Mother's Day Weekend

Matching outfits!

Austin being baptized on Mother's Day

Sweet boy- he was a little overstimulated though! :-0

Austin with Daddy & Mama Bradley & Cousin Tristan

The Wicker Family at Mellow Mushroom

Happy 7th Birthday Madison!

Yummy homemade cake by Jason & Becky!

Happy 1st Birthday Thomas! Big sister Anna Grace chowing down on cake

Spending the day in our pj's

Look at Austin holding himself up!

Riding the pink piggy at the mall

Mother's Day weekend was a busy weekend for us. We had 2 birthday parties for 2 special kids in our life: Madison turned 7 and Thomas turned 1! Wow, how time flies. We celebrated Madison's party at Mellow Mushroom on Saturday. The kids made pretzels and enjoyed yummy pizza. Then, Sunday evening we went to Virginia Hiton Park where we celebrated under the nice park shelter and feasted on yummy food. Bradley enjoyed seeing his bestest bud Anna Grace and watching Thomas chow down on his cake.

Then, the most exciting thing was Austin's Baptism on Mother's Day at our church, Lexington United Methodist. Most of our family was able to join us for this very special occassion. All the grandparents: Hawkins, Wicker, and Broome; Uncle Michael and Aunt Beth; Uncle Sverre, Aunt Jennifer, and Tristan; and The Cunningham family joined us for the service. Then, we came back to our house where we enjoyed a yummy lunch. Thank to all the grandparents for helping out with the meal! We dined on homemade chicken salad, pimento cheese, croissants, homemade spinach dip, boiled shrimp, homemade salsa (I found the Chili's recipe and it's so good!), chicken nuggets, veggies and dip. Then, for dessert we had fresh strawberries with a cream cheese dip and tea cakes from Parkland Cakes (they make all of our special occassion cakes- our wedding cake, Chris' med school graduation, and etc). It was a very special day. Austin did well in church; we were so blessed to be able to have him baptized in church!

Austin currently weighs about 11.5lbs. He is growing so well and is becoming so much more personable. He even smiled for the NICU nurses when we visited them this last week. We had another busy weekend this past weekend too; tons of fun all weekend long! Our friends, Heather and Michael, came and hung out with us Friday night. We played some Wii and just enjoyed spending some relaxing time together. Saturday we headed out to Harbison for some shopping with Grandmama Broome in tow. This Mama wants to thank Grandmama Broome for buying some new clothes for my birthday! We also went by Babies R' Us and bought a high chair for Austin, so he can start joining us at the table. Then Saturday night our neighbors , George and Kerri, joined us for some Beaufort Stew. We also enjoyed some of Tastefully Simple's Wheat Beer Bread and Lemon Bars. Kerri is a Tastefully Simple Consultant if anyone needs some easy, delightful foods. We are very blessed to have some wonderful neighbors. Then, we ended the weekend with a visit from Uncle Michael, Aunt Beth and the Hawkins grandparents!

Next weekend should be fun as well. We're having a street party, our half of the neighborhood is having a cookout Saturday night. Chris will be on call on all weekend, but we pray it will be a good call- not lots of time away from home! Then, sweet Anna Grace is turning 3 on Monday. So, we'll celebrate with them at Saluda Shoals for her birthday. Gardens by Design finished our landscape design. It's going to be gorgeous when we finish it. I'm going to take before and after pictures. Our plan is to get an irrigation system and the grass down in the next month. The trees, shrubs, and perennials will take some time to install. We'll do that slowly over the next few year probably. Plus, we're going to extend our deck and put in a stone patio. We plan to be in the house for a LONG time, so we wanted to make a great outdoor living space to enjoy with our family. Plus, Chris and I will be celebrating our eighth wedding anniversary next Tuesday. I can't believe it's be 8 years! We've had some hard times, but we still manage to keep our marriage strong. Things just keep getting better!