Another Birthday

This weekend included another birthday.... which was mine. I have officially caught up with Matt now, first year of the 30's for me. It's still hard to believe since sometimes I still get asked what grade I am in.

Of course we celebrated at the lake and I woke up to some beautiful festive (black) decorations. Thanks fam.

Our sweet small group leaders came up to help celebrate. We went for a long boat ride and came up on this diving board on the end of someones property. Matt and Vance were all over wanting to get out and jump off this thing. We pulled up and the sign you can see right behind Matt clearly says "No Trespassing." Nothing like breaking the rules with your Sunday School teacher.

 And if once wasn't enough, they did it again. They decided to hurry and get back in the boat when we said we saw someone coming out with their shot gun.

 Me and my daddy on my bday.

 They had a cake and it was yummy. Fulton was a little confused at the fire coming off this big white thing. Just a couple of months for you buddy.

 Time for more fun in the water.

 Someone woke up from the boat ride with a rough hairdo.

 

 No birthday is complete without a homemade card from Matt. It's his trademark.

 And sister is known for her funny cards. She can spend hours browsing the cards to find the funniest cards. This one was a classic sister card, perfectly describing us as children....Keri feeding me a bottle and then telling me to go eat some dirt.

And remember how mom and sister finally talked me into getting new china at Christmas. Well, you know I caved in and decided to get some. Who would have ever guessed the one color I pick out of all the shades of the rainbow they would decide to discontinue?!? Arrggh... really?! But mom searched high and low and found a few more pieces. I am now on a hunt for chocolate Fiestaware. If you see some, holla at me.

More Park Fun

Here's a disclaimer... this isn't that exciting (not that my other posts are, right?!), but I want to document for my lack of my memory these days.

 This stinker is into everything these days. Look at those eyes.. he knows he is being sneaky.

 And now he's been caught. We have toys everywhere. It's getting slightly out of control. Our sweet neighbors are trying to clean out and the best thing for them is that they keep bringing them to our house. It's like Christmas everyday.

 This same day we decided to hit up the park again since it had been a while since we had ventured there. He saw some older cutie pie little girls and his jaw just dropped at them. We use the code word "SS" a lot these days...which stands for "stop staring." He must get that from his mama.

 The slide still isn't our best friend, but we are working on it.

 But we love some swinging. I mean we were there for almost an hourish and we had to pry him out of the swings.

Nothing like some good ole rusty hands when you leave the park.

Father's Day Weekend

We started the weekend at the lake (I'm sure you're surprised) where we did some playing and some working.

 It was all about the playing for this guy and he got to ride on the golf cart for the first time and found out that he loves it.. but he definitely wants to do the driving.

 The boys did the working. They had lots of trees and limbs down from that bad storm last week. It kept them busy for a while. And Matt almost got attacked by a bull, but nothing else too exciting to report here.

 That storm was also not very kind to our walkway to the pier. Happy Father's Day dad... new walkway arrived to be put in on Saturday morning. It's crazy what some wind can do.

 Saturday we went for a long boat ride and ended at the marina to feed the fish.

 This picture probably freaks you out holding Fulton so close to the water, but Pops had a tight grip on him. He just kept leaning farther and farther over to see the big fish.

 You can buy some crackers and feed these huge fish with, but Fulton kept trying to eat the crackers. It didn't go so well.

 Sunday morning we took a quick picture of my boys before heading to church.

 And he was a good helper while daddy opened his gifts.

 Sunday night we had the fam over to celebrate the big day. We went totally nontraditional and had a pizza party. See my dad cannot have flour.. totally allergic to it and has been for 40ish years. Sister found a gluten free pizza and we made some gluten free cheese biscuits, along with the flourless cookies for dessert.. he was drooling. Loved it!

 A little something Uncle Pete brought to the party. He did that drawing on there himself... or maybe he didn't?!

 Family pictures seem hard to get these days with this little guy on the move so much. He doesn't want to sit still or be held captive for too long.

 Dad with his two favorite daughters.

