Happy Birthday Carter!

Our sweet Carter turned six the end of August.  We enjoyed celebrating with him!  

We began the day with homemade donuts for breakfast.  

For anyone that knows Carter, donuts are his FAVORITE food! 

 Carter helped mommy make his birthday cake.

 We celebrated with a Lego-themed birthday party.

Game time! 

Lots of laughs during the pizza dinner! 

Lego toss 

A Lego creation game.  The boys loved this! 

Happy 6th Birthday Carter Bradley!  

Carter brings so much laughter and fun to our home.  With his fun-loving personality, there is always a good time to be had when Carter is around.  Carter loves to play with his brothers and is especially sweet to his little sister.  He knows how to make people laugh, but is also quick to give his mom a hug or kiss his sister goodnight.  Carter enjoys riding bikes, building with Legos, drawing and art projects, playing Nerf guns and climbing trees.  He is a true joy and we are blessed to have Carter in our family!

August 2012

A few highlights from the month of August...

Fun at the park!

Summer crafts...

Claire loves preparing food for all of us!

Three Lakes Park with friends.

 Claire in her new big girl bed.

 The way she originally wanted to pose for the photo...silly girl!

Our hamsters gave us another batch of babies.  

Eleven this time!

We started school the end of August. For our first science experiment we created habitat for night crawlers.  The boys loved it! 

Watching as the worms made tunnels, mixing the soil with the sand.

Davis is 4!

At the end of July we celebrated Davis' fourth birthday!  We commemorated the special event with a birthday party for our sweet boy.

Davis with his backhoe cake.

All the brothers (and sister) were excited for the party to begin!

We served a low country shrimp boil for dinner.  Mmm....mmm.

The birthday boy hiding from the camera.

The kids liked the cajun food!

Next it was time for outdoor games-- with water balloons!

Then Uncle Eric became the target!

Davis loves his grandparents.

 Claire and Aunt Susie.

  

 

Davis loved the new backhoe mommy made for him, but apparently he didn't realize that it was a cake.  He wasn't too happy  when we cut it up and started eating it. Poor guy!

 Silly kiddos!

  

Davis is a sweet boy.  The "shy guy" in the Little crowd, Davis is affectionate and kindhearted.  He loves his little sister, always seeming to look out for her, and oftentimes even suggesting items that we should buy for "Claire-E."  Davis still loves to cuddle with his blanket and his bear, but can also be exceptionally tough when playing football with his brothers or reckless when knocking down Lego creations (this does not go over well with his big brothers).  At four years old he likes construction equipment, dinosaurs, and cars and trucks.  Happy Birthday sweet boy!  We are so blessed to have you in our family.  

July 2012

Here are some of our happenings from this past summer.  July was full of fun!

  

We all (including mommy) dressed like a cow for Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A.  The kids were good sports about it and we all enjoyed our free lunch!

On Independence Day we enjoyed a fun morning at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens with friends, followed by a festival at the Meadow Farm Museum and then fireworks with the Waagners later that evening.  It was definitely a fun-filled day!

We were able to visit the butterfly exhibit at Lewis Ginter.  Amazing! 

Weekends at the pool--it's always more fun when Daddy can join us!

In July we traveled to Pennsylvania for a family vacation.  We had a wonderful time staying at a bed and breakfast on a working dairy farm in the Lancaster area.  The kids had so much fun experiencing farm life.  While there, we were also able to visit some other local attractions.  This was definitely one of our most enjoyable family trips ever!

Claire on the tire swing at the farm.  

The guys kayaking on the creek that runs through the farm.

My country boy.  

We were able to visit the milking room and even milk a cow ourselves!  

Every morning we ate breakfast family-style in this room in the farm house.  

The kids enjoyed riding on the barrel train every morning after breakfast.

We all took the long hayride through the countryside each morning.  Beautiful!

Grant holding one of the many kittens on the farm.  The farmhouse is in the background.

Every morning the kids were able to ride on the miniature horse, Cookie.  

Claire LOVED the "pony."

A highlight of our time in Pennsylvania was a trip to Strasburg Railroad.  We all enjoyed looking at the steam engines, picnicking, watching pennies get flattened on the track, riding through the Amish farms, and just being together.

Another excursion was made to Hershey, PA.  We made a quick stop at Chocolate World and then visited Hershey Park (an amusement park).  

We are so grateful to have been able to enjoy some special family time and make some fun memories together. 

Carter learned to ride a bike!  He had been close for a while, but in July he officially became training wheel free.  Watchout!