Easter Baskets and Birthday Bags

Some of the finished baskets. They turned out great.

I'm so thankful Nicole is a part of our Bible study group. I love her and enjoy spending time with her. Carl and Nicole found out this week they are expecting a sweet baby girl.

Sarah and Jamie are so much fun to be around! We met at Sarah Beck's house so her boys could help but she had to teach violin lessons that night. Andrea, Rachel, and Cara couldn't make it but they brought their stuff to add to the baskets.

Coop with his finished basket. He had a hard time leaving the slinky and sticky hand in the basket.

The Beck boys and Baylor worked on filling the eggs with candy. Their babysitter, Miss Emily, helped supervise or they would've eaten lots of candy!

The boys were so funny placing their items, look at Drew's snake hanging out the side.

Maddy was way into the project. She was great at organzing and was by far the most involved child. She loved it!

Jack is one cute kid! His Daddy picked him up so he didn't get to stay very long.

Getting started.

Ethan and Park at lunch.

They are high chair pals.

I think Ethan wanted Parker's pretzel. He was hungry. They had to have a late lunch since we were waiting on furniture.

Some of the finished birthday buckets.

We had three tables filled with items to use in the buckets.

We had Mops on Tuesday and had a great meeting about Easter and worked on a service project. We put together Birthday bags for the Food Pantry. We did around 65 bags and they looked amazing. Each bag received a cake pan, cake mix, icing, and a buckets of toys, party supplies, and goodies to make a birthday special. I know the clients at the food pantry will be thrilled to get these special treats for their children. It was great to work together and end up with so many great things! After Mops Jen and Ethan came over and we waited for our family room furniture to be delivered. Mimi picked up Baylor from school and then we all went to lunch at McAllister's. It can be crazy with four boys but they had fun together! In the evening my bible study group got together to assemble Easter baskets for a Women's Shelter. We have been reading Radical and wanted to start doing some service projects. This book is so good! It left me feeling like I should be doing so much more. The statistics in the book are startling and really make you think. It really is a challenging book. We brought our kids to assemble the baskets to get them involved. Baylor was great at helping and had fun. Cooper had fun but he wasn't too interested in putting the baskets together. He did put one together and then wanted to eat the candy or play with the little toys. We all brought different items and they turned out so good! We made 34 baskets!

Parker's 15 Month Well Visit

He's getting a little big for this scale:). It is so hard at this age to keep them out of stuff at the doctor's office. I hate for them to touch stuff but he wouldn't let go of the rolling chair.

He loved his new Clifford book.

He likes finding the dog on each page.

This morning was Parker's 15 month well child visit. I can't believe it was already time for this appointment. Time seems to be going by so fast! He did a great job at his appointment and was a little performer. He was dancing and showing his little jump move for Dr. Greenfield. He weighed 28.4 pounds and was 33 inches tall. He is in the 95% for height and weight and the 50% for his head. He had to get three shots and he was not happy but got over it very quickly. The worst part was he had to get his blood drawn to check for lead and his iron levels. The lab is on the same floor as the doctor so we went right after but it was a little hard with Coop and Park. Coop was messing in everything and I had to basically pin Park in my legs and hold his arm perfectly still. He rarely cries but when he is mad he lets you know. He did not like it at all. I am thankful the appointment went well and we go back at 18 months.

At 15 months Parker is quite a busy little boy. He loves to run, climb, and play. He is loving being outside and actually throws a little fit when he has to come inside. He loves to swing and play with balls. He is still eating baby food but eats a variety of other things. He is liking milk more and more. He loves fruits and his favorites are bananas, strawberries, and watermelon. He also loves green beans. At this point he is not a huge fan of meat but will eat chicken sometimes. He is a loud little guy. He is always making noises and telling me what he wants. He is very expressive when he talks. He says several words, mama, dada, hi, hello, by, uh oh, all done, shoes, ball, woof for dog. He also loves music and is a great little dancer. He will try to sing along to songs, it's too cute. He follows directions really well. He is always bringing me the phone when it rings and his shoes when we are getting ready to leave. He is a big helper too. I would say he is a big Mama's boy and really wants me to hold him at night. I can't say I'm sad about this! He still has 4 teeth on top and 3 on the bottom but I feel like the 4th should be popping through any time. He is wearing 24 months in clothes and some things are 2T. He is tall and some things fit but won't stay snapped. We are all crazy about Parker and are so thankful for his sweet life. We love you Parker!

