M&Ms and Hunger Strikes

The last week of May was a whirlwind of fun for us.  First, Pete and I dropped the kids off in Harrisonburg with Figgy and Pops and headed to Baltimore to attend a fancy wedding of some friends.  Super thankful we have two sets of parents who are more than willing to watch the babes so that every now and then Pete and I can party hardy...until 10:00.  ;)

All matchy-matchy at the harbor in Baltimore.

And then all snazzy-snazzy for the wedding!

Pete then headed home to work for the week, and the kids and I stayed on with Pops and Figgy for a few days until my parents came in town to whisk us away to West Virginia where Susannah was the flower girl for our cousin Brooke's wedding!

John Boy got to have his second 1st birthday party for the couple hours of grandparent overlap time in Harrisonburg.  I'm not sure what type of civil injustice occurred, but he had just days before declared a hunger strike and would only eat mac n cheese, PB&J, and fruit; luckily, his stance was not strong enough to keep him from stuffing his face once again with some cake in celebration of turning one.  He resumed his hunger strike following the cake smashing and continued dramatically for the duration of our trip.  Thankfully, he went back to his normal-eater-self immediately upon returning home.  Must've been a homesick little buddy!

Watching some toons with Pop!

I was spying on the master gardeners from the kitchen window as they refilled the birdbath and went flower picking. 

Walking away to cut the cake and John does NOT want it out of his sight!

The hunger strike can wait!

This boy LOVED the Children's Museum in Hburg!

Who wouldn't love a massive Lite Brite?

Susannah got to play at the museum with her buddy Hannah Garst, our friends Matt and Lora's little girl.

Sus did an amazing job as a flower girl in Brooke's wedding; she was stoic as usual, but she walked down the aisle dropping her petals the whole way and immediately asked for her M&Ms when she reached me at the front pew.  My face could have fallen off I was smiling so hard -- I was SO PROUD.  I think reaching Mommy probably would have been prize enough for my little best friend, but Mommy + M&Ms was a sure thing (even though she did have a nanosecond of panic when she saw all the people before she spotted me).

Here is Susannah doing the 100 meter "silly sprint" in our hotel room the first night.

Swim lessons with Dizzy in the hotel pool!

Selfies during the rehearsal with the cutest flower girl known to man.

Best friends!

Wedding ready! .....

John Boy's ready to party at the reception.

Hearts, hearts, and more hearts.

Wedding cupcakes and convos

After finally getting Sus off the dance floor at 9:30 (video below), John immediately fell asleep in the car and did not wake up until the next morning -- not getting out of the carseat, not getting a diaper change, not getting his PJs on.  

And Susannah sure did cut a RUG on the dance floor!  She absolutely owned it for almost 45 minutes.  Anytime anyone asked to dance with her (including Mommy and Daddy), her response was, "No, I dance by myself!"

John Turns 1!

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!

Visitors and Mother's Day and More Visitors!

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!

Auburn in April

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 my family 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.)