Easton's 4th Birthday

On June 24th, Easton turned 4. I can't believe my baby is 4 years old!! He has to be the sweetest little boy that God has ever made. I love him to pieces!! Thank you Lord for letting me be his momma. What a precious gift! I will tell the story of his birthday through the pictures. I can remember it better that way.

We had Easton's party the day after his actual birthday, so we let him open the present his Gammy and Papa Todd sent him from Florida on the morning of his birthday.

Then, we took him to McDonald's for his favorite - pancakes!! He asks for "Nick-Donald's" pancakes all the time. It was also a special treat to get to go inside and play. Daddy left work for a little bit to eat breakfast with us.

Momma and the birthday boy!

After breakfast, we went up to Nana's house to play on the "Rocky Mountain River Race" - Nana and Papa's newest addition to the backyard playground. : ) It is probably the best thing you could buy for kids - especially if you have several children that will play on it. This picture doesn't show how cool it is - Easton had just slid down the slide on his tummy when I took this picture.


The next evening we had Easton's birthday party up at Nana and Papa's house. Easton was so cute while we were setting up for the party. He kept asking
"When are my guests going to get here?"
Easton wanted a Batman Water Birthday party this year. That comes as no surprise because he is absolutely obsessed with Batman. We bought a Batman Wii game for him a month or so and he wants to play it 24-7. That has turned into a complete Batman love affair for him. I have to say he has gotten very good at the wii game - especially for a 4 yr old.

This was the most children we have invited to a birthday party. We had the family, of course, and several of Easton's friends from his Bible Class at church and a few of my friend's kids as well. There were 11 kids total.

This was the best family picture we could get. The cake was really cool. We asked a friend from church who does cakes to make it for us. She did a great job!

Here is Easton with his pick of the cake - the Batman symbol. He was very proud. Shortly after this picture was taken, the cake fell off his plate - almost leading to an extremely upset birthday boy. Thankfully, Daddy was able to cut off the dirty parts and salvage the treasured Batman symbol piece of cake. : )

This is Easton's favorite present. It was the only thing he really asked for. Nana and Papa got him a Bat Cave. Several other people got him the other peices to go with it and he loves it. He has played with it almost everyday since his birthday.

Weeee!!!!!

All the kiddos had lots of fun on the big slide. Mat stood gaurd to make sure no one got hurt.
It was a really fun birthday party. Easton turned 4 in style!!

I love you my precious boy!!!

Happy Father's Day 2009!

Happy Father's Day, sweetheart!
You are the best daddy our precious boys could ask for! We love you!!

Branson Fun

June was filled with lots of fun and not much down time. In the middle of June, we went with my parents to Branson. We had a good time - Mom and I shopped and Mat and Dad golfed. The boys were good sports and got to have some fun of their own. We opted out of Silver Dollar City this time b/c Lawson is still too little to ride most things. He can be a handful with nothing for him to do, so it was better to try to keep both boys busy if possible. We went to a little Kiddie Park that had some rides for both of them. I thought Lawson might be a little scared to ride but once he got on, he didn't want to get off. It was fun to watch them have fun. I am really enjoying Easton being at an age where he can do things like this. The only negative part was how hot it was. It think it was close to 100 degrees the whole time we were there. Here are a few pictures:

Here's E on the swings

This was Lawson's very first ride. I was worried because it went kinda high, but he just sat there so still and didn't try to get up and move at all. He loved it!!

Easton did so good driving his little Go Cart. He was so cute. He kept looking back over his shoulder at the other little boy who was on the track too. When he got off, he said, "Momma, I was ahead the whole time. I won!"

They were soaked by the end of this ride, but I think as hot as it was, they liked it!

I have to explain this picture. One day, Mom and I were waiting for the guys to get finished golfing to come pick us up and take us to the mall. They were running late, so we decided we would put the boys in the stroller and just walk for a while. Mom and I are always up for an adventure!! It was so extremely hot, so after a while, we stopped and got the boys some ice cream. I knew they were going to make a mess, so I just took off their shirts and let them go to town! I am sure we got some interesting looks as we pushed our double stroller with half naked children along the main drag, but we all had fun. I think we ended up walking around 1.5 miles to Tanger Mall from our condo - with a lot of it up hill. : )



The last day we were there, Branson Landing had about 20 or more blow up / bouncy toys set up. Dad took Easton around to each one and let him play. He had a blast!