Cooper the Great

He weighed 33.9 pounds and was 37.25 inches tall.

He was showing me his muscles and doing some Hercules moves.

He looked handsome! He was all smiles because he knew he didn't have to get a shot, but Parker did. He was glad it wasn't him.

When I took Parker for his check up Cooper had to go to for a weight and height check. He is a little guy and had dropped on the growth chart. She said he was doing fine but we just need to work on getting him to eat more foods. He has had so much trouble with reflux and his little tummy. We are praying that he would start having less trouble and gain weight. He may be little but he is mighty!!! He is our little Cooper the Great!

We Cooked in our New Kitchen

I love all the cabinet space!

We got lots of boxes unpacked!

I got these new pans for Christmas, I was excited to unpack them and get to use them!

Baylor and Cooper both played at Mimi's house during the day. Baylor stayed during nap time and he brought me these flowers when they all came for dinner.

How sweet!

We ate dinner on the back porch on our makeshift furniture. It was really nice outside.

It was so nice to cook at home.

We had steaks, baked potatoes, corn, salad, and strawberries. Even though we were tired from our drive and getting back late we were so excited to get started with unpacking on Sunday. Tom's dad came over early Sunday and helped him move out the pod. It was such a big help and we really appreciated it. After church Mimi and Pop came and got the big boys to play which was great too. We were able to unload and put away all of the kitchen boxes and get things organized. It was so exciting!

House Update End of Week 11

Looking up.

The view from landing.

Tom's new study doors.

Upstairs the new wall is up to replace the stairs with the unsafe bars in game room. I am so happy about this!

Looking into family room.

The backsplash turned out great.

My mom center:).

The downstairs bathroom.

I love the door and all of the light.

The kitchen.

The fireplace area with the granite.

We were all sad to leave the beach because we love it there and had so much fun together. We were excited to get home though because we could move in!!! After 11 weeks the house is 99% DONE!!! There are still minor things that need to be completed downstairs and lots of touch up area. There is still work upstairs but the major stuff is done. When we pulled in the driveway at 9:30 pm one of our builders was at our house finishing. I think we scared him because he was expecting us much later. They worked hard and we love how it turned out! Hank even spent one night at our house and worked all night long. They knew when we got home we were moving in and were so ready. It was definitely worth the wait.

Road Trip Home

Daddy did a great job of getting us there and back safely! I would say our first road trip was a complete success. I read Water for Elephants, if you haven't read it do now it great!, Radical, and started The Help. We also watched lots of Ducktales, Rescue Rangers, and Darkwing Duck. We also listened to lots of music, Zac Brown band is a family favorite.

The snack were a big hit in the car. Parker was great the whole trip.

All of the boys were awesome!

B had his whole little area in the back. He played his DS, the Ipad, colored, drew, made paper airplanes, and wrote notes.

I was seriously dreading the drive. I have not been in the car for that long since I was in second grade. The farthest our family has ever been in the car was for a trip to Chicago. Tom was really excited and had us all pumped but I was still unsure. I must say the boys did amazing and the drive went so smoothly. Taking our time and doing things along the way helped tremendously. We really had a great time together and I am so glad we ended up driving. We are going to drive again this summer. I'm not sure if the first trip will go as smoothly but now I know we can do it and have fun along the way!

Last Day at the Beach

Parker loves the water just like his brothers.

They had fun together.

Cooper was busy working. Cooper did play with some other little boys at the beach. They worked on a big hole.

Parker loved digging.

He can't wait for summer when the ocean is warm.

There was a big puddle from the rain by Crystal Sands so he did a little skim boarding. He borrowed a board from another boy and wants to get his own this summer.

He had fun and got so much better. Water swords.

Aunt Annie got the boys these swords that squirt water and we got them out on the last day. They were a big hit.

King of the pool.

Chilling. He loves taking underwater pictures.

He loved practicing swimming with his vest with Daddy. He's a good little swimmer.

Our last day at the beach was beautiful. The sun was bright and there was a gentle beach with a bright blue sky. We packed our car in the morning and Daddy made a quick breakfast stop at the bakery to get Mommy a treat. The boys loved eating breakfast on the balcony every day and looking out at the water. It was a lovely view. We went to the beach first and had a perfect beach day. I could have stayed there all day long. It was great. The boys had fun playing and Tom and Baylor even spent a long time in the ocean. After our beach fun we headed to the pool to swim. We ate lunch at the pool and swam until 4:00 and then headed back to the condo to get ready and leave our favorite place. It was great last day!