Ethan’s FIRST birthday party!

We had such a great time celebrating Ethan’s first birthday with family and friends.  He loved his smash cake and even shared with those that wanted a bite.  Beware of picture overload! The camera was hit or miss with all the fun we had and the lighting from room to room.  Thank you to all our friends and family that came over to help celebrate this little boy! A special thank you to my sister and mom for helping me make, cut, sew, hang and decorate for the party!            

Pictures of January

Three year old well visit and first trip to the dentist. First sucker for Ethan…loved it! Last minute trip to the zoo.Candids…always so blurry! We love Regal! First hockey game with friends!And just because I love my kids to the moon and back!

Michigan trip – Part Two

There is no rhyme or reason to all of the pictures I took in Michigan so here is the rest of them from our trip.  We were here and there every day.  We went to a wedding shower, a book store, an ice cream parlor, read books, played in pj’s and just plan made the most of our trip.  I miss those days so much!  Thank you to all of my Michigan and Tennessee family for making our trip so fun…as always!There is a life sized doll house in the courtyard of my grandmother’s complex and I do believe Kendall had her eye on it all week.  We finally made our way to it and Kendall had so much fun!

Ethan’s baptism day

The day was perfect, well all except for the weather.  It was a dreary day but that didn’t stop us from celebrating our sweet boy.  Ethan wore our family baptismal gown and added to the list of family members to carry on the tradition.  I am so grateful for traditions, they mean so much.  He was awake for the whole service and when Reverend Ripley was baptizing him he whimpered very softly almost as if to say, “ooh that was cold".”  It was so cute and no crying (sorry it’s blurry).Doesn’t he look so sweet? We celebrated the occasion afterward, at the Grant’s with a nice lunch and some more family time. The weather was not very cooperative for picture taking but knowing everyone was there for this special reason was just as memorable.  My sister had this cake made for our little man and it sure was tasty. Our family has been so blessed with Ethan and we thank everyone for coming to share in such a special day for us.   God is good!

Happy Easter!

So pretty!

This is the first dress that she has worn and is actually “aware” it’s a dress.  She looks so pretty!! I don’t typically put her in a dress to go to day care because  I’m too worried she is going to play too rough and get bumps and bruises on her sweet legs and knees.  Thankfully she made it all day with clean knees and no scrapes to be had.  

Random fall photos

Soooo, since I missed posting our October fun, I’m doing it now…all at once. Enjoy!!

We went to the fair for the second year, and Kendall LOVED it.  She did not want to get off of the carousel and had so much fun petting ALL of the animals.  She even fed a few, by her choice. We rode an elephant and of course she had to touch it too.  She patted him nicely on his back.It was so much fun to experience the fair through my baby girl’s eyes.  She took it all in and I can’t wait to go back again next year.  Kendall also wanted her own bag of cotton candy before we left, although I should have said no being that she only ate some of the pink and was done. And here is lil’ miss in her Halloween outfit.  Not really a costume but good enough for this year. We tried just three times to take a picture with her witch mask she colored in school. LOVE IT! I almost forgot to add in our zoo trip.  I wanted to take Kendall to Boo at the Zoo but the timing didn’t work out to stay until the festivities began.  We made it there in time to see a few animals before all of the trick or treating started and we had a blast. I took some pictures of the animals we saw (monkeys, flamingos, koi) and some in the aquarium exhibit but they didn’t really turn out to be blog worthy.  Here are a  few that did. I’m hoping next time we make it to the zoo there will be more animals to see and I will have more camera participation from Miss Occupied.  Most of the animals were “sleeping” to prepare the zoo for all of the kiddos to trick or treat.

St. James Pumpkin Patch

Pumpkin picking time again! St. James United Methodist Church is so close to home and always has such a variety of pumpkins to choose from.  They did not disappoint this year.  There were grey ones, white ones, tiny and large ones and even a few that were white with an orange lace look to it.  Very unique!This year, Kendall was even more obsessed with the pumpkins then last year.  She tried to pick a few up and she loved going up and down the aisles looking at all the different colors.  When she saw the pumpkins with discolorations and bumps, she would point and loudly say, “ewwww!” We walked over to the pile of hay, and oh boy, was it better than a toy any day.  Kendall decided to pick up handful after handful of hay and take it to “hide” the pumpkins.  She had a blast covering the pumpkins (even though the hay didn’t “hide” the pumpkins very long) and running through the hay.  She was so involved with the hay, I was lucky to get these pictures.  How cute is she? These are two of my favorites for sure! And, before we left, Kendall had to line up three mini pumpkins on the palette. Do you see the two closest together in the left picture? She has number three in her hands.  We also stopped to smell the flowers.  The pumpkin patch visits are going to become more and more fun each year. I already know it!  Next year, Ethan will join us!