My wonderful Hubby!

So... for those who don't know, we live in charming:) little 1930s house and there are alot of things we would like to do to it... BUT most require a major investment so we are happy to find little relatively inexpensive ways to update our house.

So, for Mother's Day , Josh said my present was a new closet organizing system which we have been trying to decide on for about a year:) Anyway, Josh spent this weekend and week finishing my closet and I love it. He thinks he isn't very handy but I beg to differ... he did a great job and it makes all my clothes seem alot nicer somehow:)

I didn't think to take a before picture at first so here is Josh's side, which is basically what mine looked like before



And here is my side now:) We will eventually be changing Josh's side too:)

Our family vacation

This year we were blessed to get to go on vacation with all of Josh's family for a week to Santa Rosa Beach (near Destin). Now, a week later, I am so missing the beach and the relaxation and most of all my awesome nephews:) I really enjoyed every second I got to spend with Trip and Quinn (and Amy, Chuck, Gram and Grandpap:)and so did Eli.

Can't wait to see the Scoggins soon in St. Louis!

Here is a slideshow of the week!

Molly & Stephen

I finally have finished the slideshow for my friend Molly Wade's marriage to Stephen Hyman in Louisville on June 29th. It was such a fun weekend for Josh and I to get to spend time with all my closest friends. Since Molly is such an awesome friend I only shot her portraits and ceremony and someone else shot her reception so that I could enjoy it... and I certainly did:)

I'll post the friends pictures later, but for now here is Molly and Stephen's slideshow. Molly was such a calm and organized bride and she literally just glowed all day long. The day had such a romantic and vintage feel from her dress to the Cadillac they drove away in... it was a photographer's dream:) Molly's wedding was on Friday and on Saturday the bride & groom threw an awesome picnic at a local park, so there are a few pics at the end of the barbecue.

Enjoy!

Starting with Daniel

We have had a very busy two weeks and I have so many photos to post, I am a bit overwhelmed. So Stay tuned for vacation photos, vacation videos, and pictures from my most recent wedding.. who happens to be one of my best friends Molly!!

I am starting here with some pictures I took of my best friend Amy's little boy Daniel who has the bluest eyes I have ever seen on a child:)

Rebecca & Derek Save the Date!

On Saturday I shot engagement portraits for Rebecca & Derek at Little Mulberry Park in Dacula.

I posted them on my weddings website but I know some people will look for them here!

Swim video

As I promised..... here are two videos of Josh and Eli at swim lessons

Forgive the camera action.... Josh and I don't even own a video camera.. My mom was nice enough to let us borrow hers... so I am not very good at it..

Swim lessons

So this week was Week 1 of 2 weeks of Eli's swim lessons at Bogan Park. I have really enjoyed it, although the water has been a little too cool for Eli's taste... He is very cautious and takes a while to get used to the water temperature.

We took some video of him on Thursday but haven't been able to load it yet so... I will post these pics. Stay tuned for video though later.....



Eli before the lesson starts


Mommy & Eli getting used to the water temp

Practicing kicking


Eli's favorite part is when we practice jumping into the water from this wall... You're supposed to count to 3 and have them jump so that teaches them not to jump into the water without an adult there.....supposedly:)

The main lesson this week has been to teach the babies to blow bubbles into the water instead of sucking in the water and drinking it.... you can see me blowing bubbles here.. Eli hasn't gotten this lesson down yet...

Here is playtime at the pool... Bogan Park has a great facility... it looks like so much fun for kids. There are so many water features, etc..


We have lessons next week too... I highly recommend them to anyone interested... If Eli gets nothing out of it at all, it is at least an hour of quality time for me and him... I love it!

Say Cheese!

My friend Amy posted a blog like this about her son Daniel and I thought it was really cute.

Eli has recently learned to say Cheese and make a funny face whenever he sees a camera so I thought I would post some of his recent cheesey smiles.

Many, Many thanks

Thanks for all the helpful advice.

I really like the idea of toaster or waffle sticks for breakfast... during the week I have to have something I can just give him and leave to get ready... and he has been using a spoon for a couple of months at dinner and last night he seems to really be doing pretty well..

and I am so glad to know other people have the same issues with those bath toys. I think I will just find some other toys. We have one cup in the tub for me to help wash his hair but last night I took MK's advice and gave him 2 more cups and he was fascinated the whole time with pouring water in and out of them... over and over so much he was actually still for me to wash him... it was great... we'll see how long it lasts..

Thanks again

A small cry for help!

As a first -time Mom I am always encountering things I just don't know the answer to.... I usually just wait until I see my sister-in-law Amy and ask her but since these few questions have been driving me crazy... I thought I would use this blog to get advice from all Moms:)

1. How do you feed an 18-month old soup!!! Eli loves alot of soups and things like it, ex.. grits, oatmels, etc.... but how can he eat them himself? I don't mind feeding him myself but does that inhibit his self-feeding learning?

2. What can he eat for breakfast? Right now we do fruit, yogurt and cereal bars... of course with the yogurt I have the same problem as question #1. I just feel like the kid needs a little variety... I don't think the kid can look at another cereal bar again... BTW: Eli CANNOT have bananas... or really anything with bananas in it.... Any suggestions? Especially things I don't have to feed him myself.