And Fulton was excited because he got to help someone else open gifts. He loves some tissue paper. Very thankful for my dad and all he has done for us through the years and now I am blessed for Fulton to have such an amazing father in Matt. But beyond the two earthly fathers, I am most thankful for my heavenly father who far surpasses anything an earthly father could ever mean to me.

9 Months

This post is all about this little guy, who turns 9 months old today. Here's some things our little munchkin is loving at 9 months.

This little guy or not so little was 20 pounds 14 ounces and 28 1/2 inches long at his checkup yesterday. Woohoo!!



 Sometimes you have to get creative. I needed to keep this little man entertained for a minute while I finished up making some baby food, which by the way he is eating as fast as I can make it... so, prop the ole computer up and turn on some veggie tales. Loved it. While we have the backside view, I think he is starting to get a rat tail... yikes. Matt says it reminds him of his childhood. Sheesh.

We try to walk most mornings and he is happy as can be kicked back and relaxed as we cruise the neighborhood. Didn't work out so well one day this week when I thought we could beat the rain... we ended up having to run back to the house. He thought it was funny, me...not so much.

Still loving the lake. He loves to play in his little pool and we try to keep him entertained with all these exciting toys and his favorite is an old crunched up water bottle.

This guy loves the water. We are spending most afternoons at our neighborhood pool and love it. All the big kids are usually gone and we have the pool to ourselves... it's a good thing because we can get pretty loud.

Fulton is still napping two times a day and sometimes you just get one wherever you can. He adapts well.

Chunky is pulling up on everything. It started in the crib a few weeks ago and now it's anything he can find. He is a brave one too.

He is a good escape artist too. This was one night after bath... he took off crawling and before I knew it he had made it close to the front door.

And last, food... our favorite. He will eat anything. Some of his faves are sweet potatoes, squash and zucchini and all fruits (including this lovely shade of blueberry that may forever be on his lips). Some of the not so faves are broccoli and avocado. He has stepped out of the box and tried lots of things on our plates too. Those days make for really great diaper changes. So, it's been a fun 9 months!! We love this little guy to pieces!

Finishing The Celebration

In finishing with the birthday celebration today we enjoyed the entire day together as a fam and celebrated this guy all day! Thankfully my built in alarm (Fulton) woke up right on schedule and I had time to do a little decorating before the birthday boy woke up.



Fulton actually stole some of the day for his 9 month check up, more on that later. We let daddy open his gifts and oohed and ahhed over the fun stuff he got. We went to lunch together, where Fulton stole the show again as he gagged on some pineapple and threw up at the table. Lovely. They were probably glad to see us leave.

 Tonight we met up with the fam at Cajun Steamer for yummy dinner number 2. Fulton dressed in appropriate attire, one for the steamer part and two because that's how he had been acting all afternoon.

The fellas.

Sister brought some awesome American Flag cupcakes, because you know it's also Flag Day.



KK wanted Matt to feel extra patriotic and brought some festive balloons that kept this little guy entertained for quite sometime.

And then he started running out of hot air. He was pooped after 2 parties in 2 nights and staying up past his bedtime for both of them... but it sure was worth it. Hey, it's summer after all... who sticks to bedtime, right?!

Wait is this the same guy... well, we went outside, heard the band and got our second wind. He is a wild man. Happy Birthday to my sweet hubby!! Hope it was a good one!



Celebrating Early

Today is the big day for Matt... his birthday. He is no longer in the 20's.  He has officially hit the big 3-0!! Woohoo!!! I planned a little surprise dinner last night with some of our sweet friends in our small group. 

 I didn't tell Matt until we pulled up that we were having a little shindig for his birthday. We went to Iguana Grill, his fave.

 A few shots of the sweet people who came to celebrate. We love these folks.

 These fun waiters sang a little Happy Birthday to this cutie. He even got his own smiley Mexican cake.

 The rest of us dug into this puppy. Yum. I love cookie cake...even had a few bites for breakfast this morning.

This was just the beginning of the celebration... let the day continue!! Happy Birthday to my hubby!