Our Dream

For years, we've talked about when we grow up we're gonna do this, that or the other.

We've talked about raising our babies together.

Them growing up to be best friends like us.

And this weekend, we did just that.

Brooke and I loaded up ALL 3 kids in my truck for a trip to the mall!

She and I in the front seat.

Our babies in the back.

It was a moment in history.

Like time stood still.

I only wish we could do this more often!

All the kids did great!

We had lunch at the mall and spent the majority of our time in Forever 21.

They were troopers!

Based on this trip, I'd say there's many more trips like this in our future.

Only thing is, we can't have anymore kids cause we don't have anywhere to put them!

Shux!

I'm good with that....Brooke- are you?!?!?!?!?

Somebody REALLY loves momma's chicken casserole!

Oh Easty, how I love you!

Chicken Casserole Recipe sure to please any crowd!

PICKY ONES TOO!

We call this Debbie Willis Chicken Casserole

6-10 boneless chicken tenderloins

Bake for 30 minutes

flipping half way

Shred Chicken in tiny pieces and put in baking dish.  I use 8 X 8.

In small bowl mix together 2 cans cream of chicken soup with 1 small sour cream.

Pour cream of chicken and sour cream over chicken.

THEN----for the crunchy goodness.

Melt 1 stick of butter in the microwave.

Crush a stick and a half of ritz crackers in a ziploc bag.

Pour melted butter in ziploc.

SHAKEY SHAKEY SHAKEY as I tell Easton.

Then pour this buttery goodness on top of the chicken and cream of chicken.

"Bake at 350 till gold-n-bubbly"

Serve with steamed broccoli.

YUMMY!

I know this pleases my boys.  Hope it does yours too!

Baby to Toddler

My BabyCenter emails have changed from My BABY This Week to My TODDLER This Week. 

How did this happen so fast???

If you have a baby or are having a baby and you don't get these weekly emails from BabyCenter, you should sign up now!

They are packed full of helpful mom information.
This weeks QuickLink was on perfect toys for 12-18 months old.
They include:

• Large Building Bricks
• Push and Pull Toys 
• Sorting and Nesting Toys
• Climbing Gym
• Balls
• Washable Crayons and Paper
• Ride On Vehicles
• Tool Bench or Toy Kitchen
• Picture Books 

I love these toys.  Easton has a lot of these toys but some of them he doesn't have.  Maybe we'll buy them with his birthday money!  I love the idea of teaching him to be creative with his mind.  It's never to early to teach creativity!

Happy Monday

Nice job Ann. 

Nice.

Birthday Party!

We celebrated Easton's FIRST Birthday yesterday!

We had family and friends join us for the big day!



Easton's First Birthday Cake
{made by mommy}
{Banner made by me too! Along with everything else shown (other than tissue pom poms- made by BFF Brooke)}
I CANNOT make Tissue Pom Pom's!

Lots of yummy cupcakes for our guests

40 cupcakes to be exact

Candy Bar

Twizzlers, Sour Punch Straws, Airheads, Gum, Sixlets and Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Tons of Food!

And the theme for the whole party
Mr. Sock Monkey
This took me a few weeks to make, and let me tell you...
...I'll NEVER make another.
My fingers were numb after all this hand sewing and stuffing!
But, he's cute.
And, Easton has his very own hand made sock monkey!

Easton had a blast!!!

He had a great time playing with the presents that we opened.

He loved all the hoopla going on.

He likes some hoopla.

Boy after my own heart.

Uncle Matt wins the prize for Favorite Toy!

He loves his Spider Man Truck.

He'd rather push it than ride on it.

He can get where he's going FAST with this thing!

And---The Cake!

Awww, I love those little eyes checking it over. 

Sweet Baby

First taste of sugar.

Mommy's a dud and doesn't let him partake in junk food.

Junk in, junk out.

I like to know he's eating healthy from the start.

No better time than now to create healthy habits.

