Big Night!

Tonight was a BIG night at the Stone house! My sweet, almost 6 month old had his first taste of food. I cannot believe this time has already come, but it has, and he is more than ready. He practically begs for our food every time we eat. Oatmeal today, chicken fried steak tomorrow. Not really, but this kid is ready to go. He LOVED his oatmeal. Couldn't get enough! He ate every single bite and was reaching for the spoon. It was so much fun and I can't wait to move on to the good stuff! He is growing so fast and I am loving every sweet moment. YAY for a successful 1st meal :)

Aunt Susan Comes to Town

It has been such a fun, crazy week here at the Stone house! We got back from our Thanksgiving vacation on Sunday, Crockett had school on Monday and on Tuesday Aunt Susan came to visit! We have been anxiously awaiting her arrival! Finally on Tuesday, after Little Gym, we headed to the airport to pick her up. It was so good to see her; it has been such a LONG time! We got home and planned on playing and doing some special things... and then Crockett puked. So, not 5 minutes after we got home, I passed Bowen off to Aunt Susan and sent them down the street to the Curry house. Poor Crockett didn't feel good and I needed to take care of him without getting everyone else sick. So, after getting sick a couple of times, Crockett seemed to feel lots better and was back to his old self. Aunt Susan hung out with us for a while and passed out some special goodies she brought! Crockett got her famous cookies, which he could barely wait to eat! To be on the safe side, she moved down to the Curry's for the night. On Wednesday, Crockett was back to his old self. He didn't go to school, but was over his little bug. Thank the Lord. The first thing he asked for was a cookie. I told him no, we had to wait until after lunch. The next time I went in the living room, he was sitting on the couch, completely unaware of me standing there, eating a cookie. Little stinker! Mon and Aunt Susan came over after taking Braidy and Quinny to school. We got to catch up and hang out for a little while. We went to lunch at McAlister's Deli, where the boys made some Policeman friends. It was pretty comical. Aunt Susan got a kick out of all the boys. Luckily, they were pretty well behaved today :) After lunch, we went outside and rode bikes, picked berries, played with sticks and eventually went to feed the ducks. It was such a beautiful November day; we were NOT spending it in the house!!! Everyone had a SUPER time feeding the hundreds of ducks at the lake. It was such a fun visit. Aunt Susan is such a special lady to all of us. I love that she wants to be a part of all of our boys lives. They loved playing with her and can't wait for her to come back!

Thanksgiving 2012

I am always so excited for this time of the year. Thanksgiving is one of my most favorite holidays. Not just because of the delicious food, but because I have been so incredibly blessed in my life, and I feel like Thanksgiving always helps us remember and reflect. I am so thankful for my ENTIRE family, but this year we were especially thankful to get to spend the holiday with my dad. We always celebrate holidays with Poppa and JJ, but usually a week early, or a week late. We drove to Cloud View Dr. on Wednesday. The boys did so great in the car and only a couple of times did Bowen get fussy. Super baby. As soon as we got there, Braidy, Crockett and Quin started playing. They did not stop until we left. Seriously. It was rather late, so we ate some dinner and chatted for a while and got ready for bed. We had a big day ahead. On Thanksgiving morning, the boys got up early and helped Poppa feed the deer and assisted JJ with breakfast. Poppa took all 3 of them with him to get Rachy from the airport. Crockett had been waiting to go for about 2 weeks! After she got to the house, we all went on gator rides... I think the little boys now know dad's road better than he does! Ha! It was such a beautiful day outside and they definitely took advantage of it! The boys played outside all day and managed to get very wet and move every rock they could find. They had a blast. As we all worked with JJ to get the sides ready, Chef Ryan and Sous Chef Chris fried the turkey. Braidy even made a blueberry pie for the little boys. He is a little chef, and one day he is going to have "Braidy's Breakfast Restaurant"! You heard it here first! When we all finally sat down for our Thanksgiving meal, it was delish! SO YUMMY! Bowen even got his first helping of sweet potatoes on his 1st Thanksgiving. He LOVED it. Right before it got dark, I had asked Monica to take our annual family Christmas picture. My 3 boys gave me SO MUCH GRIEF that it almost wasn't worth it, but it was... as always. I treasure these pictures every year, even if I am the only one who wanted to take them :) How could we pass up such a beautiful backdrop?!? It really was such a wonderful Thanksgiving.

The next day, after we all recovered from our 'food coma', we decided to go ride the train at Landa Park in New Braunfels. We have been one other time and it is such a fun place and the boys love it! We even had some special visitors: Uncle Mike and Aunt Carolyn! We hadn't seen them in so long and they hadn't met Bowen yet, so we were all excited! They had a great time playing with the boys... I bet they both slept very good Friday night :) We all enjoyed riding the train, feeding the ducks and playing on the playground. It was such a beautiful day and we were so glad to get to be outside to enjoy it. The boys were all a bit testy, so it was a VERY GOOD THING that they were able to run and play as they pleased. When we got home, EVERYONE was worn out. Poppa and JJ went to rent a movie and we all watched it. On Friday night, I can honestly say, we were most thankful for bedtime. :)

