Easter Saturday.

We "dived" eggs with Granti, Auntie, and DB on Saturday afternoon.  Cassidy even made pizza dip to celebrate the occasion!  The kids LOVED dying the eggs this year and, for the first time ever, spent quite a bit of time making sure each egg was exactly the way they wanted it.

Granti brought Easter baskets for the kids filled with "strong mints" (tic tacs), gummies, a little cash, and some Mickey Mouse soap and shampoo that she swiped from the hotel during our stay back in January.

The baskets were a big hit.  Even Emmy was pleased with hers.

We attempted an egg hunt in the backyard with all of the newly colored eggs, but it didn't go so well. Actually, Harris had a great time.  He put on his bunny ears and went to town.  Babe, on the other hand, chased after Harry in an attempt to get the ears for herself.  I'm still not quite sure why she didn't just get her own ears, but that's only one of about a million things I'll never understand about her reasoning.

Oh, well.

Shortly after Granti, Auntie, and DB left, we loaded up and headed out to the Boozers for an Easter dinner and egg hunt with some good friends.

There's something special about celebrating holidays (and regular days!) with our friends and their families.  I love, love, love that these guys are growing up together and am so incredibly thankful for a healthy church with a more than healthy children's ministry.  Who could have ever imagined that when we began one of our very first LIFE Groups all those years ago and sweet little Cadence was the only baby on the block that we'd end up here?!?!?!??!

The older I get, the more I realize the sacredness of friendship.  What an honor it is to be someone's friend. 

Happy Easter Eve, y'all.

Four Months.

Big Nut,

I love you.  With every fiber of my being.  But I am having the hardest time keeping up with your milestones.  Let me rephrase:  Daddy and I (and the big kids) celebrate every single new thing you do.  I just have a hard time writing them down. :)

So here's what I remember about your fourth month:

-At your appointment,  you weighed 12 lbs, 11 oz (31%) and were 23.5 inches long (25%).  You're still the tiniest of everyone, but you've chunked up pretty well in the last few weeks.

-Your schedule is pretty much perfect.  During the week, we wake you around 7:15.  On the weekends you'll often sleep until 8:00!  You nurse or take a bottle every four hours throughout the day.  You get two bottles at Ginnell's and started the month drinking 7 oz. at each feeding but are now up to eight.  Pumping at work continues to be a breeze for me, too...I pump exactly what you need each day.  You typically go down for the night around 8:00, sometimes later if we're out and about.  I "top you off" with a short, short, short nursing session before putting you down, and we call it a day.  Dr. Jackson told us we could go ahead and try cereal with you, but things are going so well these days that I'm going to hold off for another few weeks.

-Your skin is still mega-dry.  Daddy lathers you with lotion every night, and you love it.  He's very gentle and caring when he does it.  Your head is covered in cradle cap, too, but Granti and I both love taking care of that stuff!  We've cut your baths down to about one a week, also, which really seems to help your skin.

-You smile and LAUGH all the time.  You're ticklish around your neck and ribs, and also let out some big belly laughs when we get close to your face or bounce you slightly on our bed.

-We get complimented all the time on what a good baby you are.  It's true.

-You're loving your time at Ms. Ginnell's and they're loving you.  Now that Mr. Joe's at home, you get to spend quite a lot of time with him.  We are so, so blessed to have them in our lives.

-You poop once a week.  It's a blowout and it usually happens in the church nursery on Sunday mornings.  It's just what you do.

-You're a pro at rolling from your stomach to your back and have just about mastered rolling from your back to your stomach...that one little arm still tends to cause hang ups for you, but I feel certain you'll have it down pat pretty soon.

-You grab just about anything you can see and have reached the stage where everything goes straight to your mouth.  Your fingers spend tons of time there!  You are most definitely a thumb sucker and now prefer your thumb over your pacifier.  You can even get your thumb in your mouth on the first try now!  You're starting to suck your first two fingers during your awake time, too.  It's cute.

-You still wear size two diapers but have moved up to six month clothing.

-Your feet are still ridiculously small.

-You celebrated Easter for the first time.

You fit perfectly in our family.

Mema's.

The kids and I finished up our Spring Break with a trip to Mema's today.  It was sooooo much fun!  When we arrived, Mema had everything set up for a very special lunch!  The kids took some time to look over the menu and place their orders before enjoying a sweet meal with the Meems.

Emmy slept through all the excitement. :)

My sweet baby woke up eventually, just in time to head outside with Mema, Daniel, and the big kids.

The majority of the afternoon was spent hunting for caterpillars, roly polies, and ladybugs. 