Ah yes.  take note of the right side of his  head.

Lance did the 'Easton, where's your head trick?" and in true Easton fashion

HE SHOWED HIIM!

Icing and all!

Here we are in route to the bathroom to have our head and upper body washed!

Least favorite part of the day! 

And here's what's left of the cake!

I'd say he did a pretty good job!

I think the 1st Birthday Party was a huge success!
Thank you all for coming and Celebrating Easton's big day!

 

 

1

Dear Easton,

Today is a big day buddy.  Today you turn 1.  You are no longer an infant, no longer my tiny baby.  You are so much more.  You are a big boy today boo.  I cannot believe that a year has already passed.  It seems like a lifetime yet it seems like just yesterday.  I don't know where the time has gone.  This past year has been the best year of my life.  You have brought so much joy and delight into our family.  You are the best baby and I know you are going to grow to make us so proud.  You already do. 

I never in a million years dreamed I could love someone as much as I love you, but boy was a wrong.  The love in my heart I have for you cannot even be explained.  Sometimes like I feel like I might bust or well up with tears when I think of you. When you smile at me, or when you laugh with daddy, or discover something new, my heart just melts.  I feel so proud.  So blessed. 

You continue to amaze us.  You are so smart.  You are so fun.  You really have started to communicate with us without words.  We know what makes you happy.  Though you rarely cry, we most often know the cause and how to correct it.  Almost a year ago, if you cried, we did too.  Well, I did.  Daddy was strong.  We didn't have a clue what we were doing.  But now, you are one of us.  We know you.  We know everything about you.  We have grown so much together as a family.  I cannot imagine a more perfect child for me and daddy.  You complete this little family in ways I never knew were missing. 

If I started with the top of your head and ended at the tip of your kinked up big toe, I could count a million things about you that are just right and perfect.  Jesus made you perfect in every way. Your little hair how it parts so sweetly after your bath, your eyes how they twinkle, your ears that stick out like mommys, your lips- oh mercy, those lips.  Your sweet little shoulders and bare arms, those little hands that are constantly in to something, all perfect to me.  Not to mention your belly and your newly found belly button, your love handles that you got from daddy (that I LOVE), your little fat legs, your thick feet, those toes. Lord have mercy, those toes are precious.  I could eat them every one.  These are just the few of the little things I love about you.

Your spirit is so sweet.  You are a joy to be around.  You smile at a stranger or at those you know and brighten many days with that sweet toothless grin.  You have the most gentle personality.  You have a tender heart.  You love to love.  You love to hug and snuggle.  You have the sweetest little noises and talking when you see something you like or want.  I'd give you the moon Easton.  I know Daddy would too.

I don't know what this next year holds, but if its as good as this year, buddy, we're gonna have the best time.  I look forward to watching you grow and enjoy more and more things that we do together as a family.  We've got some fun things planned for this year.  I can't wait to share them with you. 

We love you so much,

Mommy & Daddy

Wittle Bitty Toofie

Well, tonight, while Easton was gnawing on a piece of pizza crust, I noticed a little white spot on his gum.  I swiped my finger in there to see if it was crust or paper from the napkin and low and behold, it was sharp!

A little tooth!

My little baby has his first tooth peeking through, one day before his 1st birthday!

YAY for teeth!  Let the brushing begin! 

Happy Gram

This note reads:

Today while I was feeding another child lunch Easton came over and pulled up on the chair.

I put him down and told him he would eat in a few minutes.

He looked at me and signed 'EAT'.

I asked him 'Easton do you want to eat?' and he did it again.

He is so smart and getting so big.

We are really proud of him.

Ms. T & Ms. J

Now, I tried to get him ALL NIGHT to sign 'eat' but he looked at me like I'd lost my mind!

Maybe one day he'll do it for me.

He's got other tricks too... he knows where his feet are, his belly button and his helmet\head. 
I'm trying to capture them all on video but he gets shy when the camera comes out!

