Friday, May 17, 2013

May {Pt 1}

Watching a movie with his little hands crossed:



My niece or nephew! This was around 9 weeks I think?


Before the zoo trip that I previously blogged about, we went a different time with my friend Jaclyn.



There's this playground at the zoo that I never even noticed before I had a kid, but now it's a must to stop and play every time we go.



Jaclyn and I were trying to take a photo of ourselves and Sutton was sitting on a bench having a breather. I randomly looked at him, and he was just sitting like this, grinning from ear to ear. :)



So then I had to get some closeups of his red-toothed grin.




And we got our picture too.


I take way too many, but I just can't resist the sleeping pictures. He's been putting himself down for a nap lately, which means that the light is still on so I had to take a picture before I turned it off.


Fun at Walmart...



He plays cars like this sometimes. Strange.


Adam was the only teacher at his school to receive this award this year. So proud of him and his amazingness as a teacher!


We went to Chic-fil-a for lunch one day.


Sutton's sweet little friend Avery happened to be there! I love that in a town as big as Wichita, it can still have a small town feel when we run into friends. There are definite "west side" and "east side" hangouts. We're the cool west siders. :)


One evening, we went out to dinner as a family in efforts to get a little time together. Afterwards, we walked to and around a nearby park. Sutton suddenly became obsessed with picking grass and putting it in his pockets.


He decided Daddy needed some grass in his pockets too.


I don't remember what was going on here. I think maybe he was feeling icky and I set him here after his nap while I dosed up some medicine. He ended up having a sinus infection a few weeks back and had to do his very first-ever round of antibiotics. I'm thankful we've made it this far with no ear infections or anything.


Audra and I getting ready to photograph a wedding a couple weeks ago.


Sutton and I went out to lunch after church one Sunday. I told him to make an angry face, but he didn't want to cooperate.


Then he got mad at me for taking pictures, so I made a mad face and he refused to look at the camera. :)


One day we were bored, so we took his McQueen 4-wheeler around the block...


...and then we walked to the park that's close to our house. I thought it would be a great idea to take a picture of the three of us in this giant chrome bumper, but Sutton didn't really see my vision.


As soon as the park is in sight and we're off the street and parking lot, he's so excited he has to run ahead.



My sweet babies.


A few of my phone photos from back when we went to the Bartlett Arboretum... Here, Sutton is mad at me, once again, for taking his picture.


So then I told him I'd be in them too, and that made him happy.

  








Sutton likes to go around our front yard and hit the fluffy white dandelions with a stick to demolish them. Yes, our front yard has dandelions. And bare spots from a watermain break a few years ago. We need to deal with making it pretty but...we haven't. Our backyard is pretty though! :)


Sutton has my toes.


Diesel doesn't normally get to hang out with us in the front because he likes to wander. But this day, we had a bone to distract him and he plopped down and stayed put to chew on it.


Another night without Daddy cause he was busy with his Masters stuff. Hanging out in the backyard.



For a Throwback Thursday, I posted this photo my mom took of me washing dishes waaaay back. I wash dishes a lot. But at least now I don't need to stand on a chair.


One of my clients sent me her graduation announcement so they could see how they used my photo on it. LOVE!


I made some Zucchini Banana Applesauce muffins in order to sneak some veggies into this boy who refuses anything healthy. I added chocolate chips to the recipe to make them more appealing, and he love them! But the chocolate chips definitely made them messier.


I love watching these two together. So much love.


We were at Walmart in the photo above, and we bought a SuperSoaker. It's a little too heavy for Sutton to use by himself, so we have to help him out.


Our nephew Corbin turned TEN last weekend. So crazy because he was born the year I graduated high school. I remember showing his mama Jessica our prom pictures while we were visiting them in the hospital. :) We went over there for dinner and cake.


Two very {im}patient kiddos waiting for cake and ice cream.


Adam was working on his truck one evening, and Sutton thought he needed to help.


I think I've mentioned that napping has been weird lately. In efforts to get him to sleep one day, I brought all his stuff (blankies, animals, and pacifier) downstairs on the couch and let him watch a movie. I was hoping it would put him to sleep. But it didn't.


But of course he napped great at Ginger's house on Wednesday. 3 whole hours. And I had to wake him up when I got there. This is how I found him asleep in her pack n play.


Yesterday, I took Sutton swimming at the Y again. He got brave and did the slide by himself. Which I probably should've made him do a long time ago, but he's a sheltered only child. :)


After we got home from swimming, Grandma Janet took him for a walk and to her house to play for awhile. He couldn't quite make it home without falling asleep in his stroller. :)


Thursday, May 16, 2013

Zoo Fun

We bought a zoo pass this year, so Tuesday morning I took Sutton and my niece Breegan to the zoo for some hang out time.

These giraffes were headbutting each other. It seemed like a mom and her kid...it was weird.


They were so cute. They're best little buddies and at the beginning, they held hands for a bit when they were walking in front of me.







At the very beginning, they said they wanted to see the lions first. So I found a map and we looked and looked, trying to find which way to go to see them. So then after that, every time they saw a map, they would yell "Oooh! A map! Let's go see where to go!"



