Logic

Oh the mind of a three-year-old. Last week I told Hayden, "Today is Oscar's birthday!" Hayden pondered this for a minute and then said, "But he doesn't talk." Somehow, in his head those two facts were in direct conflict with one another.

Mr. & Mrs. Davis!

Katie and Dustin got married!

They had a small family ceremony on April 15th at Tanglewood, and I was so honored to be there to see them exchange vows.

After the ceremony we headed to Graylyn for drinks and dinner, and cake of course! Such a beautiful day to get married, and to celebrate the love that two people share.

Big birthdays!

April is definitely a big month for birthdays around us! This year we celebrated Emily's first birthday at her Nana's house. So strange, this is the first family baby (other than my own!) I've been around to see grow up. I visited Whitney in the hospital just a day after baby Emily was born, and got to hold her. I saw her at all the in-between stages, of laying and doing nothing, of sitting up and crawling, of pulling up and finally deciding to walk.

Happy first birthday Emily!

Last weekend we traveled to Charlotte for Lily's 3rd birthday. She had a Princesses & Pirates theme, and Hayden had a blast! We watched the kids color and play in the castle and pirate ship, eat yummy food, sing and eat cake. I was most amazed at how much baby Reid had changed in a year! At Lily's party last year Reid was on her monitor in the baby bouncer, and still so small. One year later, she was sitting up in the high chair, eating cake and walking around and exploring. What a difference time makes!

Lily had a blast with all her friends! She opened presents and thanked everyone for her gifts. She played and was the perfect princess!

At the end of the party, she was excited to hand out her princess & pirate favors. The hat, sword, eye patch and gold coins made for a fun ride home. Hayden didn't want to leave, and on the way home kept asking, "Can we go to Charlotte to Lily's party?" Those two got along great!

Ax man

We had a tree in the backyard that was basically a nuisance. No good could come from it, and Jay couldn't take it anymore, so he spent three days cutting it down with a chainsaw. One of my least favorite noises, the end of this project could not come fast enough for me. Hayden loved it, and so did the dogs. Even Lila didn't mind, snoozing outside in the nice weather while Jay cut and cut and cut some more.

Because of the fences, the deck and the proximity of the tree to our neighbor's yard, Jay had to take the smaller branches first, then the bigger branches and then finally the trunk.

Luckily for Hayden and the dogs, he left the trunk in a few big pieces in the yard for two days, which proved to be hours of entertainment! Literally hours. One night Hayden was out there until almost 9pm, and I had to serve his dinner on the deck because he refused to come in. You're only young once!

Happy Easter!

What a fun time of year this is! Flowers blooming, grass growing, and of course, Easter. This was Lila's first Easter, but Hayden was no stranger to the Easter bunny, Easter basket and hunting for eggs! We started the day off with a quick trip downstairs to see what the bunny brought the little ones! Hayden enjoyed a few new puzzles, two movies, cars and candy. Lila got a play gym, with fun zoo animals hanging around to entertain her. We made a small lunch for us and Gloria, which Lila slept all the way through (until my first bite of coconut cake)!

Hanging out with grandma!

Checking out the play gym!

After lunch we headed to Aunt Jana's for more lunch and an Easter egg hunt! Lila was content to be passed around amongst family while Hayden was more than happy to hunt eggs with the big kids. He did an awesome job finding eggs, and helping his cousins find them too!

Hayden and Zoe found a caterpillar too! They wanted to race them, but only had one. Good news...he won every time!

And when Lila got a little fussy, we handed her over to the baby whisperer, aka Uncle Eric...

All in all, it was a great day but super exhausting! We were so tired when we got home, we all just relaxed and spent the evening doing a big bunch of nothing. Fine with me!

Family

Lila and Hayden are blessed with such a large family. They have four grandparents, three great-grandmothers (one passed away just a month before Lila was born), and even one great-great grandmother! They have three cousins, two uncles, an aunt and of course, each other! They have a whole host of extended family as well, but I was really excited to snap this picture the other day of Lila with her great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother. She actually bears a pretty strong resemblance to her great-great-grandmother Oakley sometimes!

Did I forget to mention...

We added a new family member to the mix! Meet Onyx...

Onyx is a three-month old blue female pit bull. She fits right into this crazy family. She loves to snuggle, eat and make messes. Whoever thought it was a bad idea to get a new puppy just after bringing home a newborn certainly didn't factor in Oscar. He's SO excited to have a playmate. They run and fight and bite and snuggle and she likes to try to share his crate. Though hers is nearly identical, she always runs to his first.