Nighttime grilling

Alex cleaned off our grill this past weekend and grilled some steaks.  It's a built-in grill that's pretty ancient, but it works.  We hadn't tried it before.  The only problem is that it was dark by the time he was ready to grill.  And there's no lights out there.  Alex set up a little make shift light and had his headlamp.  The boys were fascinated by the fire and lined up to watch the show.  We need some more practice grilling... the steaks were a bit overcooked.  But it's pretty hard when you can't see what you're doing. It's good to see Alex out there grilling.   

No nap...

This is what happens when they miss their nap... you never know where you'll find them.  He dozed off after his snack.  We got a kick out of the "sword" tucked in his pants.  

1 month old

 We made it through one month with this pretty girl.  Here she is in one of her dresses taking a Sunday afternoon nap.  This week she decided she could nap a little bit in her crib if she was on her tummy.  She previously was mostly only napping if we were holding her.  At night she will sleep 5 or 6 hours if she is sleeping in OUR BED right next to me.  It's not the ideal situation, but it does allow us to get some sleep at this point.  Hopefully we can transition her to her bed soon.  I have mastered the nursing while lying down thing.  Savannah seems to like it.

I tried this hat on her recently.  She hated it and it was pretty funny looking, so I didn't make her wear it.  Just not our style.  Look at that face!

Owen and Weston constantly ask to hold Savannah.  They're pretty cute with her.  I think she's getting more comfortable with them.  She even smiled at Owen.  Why do they always smile at Owen?  I can't get her to smile at me.

Family Outing

We decided to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather.  I was eager to do some walking.  It only took about 45 minutes to get ready to go...  We had to find bike helmets and re-adjust them.  The bikes hadn't been used for a while, so they needed some fixing.  Jared's bike had a flat tire (that wouldn't hold air), so he used another one we had in the garage.  It worked okay for a while and then the chain kept coming off.  We still had a nice outing.  Owen started out on the bike, ditched it to walk/run, and then ended up riding in the jogging stroller by the end.  "I'm SO tired!"  "It's SO hot out here!"  Savannah enjoyed her first time in the baby Bjorn.  She slept the whole time.  Alex came with us too (he took the picture of all of us).  

TWO and a HALF

So according to one theory, you're supposed to double their height at 2.5 to determine what height they will be as an adult.  Weston is 36'', so I guess he's supposed to be 6 ft.?  We'll see.  Owen was 36.75'', just a bit taller than Weston.  Could be the hair too... Weston's hair sticks up about an inch!  :)  

1st outings

Savannah had some big outings this weekend.  I went to a baby shower on Saturday and took her with me.  She also made her first appearance at church.  It was her first time to be in a dress and tights.  She looked so cute. The boys were even impressed.  "Awww...She's pretty!" they said.  I think the dress just made her look more like a girl, and they hadn't seen her all girly yet.  

I had to try to snap a quick picture before church.  It's a little grainy, but the best I got.  I forgot how hard it is to get the boys ready, along with myself and a newborn, for 9:00 church. Alex has early meetings before church, so I'm on my own trying to get them ready.  Alex came at about 8:40, just in time to get Weston dressed and load us all up.  Whew!  Such a challenge.  We didn't quite make it by 9:00, but only about 3 minutes late.  Maybe we'll make it on time next week, since they won't have to suffer through mama's photo shoot.

Please LOOK and SMILE...

Jared, Nathan, and Owen picked out their own clothes, by the way.  (Jared is so stylin'.)  Alex picked out Weston's clothes.  Oh well.  Not fancy and all, but they're still cute.  What do you expect from us anyway?  We've established that we're a little bit hill-billy.  :)

You might be a redneck if...

...you hot glue BB's to your pine wood derby car!  

Nathan had his first pine wood derby this past weekend.  He got 4th out of 7 for speed (probably last in design!).  I think Nathan was a little embarrassed when he saw the other cars.  I hate to make fun of Alex, but he knew he had this one coming.  And really, in his defense, he has been pretty busy doing extra work due to our new baby.  So they did well just to put something together at the last minute.  Literally.  They were finishing it right before the weigh-in.  I don't know where Alex got the idea to use BB's (as in BB guns) for the weight - it must be a redneck thing... Nathan's car looked like the "Mater" of the bunch, pretty hillbilly.  Picture the sleek looking cars, as opposed to Nathan's with BB's falling off.  

I think both Nathan and Alex were embarrassed when they saw the other cars, which were sleek and professional looking.  You could tell that time and effort had been put into making them.  And then there's Nathan's...  I think they put one coat of whatever paint we had around, a light yellow color.  Alex drilled holes in the top and filled them with BB's, held on with globs of hot glue.  When they got to the weigh-in, the car only weighed 3 oz.  It's supposed to be as close to 6 oz. as possible.  Someone had some real weights that they added to his car.  Luckily, for Nathan's sake, his car wasn't last in speed. It wasn't a complete flop.

We had a good laugh about this whole experience.  We had to remind Nathan that we are unique in many ways!  Be proud to be different, right? 

I think they're completely starting over for the district pine wood derby race...    

9 on the 9th

We started off the day opening presents, followed by breakfast.  Nathan wanted pancakes, bacon, and fried eggs.  Later after Alex got home, Nathan opened a couple more presents from Baba.  The presents had a timely arrival that afternoon.  We had stroganoff and peas for dinner.  Then we had cake and Dr. Pepper floats.  Nathan wanted an LSU cake (I don't know why he likes them so much, but that's still his favorite team.)  We let Nathan stay up late watching whatever basketball he wanted to on-line.  He's a sports fanatic.  I think he had a good day!  Nathan is such a good kid and we're so glad to have him in our family. Happy birthday Nathan!

No bath last year!

Our 2nd baby to have to wait until the new year to get a bath...  Alex may not approve of these pictures of his daughter, but I had to document her 1st bath.  Is it okay for baby girls to be topless??    :)    She liked the bath for the most part.  The only part she didn't like was getting out and being cold.  She didn't mind the warm water.  

new old boots

Look who is sporting Owen's too-small boots!  Weston loves these boots too.  I guess we've got some lil' cowboys around here.  

there were 6 in the bed...

I think we need a bigger bed...

loving brother

Owen was the most excited of his brothers to have a sister.  He is particularly loving with her and always wants to hold her, kiss her, and just talk to her.  He is often heard saying, "Awww....Savannah!"

Savannah's photo shoot

 I don't think Savannah was too excited about her photo shoot, but she seemed pretty alert, so I snapped some pictures of her.  The hospital sent us home with this stocking.

Sav-ANN-ah

It's so cute to see Weston with Savannah, particularly trying to say her name.  He still is fascinated with her nose, mouth, and all her features.