On Saturday we woke up and had a delicious breakfast of waffles and got ready to go. But not before taking a few more really special pictures. We had such a great Thanksgiving and are so thankful that Poppa and JJ had us to their house. We left Bulverde and headed to San Marcos to visit Grandpa Steve and KK (Kelly). It was a short drive and Crockett was so happy to see them! Grandpa Steve saw Bowen when he was itty-bitty, so he couldn't believe how much he had changed and grown! Kelly finally got to meet Bowen and it was love at first sight! Crockett had so much fun playing at the playground (twice), collecting rocks and looking for seashells in the dirt. He even made a beach in the bird bath :) We all watched the Tech game (BOO! They lost in OT) and caught up since it had been such a long time since we had all been together. Kelly fixed a yummy dinner of bruschetta, spaghetti, salad and green beans. And after dinner, KK and Crockett made some cookies! It was such a fun time. Crockett even got to watch Umizoomi movies with Grandpa Steve upstairs before they went to bed. We had such a great visit and we were sad we couldn't stay a little longer. We sure love Grandpa Steve and KK! Can't wait to see them again!

We had such a great Thanksgiving this year. We got to see so many special people, and were blessed with some wonderful memories. Each person in our family is such a great, big part of our lives, and although we weren't able to see each one, we are so very thankful for the role they play in all aspects of our lives. We would not be who we are as individuals or as a family. We are blessed in such a big way. We are THANKFUL.

Quinny Turns 2!

One of my favorite little boys turned 2 this Sunday! Quin Joseph is such a happy, loving, smiley, and sometimes, ornery little boy. He greets pretty much everyone with a kiss and hug and makes my heart melt every time I hear him say "Aunt Jess". He loves Uncle Chris, Crockett and Bowen a lot too. He is just such a sweet spirit and we have been blessed to get to watch him grow. On Saturday we walked to the Curry's house for an ELMO pajama party! All of Quinny's friends ate doughnuts and fruit with chocolate milk (maybe the mommas and daddys did too :) It was like a breakfast picnic and everyone thought it was AWESOME! They got to make cereal necklaces and color ELMO and play with LOTS of balloons! I think all the kids had a great time! Quinny got lots of very fun gifts, including TONS of ELMO gear! He can now wear ELMO from head to toe, seriously. Quinny also got an awesome tricycle from LuLu and Papaw. It was so cute to see him on it! He was very excited! He had a great time at his party and it might have been the most successful 2 year old party I have ever attended :)

Quinny's real birthday was on Sunday. So after Church, we all went and joined the Curry's (including Nena and Pops) for a special birthday lunch of lasagna and Nena's special spinach. It was SO yummy! I love it when Curry's have birthdays! HA! The special birthday lunch ended with a special Elmo birthday cake. It was delicious. Quin was a pro at blowing out his candles. He even got to blow them out one more time after dinner, when LuLu, Papaw and Johnny were there. AND we all had a little more cake :) It was Quinny's birthday weekend, after all. Happy Birthday to sweet Quinny. We love you BIG much and love watching you grow.

Bowen Barrett - 5 months old

Another month has come and gone, in the blink of an eye. My sweet little boy is still growing like a weed, but thankfully, has slowed down a teeny bit. He began as a fussy, unhappy baby and is now one of the happiest, most laid-back babies I have ever known. My days are all brighter with this sweet smile that just melts my heart.

Bowen, You are growing so quickly. You weigh 19.6 lbs and are growing in length too, although I don't know how long you are. Your diapers are size 3s. You are still wearing 6-12 month clothes, but most 6 and 9 month clothes are quite snug. I have stopped buying 6-12 and will soon get the 12-18 clothes out. I can't believe that. You are still SO chunky. There is so much of you to love :) You have rolled over a couple more times, but are pretty content to just lay there. Or maybe you are a little lazy ;) You still don't like being on your tummy, but you are very strong and can hold your head up so good now. You love to sit up or stand up. You want to see what is going on and do not want to be left out. You get distracted very easily, which makes meal time a little difficult. You still eat every 3 hours and are on a great routine, most days. You wake up, eat, and play then take a nap. Usually a small nap in the morning, a longer nap in the afternoon and a cat nap in the evening. After your first 3 months, I never thought you were going to get on a schedule... I am so thankful you finally decided to cooperate :) I am also thankful that you are able to go-with-the-flow on those days when a routine is not quite possible. Maybe that is just part of being baby #2. You are ALWAYS such a trooper. I decided to wait until 6 months to begin foods, so you are still a breast-only baby. I think you are going to love food, though. You are such a happy baby. You wake up smiling and make everyone you come into contact with smile. You have the most adorable, contagious belly laugh. You are so ticklish and love to be thrown in the air. You are such a great bouncer these days, even our friends in the Cradle Roll class at church have mentioned this to me! I think you will be getting your first tooth in the near future because you NEED something in your mouth constantly and have begun drooling. You will have the cutest toothy smile. You also really still like playing with your feet. This makes diaper changes a little challenging! You are changing daily and I love being home with you to see it all. Your brother still thinks you are the greatest and cannot keep his hands off of you. You are one lucky, loved, little boy. You have blessed our family in ways I cannot even articulate. I look at both you and your brother and I am in awe of God's amazing plan for our family. My cup runeth over.