Little Man's First Birthday

Our Little Buckaroo will soon be one. We thought it would be fun to round up family and friends for a little celebration - Texas style.

Noni and Pop Pop worked for weeks to get their back yard ready. We put the finishing touches on it this week before the party, and this is what it looked like.

Noni was also busy this week cooking food for 40 people and making Little Man's cakes. His smash cake was a longhorn.

And here's the cake for everyone else - the "Too Much Chocolate Cake." It was soooooo good.

Of course Little Man had to wear his buckaroo costume.

Here he is in all his cowboy splendor, tipping his hat as he makes his grand entrance. "Howdy, y'all! Welcome to my party."

He let Noni wear his hat as a thank you for all of her hard work to make him such a wonderful party.

Momma and Daddy are so proud of their sweet Little Man.

Here's Little Man eating his cake. He wasn't too sure what to think of it; mostly he wanted to figure out how to get the icing off his hands. He ate a couple of bites, but he didn't eat as much as I thought he would. Maybe he didn't inherit his momma's sweet tooth after all!

Luckily, he left a little for Noni, Pop Pop, Momma and Daddy to eat later that night after he went to bed. All in his honor, of course. ;-)

Once the festivities died down, he spent the evening playing with his balloons - one of his favorite "gifts." All while wearing his sheriff's costume and looking good!

Happy (early) birthday, Little Man. We love you soooooo BIG!! And thank you, Noni and Pop Pop for all you did to make Little Man's first birthday celebration so special. We love you soooooo BIG, too. XOXOXO

Angel Baby

I love being Momma to this precious baby boy!

Little Man's Big Adventures - First Boat Ride

On Sunday, we went to spend some time with Pops and Nana at the lake for Father's Day. Pops was so proud to take Alex for his very first boat ride. If I told you that Alex liked it, I'd be lying - he LOVED it! 

Pops and Nana searched high and low to find a life jacket that fit Little Man just right. He let us put it on without any crying, and then he just sat there enjoying himself while we cruised the lake.

We pulled into the island where we got off to swim for a spell, and Pops took Little Man to show him off to all of his friends. =)

It was a great afternoon, and we are so excited about going back next week to see Pops and Nana for more fun in the sun!

Posting Large Photos

Some of you have asked about the new template design and how I got the large photos. Here goes.

On the top, right-hand corner of your blog, you should see a link that says "Design." When you click that, it should take you to this screen:

You can choose from a number of new template designs they have. I chose Ethereal, but I'm certain that other templates will allow for big pictures.

Once you select your template, you can then select a background from the ones they offer. Just click "Background" on the left hand side over there.

To see the background options, just click on the little arrow that's next to the background image and you'll see this pop up:

Pick the background that tickles your fancy and then click on the link that says "Layout." Here's where you're getting the template set up for big pictures. First, you'll want to select the body layout you want. You can see that I've selected one that allows for a wide space to make my posts. This will allow me to use bigger photos.

Just beneath "Body layout" is a link to "Adjust width." Click that and adjust the scale that says "entire blog" to near the max pixel limit. I also reduced the right sidebar pixel limit just slightly. You may have to play with this once you try and post your images at the size you want them.

Now to get the image larger, you just click on the "Large" or "X- Large" link when posting the image.

Voila! You should have large images in your blog post! =)

The Spice of Life

This picture captures a real-life example of God's goodness and the blessings He has poured upon me. These are some of the most precious people I've ever known. This is the spice of life.

I have been friends with these girls for more than half of my life. I consider them more family than friends. They have loved me through some very dark times, and I know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that my life is better for having them in it.

When each of us got married, our spouses seemed to fold right into the mix, and our family grew. God is so good. Not only did He provide the most amazing husbands to us girls, but He also gave us guys who continually support and encourage our friendship. And they've developed a friendship all their own.

And then these precious babies came along, and the family grew once more. And it's still growing as Katherine and Dana are both pregnant and expecting late this summer. I will become "Aunt Amanda" twice more - and that so delights my heart!

Spice of life, indeed. Now if only Lauri and Jeff and their kiddos had been here, our "family portrait" would have been complete. (I'm hoping to make that picture happen in just a couple of weeks!) We missed you guys.

Fun times with Ganny and Grandpa

Alex enjoys a lemon with Grandpa. He ate the entire thing, only making a sour face with the first couple of bites. I couldn't believe how much he enjoyed it.

Giving Ganny kisses.

Sweet snuggles with Aunt Sylba.

Alex loved playing with Cousin Isabel.

Especially when she pushed him in her princess mobile.

And here's the whole clan - Wes, Lisa, Sylvia, Ganny, Alex, Grandpa, Isabel, me, and Jerry. We had a great visit with everyone!

