Graybaby turns one...

Yesterday was Grayson's 1st birthday, so we had family and friends over for dinner and cake. WHEN DID THIS BABY GET SO BIG????? He should still be 6 pounds! We were at the doctor today, and he's over 26 pounds (side note...Caden was 30 pounds at 1 year). He is such a sweet little boy, and he is most assuredly ALL BOY. He destroys anything he can reach! We often call him Captain Destructo.
Love this little man!!! Here are the cakes that I made for the party. I wanted everything to be blue and brown, so I decided to color the cake part blue. I think it turned out pretty cute!!

Now he gets a chance to dig in. Before you go any further, please feel free to think back to Caden's first birthday party. He WOULD NOT touch his cake at all!! My 2 boys could not be more different, and I love that about them!!

Hmmm...I think I like it!

This pic is priceless...it's the utter joy of cake!!!

"YEA Grayson!!!"

Caden is still a MUCH neater eater!!

Love this one...

We needed an immediate sink bath!!

Caden made a great gift inspector!!!

Grayson loves gifts too!!

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse...

The picture above pretty much shows you what Caden did the entire party!! He had so much fun!!! On Valentine's Day we had Caden's birthday party. We did a combined party with a little boy in his Sunday School class. I am also in Sunday school with his parents, so they get to hang out quite a bit, and Caden LOVES Jim...it's his favorite thing about going to church. When I ask him if he's ready to go to church, he replies, "Let's go see Jim!"
Both of the boys love Mickey, so we decided on a Mickey party. I thought this was really cute...when we sang Happy Birthday, Caden thought it was the blessing, so he folded his hands. It was precious!! I did matching shirts for the boys as well!!
Since it was Valentine's Day, we had the kids decorate Valentine's bags. Instead of gifts, everyone brought Valentines to exchange. It was fun!

Here are the birthday boys behind the cupcakes...

Food table, minus the heart shaped PB and J's...they were still in the kitchen at this point.

Birthday boys' table. Mickey and Minnie were dining with them...

Close up of the table...

We rented a jumpy that had a slide inside. I truly believe that Caden would LIVE inside this if it were allowed!! He had SOOOO much fun!!

Yummy juice...

Here's Jim...

Grayson was all about seeing everyone at the party. I have to get the picture from my cousin's phone of Grayson eating all of the leftovers from the Birthday boys' table. It was PRICELESS!!

One happy camper!

Some guests...

Cupcake time...

Thank you, Caden for choosing a cupcake with white icing instead of black!!

Sweet Courtney with Graybaby...

Some kiddos eating...

The cutest baby pic of the day!! Isn't she adorable!!

The day was bitter sweet. My grandmother, Mimi, passed away the Thursday before rather unexpectedly, so we had her funeral (which Frank preached) later that afternoon. But as I told someone after the funeral, Mimi would have not been happy with us canceling a party!! She loved her great-grand babies!!

Too random to title...(and a NOT ME!)

First let me apologize for the RANDOMNESS that this post will bring...I thing the 5th graders are rubbing off on me! Here's my sweet little chunky monkey. Believe it or not, he's actually 5 pounds lighter than Caden was when he turned 1, and I doubt he'll be gaining 5 pounds in the next 2 weeks to catch up. Those blue eyes and gorgeous smile melt my heart every time!! Check out these thighs:
Deep in thought...he must take everything apart. I really think that he is constantly looking for things to destroy. ALL BOY!

Speaking of boys who melt my heart...

My sweet first born...he still loves to snuggle with mama, and I could let him do it all day!! Grayson isn't a snuggler at all, so I cherish my snuggle time with Caden. Here he is showing me how he "fixed" his golf club:
Since golfing will probably be his major sport, we should really get him a more reliable set!! :) We went to the cardiologist this week for our yearly check up. His numbers are getting worse, but they are creeping up (high is bad) slowly enough that we don't have to go back for another year...PRAISE THE LORD!!! Dr. B still thinks (and hopes) that we can make it to late elementary or junior high before surgery (open heart to replace valves). This mama is happy to put it off as long as possible!!
Here's proof to the people whom I tell that if you didn't know he had a heart problem, you would NEVER figure it out by watching him...the boy is fearless!! Instead of sliding down the slide it's WAY more fun to jump from the top...

Nice form...

Get those feet up...

And I totally DID NOT tell him to "do it again!!" as I was trying to get a good sequence of shots...NOPE, NOT ME!!!
Check out more "Not Me" moments at MckMama's Blog.
LOVE this shot...the hair really tells the story!

And now, to introduce you to the newest member of our family, Maddie. She's a 7 week old Maltipoo, and she is an absolute doll!!
Our german shepherd, Britney, passed away a few months ago, and Frank has really be wanting to get another dog. Being the loving, supportive wife that I am, I told him, "ABSOLUTELY NOT!!" I've been looking off and on for the past couple of months, then I found this little sweetie! Her breeder lives a little south of Brookhaven, so she met us on Thursday when we were down there for our appointment. Frank had NO IDEA, it was priceless!!

Even cute little girls get sleepy after eating a birhtday invitation...

Finally, I just wanted to share this blog. This sweet little girl is in heaven today...less than a month ago, her parents took her to the doctor for a simple ear infection. They never could have imagined that something so routine would lead to the discovery of stage 4 cancer. I cannot even imagine their pain right now, but I would encourage you to lift this family up in prayer. It makes me cherish the moments I have with my boys even more...I literally love them so much it hurts, and I can't imagine a day without them. But, I know that they are not mine, but the Lord's!!

Long time, no blog!!

Just wanted to let you know we are still alive even though I haven't updated the blog in a month! We are doing well...just staying busy and tired. This is a busy time of year for us: Anniversary, Mom's B'day, Valentine's Day, Grayson's B'day, Dad's B'day, Frank's B'Day, and Caden's B'day! Thank goodness my birthday is all the way in July...I'd hate for it to get lost in the shuffle (as the only girl in the house, I feel that I should get at least one day a year to be special!!).
I don't have any new pics of the boys on this memory card, but I'll try and put some up soon. This pic of the shoes is to show you one of my favorite "little things" about being a mom. Nothing makes me smile faster than seeing these sweet little shoes on the floor around the house. It makes me think of the precious little feet that go in them and all the running that they have done or will do.
Now for some updates. Caden makes me laugh more and more every day. The other day, I was bathing the boys when Caden started pouring some on the bath water on the edge of the tub. Some of it was pouring onto the floor, so I pushed his hand more toward the inside of the tub. Frank happened to be walking by, and Caden said, "Daddy!! Mommy pushed me!!" Priceless! We are also in the process of potty training. He's doing really well. He goes on the potty almost all day. His teacher thinks he'll be ready to go strictly to underwear by Spring Break. Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE her!!!!
Grayson is getting more and more mobile every day. He can crawl anywhere he wants as quickly as he wants. He pulls up on everything, and he will even stand unassissted for short periods of time. He has 3/almost 4 teeth all on the bottom, but that's not slowing him down from eating ANYTHING that we put in front of him. He made me believe that kids are just born picky or not. Caden is super picky, but we did the exact same things with Grayson, and he'll eat absolutely anything. One of my favorite things that Grayson is doing now is just how excited he is to see me anytime I walk into a room...he literally trembles with excitement. He knows how to make his mama feel good!!
Caden goes to the cardiologist this Thursday for his annual check up. This is the first time that we have gone an entire year between visits, and I'll be glad when it's all over. I really kinda forget he has anything wrong with him, but as the visit draws near, it's always in the back of my mind. We're praying for a good report, and that we won't need surgery any time soon...this is one thing we are more than happy to be very patient for!!

We had a great Christmas!

 

We had a truly wonderful Christmas full of friends and family.  The boys are at such fun ages.  This was really the first Christmas that Caden really understood what was going on...it was one laugh after another!  You can be getting excited about having video added to the blog soon because Frank gave me a video camera!  I'm just working on editing the video into smaller "blog friendly" chunks.  I know that none of you want to watch all of our video...just the highlights!  In this next pic, you can't really see anything exciting, I just thought you would enjoy seeing Caden's rockin' bedhead.

My parents gave the boys a "roller coaster" for Christmas.  Mom actually got it a while ago, but we just got it out at her house on Christmas eve.  Caden LOVED it.  It's just a simple little car that rides down a little ramp.  If Caden rode it once, he rode it a hundred times.  We're going to be putting it in our backyard...I have a feeling that my boys will be spending LOTS of time outside.

Pushing the car up the hill:

WEEE!!!!!

 

Uncle Paul is going to help Graybaby race Caden:

Tonight while we were eating dinner, Caden spotted some powdered doughnuts that someone gave Frank as part of a Christmas gift...is this pic incriminating or what?!