4 months old and snow in the Spring!

Today this little miss is 4 months old! Where did the time go? In short, to lots of love at home, endless snuggles, so much sunshine and family time(esp tailing her big bros!), in the car on the way to birthdays, grocery stores and church, listening to books with brothers, watching mommy fold clothes and unload the dishwasher, being startled by this sweet and sour two year old...

Needless to say, it's been 4 full months well spent.

For her four month birthday Evan and Bennett wanted to celebrate with a princess style party complete with tea time(and fruit snacks), an original fairytale story written and read by Evan, a birthday song and presents of course. Bennett even broke out his birthday wolf ears for the occasion, and various like stuffed animals were in attendance. If you were to look up "cute" in the dictionary(or on Wikipedia), I'm pretty sure you would see these pictures.

Amelia continues to be a great baby. She's really content and flexible, and we are so grateful! The Lord is so so good to us and knew just what we needed from #4, we say all the time that we couldn't have asked for anything better. She is my dream girl in every way. At 4 months, she's falling into a nice sleep schedule. It's proven more challenging to be consistent with naps and nighttime sleep in this season in our life as a family of six. Sometimes that means not being on the go as much or splitting up for activities on the weekend, at other times she just comes along for the ride and we hope for the best. She is our first baby to refuse a paci and at the same time not suck her thumb, so she is slowly but surely learning to self soothe on her own.  Though, I'm still holding out hope for her thumb as she finds it every now and then. It throws me back in time with memories of our first thumb sucker, baby Evan. Otherwise, she gets a bit longer and stronger everyday. We haven't had her 4 month well baby check yet but I have no doubt that she's put on a good pound(or 3) since last month. Like her brothers, she carries most of her weight in her cheeks. :-) And while time will tell, I'm pretty sure she'll be a brown eyed girl.

After 3 boys and seven years of blue plaid, stripes and primary colors, it's safe to say that this lady baby has lots of sweet dresses, bows in every color and plenty of pink! It's really fun to dress her up into twirly girly clothes I bought when I was pregnant and couldn't imagine her wearing. Now she's here, and filling them out so beautifully. :-) Here is one such dress I bought before she was born and I am in LOVE with it. A photoshoot was a no brainer.

On a last note, I'd like to mention that here in North Carolina, on the second day of Spring, it is SNOWING! These are not the Spring showers I imagined. What even??

*Update 4/6...After today's appointment miss Amelia is 15 pounds, 2.5 oz and 25" long!**

The State Fair Reel-2017

 

Summer sun and sand

Now that school is in full swing and it feels like those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer are behind us, I wanted to take a pause and share some of our fun summer highlights. Namely, our two big beach trips! The first we took to Fort Fisher with my family. We were so excited to share a whole week at the beach with Gigi, Poppy, my Grandma from FL and the McCune family(my sista!) all the way from TX. We started off the week with a cupcake gender reveal, and enjoyed lots of fun times on the beach, playing outside, hanging out at the local rec center, seeing sharks at the aquarium and more.

Surprise!!!

Evan loved boogie boarding-this was no doubt the best $10 we spent all summer!

 Sisters and cousins.

Gigi and the big boys-can't go wrong with Batman capes!

Less than a week after we got back from the beach with my family, we headed out to Topsail to celebrate Chris' cousin's special wedding day. We enjoyed even more sunny, sandy days with the Scott family, toured the Sea Turtle rescue center with the boys and Aunt Paige and were so thankful to be a part of Gracyn's beautiful beach wedding.

Aunt Catherine and the boys!

Dapper Asher-just missing his shades!

 Learning about sea turtles...

Beach hair don't care! 

More cousins!

In other summer news, we celebrated many family birthdays, and the boys had lots of fun at different VBS and science summer camps. We moved to Apex in June and continue to love our new home and neighborhood. Until next time, sayonara summer!

The State Fair 2016

The sights, the sounds, the smells...nothing comes close to the NC state fair! A hallmark of Fall, we were all excited to go to the fair this year and eat our share of kettle corn and cotton candy. As usual, it was an experience.

Over the years we've built up our own tricks and trades of the infamous North Carolina state fair. We know where we park, have our favorite fried foodie stands, and by now have developed our own family fair route of sorts. To avoid the crazy crowds, we go during the week and midday. However, as much planning you can put into a traditional outing like this, there are some things you just can't control and don't plan for. This year, it was the near 90 degree weather in October. And so, we took home pink faces for souvenirs!

Asher's first fair!

...because it's tradition.

Future pilot?? I wonder...

Mother Nature was a new addition this year

In ride news, the boys rode their first roller coaster this year. Chris said they were probably the most terrified pair on that kiddie coaster, which made their reward all the sweeter. If asked they will say that was their favorite part of the fair, and that it was "SO COOL!!!!!"

The carousel will always be my favorite ride.

 Last but not least, our traditional family photo at the hush puppy mill. We started taking this picture over 9 years ago on one of our first dates to the fair. Suffice it to say, it has changed a lot!

Another fair in the books...next year we will not miss the ribbon fries or pig races. Always something to look forward to. :-)

Atlantic beach-a picture story with captions

Otherwise titled...Sand, sand, and more sand! Lol. Last week we enjoyed a family trip to the beach with the Walker crew. Here's a few pictures to capture the memories. A huge thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Tim for making it possible, we had a great time!

In spite of the hot summer sun, these boys LOVE the beach. 

Caution-babies at play! Asher and Faith rockin the sun wear. For Asher's first time to the beach, and in the middle of a North Carolina July at that, he did great! 

Grandma in her glory.

Group photo outside of aquarium-Evan falling backwards off the turtles head. I've caught him. :-) 

Me and 1/2 of my boys, I'm one lucky lady. 

Happy 9th anniversary to us, we've grown almost a decade old together! Many thanks for Grandma for watching the boys so we could enjoy dinner out.

You can almost picture him breathing in the water here-my boys have ocean love in their genes I'm sure of it.

Bennett the merman-he was not impressed. Fins aside, this one is always the sandman. 

Asher taking in the wet shells and sand, Evan photoboming. 

A friendly dessert style "Chopped" competition. I graciously took home second place with my Samoa girl scout cookie bars.

Family picture on the beach with all the kids and grandkids. Till next time!