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. :)

Eli's Kindergarten Graduation

I can't believe it.  Eli has graduated kindergarten.  His first year of school is over.  I am so thankful and we are so blessed that Eli got to go to a private Christian school, as well as have, quite possibly, the best kindergarten teacher on the planet.  He has grown and matured so much over this past year.  One of his biggest accomplishments is that he has gone from a non reader, to someone who reads on a 2nd grade level!  It is awesome to watch him read.  And on his standardized testing, he didn't miss any of the reading questions.  He has a great heart for people and a great heart for God.  He is always thinking and asking questions and trying to understand and learn.  Just the other day, he asked me why Jesus obeyed Satan.  I told him that never happened.  He said yes it did, when Satan told Jesus to come to the top of a mountain, Jesus did it.  (He was speaking of the story in the Bible where Jesus was tempted by Satan.)  I tried to explain that Jesus agreed to go with him, but when Satan told him to do something (like jump off the mountain), he did not obey.  This is just one example of how his mind works.  His Sunday school teacher this past Sunday told me that Eli is his best theologian in class.  I love to hear things like that!  Way to go, sweet boy!  We are proud of you!

Here is Eli at home, before graduation.

Eli got to hold the flag during the Pledge of Allegiance.  (He is on the far right.)

Then the kids sang a few songs for us...Eli is in the top row on the far right.

Here is Eli receiving his diploma from principal, Chad St. Jean.  (His teacher, Tammy McDonald, is the one with the microphone.  She is AMAZING!!)

Kindergarten graduate!

 Daddy with Eli

 The boys in Mrs. McDonald's class...Jack Gowens, Ben Mize, Pierce Dalton, Anthony, Cole Armstrong, Gavin St. Jean, Hugh Rolls, Grant Miller, Eli Moore :)

 Eli with his kindergarten class at school best friend...Ben Mize

Eli with Mrs. McDonald

One more look at the class of 2024!!  Cornerstone graduated a record number of kindergartners this year...42!  Only four years ago there were only 18 of them.  Hopefully, these will be the leaders of the school in years to come.  Congratulations everyone!

A Nap on Daddy

This doesn't happen too much anymore, so you gotta take a picture when it does!  Sweet baby boy.  And notice that awesome bed head!

Brady's 4th Birthday

Tuesday, May 15th, Brady turned 4!!  We started off the day with our traditional birthday doughnuts.  Here is my big 4 year old boy!

For dinner, Brady requested pizza and hot dogs, so that is what he got.  Here is daddy, Brady, Eli, and Major waiting to chow down!

Brady is getting to use the "you are special today" plate.  I got this a couple of years ago for special occasions and now the boys really look forward to the day when they get to use the special plate. :)

I made a small cookie cake for Brady.  It is a creature power disk from Wild Kratts and that is my attempt to make a falcon out of frosting.

 From Eli and Major, Brady got another dinosaur from Dinosaur Train.

 And from mom and dad and Papa and Nana he got a new bike!  He has been riding it every day since he got it and is really doing well!

Now we have 2 boys on bikes!

Happy Birthday my precious, sweet boy.  Brady is such a joy with an incredible heart.  He is always praying for others and making sure everyone is okay.  He likes to have fun and joke and loves his family.  He gives tons of hugs and kisses and his newest thing which he called "eeeeeees" (Yes, just pronounce the long "e" sound for a while.)  He pinches people's ears and says, "eeeeeees".  It is a way he loves on them.  He is always doing it to Major and Eli.  And when Eli gets tired of it he asks him to stop and Brady will say, "eeeees are done for the day."  So cute.  He even calls his fingers his "eeee snappers".  He is always coming up with little funny things like that.  I am so blessed to have this amazing boy as my little Brady!