May in Review...

May, wow!  May came quickly & absolutely.flew.by.  We have been preparing for May for months; John&Kelsey's wedding was coming up, Grandpa celebrated a special birthday, I had two classes to take to renew my teaching certificate, and Matt has been working towards recovery from his back injury.

Little Calvin, our one.year.old baby made his first solo climb up the stairs (supervised of course).  Loving his little milestones!  He's now 13 months old & loves to wave & say "ba ba" and pretty close to "hi" which I just adore.  He's dancing up a storm, and is sooo close to walking!  He's been doing lots of squats lately, but just hasn't ventured out for those steps yet!  had his first hair cut for Uncle John's wedding, and he looks so different!  I love the clean cut, but those long baby bangs were just the sweetest, till they got out of control, haha.  Calvin has cut 1 molar & just got started on the second with a lovely combo-cold going on post-wedding.  Keeping up with this little guy is so much fun, but tiring!

We enjoyed all the spring weather, rain or shine.  The temps were so nice for playing outside, and a few days the boys stayed out nearly all day long!  It is really fun to watch them come up with games, have imagination, play together, go on missions, catch lizards, hunt for spiders, and just enjoy being outside, in their own worlds or together.  Hayden still loves to drive the Jeep as much as he can, and he can powerslide with the best of them!  James has gotten more interested in basketball, and we are thinking the Fall may be the time for them both to start t-ball, so fun!  The summer keeps us inside way more, because of the heat, but we'll take all the time outside we can get.

One BIG change for Hayden this May was his big.boy.boat.bed!!  Daddy found this gem on craigslist (of course) and we just couldn't pass up the deal.  We were planning to get him all set up in a big boy bed for his 3rd birthday this summer, but he got promoted a couple months early. ;-)  He and James have been able to have 'sleep overs' now because it has a trundle mattress underneath.  And, the best part, is mommy&daddy get to have much more comfortable 'hayden snuggles' as our buddy is entering that golden age, where he gives his hugs&kisses more often, wants to snuggle, wants to tell us stories, and loves to sing songs.  James has had the.best. 'snuggle' stage, but I think we are closing in on the end of the preschool stage for him.  VPK in the Fall, and he's making us so proud.

James' first lizard catch!  (I think it lived, haha)

This Mother's Day, was absolutely.lovely. with my kiddos.  When Hayden was a baby, we went to brunch at the Biltmore, which was just amazing.  This year, I got to attend a preschool 'mother's morning' where he gave me a rose, sang us special songs, shared their alphabet books with us & made us a 'all about my mommy' page (which said he thought I looked pretty when I shower & comb my hair, he's not wrong, hahah!!)  He also had me crying laughing so hard with a little 'incident' with his undies.  That story will live on... ha!

My sweet hubs got me exatly.what.I.asked.for - new books to read!  Happy Mother's Day - we were lucky enough to spend the day with both Mimi & Grammy as well since we started the day in Tampa, and drove back through Ocala.  So lovely to have help with the kids, not to have to cook, and to feel taken care of by my momma.  Love you Grammy, you're the best!!

We drove down to Tampa (which we do amazing often & our kiddos are such troopers!) to celebrate Grandpa's birthday!  We were able to hang out with our family, enjoy company, and grill out in his honor.  We LOVE making memories with our family.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!

Guess who looks A.LOT.LIKE.GRANDPA??  A sweet little baby I know...

Spring walks around our neighborhood & throwing pinecones into the lake.  Bright sunshine & blue skies.  Sunglasses & boy toys & big smiles.

Grammy&Papa sent Hayden some new sheets for his big.boy.boat.bed - spiderman!! ((and they included James too, and sent batman so he can sleep over))  Thank you Grammy&Papa!!  These boys pretending to be asleep after we made up the bed with his new sheets.

 Little trips around town & stopping for a cheeseburger.... we found ourselves on the opposite side of the table from our kiddos!  How funny to actually sit by my husband for once, and how fun. :-)

The boys' last day of Busy Bees Preschool!  Kind of bitter sweet for mommy, but (thankfully) the boys had an easy time saying goodbye.  We have definitely been blessed by the programs!

 Wow, well that covers all but our big trip up to GA/TN for the Yates-Prose wedding!  coming up next...