The world's favorite ginger turned ONE on Sunday! To say we love this little man is an understatement. John Garrison is absolutely a ferocious animal these days, and it's wildly cute. He loves on his mama so much that Pete and I are convinced he'd crawl back inside me if he could. He finds just about anything funny that you'd like for him to find funny, so he's a great audience! And he and Susannah adore each other still, which makes me melt often throughout the day. We can't believe it's been a year! And as for his 1-year checkup, John KILLED IT. All of his percentiles went up to just above average, but the truly impressive jump was his weight, which went from 27th percentile 3 months ago to 59th percentile on Monday. Our pediatrician asked me, "So, what are you feeding him? Steak??" And I replied, "Yep!" The boy eats everything we eat, and consumes more than Susannah at each meal. And still nurses. He's not messing around. Here are some more fun birthday pics!
The great decorator!
Helping me ice John's cake and our cake
Singing "Happy Birthday" to our boy! He's a little confused.
Sus got to lick the candle, and John was all like, "What the...?"
All business.
"Oh hey, Sus, I'm covered in icing and up to nothing..."
"...I'm gonna getchya!"
"Cake for EVERYBODY!"
Checking out his birthday present!
Here's a video of the smash cake for those of you who don't find it disgusting:
And here's a video of John sitting in the super fun chair that the Cutchins got him. This is the first time he's even sat, and he was content right there for quite a while!
We had a great time with PopPop and Dizzy at the end of last month! I invited Mom to go to a Beth Moore conference with me nearby, so she and Dad came up for the week. Of course, Susannah and John had a blast! Even now, weeks later, when Sus gets upset about something, she will often cry and cry and then state boldly through her tears, "Susannah go airport right NOW! Go PopPop-Dizzy house right NOW!" Can't blame her!
For Mother's Day this year, I was thankful to do some fun stuff with the kids and Pete without having to cook dinner or change diapers. (Pete normally takes on the latter task when he's home anyway, but that combined with no dinner prep was the best!) Pete and Sus fixed me a special dinner and a special dessert, which entailed all the best homemade carnival food a gal could ask for! Pete killed a turkey last week, and the best way to eat wild turkey is deep-fried, so while the oil was hot, he dropped everything in, including a funnel cake for dessert! It was delicious, but you better believe Pete and I took the kids for a long walk after dinner. I have the sweetest babes (hubs included) and am so thankful to be the mommy of this house! This week was extra special because we had some surprise visitors -- Hudson, Holland, Hendricks, and Lauren came in town! It was nonstop energy and fun the whole week, and we were so sad to see them go. A few cute and/or funny things from this week:
Hendricks called me "TayTay." His first attempt at naming me confused me with my twin. ;)
Holland taught Susannah a new dance move at church on Wednesday that some like to call "dropping it like it's hot."
Last night, Hudson stayed outside with Pete until dark shooting bows and talking man stuff, so Sus and Dutch went to bed earlier than him, where Sus was in bottom bunk and Dutch was on the floor. Hud had been sleeping on top bunk, so when Sus realized that the lights were out and Hudson wasn't in bed yet, she was DEVASTATED. When Hudson heard her crying for him, he got the sweetest smile and ran to the room, poked his head in, and said, "I'm coming, Susannah! It's okay, I'm coming! I just have to brush my teeth!" Sus immediately got quiet and all was well. They are just so sweet to each other, it's adorable.
Holland told me to take another shower last night because I smelled like Uncle David.
Lots of pictures!
Manicure time with Dizzy!
On a walk with PopPop and got caught in the rain!
The sweetest
Pete and I got to go on a fancy date while my parents were here!
Someone loves her new sleeping bag from Dizzy. CINDERELLA!!
Our whole group at Beth Moore! What a great conference!
Really thankful Mom wanted to go with me
Happy Mother's Day!
First morning together after the big sleepover, and we're all pumped about it!
Toddler Ace Ventura came to visit, too!
These kids don't have any fun together
Hudson learning from the best. And seriously, Hud is really good now!
This is perfect.
Early birds
Loved having these 4 in town! We sure missed Uncle E, though!
We went on our first family roadtrip this month! Auburn had been calling our names, and we could tarry no longer. So we loaded up the minivan and drove down for a long weekend! Auburn football was having its Spring Game ("A-Day"), so not only were we able to visit with old friends, but it only cost us $5 a head to get into Jordan-Hare stadium; it would cost slightly more during football season...well, like hundreds more, actually. It was truly a marathon weekend of short naps and late nights, but Susannah and John were amazing. They made friends no matter who was around (this is not new for John, but our Sus Girl was so friendly! Almost outgoing even!), and they traveled sooooo well on the drive there and back. Despite our lack of sleep over the course of the weekend, the best word to describe my time down there (I can't speak for the others) would be refreshing. Not only were we able to stay with the Northcutt's for the weekend (Melissa and Van, and kids Sarah and Bradley -- a godly family that I have called myfamily since college), but we spent Saturday with some of my best friends from college, who were also in town with their husbands and babies, and some of Pete's best friends and their families; THEN on Sunday, Eric and Lauren and the boys drove over from Atlanta for the day! And those are just the highlights -- we reconnected with so many of our Auburn friends, and (to use a hackneyed phrased) "my cup runneth over" in the social interaction realm, praise the Lord. I'd almost forgotten how much I love events and people in close proximity. Distance surely does make the heart grow fonder because the love I felt/feel for all the men and women and kids we saw last weekend is inexpressible. I want to write more and more about how refreshing it was to be with these amazing people in a place that has so many wonderful memories, but you're not here for reading; you're here for pictures of my babies!
