5 month flash!!!

Picture updates seem to be the best way for me to keep up. Frankly, time is cherished at this point in my life. I used to love to write...now I love snapping pictures. We change. :) End of February we took a trip to Panama City Beach to see Grandmommy and Popsy's new condo. It is AWESOME and we look forward to being able to visit it many, many, many more times. In fact in about 8 days, to be exact!!!
While there, we took the boys to the Wonder Works Museum. It was such a cool place to hang out for the afternoon. The boys got to see the inside of a space ship, walk tight ropes, and ride a bicycle into the air.

The highlight of the trip for the boys was the GIANT aquarium at Salt Water Grille. The restuarant may have been Matt's highlight too!

March, we celebrated my 29th birthday with a fun party. We have such awesome friends that truly get me through this life, day by day.

April, we had a fun spring break. We went to the Atlantic coast this time, Jacksonville Beach. We brought along some friends and left the dads at home to work. We also visited with my grandmother, aunt, uncle and got to see my cousin, Priscilla and meet her baby boy, Cohen. The weather was great and the kids had a blast playing in the ocean, pool and eating ice cream at night!
Drew and his buddy Lawson

Jett

Baby Piper, Drew and Lawson

I tried...

Brandi, Shandy and I had a great time hanging out with our kiddos for the week!

The boys and I got to take my grandma out to breakfast while we were in town. She looked great and thought my boys were really well behaved during the 3 hours it took her to eat her toast. :) Love that lady!

In mid May, we celebrated Jetty's 3rd birthday. I still can NOT believe that my baby is 3. Unreal. I dug through my online photos to see how he has changed each year on his birthday. Seems like just yesterday that each of these occured.

His pirate birthday turned out even better than I imagined! The birthday boy had a blast!

The big boys mastered the water balloon launcher!

And after all of our friends and family left, we played and played a little longer...how often do you get to pretend to be a pirate on a real pirate ship??!!
The end of May brought a little sadness for our family. It brought the end of the season that all three cousins, Drew, Tyler and Brody, would get to play ball on the same team, coached by Uncle Jason (Matt's brother). It has been so much fun having all of our boys play on the same team. How many cousins get to do that??
2 years ago...
Now, in mid June, we are in the thick of All Star baseball season. Our little all star has had an awesome year of growth and loves the sport even more. He is playing 3rd base and doing a fine job at it, if I do say so.

Valentine's Day

Drew was asked by the fabulous Lindsay Rae Photography to do a Valentine's Day shoot. He was so excited and he, and Lindsay, both did an awesome job!! Here are some of the pictures

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Last night I got to spend a little (a lot) of time putting the boys' valentines together for their classes. In my humble opinion, I think they turned out adorable! I used one of Lindsay's pictures of Drew for his:

And Jett was such an awesome little sport while I 'staged' him for his:

Looking forward to spending tomorrow night at home with the 3 guys that mean the world to me. Enjoy your Valentine's Day!

Holiday season- picture update!

When you don't update in over 3 months, there is certainly a lot of catching up! The easiest way to do this is through pictures!

November: We celebrated Drew's baptism. I was able to go up and stand on the side of the baptismal pool and have a front row seat of this awesome occasion.

Another monumental occasion for Drew occured at the end of November, his first UGA football game! I was a little envious because I have never even been to a Georgia football game, but was so excited he got to be a part of it. His friend, Bryce, from school invited him and they had a blast!!

We had our family pictures done by my sweet friend, Lindsay. Here is her website. She is awesome. If you are local, I highly recommend her! Here are some of my favorites:

I did some crafts, including my first crib bumper for a friend and a canvas picture wall hanger for our living room.

Crafting is by far my most favorite hobby these days!

December is always slam packed full of fun and family. I was honored to have been asked by my sister and some friends to take pictures for their christmas cards. I am (not even close) to being a 'real' photographer, but that doesn't mean I don't think it's really fun to pretend! Here are a few of my sister's family:

Molly and Will, in this next shoot, are the two little ones that I keep a few days a week for my friend, Mary Anne. They are such sweet kids and Jett and I love having them around to play with!

I also snapped a few for our friends, Clifton and Brittany, of their little boy, Stetson. I have known Clifton since the summer before 6th grade and it is so neat to have a friendship now with his wife and have our little boys play together.

Our visit with Santa went well and involved no tears or injuries. Last year, if you recall, we had to leave the Santa line and rush to the ER for 12 stitches in Jett's head. Glad that wasn't relived!

Jett had the first of many class Christmas parties. It is on days like these that I truly realize how lucky I am to be able to stay home with my kids and attend these types of fun get togethers. He made an angel banner with his foot prints and 'read' us a story about baby Jesus.

Drew had a special request from Santa this year...a puppy. So he wrote his letter and wished for the best! Christmas morning, the boys met Trooper.

My most favorite memory from Christmas morning was the moment Trooper came running out from behind the sofa, Jett said with so much excitement 'Look, look, a kitty cat!!":)

It was a great Christmas this year. Matt's Aunt Terri was here from Boston and stayed with us for about a week and a half. The boys miss her so much now that she is gone. She spoils them rotten when she is here!

Jett before Christmas service at church.

Drew before service. Nice, huh.

All in all, it was a fantastic holiday season. We got to spend a lot of time with great friends and our family that we love so much.

Baby chicks and ponies!

We went to a party Friday afternoon for Jett's little friend Maxx's 3rd birthday. There was a mobile petting zoo at Maxx's house. Jett now wants some baby chickens and a pony.

Don't we all...

Drew's big news...

I know it sounds so cliche, and is really just something people say for lack of anything else...but "Where does the time go?" Seriously, Drew is BIG. Drew is cute, and smart, and a smarty pants, and loud, and obnoxious and I love him so insanely much. He's big now though and this is something that is fun and extrememly un-nerving. I am finding that I like this stage. He can have a real conversation with me, give ideas and opinions. He has his own "style", doesn't mind "skinny" jeans and loves his shaggy hair. He talks about girls and absolutely adores his little brother more each day.

Drew made his own decision that changed his eternity forever. All by himself, he prayed at bedtime last month to have Jesus come live in his heart forever. He totally caught me off guard and as I peeked over at him with his eyes closed, my heart exploded. I had to turn my head so he wouldn't see me tearing up. I am so grateful that the Lord keeps showing me that Matt and I are doing things right, cause boy does he know we wonder sometimes! After a long conversation and questions this week, Drew has also decided that he is ready to be baptised. He will meet with our children's pastor at church and then, on November 6th at West Ridge Church, Pastor Brent will baptize him. My heart is overflowing.