oh the places you'll go...

Well we made it.  We took you on your first. flight. ever.  And we survived!   We  flew to Charlotte, North Carolina to visit cousins that you had never met. (Skype does not count as an official meeting.)

The flight there was so great!  You fell asleep on the first leg, and played the entire time on the other.

When we arrived at the airport we were so happy to see Chad and Mike waiting to pick us up.  Unfortunately, the luggage didn't make it with us to the Charlotte airport..  

It decided to arrive the next evening at the house instead.

You weren't to worried about that, since you were too busy enjoying playing all day in your pajamas with your cousins. . .

. . .while also meeting your other cousin, Jack the dog.

We enjoyed spending our afternoon's outside.

And our evenings were spent sharing laughs and hanging out on their beautiful back porch.

Jack, you had a date night with Mendy and all your cousins, while your mama and daddy snuck out to have dinner with Chad, Dana and Mike.

We all had our share of "Puddin." that week.  This is just one of the many.

Us girls had a little too much fun talking about decor and Mendy's overwhelming samples of paint. :)

(But hey... I did finally decide on a color for our dining room, thanks to her!)

Chad hosted a night of "Minute To Win It" games for the cousins.  This will definitely have to be played again!  It was just so much fun!

We, of course, all were able to go to Mass together, and that is always so special!

The Winland clan said goodbye before we did, and boy was that hard to watch.  I just knew our time was coming soon too!

The following day Chad and Mendy let us borrow their car so we could venture off and see a little of Virginia.  We met daddy's old college buddy, shared lunch, laughs and a little dessert. 

Overall,  it was such a wonderful visit.  Your daddy and I were so glad we made the trip.  One we will never forget!  

We know it is so important to stay as close as possible with family even when distance makes it harder.   We just hope and pray it isn't too long before we see them again!  

love you little travelin man.

as if . . .

. . .we weren't already madly in love with you. . .

. . .these last few weeks we have decided you are just too irresistible with your new look.

- thumb in mouth and hand in hair -

Most of the time you are yanking our hair pretty bad. 

 I never thought I'd have to redo my hair so much in public.  And this is keeping daddy from growing his hair out. 

(I do thank you for that. :) )

But you are constantly crawling after us to give us kisses.

And if you are already being held by one of us, you're leaning your head in for some more love. 

Just so you know, we are perfectly content if you want to stay like this for a while :)

Love you little man!

we're going bananas lately

for

easy. yummy. banana (nut) bread.

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 egg

2 Large bananas 

1/2 cup pecans  (optional) 

Sift dry ingredients together.  Cream sugar and butter.  Beat egg well, add mashed banana and stir in flour.  Add nuts if you please.  Bake in loaf pan at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.  Cool over night to let flavor ripen.  This can be eaten as plain cake or sliced thin for party sandwiches :)

it's a watermelon day!

Someone is enjoying one of the best things about summer.

Yummy

yummy

watermelon!

These days...

chances are...

if it has wheels...

    Jack has it.

first fourth

 hey buddy!

this last weekend was your first fourth of july.  though we know you won't remember it, we tried to make sure you knew what the weekend was about. 

the good stuff.

 friends. family. food. fun. 

and the freedom we have to enjoy all of these blessings God has given us.

                                                    

it was so nice to have daddy off to hang out with us the whole weekend!  we got to work on some projects that i (mama) have been bugging him about.  they were for you, so he was excited to do them :) ill post about those later...  but we didn't do much else besides enjoy our time together.   sunday we went to erhines for his bbq feast. 

you definitely are spoiled when you are there.  erhine bought you your first lawn chair so you would fit in with the guys when you visit.

lots of other friends were in town so, as always, you provided fun entertainment for them.

on the evening of july fourth, we packed up some goodies and headed out to katy to watch fireworks.

i don't think you were too impressed with the sites at first.  after all, we parked in the  h e b  parking lot.  but you loved playing with your flag  and you loved seeing more family faces.

you enjoyed a little watermelon.

your reaction to the fireworks did not surprise us.  

just a simple stare with no expression and a wave.  

we weren't too sure if you wanted to touch them or maybe you were trying to tell us

 "let's go already".

but as simple as this weekend was, as always, we enjoyed every bit of it because it was your first and we were able to spend it with you!   

we love you little man!