We stopped for snacks and drinks in the gorilla habitat.





The whole time, we were talking about how we'd go see the sheep in the petting zoo on the way out. Sutton and Breegy kept singing "Baa baa bwack sheep, hab u ayeeee wuh?"

Then on our way out, I forced them to take a picture with me. It was hot, they were hungry, and we had a daddy goose hissing at us to get away from his babies. But you can't tell, right? :)


It wasn't quite lunch time, so we left and went to the park for a bit. Then we ended our morning at Taco Bell. Two kids is a lot of work! But I love these two and we had a fun time.

Monday, May 13, 2013

Mother's Day {2013}

We had a mini family photo shoot on the porch before church yesterday. I'm posting them all because...I love them all. So there. :)

Sutton and I took some with the timer while Adam was finishing getting ready. Notice the pliers he's holding in EVERY picture. He's obsessed.


This was a testing-the-light photo, but it ended up being the only one I took of Sutton by himself in his handsome outfit, so here it is. {Jeans are a little short...}


Then Adam joined us. So blessed to have these two.




Daddy wanted to get some closeups. Oh, the pliers...



Adam told Sutton to give me a kiss on my cheek, and this was attempt #1.


Attempt #237...


Then he just wanted a regular kiss.


Which made him giggle.


I just love him so much and can't imagine life without him in it. I love being his mama, even in the not-so-pretty times. I'm so so so grateful that even though we had our struggles getting pregnant, God knew the exact little boy that would fit so perfectly in our family.

Now, for the Instagram photos. :) We went to church and I sat in the backseat with the boy because he really wanted me to read him some books.


We had a great service at church, including an extremely moving Mother's Day tribute...with this video. Wow.


Then the sweet boy fell asleep on the way home.


Diesel got me a Mother's Day card. Adam got me a card and some things fit for a 12-year-old...WHICH I LOVE. Think markers, velvet coloring posters...yeah. He knows me well.



We sat with Weston and Shae at church and ended up inviting them over for lunch. So we ate and then took a walk to the park where Sutton, Adam, and Weston played for awhile. We walked home and said our goodbyes.

We've been contemplating doing away with nap time, so Sutton and I crawled into my bed and watched a movie for a little down-time. But then I got nervous that he would be a mess for our dinner that evening, so we ended up putting him to bed really late. Then I had to wake him up to go to Newton to celebrate with my parents.

Adam got some last-minute corrections for his thesis so he ended up staying home while Sutton and I headed to Newton. I love my mom so much. She's such an amazing lady and I'm so blessed to be only one of two people in the whole world to call her Mom.


We prayed before dinner, and just as everyone was getting ready to dish up their plates, my Dad made a big announcement to the rest of the family...



My big brother Michael and his wife Sara are expecting their first baby this fall!!!!!!! They'd told my parents and me and Adam a couple weeks ago, but we've been keeping their secret until her 12-week sonogram this past Friday.

We have 12 nieces and nephews on Adam's side, but this is the first on my side since I only have one sibling. I can't wait! It'll probably be another redhead since my brother has red hair and there is red hair on Sara's side too. I can't wait I can't wait I can't wait! Hooray!

After dinner, we spend the evening out on the deck by the fire. Sutton had a great time forcing my youngest cousin Faith to play with him ALL evening.


Happy Mother's Day (a day late) to all you mom's out there! I have several friends who had their first Mother's Day as a mom this year, so that was pretty neat. I still don't feel like I'm old enough to BE a mother, but I'm a fan of being spoiled on another day besides my birthday each year. Ha!

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Last Day of School

This morning was Sutton's last day of Kids Day Inn. He has loved going there since September and was especially excited this morning because they were going to have a last-day-of-school party.

I had decided that I would take a couple photos of him on the porch to compare to the beginning of the year, even though I thought there wouldn't be much difference.

Boy, was I wrong.


On the left :: first day :: 09.13.2012
On the right :: last day :: 05.09.2013

Whoa. I have a tiny man living under my roof.

It took us a bit to work up to getting the above photo. We started out slow...sitting on the steps and drinking some juice.


We set down the juice and I asked him to stand up to show me how big and tall he was.
"NO! I be SHORT!"


"Okay, Crazy. I took your picture short, now stand up tall!"
"I SHORT!!!!"
At least he's smiling...


"Please stand up tall?"


Then he was done and ran to the other side of the porch to hide.


"If you come stand with your backpack, you can have fruit snacks on the way to school in the car!"
"OOooooOOOoooOo!! Okay!"


"Let's put your backpack ON for a picture."
"What's dat? Eeet's a buggie?"


"Stand up child, if you want your fruit snacks! SMILE!"
Yesssssss. Got it.


"I all done. I don't want backpack onnnnnnnn."


All of that in about 2 minutes. We made it to school and he bounced all the way into the door of his classroom. He said they got to eat white ice cream, play outside, and watch the movie Cars. Sounds like a pretty awesome last day of school to me!