Snoozing during our 9.5hr-turned-13hr car ride to Auburn
Catching a quick nap between Cinderella viewings
This is John's favorite thing in the entire world
Susannah played blocks with Miss Melissa and Sarah as often as they were available to play.
4 of the 6 Peak House girls were able to make the trip, and these are our kids!
The whole Peak House group
Susannah cheering on her Auburn Tigers. "Sus, do you want the blue team or the white team to win?" "Ummm...the green team!"
Sus skipped her nap to go to the game, so on our way back to the car, she passed out in her stroller. This has never happened before.
The oldest and the youngest at Momma G's
The sun kept this pic from being super cute
This one, though, turned out great!
Snapped a quick pic before Bradley had to go to school and we had to hit the road
The kids with Sarah before school and departure
Those two, Melissa and Van, are Susannah's new best friends.
And this is how Pete stresses me out. "Distance to Empty: 0 mi." (To his credit, we did not run out of gas.)
March has been full of FUN both here in Franklin and abroad! Charis, Bethany, and Hannah stayed with us for a weekend a couple weeks ago, and the following week, we packed up our kids and headed to Figgy and Pops's house in Harrisonburg. Pictures of those fun times are below! Being the former English teacher that I am, I took note of a beautiful milestone last week: Susannah used her first simile. (If it's been a while, a simile is "a comparison using like or as.") "Mommy. I love bananas like candy" were her exact words. Such a smart girl! She also has 2 favorite questions these days: "What is that sound?" and "Why?" Right now, it's hilarious how many times she asks us those questions in a day; after a few weeks, I might change my adjective. We'll see. John Boy is 10 months old, and I'm pretty sure he's teething again. Hopefully they'll come in quick! He's still sleeping really well (God knows I need that), and he's saying "Mama" and "Dada" intentionally. "Mama" is all day, but it's very cute. The cutest thing going on with us lately is the kids' interactions in the car. They can see each other just over the sides of their carseats, so Susannah will look over and yell curtly (almost sternly), "JOHN!" and we'll see John's head turn to look at her, and they'll both smile real big and giggle. Then Sus will yell his name again, "JOHN! JOHNNY!" and John will go, "AGH! AGHHH!" back at her; and then the giggles erupt again. It's adorable. Now for Cousin Camp pics:
Susannah's holding her nose up as high as she can because she's about to drown in all the junk food groceries we bought for our cousins' visit! It was SO FUN picking out all the guilty pleasure foods!
The girls have arrived, and Suster is in heaven.
Ready for the Easter Egg Hunt (and for the front of a magazine, sheesh...these girls are just glowing with love and happiness!)
Such fun!
The final bounty!
Uncle Petey spent the next almost-2 hours on the trampoline making popcorn out of the girls.
Not any fun at all. If you listen really closely, you can here cautious Susannah saying, "Be gentle, Daddy, gentle!"
John was a happy spectator, plotting how he'll get in on all the fun soon enough!
Uncle Petey keeps a scope on/near the dinner table to look at deer in the evenings, and this picture of Hannie attempting to look at them is just priceless!
4 out of 5 are engrossed in Cinderella -- can you tell who's just happy to be alive? Two of the 4 girls asked to go to bed before the movie was even over, and the other two just about fell asleep on the couch before the final credits. We were wiped!
Susannah and her BFF Bethany matched for church on Sunday. Their faces in this picture adequately express their emotions about wearing the same dress -- these two absolutely adore each other.
And our trip to see FiggyPop (as Sus likes to call them):
Pops and Boy Child
Pete's best friend, Matt, and his daughter, Hannah, came over to play while we were there. Pictured is what I like to call, "Competitive Coloring." Each girl took turns pushing the other off her page. But they really did play sweetly together.
We got some snow while we were in Hburg! Susannah and John got to sled for the first time, and poor John may never do it again after his face-plant...
Now that I know everyone is fine, I wish I had held the camera up for just a second longer to get the full effect of the fall!
Sleepy John hanging out with Aunt Vicky
Sus got to help Aunt Sarah add the candles to Aunt Chipley's birthday cake.
Blowing out some candles with her fav person of the day, Aunt Chip!
Susannah looks slightly troubled here, but trust me; hiding on the floor with Figgy for a special treat was DELIGHTFUL to her!
Pajamas in the snow!
Lastly, Pete finally shaved off his beard yesterday, and after a second of getting used to the new look, John LOVED it:
