Hughes turns 7!!!!!

Yesterday was Hughes' 7th birthday!  Wow.  Not only is my own child growing like a weed, but my loving and sweet nephew, Hughes is too!  It seems like he should be 4 years old.  He is a smart, kind hearted, and full of energy little boy to say the least.  I love him like he was one of my own.  Brooke, Hampton, and I picked him up from school yesterday (at 12:30 because they got out early due to potential bad weather...how lucky is he?!) and took him to Fun Zone, who was closed because of the weather, so his next choice was Chuck E. Cheese.  Go. Figure.  We had a fun time eating pizza and watching him play games.  He even won the jack pot on one of the games.  He was so excited!

That night we went to Dana and Brad's house for his "unofficial" birthday party with just family.  Brad cooked bar b q, baked beans, and cole slaw for everyone, then of course we indulged in birthday cake and ice cream afterwards.  Hughes opened his presents and we all played a little.  Even papa...

Hughes originally wanted a boys sleepover for his party, but right now he has basketball games every Saturday morning until February.  Therefore, he will have his "official" party at his sleepover in a couple of weeks. 

Until then, his "family" party will suffice and a good time was had by all.  Happy birthday Hughes man!!  We love you to the moon and back!

Trip to B'ham = fun weekend with the Moore's

I had EVERY intention on writing this post yesterday, but the day got away from me and last night my time was occupied watching BAMA WIN A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP against LSU!!!!  ROLL TIDE!!  21-0.  #14 baby!!!  They deserved every minute of it and to say I am so proud of my tide would be an understatement!!  :)   Anywho, on to the point of the post.  We had one of the most fun weekends we've had in a long time this past weekend.  As I had said in my previous post, our plans of going to stay with the Moore's for New Years got diminished thanks to the crappy cold crud everyone had.  That didn't stop us from just post-poning until the next weekend though.  We were all packed and ready by Friday afternoon and headed that way as soon as Daniel got home from work.  We got there late that night and Logan just couldn't quite hang.  He was already asleep when we got there so we stayed up a little while chatting with Scott and Jessica until we could hardly hold our eyes open any longer. 

We had a lazy p.j.'s morning the next day and let the 2 little guys play a while with one another before we got ready for the day.  They played so well together.  It was so fun watching them interact.  They are 5 weeks apart.  They both had so much fun!! 

After hanging out a while, we got ready for the day.  First stop was yummy Full Moon for some delicious Bar B Q.  One of Daniel's favorite restaurants in B'ham.  After lunch, we headed towards the Galleria area to do a little shopping.  Luckily, we didn't shop till we drop so we went to a park for the boys to have a little fun there.  And boy did they have fun!  It is a park about a mile from their house, so being a stay at home mom to Logan, Jessica frequents these swings often during the warm, sunny days.  I was anxious to see how Hampton was going to like it because the first and only time he has swung was on Christmas morning and as you can see...

well, he wasn't too fond of it.

Jessica takes Logan there quiet a bit and says he LOVES it.  He was definitely a pro at it.  Hampton, on the other hand, not so much.  Mommy didn't let him go quiet so high.  I'm pretty sure Hampton was probably hoping I didn't let him go that high either at this point. ;)  He was pretty fascinated.

Then, Daniel gave him a few pushes and he began to get used to it.

Next thing you know, he was LOVING it!  Yay!

After many attempts to get BOTH boys to look in the SAME direction...best we got. ;)

Proud mommy's with their precious itty bitty's!  Logan (8 months), Hampton (7 months)

We had to get the daddy's in action as well.  We weren't letting them off the hook with no proof of them having fun, too!

Finally, after all the fun park action, we headed back home to get ready for dinner.  Fortunately, we were able to go to dinner with Beth, Breland, Barrett, and baby Booth (Beth is expecting July 4!!)  Beth, Jessica, and I became close friends when we were in Education together at Auburn.  We all graduated at the same time and went our separate ways.  We have done an amazing job with keeping in touch so kudos to us on that one.  It's extremely difficult to ALL get together, but when we do, it's like time never skipped a beat.  I am so blessed to have them in my life even though we don't get to see each other nearly enough.  We shared lots of laughs and smiles at dinner and then it was time to say our good-byes.  :(  However, I am already looking forward to the next gathering when we can all hang out again...whenever that might be.  I LOVE these 2 girls and I LOVE the fact we all have so much in common from education to ALL boys (even though Baby Booth might change that fact here in a few weeks!) being around the same ages.  It is SO fun being with each other!

The next morning we got up, headed to church at Church of the Highlands, and enjoyed some wonderful yummy lunch at Taziki's afterwards before heading back home.  Whew.  It was a busy, but oh so fun weekend and I can't wait to do it again some time soon.  For now, it's back to reality.  Thank you again Scott and Jessica for letting us stay.  Can't wait for next time and the memories we will make!!

7 months old

Goodness gracious.  7 months.  Really??  Yes, really. :(  This first picture is a perfect depiction of what Hampton's life is like these days (and mommy and daddy's life as well)...BUSY, but HAPPY!!!  Each month that goes by so quickly Hampton gets a little bit bigger and a little bit "grownier" already.  He is learning and observing so much it's crazy, but it has been THE best 7 past months of my life.  I don't know what I would do without him, I dang sure don't know what I did before I had him, and just looking at his sweet angelic face, I thank our Heavenly Father for such a miracle he has blessed us with. 

He is getting into all sorts of things these days.  As you will see by the following pictures he is a busy body these days and could care a less about a darn picture. 


I also can no longer put the "month old" sign in the chair with him.  Hampton's just not going to let that happen these days unless he gets to tear it and/or chew it.  So, we had to put it up on top of the chair and the determined little fella that he is STILL tries his best to reach the darn thing.  It's kind of amusing, actually. 

So, he finally just gives up and finds something else to entertain him. Like...

reaching for the dresser.

or reaching for this little table.

Haha...either way, it doesn't ever happen so he just gives up all together...

and decides that if he can't do those things, he CAN lay in the chair and waller all around. ;)

I'm guessing he was just checking to make sure that guy was still there after all that wallering.

 Anywho, you get the point.  Busy. Body.  No more Mr. sit nicely and let me take your picture in your chair.  I'm not sure where that itty bitty went to, but he's not in my house anymore. ;)  Don't get me wrong here.  I'm not by any means feeling like my child is not a baby anymore because I know those days are coming soon enough (in years to come), but he's just gotten this "spurt" of energy all  of a sudden this past month.  Each day is SO fun watching him grow and learn new things. 

As of now...

he can feed himself his puffs (well, sometimes he still needs a little help when he can't quite ring his mouth)
he LOVES apple juice in his sippy cup
he is working on holding his sippy cup with his own 2 hands
he claps his tiny precious hands together when you sing "patty cake" and it is the cutest thing ever
he is scooting every.where.  He's got the back motion of his legs and tiny hiney in the air ready to crawl, but can't quite pick his front self up to go yet.  I'm thinking crawling is in our near future. We'll see.
he loves when you hold him and ride him on his fire truck

he sits up to do everything now.  He doesn't like to be laying down anymore.

 he loves to stand at the coffee table all by himself...

and stand at his activity table and play.  Big boy!!  Check out that serious face. ha!

he loves playing with his toys in his room

 he is not too fond of swinging on his new swing...

 or sliding down his new slide for that matter, but, we'll get there.

 he LOVES to play with all his bath toys

 he loves this puppy Aunt Brooke gave him for Christmas.  Any time of the day I can give him this fella and he grins and loves on him.

And last but not least, he absolutely ADORES his 2 cousins (but hey, who wouldn't?!)  He watches them, laughs at them, and I know he is already learning from them!

It is all going by so fast, but we are making sweet memories to last a life time each and every day. 

Happy (or not so happy) New Year!!

We're not starting off the 2012 year exactly as planned, but that's ok.  Hampton and I have both been sick since last Tuesday with the cold crud.  It has not been a last fun week in 2011 to say the least.  However, there was a slight improvement in his behavior last night, but he still can't shake the coughing and sneezing.  He seemed a little perkier last night than he has this week.  This past week he was PITIFUL.  Whiny, clingy, ill, but hey, I can not blame him.  It's a yucky feeling and it's NOT fun.  Especially when there's nothing you can really do for them.  I feel so helpless when he's sick. 

Poor little guy :(

Needless to say, we were supposed to ring in the new year with our friends Scott, Jessica, and Logan in Birmingham, but unfortanately those plans got post poned till next weekend when hopefully everyone is feeling like themselves again.  You see, Jessica and I were preggo at the same time.  We spent last New Year's going to dinner and a movie with our big 'ole preggo selves and our oh so sweet significant others so we thought it would be fun to continue our tradition this year and baby boys could play together. 

So crazy to look back at this!!

And now this year our little bundles of joy are here with us!

Oh well.  Things happen.  At least we have next weekend to look forward to!! :) 

We still rung in the New Year by going to eat at Rodeo for some yummy mexican for our last meal in 2011 and lounging in our p.j.'s at home the rest of the night.  We were able to spend some quality time with each other and Daniel and I even watched a movie once little man was put to bed.  It was a quiet and relaxing night, but I wouldn't have had it any other way! 

I did manage to snap a few pics of itty bitty playing before bath time last night.

Happy New Year!

Laughing at Daddy...something we haven't seen much of this week. :(

Almost night night time...can you tell?! ;)

Thankful for all of the blessings God has showered us with this past year and years past.  I look forward to seeing what He has in store for our little family in 2012.  I hope everyone had a fun, safe New Year's Eve and may God richly bless you in the new year!