Going Private!

In a few days I am going to make my blog private. I know this is not the most convenient option, but I feel it is necessary. Please email me at shelley@thinkadvertising.com and I will add you to my blog readers. Thank you!!!

Random Happenings

I just wanted to post of some pictures from the last few months. We have had a lot going on. Easton finished up Carpenter's Kids and is taking the summer off before starting Pre-K in the fall. He will only go 2 days a week but it will be big boy school. I can't believe he is that old. We are coming upon 4 years old and that just blows me away. I think at 3, they can still be a baby, but at 4 there is not much baby left anymore. My mom is keeping the boys this summer while I work a few days a week. That is helping us out so much. We will actually be able to pay for half the year of Easton's pre-k on what we are saving this summer is daycare costs. And of course....they are loving it! Lawson is now 18 months old and will go back to the sitter in the fall when Easton starts school. Lawson does well there and I am so thankful to have found a place that I feel comfortable leaving him. Those boys are my life.

Well here are a few pictures from the last few months. Enjoy!

Lawson's first haircut.
He did pretty good until the end. We tried to distract with juice, crackers, Mat's iphone, but he was getting restless and was ready to go. He doesn't like anyone touching his ears! I am sure that is from all those ear infections before the tubes.

How precious!

Sitting like a big boy in the chair.

Easton's HIPPY graduation. He loved doing the HIPPY program.

This is Easton kissing his metal. : ) He is learning early, folks!

There is nothing quite like Summertime and a Sonic slush!

The Four Ameigos!

"Eeeeeeze!" Lawson smiling for the camera in Momma's sunglasses.

My sweet baby sleeping away. A "pap pap" in his mouth and in his hand. Perfect!

Easton at his Carpenter's Kid's end of the year program. Easton was so precious with the large group but got embarrassed when it was his classes turn to sing. I was such a proud momma though. It was his first school program. I was one of "those" mom's with the camera, video camera, and tears in my eyes.

Easton and his daddy relaxing after the big event.

Me and my two handsome boys - this is one of the very few pictures that I have of me and the boys actually looking at the camera and smiling.

Playing with daddy. Mat has to be the best daddy in the whole world. The boys absolutely adore him and love to play with him...and on him. : )

Memorial Day at Nana and Papa's house. We had a cook out in the back yard.

Let me tell you...this boy knows how to hit a ball!

Easton stopped to pose for the camera before hitting one out of the park!

Arkansas's Own American Idol

Yes, yes, I am an American Idol fan. I have watched the show since the second season and love to predict who will win. The winner hasn't always been my choice but Mat and I have been very good at guessing the top few from the beginning audition rounds. I am so excited to have our very own Kris Allen in the TOP 2!!! Yeah for Arkansas! He has represented us well and I appreciate his humble spirit.

I actually talked Mat into driving us all to Conway last Friday evening for his Homecoming Parade. We laughed all the way there that we were really going. I mean I am almost 29 years old. Mat laughed and said it would be one thing if we had little girls who really were into the whole thing, but no - we have two very small little boys. ha ha!! 

We pulled into Conway not knowing exactly where to go and just parked and started following the crowds of people. We got so lucky and walked right upon the American Idol Limo.  We waited outside the Chamber of Commerce and had a front row view of him beginning the parade. He and his precious little wife were just amazed at the crowds of people. It was really neat to see their expressions and watch them take in just how famous they are now. The whole experience was a lot of fun and I am so glad that we went. Ha ha!

I am hoping that next week Kris will win with flying colors. Here are a few pictures from the big Conway event.

Easter Egg Hunt 09

So I know this is late, but I wanted to share a few pictures from our Easter Egg Hunt at church. We had our hunt the week before Easter so it wouldn't interfere with anyone's Easter plans. They divided all the kids into age groups so the little ones wouldn't get trampled and the big ones could run free. Unfortunately, that separated Easton and Lawson. Easton wanted me to go with him so that is where I went. I was so sad to not watch every minute of Lawson's first Egg Hunt but I did see him find a few and he was with Mat and my parents. Mat sort of ran in-between taking pictures of both boys. They both had a lot fun although Easton was mainly interested in finding the "Golden Egg" this year. He would pick up each egg and if it wasn't "golden" it would throw it back down. I finally convinced him that it was okay if he didn't find the "golden" egg and he should put all the eggs he finds in his basket. Lawson was just happy to be running and to be outside.