Madison Quin Shaw

Our beautiful niece and new cousin, Madison Quin Shaw, was born on May 11, 2016. We are so in love with his beautiful blessing from above and proud of Katie and Douglas! I snapped a couple of pictures when we went to Dothan to meet her.

 Proud great grandparents

 the sweetest big boy cousin there ever was :) 

We are so in love with our new niece and cousin!!!

William's Birthday Party

We celebrated William's 4th birthday at a bounce house/obstacle course/climbing/dancing/strobe light/LOUD arena. It was right up William's ally :) He loves anything chaotic and wild! We celebrated with his best buddy from school, Luke, by having a joint birthday party and invited their class. Granny was in town so it was extra special that she got to come along!

Charlotte was a little wide eyed and stoic the majority of the party. There was a LOT to take in ;)

The three amigos - Charlie, William and Luke. 

Can you tell he had a little fun??

the birthday boys!

Happy 4th Birthday William!

My first-born baby who made me a mommy is FOUR years old. I was a little surprised at how emotional I was about my baby boy turning 4! I didn't shed a tear or feel sadness that Charlotte was turning one, but something about 4 just seems so old. When I told William I was sad because he was growing up too fast, he said "It's okay mommy, you can still give me hugs and we can cuddle when I'm a Daddy one day." I'll have to remind him of this 25 years from now...haha! William is such a fun child! He loves people and adventure, always ready for something new. He's very determined and strong-willed, yet loving and kind at the same time. We've had our fair share of challenges with discipline and respect over the past year, but I'm hopeful we are getting out of the "threenager" phase ;)

 William would describe the perfect day as playing outside for 8 straight hours with his Willis Dr. friends. There are 23 children on our street and the majority of them are close in age to William. They play in the dirt, have water balloon fights, play "house", build forts, collect rocks, talk on walkie talkies, and use their imagination in all they do. I LOVE it because he is doing just what children are supposed to do at his age - using their imagination and playing outside! On days he goes to school, he immediately "hits the street" when we get home to play. When he's home with me, he stands at the front door waiting for friends to come outside. 

 He will finish out his 3K year at TCDC in June and then be promoted to 4K (his last year in preschool...tear). He's learned so much this year and we are very proud of him! He can identify all letters of the alphabet, count to 100, write his name, identify all shapes, has memorized nursery rhymes, and knows most of the letter sounds. His favorite game is for me to say a word and he tells me what letter it starts with :) He doesn't always get them right, but I love seeing his brain work. 

 He's still not a stellar eater but not terrible either. His staple foods are scrambled eggs, PBJ, chicken nuggets, beef tacos, spaghetti, grilled chicken, hamburgers, apple sauce, oranges, pineapple, grapes, apples, smoothies, and all things sweet! I need to start pushing veggies soon but I'm certain that will be a major battle. 

 He's playing in a spring soccer league and has enjoyed going to practice every Saturday morning with Grant. They don't play actual games but they do drills and learn different techniques. He always enjoys telling me about the drills and demonstrating in the yard. I wouldn't say he's loved it but he does look forward to going. I'm looking forward to tee ball next year :) We also did church choir this year. He and I both loved our Wednesday nights together at church. We eat dinner and then he goes to choir practice with Mrs. Betty. 

He loves his family, especially his baby sister! Every morning he begs me to get Charlotte out of the crib immediately so they can hug. Charlotte knows the drill and bends down out of my arms to hug him. He occasionally gets frustrated with her if she takes his toy or messes up an art creation and he will say "Chhhhaaarrrrr, you are being a VERY bad little girl." He still takes naps at school from 1-3 and on those nights he stays up until 9pm (not good). If he doesn't nap (T/TH and weekends), he crashes by 7pm. He loves, loves, loves his Daddy and would be his shadow all day everyday if it was his choice. I'm pretty sure Grant feels the same about his son. William, you will never know how much we love you and how proud we are of the little boy you have become. Have 4th birthday my precious boy!!!

Easter Weekend

We spent Easter in Birmingham again this year. While I love being in Dothan in my "home church" where I've spent probably 25 Easters, it's special being in my new church home where my little family gathers to worship all year. Saturday night we had dinner at the Blount's house. Juju and Steve came up on Saturday and mom made a delicious dinner. Julie had a beautiful table set and we all enjoyed a low key night!

It's impossible to get a pic of these three monkeys :)

 In a matter of weeks, Charlotte and Ann Torrence will be getting into everything! 

 They recognize each other and light up when they see each other :) :) 

 William loves exploring at Birdie and Ahdah's. They have a neat trail behind their house. 

Saturday night, after I had played Easter bunny, I heard a loud "HELLLLLPPPP" come from the basement. We soon found out our septic tank had malfunctioned and sewage was pouring from the closet into the basement bedroom where Juju and Steve were staying. Needless to say, they got out of here fast and headed to the Blount residence for the night because their bedroom was covered in sewage (EWWWW). Grant stayed up until midnight with several neighbors trying to prevent further damage :( It was terrible but has since been fixed. Drama. 

It was rainy on Easter Sunday so I didn't get too many decent pics of my little Easter blessings. Juju had Charlotte's dress made and I love it! She will wear it for the next several Easters. 

Charlotte loves looking out our front window. Mr. William loves "supervising" her every move ;)

They love each other so much. 

Here are a couple of iphone pics. My little baby doll. 

Juju and her baby girls at lunch. 

My favorite part of the weeks leading up to Easter was hearing William tell the story of the crucifixion and resurrection. He would explain "Jesus got thorns put in his hands and he bleeded a lot. Then he got put in a tomb. On Sunday, he rose from the dead and the tomb got empty." Very proud of this little boy and his growing knowledge of the Bible. 

Happy Birthday to Charlotte!

We had a very small, last minute gathering to celebrate our baby girl turning ONE! It was a stress free, fun Sunday afternoon eating cake and catching up with old friends of mine. It's hard to believe I was in elementary school with these friends 25 years ago and now we all have children of our own.

 Every first birthday for a baby girl requires pretty flowers, right?!

 Her smash cake :) I had to have Olexas do it since they did William's first birthday cake. 

 William was a VERY proud big brother and was all about Charlotte's "party."

He loves being in charge so I gave him the special task of putting candles on the cake ;)

Since Charlotte prefers to be on my hip every waking moment...the birthday girl got her wish and made mommy be in all these pics ;)

I had to share the one above because this is mid "loving her baby" (imaginary one in this pic)

Concerned big brother...who knows about what!

Baby Lila has my whole heart. I know she and Charlotte will be besties like their mommas!

A little skeptical and hesitant about her cake

So of course big brother and Quinn had to jump in and show her how it's done!

Charlotte and Collins go to Ms. Rita's together. They were done by this point. haha!

Another one of Charlotte's new silly faces!

The whole crew + a neighbor that showed up ;)

Because every birthday girl needs to end her party crying in her Daddy's lap. It was a great day celebrating our birthday girl!