First Family Vacation plus a wedding too! (warning: way too many pictures...)

We've never done a vacation before that wasn't either work related for Jon or with extended family.   Every year I've wanted to go to the beach before the peak season of crowds and unbearable heat.  We thought this would be a good year to give it a shot before our life goes to a school schedule (hard to believe thats right around the corner)!  We were planning on being in Birmingham memorial day weekend for my cousin Kerrie's wedding so we just tacked on a beach trip to the beginning of that. It was a great way to kick off the summer!

Can you tell Wes had fun?  I really should have limited his PBS time before our trip because I'm pretty sure he was screaming that he saw a "Sea Urchin"!

Obviously, We had some wardrobe issues that first day!

We went to get icecream one night so of course I had to take some (ok lots) pictures.  Moments are rare where everyone is relatively clean, dressed and happy!

"OK mom thats enough"

Hard day at the office!

Poor Sleepy Baby.

You have no idea how many tries it took to get a pic with the glasses (halfway) on!

One last picture before leaving

We were sad to see our vacation end but were excited to head to Birmingham for a fun weekend with lots of family and one last BEAUTIFUL Cavender cousin wedding at my Aunt and Uncles House!

Hard to top this for a wedding spot!  

Best way to get everyone to sit still for a picture: Sonic Happy Hour! 

Silly Kiddos!

Just not sure if any of the kids had fun at all??

Congrats to  Kerrie and Jon!! We love you guys!

Wes turns 4!

Last month Wes turned four.  I can't believe it, really where does the time go?

He loves to learn and go to school.  He's learning to read and recognize words.  He's trying to sound them out, he knows all his numbers and is learning to tell time, he can write his name as well as the rest of the family's name.  He loves to draw (doesn't get that from me for sure!), play sports, ride his bike, swim, and help us around the house.

He's got the sweetest laugh, irresistible dimples, and is always being silly.

He's opinionated, always right, always has to win and has an endless amount of energy.   He tells me he never gets tired and always starts his day around 6:00am!  We're pretty sure he's going to rule the world someday.  Or at least we hope we can channel all that into something productive and or successful!  When we ask him what he wants to be when he grows up he usually says a football player, not sure how thats gonna work out cause cause we're still working on catching.  The other night he was playing in the yard and Jon threw him the ball and he caught it.  He was so excited and he kept saying "it didn't even hit me in the face this time!!"  Bless him...

Wes is such a sweetest best big brother and I know the last 8 months have been a hard adjustment for him but I'm so thankful that he's so sweet to his little brother and can actually be very helpful at times

Four is such a sweet age filled with so many conversations that melt your heart and we're looking forward to the next year and all the memories it will bring!

We celebrated his birthday with a morning with daddy at the driving range with a new set of clubs followed by a day at the zoo with one of his friends.  He had a great time!

Grant @ 7 months

So I needed to hurry and get some 7 month update before he turned 8 months which is actually today (I have a few hours to spare)!  Grant had a scary episode that most of you know about where he ended up in the hospital.  Someday I may say more about it but right now I just haven't got around to it and honestly its nice to sometimes just not think about it.  Anyways, that has set us back around here lately to say the least but we're finally getting settled back into a normal routine.

 7 months was a big month for Grant because he started crawling and is getting close to pulling up.  He's loving life and is such a happy, content little guy and we are enjoying seeing his personality come out.  I can tell he's going to a handful also.  He's very curious, has no fear, his hands are always moving and reaching for something and hardly ever cries when he gets hurt.  I see lots of stitches in his future!

Other big news is he's trying to talk:  All day long I say "Mama" whenever I pick him up and he'll look at me and say "DADADADADA"  Kind of a bummer for the one who carried him for 9 months but still sweet, he's trying at least!

He's still waking up at night.   Some nights only at 4:00am others at 10, 12 1, 2, 4, 6, you get the picture..... We've blamed a cold, we've blamed teeth (which he now has three on the bottom), we've feed him more, we've blamed him being sick and losing some weight, we've tried some tough love.  I'm sure we'll get there someday, hopefully!  Meanwhile I'll push through with lots of coffee and concealer to hide dark circles.

I've been working out to get stronger!

Why are you not holding me????

Fine, then I'll just come to you!

Easter

     I don't know about the rest of you but this has seemed like a really long winter at our house.  We were more than happy to welcome Easter this year and are looking forward to some warmer weather in the upcoming months.  (notice I said WARMER... not so much the HOT)  

     In case you're wondering why Wes is not wearing a shirt in these first few pictures let me explain.  Grant woke up hungry around  4:00 on Easter morning and after I fed him and put him back to bed I noticed Wes was awake.  He asked me if the easter bunny had been there and I told him to go back to sleep and we'd see when it got light outside.  Well, I went back downstairs and went to bed.  Around 6:00 I heard a loud crash on the monitor.  Jon went up to the boys room to find Wes sitting in his wagon with all the lights turned on (which of course meant Grant was awake), without a shirt, pretending to be a pirate.  Later I found evidence of an early morning snack, a large amount of chocolate egg wrappers hidden under his covers.  Since we stared our Easter extra early I was thankful for a rainy Easter Sunday and a cancelled egg hunt.  Wes sure needed a nap by the time we got home from church.

All dressed for church.  Grant looks ready for some chocolate eggs!  Too bad this year he only got puffs and baby food.

"Go long Wes"

Sweet Brothers
 

Spitting - Grant's latest/Greatest Trick

Wes sure looks older this Easter!

All dressed up.

Since Wes was a spring baby he had so many cute dressy "southern" outfits that Grant has hardly been able to wear since they fit him in the winter.  This weekend we had a little taste of spring so Sunday I went all out complete with knee socks and white shoes.  Jon drew the line at the bonnet though :(

First Half Birthday!

Another month gone by and its hard to believe we're halfway through with the "first year"!  I heard a quote about being a mom from the book The Happiness Project (which is on my reading list for someday).  "The Days Are Long, But The Years Are Short." I think about that everyday and its so true!

Not too much has changed in the last month.  He's getting ready to start crawling by getting up on his knees and rocking and somehow usually ends up going backwards, which just makes him mad.  He's getting wigglier while you hold him, wanting to grab at everything and very curious.  I can tell he's going to be busy, but I guess all little boys are!  He's still really sweet natured and full of smiles, he has started to get a little shy around new faces and he'll bury his head in my shoulder.  I can also ask him for kisses and he leaves me with a dripping wet face and another handfull of hair gone, but its all good!

Raising one eyebrow- his new trick!