May Photo Dump

May was fun. Busy, but fun.  We got back from our trip late April 30th, so we hit the ground running May 1.  Barrett had baseball and I had practice for Ava's confirmation.

May 2 was Ava's confirmation.  I was honored to be her sponsor.  She is growing into the most beautiful young lady inside and out.  I can't believe she'll be in high school next year.  She's in the band and we can't wait to watch her march this Fall.

May 2 was also Ally's 10th birthday.  Bless her heart.  I had an actual party for her 1st birthday.  Like mailed invitations the whole thing.  This year she couldn't even get a haircut.  She is my shadow, always has to be touching me.  Barrett begs her to sleep with him every night and she will not.  She is terrorized daily by her brother and sister.  We love her so much!  Like everything else, I can't believe she's 10 years old.

 We've been trying to soak up all the time outside before it's too hot to breathe.  Which it seems is going to be sooner rather than later this summer.

She is so much fun right now.  She is talking so much and she and Barrett can really play together now.  They just adore each other.

May 5th, Barrett woke up screaming and crying about his ear hurting.  So we were at Urgent Care when they opened.  It is life changing when your kid can finally tell you when something hurts.  He had some fluid on one ear, she said it wasn't really infected yet but was probably headed that way.  So she sent us home with a steroid and antibiotic.  Thankfully he was feeling better quickly because we had plans that afternoon.

 My sister and her husband host a crawfish boil every year for the Kentucky Derby.  This year they invited us to come.  I'd never eaten crawfish but I'm up for new experiences.  I thought Barrett would think it was neat to see the crawfish alive and then eat them.  He was less enthused that I'd imagined.

We enjoyed getting to hang out with everyone.  AveryAnn ate her weight in corn on the cob.  It was a little spicy but she didn't care.

The best family picture we could get.  We were so excited to enjoy the food we missed the actual race.  

These two are very into books lately.  We try to read every night before bed but we'd been getting in so late from the ballpark we'd gotten out of the habit.  So we put on our matching jammies and got our read on. We've signed up for the Summer Reading Program at our library last week so we've been reading a lot.  I love it. 

Barrett is so into masks and costumes.  He wears a mask in the car on the way to school at least once a week.  This day it was Batman. 

Anna (in the middle), landed a really fun speaker for her last Chamber luncheon, so Brittany and I went to support her.  Heidi Elnora was the speaker.  She's a local girl who is known for her bridal gowns.  She does amazing work and getting to meet her was such a treat.  She is so real and down to earth.  I loved getting to chat with her and hearing her story.  I also loved getting to support Anna. (I seriously love my friends so much.)

 Took my Gekko out for donut Friday.

 Trying to take my job.  I seriously laughed so hard when I saw her little set up.

The kids stayed with my parents that night, Barrett wore the Gekko costume all day.  So naturally, my dad had to put on his Superman costume so they could walk my sister's dog.

We got to have a date night.

First and last day of 4K

(pretty sure I've already posted those last two pictures here but just pretend this is the first you're seeing them.)

I probably shouldn't post this but they've been getting ready to do some work around the office and they'd put these flags out and the next thing I knew AveryAnn is parading up and down the driveway waving them around.  Hopefully, it doesn't mess up anyones work.

May 19th was the Royal Wedding.  My sister and I planned to watch it together.  Then I invited some friends to come too.  Only a couple could come but we had the best time.  I recorded everything and we had a little brunch.  Everyone got there around 9:00 and we drank mimosas and watched all the coverage.  I got out my wedding china.  I love it so much.  I should use it more often. 

I was so excited!  I'd recorded 3 different networks coverage and they were all great.  We fast forwarded through some things but it was all just beautiful.   

 We wore our pjs and just had the best girly day.

My sister made Lemon and Elderflower cupcakes as a replica of the wedding cake.

 While we were watching I couldn't help but notice how much AveryAnn favors Princess Charlotte.  I think they look so much alike.

We let him drink orange juice out of a champagne glass and he was hooked on the finer things in life.

 He insisted on drinking out of a champagne flute for days.

May 22, was my nephew Drew's high school graduation.  We had a party afterwards to celebrate.  I got to snuggle baby Brooks for a little while.

I had to get a picture of Drew and Barrett in their caps and gowns.  One's finishing up and the other is just getting started.  So sweet.  I know I'll bling and it'll be Barrett graduating from high school.

This girl loves to snuggle.

We had Kindergarten Camp.  I took zero pictures.  I felt like such a grown up joining the PTA. I got this free tshirt for joining.

May 25th was my mom's birthday, she was at the lake so we hadn't planned to do anything.  Well she sent my brothers, sister and I a text message saying they were having plumbing problems and they were coming home.  So we rallied and decided to surprise her with a cake and balloons that evening for her birthday.  I got everything together and then she text to say that she was staying the night and would be coming home the next day instead.  So we cancelled the party.

Saturday morning, I helped Brittany set up a graduation party.  It was so cute.  We make a really good party team.  

I'm obsessed with the balloon garland right now.  

Our Memorial Day weekend didn't go as planned.  Since the lake was having plumbing problems we didn't go up there.  Plus it was supposed to rain all weekend.  We did a lot of laying around.  I love this picture of us all piled up in the bed together.  We like to go and do but we also looove being at home.