3. Does anyone else have bath toys that retain water inside to that you can squirt them? If so, how do we keep these things clean inside? I have tried to squirt all the water out after every bath but it seems impossible and if you don't the next time you use them, they gave this nasty black mildew junk that comes out of them... In this area, how do I keep the kid still so that I can actually wash him during bath....

Any help would be awesome!!!

I have discovered one thing that I think is a great invention for Moms:) So I will share in exchange for any advice! Eli LOVES books.. that's all he ever wants to do and I found what they call a book rack on Ebay. I saw one in Pottery Barn kids but it was like $300, so I went searching and found one, a little smaller but much cheaper at $70 from Ebay that comes put together and plain so you can paint or stain it yourself..

Anyway, the point it, this is so perfect for Eli because he loves to pickout books himself so now he can look at all his books together and choose one without dumping the rest of them out, like on a bookshelf... and he can put them back so easily too.... It's so awesome, I wish I had two!

Here's a pic if it doesn't make sense.

Fish, Fish, Fish

This Mother's day, we went to the Chattanooga Aquarium and had a great time. Eli was very intrigued... especially with the otters and butterfly garden... which he calls "Bys"

We missed seeing Gram for Mother's Day, but thought about her all day:)

Here are some aquarium pics:




The seahorses were probably my favorite:)

Thank You, Spiderman!

This post may sound funny but I wanted to send a link out to Christy (since she asked to see it) and I love to mark milestones on this blog... It is like a diary for me....

Anyway, there is a website for newspaper designers to post the pages they are proud of and create an online portfolio... Papers from all over the world post their news pages... Every week or so, the creators of this website browse through what people have posted and make a slideshow on the home page... it's kinda an honor to have you page selected.... and I have always wanted to make the slideshow and last week, the Gwinnett Daily Post's weekend Spiderman cover did!!!

(It's been up for a week, so if you click here and it's gone...sorry!) Here's the website

Photography services

Several people have asked in comments about shooting things other than weddings and I didn't know how to respond to them so that they would get it immediately so I thought I would make a post.

I would be more than happy to shoot family and children portraits as well as wedding photography. I don't have a studio at my house, so my suggestion for family or bigger children is outside at a park, etc. I have done a couple of family portraits, as well as baby and children but not enough to make a portfolio.... of course, I did a ton of these kinds of things as a photographer at the paper.

If anyone is interested, you can email me at nicole.puckett@gwinnettdailypost.com

Strawberry fields

We went to Washington Farms this weekend to pick strawberries... More for the experience than the fruit being I haven't done much with the ones we picked.. After we told Eli to eat one, he thought everyone he picked up he had to taste. Funny thing is every strawberry he would pick up he would take one bite out of it and then put it in the bucket. It was hilarious.

anyway, here are some pics.

New wedding photos

This last weekend, I traveled to Charlotte for the wedding of Anne Marie Cotter to Chris Ashley. It was such a fun experience. The Cotters are close friends of mine and I enjoyed seeing all of them plus my best friends from college. Doesn't get any better:)

Anyway, this link is for any family and friends who might look here for Anne Marie and Chris' pics. They are posted on my weddings site at www.weddingsbynicole.blogspot.com

I would encourage any potential brides to go to that site, but for everyone else, here is a link to their slideshow

Arranged marriage?

Of course he is a little young but we may have discovered Eli's soulmate:)
Eli met my friend Lauriann and her beautiful daughter Taylor this weekend and it turns out the two have alot in common:) Other than their adorableness, they have similar vocabulary and motor skills....

Plus, is Eli going to find anybody cuter than this girl?


here are some other pics of Taylor... with such a cute subject I couldn't stop taking pics...

Warning

I will go ahead and warn you all...... my new camera is so much fun that I am using it constantly... so therefore you may be seeing more pictures of Eli than you could ever possibly want ( does not apply to grandmothers)!!

Anyway, last night we were playing in the bath and were practicing our body parts so here is a montage of Eli's "Eyes and Ears and Mouth and Nose" (He also says the word when we practice, so that's why he has funny mouth expressions)


And my favorite picture, his hair:

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend! Easter has always been my favorite holiday mostly because it has always been near my birthday and, as a kid, I usually had a birthday party on Easter:) AND because we always celebrate it with my family at my parents house. I was so disappointed it was so cold but we had a great time and it was awesome that Eli could actually participate in the egg hunt. We had 9 kids there and they all had a blast.

I didn't have a party this year but my Mom did make a dessert just for me.. ( I don't really like birthday cake:)

Here are the pics... I decided to try out these slideshows everyone has been using.

Cool Slideshows

New Camera

Yesterday I got a new camera for shooting weddings so immediately I took Eli outside to try it out.... I ended up with some cute shots so I thought I would post them...

A New Video

We have nothing exciting to post so I thought I would just add this. Here is a semi-recent video of Eli performing at lunch. This video was taken with my little digital camera so there is no sound... sorry...

But I will narrate.... after the 50 seconds on playing with the straw, Eli attempts to perform the itsy, bitsy spider and then the wheels on the bus ( go round and round). The arm swinging at the end is his display of the wipers on the bus go swish swish swish :)

The simple things that moms are so proud of:)