Mother's Day 2012

Here are Eli, Brady, and Major with me on Mother's Day.  Bill and the boys did a great job of giving me the day off on Sunday.  They took me out to lunch after church, and ordered pizza for dinner.  Bill did any dishes that accumulated and changed all diapers.  Eli kept asking if he could get me more water or fold the laundry for me or something.  And Brady gave me his big Brady hugs all day long.  It was a really nice day.  I love my boys!

Major's First Steps and 10 Months Old

After church on Wednesday, May 9th, Major decided to take his first steps!  We were saying good night to Eli and Brady in their room, we stood Major up, and he took 2 steps to Bill!  These first two photos are of Major taking more steps towards Bill.  The whole family was there, and we all cheered for him.  It was really cool.

Those steps really made me feel like it was all going by too fast, so the next day I got out the camera and just took some shots of Major playing.  He goes EVERYWHERE!!!  (And puts everything in his mouth.  Last night at Eli's ball game, I looked over and he had a cigarette in his mouth.  Yuck.  Today, during Eli's conference, I look over and he has a moth in his mouth.  So gross.)  So the next 3 pictures (and the very last one, I'm not sure how that happened...) are just Major cruising around doing his thing. 

These next 6 pictures are of Major on May the 11th...his 10 month old birthday!  He has been taking more steps and really talking a lot more.  At 10 months, Major is sleeping through the night consistently (hallelujah!), he says "dada, mama, nanana (I think this is "no"), E-I (Eli), Ah-ee (Brady), and can really mimic the inflection in our voices as he tries to say what we are saying.  As I already mentioned, he is everywhere and into everything.  He has never met something he couldn't fit into his mouth.  (This includes his classmates at Bible class...we will have to work on that.)  He loves to have fun and loves his brothers.  He is constantly laughing and smiling.  He doesn't say "hi", but he does wave hi and bye to people.  He lights up when he sees his brothers and follows them throughout the house.  He knows the sound of the door adjacent to the garage opening and he knows that means daddy is home, and when he hears it, he drops what he is doing and makes a happy squeal to the house as he makes a bee-line to Bill.  Another really cute thing that he does is, no matter where he is in the house, if I start singing, "Where oh where oh where is Major, where oh where or where is Major..." he will come to me.  I love it!

Cornerstone's 2012 Auction Gala

I don't get much of an opportunity for dressing up, so my friend, Rebecca Pace, and I really had fun at this year's Gala.  We've been going to this for the past 3 years, but I got pictures this year because of the dressing up!  The theme was Dr. Seuss' "Oh, the Places You'll Go" and you were supposed to dress "whimsical".  We weren't exactly sure what that meant, but here is the end result.  We wore big fake eyelashes and made these fun hats.  I also wear these crazy earrings and zebra print shirt.  I think we pulled of the "whimsical".  And we were definitely the hit of the gala!  So much fun!

First Camping Trip

Bill took Eli and Brady on their first camping trip on Friday, April 27th.  They went to Brazos Bend State Park.  They were fully ready to stay in a tent, but turns out there was a shelter available, so they stayed there instead!  Here is the air mattress that all 3 of them slept on...

Here is Brady ready for a day of animal adventuring!

The boys absolutely love animals and they love spending time with their Daddy, so this camping trip was the perfect combination for them!

Bill took lots of pictures of the different animals they found on their nature walk.  They saw some pretty cool animals close up...especially the alligators!  Brazos Bend is known for their alligators and the boys couldn't wait to find some!

They went camping with the Shane and Carole Gage.  The Gages have a daughter, Ashley, who is Brady's age.  Here is Ashley with Eli and Brady.

ALLIGATOR!!!

Project time.  I'm not sure what they are building, but they looked little houses of some sort when they were finished.

The boys were super worn out from this camping adventure.  When they got home, they both took a 4 hour nap, were up for 2 hours, and then went back to bed for the evening.  I'm so thankful to Bill for taking them!  Next time, Major and I will try to join them. :)

Dinosaurs at the Zoo

On Thursday, April 26th, we were able to go to the zoo and see the dinosaur exhibit before the general public because we are zoo members.  We went to see the dinosaurs a couple of years ago, and the boys still love it!

The ankylosaurus with Eli and Brady

 Dionynchus...scary

Brontosaurus

 T-REX!

 All my boys

Brady with the fossils.  He wanted to badly to touch them.  The boys loved it so much, we went through twice!  (And Brady still asks if we can go again.)

Matching Brothers, Round 2

Betsy got these outfits for Eli and Brady when they were about 1 and 3 1/2.  Here we are, 3 years later, and Brady and Major get to wear these same matching outfits.  It is so neat to see these clothes being used a 2nd time!  (These photos were taken April 20th.)

 Lately, Major has been showing us his "cheese" face.  Whenever we tell him to smile for the camera, we usually get the face you see below.  Smile with eyes closed.  He is too funny!

Eli's Crazy Hair and Crazy Hat Days

In preparation for Cornerstone's annual gala, each Friday in the month of April had a theme.  April 13th was "crazy hair day" and April 20th was "crazy hat day".  Here are my attempts to give Eli crazy hair and a crazy hat.  Evidently, his hat was the hit of the kindergarten.  (It is a football game on top of his football helmet.)