One Amazing Weekend

What happens when you put five women (all related) and seven children together for a weekend? They all have one amazing weekend, that's what!
Friday morning, Mom, Aunt Kathy, Eli, Bella, and I loaded the van with enough clothes and snacks to last a week, and we were on our way. Jenny and her sweet baby girls, Ryan and Darby, were not far behind us. Destination: Brandon, Mississippi. We were all headed to Kim and Kevin's gorgeous home for the weekend.

When we arrived, there were hugs all around, of course. Bella immediately wanted to get her arms around her baby cousins. The first thing she wanted to do was hold baby Darby.
I know. I know. Little Miss Darby is the same size as Bella. This didn't stop her from wanting to try to pick her up... multiple times. Joseph, too. We heard this statement many, many times this weekend, "I want to hold Baby Darby/Joseph." The funny thing was neither Darby nor Joseph wanted to be held by Bella very much. Imagine that.

After Eli saw the girls dressing up, he wanted to join in. Obviously, he didn't want to wear a dress. What to do? Kate had an idea! Eli could be the beast and wear Jack's Halloween costume from last year. Kim made this beast costume; she's so talented! Eli didn't seem to mind that they fit him like capris. He and Kate had a great time playing together.
They all did...

While there, we celebrated Kim's 30th birthday. Jack isn't a happy camper in the picture below. He really wanted to eat some cake! Bella enjoyed the cake so much she had to be sure she devoured every little speck of icing.

After everyone finished eating, Mom and Kim disappeared. I was informed that Mom was getting dressed in mummy attire AKA toilet paper. Mom is always doing silly things to make the kids laugh. She had been acting like a zombie and chasing them around. Dressing like a mummy is the next logical step, right? While waiting for the Mummy to appear, Aunt Kathy had a great workout, catching one child after another as they jumped off of the ottoman onto her. Finally, we were given the secret signal (a knock on the bathroom door) to let us know the mummy was about to make her appearance. After scaring the children, came the big reveal... Then, of course, all of the children wanted to dress like mummies, too. When the babies went to bed, we had a lot of laughs. The most laughter came when Jenny decided to straighten our hair. After admiring all of us with such nice, silky, straight hair, Aunt Kathy asked if Jenny could do her hair, too. Aunt Kathy, sat there patiently, looking at all of our long locks, imagining her hair straight. I really do wish I had a picture of what Aunt Kathy's hair looked like. We were all too busy laughing to the point of tears. No one even thought to take a picture. What a wonderful weekend we all had together!

Bama Bound

What a great two weeks we had visiting Alabama! Eli and Bella enjoyed their first plane ride. Well, Eli did pilot a plane once, so I guess you could say it was his first commercial flight. Eli loved it, while Bella was a little apprehensive, "Mommy, I scared." Once we were on the plane for a while, she seemed to relax.

When we arrived at the airport, Mom, Dad, and Aunt Kathy were there to greet us.


After waiting for our luggage for a very long time, we headed to Mom and Dad's new house. It is beautiful! They did an amazing job painting the rooms in the house. I especially like the dining room and the rustic, yet modern, look of the family room. We weren't there long before we made our way to Uncle Charlie and Aunt Jackie's house to celebrate Ryan's second birthday and meet Darby and Joseph for the first time. Both babies were just so adorable. Bella was in love with Darby, and Eli was excited to see Kate. It's too bad we didn't get a picture of all of the babies together.


The next day, before heading to Troy, we stopped at Momma's house to see her.



We spent the next few days in Troy. Eli and Bella had a great time at Mamaw and Papaw's house. They enjoyed Mamaw's monkey and playing with the screaming balloons.


They both had such a good time playing with Wesley.



One night, we went to Anji and Randy's house for a wonderful taco dinner and a surprise birthday cake for me. How sweet! Anji did a fantastic job on the cake!


We traveled back to Huntsville and did a lot during the time we were there!








INCOMPLETE POST- Ugh!! Last one, though.

Look, No Wheels... Training Wheels, That Is

Stephen took off Eli's training wheels today, and I was so impressed with Eli's first try at riding without training wheels. I thought it would take a few times for him to get it, and I definitely thought there would be many falls before he would be able to ride. Wrong!

Bella wanted in on the action, too.

I think Eli is just an athletic little boy. I was terrified of him trying to ride a skateboard, but he is moving right along with that, too.

Just a few weeks ago, he finally did this for the first time...

This has absolutely nothing to do with his athletic abilities, but this is just too cute...

Ears Pierced

Incomplete Post from January (terrible!)

I have THREE posts that were started long ago and never completed. I was just going to delete them, but I decided to just post them the way they are. I am going to make an effort to blog at least once a week. I know Stephen really enjoyed reading the blog last time he was gone.
INCOMPLETE POST...

Who knew that, at the age of three, a child could say some of the things Eli says.
Where is Jesus? If he lives in my heart, he can't hold me.
When I said something to him he really didn't want to hear, he responded, "Are you kidding me?"
Just the other day, he looked at Bella, shook his head, and said, "Bella, you're something else."
Eli cracks us up everyday with the things that come out of his mouth. I love that boy!






Bella has to be the most perfect little girl ever. With her petite frame, dainty features, beautiful smile, gorgeous eyes, radiant personality, independent attitude, and all around loving nature, she brightens our lives each day. Knowing how quickly moments can pass, I felt I should write about some of the things she has been doing lately. (Note: I did not write about any of those things, and like I said, just like that, those precious moments I meant to reflect upon have passed. Sad.)

Overalls

Eli has been asking for overalls for a while now, but he still doesn't have any. Bella wears overalls sometimes, and when she does, Eli asks me to wear her overalls. I always tell him that they won't fit him. "You're a big boy, Eli. Bella's overalls won't fit you, silly." I think it may be time to take Eli shopping for some overalls of his own.