Smash That Cake. Or Don't.

I've been looking forward to doing a smash cake photo session with Elise for a while now!  Babies and cake are a stellar combination!

I did imagine things going a bit differently, though.  Elise did not want to smash her cake, so much as delicately dip in one finger at a time it, then lick the frosting off her finger.  But I'll get more in to that in a minute...

The decor was kept simple and easy. I figured Elise would be the cutest part of the scene anyways, so to keep the background stuff simple :) I found the tassel banner and the letters at Hobby Lobby, then strung them together.  I also got the cake topper at Hobby Lobby. I got the balloons at Macey's, and used a white blanket and cake stand I already had.

I'd been stressing about where to do the session, and what background would look the best, when the morning of, I looked out my back door and, for the first time, realized that I had a gorgeous wood fence that would be the perfect backdrop for the smash pictures!

I love the way they turned out in front of the fence.

We set up the scene and propped Elise down, a safe distance away from the cake, because she's for sure going to go straight for it and start smashing, right??

All she could focus on were the balloons!  Cake?  No thanks. She wanted those balloons, and that was that. So being the goal oriented mom that I am, I had to take the balloons away and hide them for a bit.

Dan and I jumped around like wild buffoons, trying to get her to give us her big, toothy, smiles. I'm sure our neighbors heard some pretty strange noises. She particularly loved when I would sing, "I don't wanna be a chicken, I don't wanna be a duck, I just wanna shake my butt" and I'd shake my bum like I was in the middle of a zumba class. Whatever it takes to get her to smile. I think I burned as many calories during this photo shoot as I do in a Spin class ;)

After about 20 minutes of her occasional dipping her fingers in to the cake, but more or less not giving a crap about it, I went over there and stuck both her hands in it.  That was not a smart decision. She just looked at her hands with disgust and started crying. She hated having the cake and frosting on them!  We tried setting her back down right behind the cake. Each time she started to immediately crawl away towards mom.  I wiped her up a bit, then we brought back some balloons and just let her have fun and play with them.

Whitney managed to perfectly capture every emotion Elise expressed; curiosity, confusion, happiness, anger (when mom tried to touch her balloons), delight, and more.

Whit is just getting started with her photography career, but she is such a natural! She seriously blew me away with her talent.  Elise is such a natural beauty, but it is not easy to capture her at just the right angle, at just the right time. Trust me, I try like 100 times a day!

Even though she did not attack the cake like I thought she would, we still had so much fun shooting her, and we still got some adorable pictures of her!

*Some of the pictures did not get edited yet, so hopefully Whitney doesn't mind me sharing them.  I just couldn't wait to blog about it, and wanted to share so many more, but refrained!!*

Elise is 11 Months Old!

It is blowing my mind that, in one short month, I will have a ONE YEAR OLD.

Blowing my mind, I tell you!

How do you parents cope with the fact that you babies/kiddos grow up so fast!!! I'm having a hard time with it!

At 11 months Elise is learning new things so quickly.  She surprises me on a daily basis with things she picks up!  Some fun things I want to remember are:

• Hide and seek.  She loves playing this game. Dan or I will quickly crawl behind a couch or to another room and shout out "where's mom/dad?" and she will crawl after us, giggling with excitement. When she reaches us we act all startled which makes her laugh even harder. It's the cutest!
• She can tell you how old she is going to be by showing you the number one with her finger.
• She learns new words every day and she can point to so many objects. She knows fireplace, couch, table, window, fan, and more!  
• She is kind of obsessed with lights. She loves turning them on and off. She points to the lights in every room.
• She is quite the "faker" sometimes; meaning she acts like she wants something then turns away. We tell her "faker" and she laughs. It's become a game.  For example, she will approach you, act like she wants you to pick her up, then hurry and turn away and laugh.  
• She likes to be my "big helper" by handing my crumbs or little things she finds on the floor. She gets a big "thank you" that she loves to hear, so sometimes she will reach down and pick up nothing and hand it to me just so I can thank her, which I still do!  It cracks me up.
• She is getting used to the grass, but still doesn't like to be set down on it. She likes to pick it and throw it.
• I have probably mentioned this before, but she LOVES spending time outside. We sit in the shade in our back yard, and we swing a lot! She loves to crawl to the backdoor and stand against it and look at Yuki. 
• She knows and points to her own body parts now: Hair, nose, eyes, mouth, ears, belly button, and toes. She also knows that she is "Elise" and points to herself when we ask where Elise is.
• She loves the game of catch. She loves throwing a ball and crawling after it. She crawls all around the house after her balls. 
• She can throw quite the temper tantrum when she doesn't get her way, and she has even said "no!" to me a few times.  I was so caught of guard the first time she said it. It was actually super cute, but I did not want her to know I thought that so I tried not to react to it because then she would say it more! 
• She loves the Fisher Price puppy shows. It started with an app that Grandma Jensen showed her on her iPad. Elise loved it so I downloaded it on my phone too. Now she thinks mom's phone is just for her to watch puppy shows on. The shows are educational, but I still don't like her spending too much time on them. She throws a fit when I turn them off!
• She still has two top and two bottom teeth.
• She can stand and balance on her own for a few minutes. She hasn't taken steps on her own, she still prefers to crawl.
• She is talking more every day, and is very vocal and more expressive. 
• She has started making this new face, and she does it ALL the time now.  It's kind of a crinkled up, frowny face, but it doesn't necessarily mean she is sad/grumpy.  She does it when she is pondering something, or trying to figure something out.  I call it the classic Elise face. 

Picture time!

• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  Handing me woodchips...this went on for a while ;)

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  The classic Elise face

  
  
  
  
  

  

  She loves sitting on the dryer when it's turned on. It makes her laugh!

  
  

  

  Being the mean ol' mom that I am, I set her down on the grass to see what she'd do. She was trying to pick up both hands and feet at the same time, ha ha!

  
  

  

  Our little fam

  
  

  

  My loves