My mom came back from the lake Saturday and she called me because Harper wanted Barrett to come spend the night with them.  So I took him over there and John and Hope were there with the kids.  They were going to dinner so I stayed at my parents so I could spend time with the kids. I love this picture of my dad reading to the girls.

I got to snuggle this sweet baby.  He's growing way to fast.  Hope text me this week and said she weighed him and he was 10lbs 4oz, which is what AveryAnn weighed at birth.  

We put on our red, white and blue for Mass Sunday morning.  I'm obsessed with matching clothes.  Barrett needs a haircut.  But I can't get enough of these sweet babies.

AveryAnn wanted to wear my earrings so we improvised. She was so proud.

Barrett didn't want to come home Sunday so he stayed another night with my parents.  AveryAnn was missing him but we loved getting one on one time with her.  I feel like that never happens.  (Even though we're together all day while Barrett is at school).  We all slept until 9:00 Monday morning and it was glorious!

We've been trying to get back on some sort of schedule this week.  We're looking forward to summer and all the fun it brings! I can't believe this is our last summer before Barrett goes to big school.  

Photo dump

We had the best weekend doing absolutely nothing.  I had not one thing planned for Saturday and ended up staying in my pjs nearly all day long, it was glorious.  Patrick had to work and I got my closet cleaned up and all my laundry done and put away.  (I'd been living out of hamper baskets for probably a month or so.  It was getting ridiculous)

These pictures are from the whole week.

He loves this little football.   I was feeding him breakfast one morning and he started acting like he was choking but he was breathing.  I didn't panic and got him out of the high chair.  He started vomiting the bottle he'd just taken and I found this piece of paper in the debris.  He had apparently swallowed it while I wasn't looking.  So thankful it wasn't anything worse.
This sweet girl has not enjoyed the cold weather we had last week.
Static hair.   He loves dinner time. (And I love this picture of him) We are in full on 1st birthday planning around here.  Just a little sneak peek at one of my favorite parts.
Dressed like a big boy in he little sweater and jeans.  I love to dress him like a baby but I also think he looks so cute dressed like a little man.
I could die he's so cute.
He loves chicken & dumplins. Ready for church this morning.  I love this sweet owl outfit his Aunt Lorie got for him.  
We are starting to be able to eat dinner as a family now that Barrett is eating table food and can feed himself.  It's my favorite part of the day.  We watched a lot of football and some Christmas movies.  Auburn won on one heck of a hail mary pass and Alabama survived a game that should have been easy to set up the most epic Iron Bowl of all time.  I'm not sure my nerves can handle it.  We may have to watch the game at seperate locations.  Luckily we have two weeks to worry about that.  Barrett and I went to church this morning and then had lunch with my parents and younger brother and soon to be sister in law.  I'm so thankful for a laid back weekend before the hustle and bustle of the season is upon us.

Photo Catch-up

It was brought to my attention this week that I haven't blogged in nearly two weeks and even though my parents live 10 minutes away from us they need pictures of the grandson on the blog  ;)  .  We've had an unexpected busy couple of weeks at work, that combined with Patrick's shift change leaves me exhausted and crawling into bed around 8:30 every night.  I don't really think that's normal but it is what it is.  So here is our last couple of weeks in pictures from the iphone.

At Barrett's 9 month check up, Dr. Farr gave us the okay to start table food.  I'm pretty sure a chocolate chip cookie was not what he had in mind.  We can thank Grampy Steven for that.

This is what Patrick comes home to most nights.  Ally curled up, with her head on his pillow and body all cozy under the covers.

This little booger was supposed to be taking a nap the other day and when I looked on the monitor he was sitting up.  He'd never sat himself up before.  He only did it in his crib for a while but now he does it all the time.

We've had some beautiful weather around here lately.  We sit out on the deck in the afternoons and Barrett loves it.  He hasn't had much interaction with our big dogs, (which makes me incredibly sad because Gracie was so good with my niece Ava, I know she'd love him.)  Ally did not like them being so close to the baby.  She growled and barked at them.  Barrett just laughed!

So cute!

Another day on the deck.

He will wave (to himself mostly) but not on command.

We've started sharing our lunch with him and he thinks he is big stuff.  It's pretty cute.  This day Chloe was there and she has two little brothers so she knows all about babies dropping food.

I bought this hat before I even knew if Barrett was a boy or girl.  (It has the cutest little detachable bow if we ever have a girl).  I put it on him and almost died from the cuteness!

He hasn't been crazy about table food, he mostly just holds it in his hands.  We had Chinese one night and gave him a piece of the sweet and sour chicken without the red sauce and he gobbled it up. (Although now that I look at this picture I think was of the doughnut he had for breakfast. We eat really healthy around here.)

I was in the kitchen one afternoon and I didn't hear him, when I went to check on him he had not only found his toy box but dumped everything out of it.

He was so proud.

Then he pulled the blinds away from the window. I guess he needed to see outside.

The next day he found Ally's toy box.

He didn't nap at all one day.  So here he is at 6:30pm.  I love those sweet lips.

Friday we wore our pumpkin outfit and it is adorable.  (And I still love love love that dresser, I love the fact that it was my great grandmother's even more)

This is what one load of garbage looks like from a busy week of sign making.  It is probably the least "green" process ever.  This was maybe half of the garbage one the floor of my office.

I think that covers the last two weeks.  Hopefully I'll be back to regular posting this week.  We've got a trip to the pumpkin patch planned for this week and it's Patrick's last week on 2nd shift this rotation. WooHoo!