Showering the Bride!

My little sister is getting married!

We had a great time celebrating her Shower over the weekend at my sister-in-law's house.  My mom rocks all the little details too.  I got to be the photog for the day.

The Bride

All the guests brought recipe cards for the Bride

The Bubbly bar

Some of the goodies

Champagne Toast candle favors 

Katie & Courtney 

Katie & Kiki

Girls we love!

What's in your purse game :)

Sisters

Mother-in-law, Bride, and Mom 

Toward the end of the Shower, my squishy, adorable nephews came home!

I adore this picture of Bennett 

10 months old already & cuter every day

Smiley Bennett

Sweet Brooks

It was a wonderful day!

Countdown to wedding time now!

Nature trail

The Monster & I ventured out to a new park today.  A nature trail is quite the haul with a toddler on one hip & my camera around my neck, but we did it!  

Sometimes he models for me...

(I had to make animal noises, but hey, whatever works...)

Just like his Papa... fascinated by bird watching.

Such a cute little profile on that football head of his :). 

Our hike scored me an early nap from Noah!

Happy Monday!

Our Valentine's Day

Matt & I joke about how Valentine's Days just aren't as they were pre-children.

Our day was spent at Saturday basketball (Matt stayed home with Noah since game overlapped Noah's nap time).  I took Connor & his buddy, Michael, to see the new SpongeBob movie in the late afternoon, while Matt took Noah to the pet store & the park. We then finished off our night with a quick family dinner at a pizza restaurant, ran through Publix for a few grocery items, then a late night of shooting hoops with the neighbors.  It wasn't really candy hearts and mushy love stuff, but it was a fun, busy day with our boys.

The highlight of the day: My adorable 6 year old made his first basket in his game!  I cheered, fought back happy tears, and was SO happy to seem him SO happy!  We talked about how great it was the whole day.  C would just randomly say, "Can you believe I made that basket?!" or "I made the basket & it was a swish!"  We will forever remember Connor's first basket was on Valentine's Day!

It was team picture day, but we had a few kids come in after the team got their picture.  We had one player in tears for missing it, so I swooped in to get another team shot once they were all there.

The kids all griped for having to get team pictures, so I had them show me how they really felt with their expressions.  Connor's animated 6 year old team.

C & his best bud.

 

We were all riding high on the joy from Connor's basket!  Some of Connor's biggest fans (besides me), were with me!  Nana & Papa always seem to be there for C's big days!  We love them so!

Silly smiles & giggles with the cool b-baller

I squeezed in a picture with my boys on Valentine's Day before we headed out for our movie.  About 2 seconds after this was taken, Noah wanted nothing to do with being held & drove for the grass.  Connor wasn't looking in the picture, but hey, it's the best we got.

After a loooooong week of being with the kids (and watching random neighbor children) while Matt was in California for work, it was nice to have a happy day with all my boys!

Neighborhood stroll

I put my name out in the neighborhood to see if anyone would like me to take their family pictures at an affordable cost.  I received a great response! :) I have two photo sessions set & a handful more pending so far.  Yippee!

We went on a walk through the neighborhood to scope out good areas for pictures, while we waited for Connor to get home.

Noah all of a sudden looked so big on our walk.

Noah is known for only walking a very short distance before insisting he be held for the rest of the walk.  Funny how different Connor was at this age.  Connor was the kid that kept going & going & going, never showing signs of tiring!

My boys are the cutest :).  

Off to get Connor from school soon! Happy Monday!

Brothers :)

My boys are growing so quickly before my eyes & they're becoming best little buddies.

C was gone this weekend & when he got home Sunday, they were thrilled to be together again.

While Connor always prefers showers alone instead of a bath and while Noah doesn't just give out slimey kisses for free, you could tell this night was different.

They missed eachother so.

To have my sweet boy home.  To see the two of them so happy together.  My heart was so full.

1st B-ball game!

 It's been 3 years since Connor has played basketball.  The last time he played, he was this teeny...

And now, he's so big!

I snapped a quick shot of my big boy before his game started.  His awkward cheese smile & all.

All his dribbling practice & shooting on his new hoop from Santa has really paid off.  He did great!

The boys took turns sitting on the bench to make sure each kid on the team got equal play time.  I love that my sweet boy still isn't too big to wave proudly to me on the sidelines.  He still seeks me out in the crowd & I love it every time.

He looks so giant here.  Jeesh....

A few of Connor's on lookers (Nana & Papa were among his biggest fans as well).

Connor has made huge progress from his soccer season anxieties.  He's able to communicate his feelings better now, telling me he was nervous about his first game since he didn't know what to expect (instead of getting quiet/having a tearful meltdown from the anxiety).  I pray he continues to communicate how he feels as he gets older.  So proud of my big boy!  Here's to another great game #2 this week!