Lowe's has something for everybody

Even the littlest family member like's Lowes!

Wook at those wittle bitty hands on the steering wheel! 

His feet don't touch but he still looked pretty dang cute on it!

Lookin good shortie!

I love Saturday's

Today was SUCH a beautiful day.

A day where Spring is on it's way!

We got to spend some time with Papa today and that was a real treat.

This picture warms my heart every time I look at it.

Easton loves his Papa!!!

And his Papa loves him too!!!

Here's to lots more Spring sunshiney Saturdays!

Well- a 1st---that I'm not too thrilled about

This might not be a big deal to some, but to me...it is.

It started out as a good first.

Easton had his first kids meal at Chick Fil A. 

For those who know me...I big hot pink puffy HEART Chick Fil A.

Easton had chicken nuggets and mandarin oranges and grapes.  Not too bad.  Right?

Yeah, that's what I thought. 

BUT...THEN....BATH TIME...his eczema was bad- worse than normal considering we only do our bath every other night and he had a little bitty rash under his chin on his chest.

So then I freak.

Chick Fil A cooks in Peanut Oil.

Babies can't have peanuts.

Is he allergic?

Is he ok?

Is it a fluke???

Really, I think he's ok.

I do have a tiny tendancy to get worked up over something little.

MOM-------HUSH.

Anyways...our first chicken nuggets!

First of many I'm sure...if he's anything like his momma.

Nice Hair Easty!

I don't know about you, but I think this is the cutest kid ever!

We like to rock the mohawk after our bath.

And...look at that little head rounding out!

Happy 94th

Last night we celebrated M1's (Margaret #1- GANNY) 94th Birthday!

I hope when I'm 94 I can be as funny as she is.

SHE IS A HOOT!

The whole gang, well...most of the gang, was there to celebrate Ganny.

These 2 here are 2 Peas in a Pod.

We're talking Peanut Butter & Jelly

Cake & Ice Cream

Sweet Tea & Swirly Taters

Ali LOVES Ganny!!!!

AND Ganny LOVES Ali!

Big Ron and Easton

Chad & Carley

L2R- Greg, Alex, Unk, Bubba

Mom, Bubba, Ganny, Judy

Ganny and Nathan

'Smile Margaret'

'If I smile my eyes shet.'

FAMOUS LAST WORDS!

Well this one has eyes shet and no smile.  SHEESH Ganny!

And yes, we call her Margaret.  We are all Margaret- Ganny, Mom, me...{M2 (Margaret Chadwell) died} so everyone's Margaret.  Poor Ali, she didn't get to be a Margaret.  We call her M5 so she doesn't get her feelings hurt.

And yes, I said SHET...that's how she says it. 

We had BBQ and all the fixins and cake and ice cream.

Margaret had her fair share of 'fluffy stuff' (aka pistachio salad).

Margaret, we love you more than we love our luggage.

Can't wait to celebrate 95!

My baby's growing up

Well, yesterday was Easton's first Sunday in the nursery. 

We woke up to a VERY VOCAL Easton so we knew there was no keeping him quiet through church.  Considering we dropped him off with 2 strangers in a strange place he did quite well.  My beeper didn't go off once.  There was only one other little bambino in there when we dropped him off so they gave him some good attention and loving.  When we picked him up all the lights were out and they were rocking him. I'm pretty sure they did this the entire time.  The nursery lady said "he was kinda fussy and didn't really want to take a nap.  I could tell he was tired but he never would lay down."  TO ME that says PUT ME DOWN AND LET ME PLAY...but hey, this was his first time, so they didn't know any better.  Plus, this room was geared more towards the babies so there wasn't a lot for him to do in there.  Maybe next week I'll suggest the older room so he can have some fun!  And not sit in the dark.   Who wants to sit in the dark when they aren't tired?!?!?!!?  NOT EASTY! 

Growing up so fast.  Too fast, Easton.  Please slow down.  Mommy might have a melt down.