loves the stage and loves to dance, so why not?  no, we are not going all toddlers and tiaras over here.  worry not.  she had a blast a regionals, so off we go. 
i had a great ribbon cutting and grand opening weekend at the studio.  quite a few things lined up in the next couple of weeks.  thank you so much to everyone who helped pull this off. 
and on to some photos....
gg stopped by to check out the new studio space a while back.  couldn't let her get away without some photos of her and the girls.

the birthday girl on the morning of her birthday at breakfast.

caught sneaking....

maybe if i'm cute they won't notice...

drama momma

granny and her girls at the grand opening

davis loves her some uncle reece