Little Man's First Haircut

Alex's hair has been unruly for a couple of months now. To the point that we had to use hair spray just to try and keep it in place. Try as we may, in the last few weeks, there has been no hairspray strong enough to hold those tresses in place.

That's why last Friday, June 18, was a much anticipated day. At 1 pm, we took Alex to see his Grandlady Kathy for his first haircut. Kathy cut my hair for more than two decades and is like a member of our family – we looooooove us some Kathy, so there was no way we could have anybody else give Little Man his first trim. We held out until we got back to Texas because it just had to be her who did the honors! It also gave us a chance to invite the grandparents to join us – Noni and Pop Pop, Pops, Ganny and Grandpa joined in the fun. And LM was soooo good while Kathy clipped his hair.

(waving that hair goodbye!)

You know, everyone warned me that LM would look so grown up after the first cut and to prepare myself for the sadness since he wouldn't look like a baby anymore. And so I braced myself as much as any parent can, but to my surprise, I wasn't sad at all. I think his little hair had gotten so out of control that I was more relieved than sad to see if all chopped off.

Boy, oh, boy, does he look dapper. Grandlady Kathy, Little Man sends his greatest appreciation for you making him look so handsome! We love you!

Happy Father's Day

Dear Jerry,

For as long as I've known you, I've known that you would be an amazing father. The kind of father who would love his child unconditionally. The kind who would laugh at the joys a child brings. The kind who would pray for his child. The kind who would be excited to come home each evening and greet his family. The kind who would work hard to make sure that his child felt the depth of love his heart held for him or her. And I was right. You are that kind of father. Alex is blessed to have you as his daddy. And I am blessed to have you as my husband. We love you and appreciate everything you do to bring such happiness into our lives.

Happy 1st Father's Day.

Little Man's Big Adventures - "Date Night"

Little Man has been enjoying his time in Texas - especially when he got to go see Miss Lila for a play date night.

Lila's mommy and I had a nice picnic dinner on the front lawn while Alex and Lila played with the toys. It was such a sweet evening and one of the highlights of our trip. Thank you, Carrie and Lila, for having us over. And for sharing this beautiful photo you took - I treasure it.

Little Man's Big Adventures - First Carousel Ride

Jackson, Jacob, Luke and Alex anxiously await their turn for the carousel ride at Stonebriar Mall.

Little Man saddles up. He seemed to like it pretty well. He loved looking at the lights and mirrors and at all the different horses.

Home.

There's no place like it.

Sammy and Alex - 11 Months

Alex's bag of tricks is getting full! He's added quite a few this month.

• He points
• He claps
• He waves
• He makes this little laugh that sounds like a machine gun
• He is FINALLY sleeping through the night CONSISTENTLY. WOOHOO! 
• He's doing great with table foods and will eat just about anything.
• He had his first ear infection. Two of them to be exact.
• He's cut his first molar
• He's starting to stand on his own every once in a while. This only lasts a few seconds before he falls.
• He learned how to drink out of a straw
• Occasionally, he'll say "all done" and sign it, too.
• He gives kisses. The slobbery, open-mouth kind that you just can't get enough of.

Little Man, you still continue to amaze us. You are our most favorite form of entertainment. We love you so much!

Little Man gets some Noni time

Noni flew up to West Virginia last weekend to help a family friend with a few things. Alex and I couldn't miss the opportunity for some hugs and kisses since she was so close and all. So we took a little road trip up to steal some lovin' from Noni. Mmmmm mmmmmm good.

Finding the Joy

One of my blog friends made a post about signing up for a photography class called Finding the Joy where they teach you how to capture moments with your children on camera. I couldn't help myself - I wanted to play, too. 

I haven't started shooting any pics this week, but I have been playing with my trial version of Photoshop Elements. 

Yes, I am blessed indeed. Hope to have more pics soon.

What the what?

Sometimes I see people on reality TV shows, and I immediately shoot up a prayer that Alex will not grow up to be like them. Like when I'm channel surfing and catch a clip of a stunt on Jack Ass. That stuff's not even funny to me. And I'm not even kidding about the prayers.

Just sent up one of those prayers about two seconds ago. I'm watching America's Got Talent and saw some guy who classified himself as a "genital daredevil." That's right. He did a stunt to blow his hoo-ha off.  Because he thinks that takes talent. Um, no, my friend, that's just plain crazy.

Can you believe some of these people?!

How we spent Memorial Day

We joined some friends and waded through local strawberry fields...

Collecting buckets of sweet goodness...

The hot sun had warmed those strawberries just enough so that they let off their sweet fragrance all around the fields on the farm. Man, did it smell delicious! And they tasted just as good as they smelled!