There was a little hammock action, too.

And lots and lots of lovin'.

It was the perfect end to the perfect week.



Anniversary Dinner.

Ben and I were married on April 5, which pretty much makes it one of the best days on the calendar.  Of course, it doesn't hurt that one of my best friends and her guy tied the knot on the same date, making us anniversary twins. 

And if you're anniversary twins, and both have three kids (to include a small baby a piece), and your anniversary falls on a weeknight, then you might as well celebrate together.

Which is exactly what we did.  With steak and salmon.

Yum.

We had such a great evening celebrating with Britton, Kim, and all the crazy kiddos.  I'm so thankful for friends that become family.

And for my super awesome husband.  I love him.

Spring Break O'Fun.

We've had a blast hanging together during Spring Break this week.  Highlights of the week have included:  our trip to Chattanooga, seeing "The Lorax" (even Daddy got to go!), visiting Daddy's office for a trip to the playground and lunch at Los Hermanos, going to Mema's house, and some time at the Game Ranch.

It's just a little taste of what's to come this summer. :)

I only took pictures of our outing to the Game Ranch.  It's an annual trip for us, and we had a ton of fun once again this year!

Big Nut just chilled in her stroller, but Harry and Babe had a great time feeding all of the animals.  We had peanuts, corn, crackers, apples, and carrots, and the animals loved us!

This was our first time visiting in the afternoon.  I was afraid the animals wouldn't be very hungry, but I was wrong!  We didn't see as many deer as usual, but we spent a ton of time with the farmyard animals.  Spring is a good time to visit, too, because little babies are all over the place!

Until next year (or possibly this summer), Game Ranch!

Sunday in Chattanooga.

We woke up well-rested and ready to get moving on Sunday morning!

After packing up our stuff, we headed to the breakfast buffet and stuffed our faces.  The kids ate well (breakfast is a favorite!) and immediately headed out to get a little more time on the train before we had to leave.

Ben, Emmy, and I watched the big kids play for at least half an hour before loading up and heading over to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Authority for our ride on the Missionary Ridge Local.

We were a few minutes early, so we spent some time climbing up and down and in and out of some of the different train cars they had on display.  We've done this lots before while riding Thomas and The Polar Express, but it was such a better experience without the crowds.

We headed to the platform once we heard the whistle announcing the approaching train.

We had a great little ride through a very famous tunnel (it was featured in Water for Elephants!) and then hopped off to watch the engine on the turntable and tour the shop area.  Even I was pretty impressed with the turntable demonstration.

We rode back to the station, grabbed a quick snack in the cafe area while Emmy nursed, and headed to Mimi and Poppa's for a short visit before making our way back home.

I'm pretty sure my new favorite tradition (other than Disney!) is going to be the quick weekend getaway. 

I love my family.

Our Train Fix.

We left the Creative Discovery Museum and headed to the Historic Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel, where we checked in to our very own Victorian Train Car room!

The kids were beside themselves, and Ben and I were pretty stoked, too.  It's not every night you get to sleep in a train car. :)

We rested in the room for just a little bit before venturing out onto the property. 

The gardens were a huge hit with the kids...they especially loved the little pond full of fish.  There was plenty of room for Harry and Babe to run and skip and laugh and play--which they did!--but they often ended up right back at this little pool.

We also spent a ton of time playing on the train engine on the property.  Harris and Hadley yelled "all aboard!" and pretended to load and unload guests all evening long.  If we could get one of those things in our backyard, those kids would never come inside!  It was such fun to sit and watch their imaginations at work.

Because we were still full from lunch, we decided to check out the model train museum before eating dinner.  If we had one of these anywhere within a twenty-five mile radius of our house, I'm certain I'd never, ever see Ben.  Below are two of the five hundred pictures he took during our half-hour stay.

Upon leaving the museum, Harris stumbled on an "Old Tyme" photo shop and was hooked.  And thus our very first professional picture as a family of five was born.

I love it.  And them.

In addition to the conductor's hats, museum tickets, and Tennessee Valley Railroad tickets, our package also came with a restaurant credit, so we cashed that bad boy for some pretty good pizza at the Silver Diner car.  Eating on a train car was almost as much fun as sleeping on one!

We ended the evening with a carriage ride around Chattanooga.  We were pulled by a horse named Junebug and joined by a Dalmatian named Nate.  Hadley was in heaven.

We returned from the carriage ride to see the Choo Choo all lit up with gas-flame lights...a pretty perfect ending to a pretty perfect day.

We brushed teeth,

tucked in,

and fell asleep.

Contentment.