Belcher Family Arkansas Vacation

We were fortunate enough to get to spend a few days with my parents in Arkansas a couple of weeks ago.  DJ, Holly, and James all live in Searcy, so mom and dad came from South Carolina and the boys and I came up from Houston and we had a little family reunion!  (Bill had to work at Houston Christian and had a football camp and Cornerstone Christian, so he couldn't join us this time.  He was definitely missed!)  We haven't seen my parents since Christmas time, and hadn't seen DJ or James for 2 1/2 years, so we were ready and excited to see them!

Yes, the pictures got started the very first night!  Here are Papa and Nana with Brady, Eli, and Major at Dixie Cafe in Searcy.

What is one of the best things about staying in a hotel?  THE POOL!  Everyday we spent lots of time in the pool.  Here is Uncle DJ throwing Eli while Brady watches.  Brady did NOT want to get thrown, so he stayed a safe distance away.

Papa with Major

Brady showing us one of his tricks he learned at swim lessons.  He can swim without the floatie, but feels so much more comfortable with it.  I'll give him a little bit longer, then the floatie is gone!

Nana playing with Major

Brady and Eli in their little beds at the hotel.

Bill and I both graduated from Harding University in Searcy, AR.  (So did Papa and Nana, as well as Nana's father (James Doyle Jones AKA Pops))  I had the kids on campus playing just about everyday.  It was so neat to watch them run around where I went to school.  College was such an awesome time.  I miss it so much!  Here are the kids on one of the swings...Major, Katie, Brady, Haley, Tyler, and Eli (Katie, Haley, and Tyler are DJ and Holly's children)

My future Harding students!  Brady, Major, and Eli

When we went to Harding, this Lily Pool wasn't this fancy, but I got a picture of the kids by it anyway.  Major, Brady, Katie, Eli, and Haley

More pool fun...Eli called this is "surfer dude" and he "surfed" on Papa

Uncle James making sure Major doesn't put anything too disgusting in his mouth

Cousins Tyler and Major...they were born 4 days apart (July 7th and 11th)

Eli and Brady sitting in seats in the Bible building, the MacInteer...ready for class!

Our favorite restaurant in Searcy...Colton's!  Here is Papa holding his two grandbabies.

Grams (Dorothy Jones- Nana's mother) with her 6 Belcher great-grandchildren.  Tyler, Eli, Katie, Grams, Major, Brady, Haley

Haley and Eli playing

Katie and Brady playing...it must be a birth order thing.  It was so funny how much Eli and Haley were alike and Katie and Brady were alike.  Katie and Brady spent much of their time in their own little world.  One day those two were in the back seat of our van just having a pretend birthday party all by themselves and having a great time.  It was so cute!

Major hiding out in the fold out couch

Papa with Major, Eli and Brady in a Harding swing

Haley, Tyler, Nana, Katie, Major, Brady, Papa, Eli

Tyler and Major

Papa and Major

At Pops' gravesite.  Tyler, Haley, Katie, Grams, Major, Brady, and Eli

Major James is named after Pops' family (Pops' father was Major Evan and his father was Major James) so Major is named for his great-grandfather, his great-great-grandfather, and his great-great-great grandfather!

Major with his Great-Grams

 Time to go!  One last set of pictures before it is back to Houston.  (Wearing the new Harding shirts Nana got them!)

 My mom (Pam Belcher AKA Nana) and dad (Don Belcher AKA Papa) with my brother, James

And last...a shot of my parents with me!!  I love them so much and wish they could live closer!  We've been back a week now and just yesterday Brady said, "Mama, I wish we could all go back to Arkansas with Papa and Nana and live there together forever!!"  So sweet.  Sometimes, I wish the same thing.

Brady's Swim Lessons

We have told Brady for a while now that when he turns 4 he will get to play sports.  The sad part about him turning 4 in May is that there aren't any more sports to play until the fall...but we can sign him up for swim lessons!  He wasn't too sure about it; he didn't like putting his head under water and having to dive down, but by the end of the two weeks, he was swimming!  Basically he dog paddles around in the water and will put his head under water...when I ask him to.  Guess we'll have to take him to the pool more for some practice!

Brady's instructor's name was Hannah and she was so sweet with the kids.  She did a really great job!

Major at 11 Months Old

Here he is...11 months old!  Look at this big boy walking Major!  He will drop down and crawl if he needs to get somewhere really fast, but for the most part, he is walking!  We do have a slight shoe problem, though.  He refuses to wear them.  Oh, well, so did the other two.  That is what happens when you never put shoes on them!

At 11 months, Major is sleeping 10-11 hours at night and taking several cat naps during the day.  I keep laying him down hoping for a nice long nap, but it hasn't happened yet.  He prefers to sleep for 30 to 45 minutes 3 or 4 times a day.  He is saying a lot more...Eli, Brady, Love you, and basically can mimic anything you say to him.  He is also saying bye-bye and waving.  He has 4 teeth and loves to put anything on the floor into his mouth.  But he won't really do that with regular food yet.  He still likes to eat baby food.  We will be seeing Papa and Nana in a week, so they may break him of that.  At least he is 11 months old now, there is no stopping Papa from feeding babies things they really shouldn't be eating.  (He gave a baby Brady some Mountain Dew and a baby Eli some Snickers bar...and those are some of the things I know about...)

After getting an acceptable 11 month shot (see above) we took some more fun shots of the boys.  They had a really good time hamming it up for the camera.  I'm only going to post a few of them.

And last, a picture of Major and me. :)