Family

Some of my fondest memories have been with my family. Growing up with an extremely close family was the absolute best. When we lived in Puerto Rico, we made time to be with my grandparents, all my cousins, Aunts, Uncles, etc. You get the drift. It was unbelievable how much my dad's family and my mom's family made it a point to be together.

When we moved to Texas a lot of my dad's family lived there. We were super close. We went to Puerto Vallarta with my dad's aunt, Titi Will, and her family. We all went to Oklahoma for a dude ranch together. My cousins and I were super close and those memories I will never forget. Every party together was incredible. I learned how to dance Merengue and Salsa with our Uncle, Charlie and older cousins and my dad. Too much fun! Memories that made an impact in my life and on my outlook on family.

Now, I thank God that I have an incredible Sister-in-law that shares in these same values. Ashley and I want nothing more than for our children to grow up and be close and go on family vacations together. She is the best. Tonight we started a new family tradition. We are going to do Sunday family night dinners. Debbie came tonight and it truly made our night. It's so important for the kids to spend time with their Gammie. They do love her and love spending time together. Dinner was wonderful and it was great for everyone to be together. We truly missed Chad, but can't wait until next time when we are all together.

We had a great time at the pool today as well. Travis got to swim a lot with Jonathan. Uncle Brian got to play with him as well. Both Travis and Brian played with Ayden and he loved that! To Ayden, Brian and Travis are just big kids. Too cute! Can't wait until next weekend when we are all together for Kendall's birthday party.

Swimming

This weekend was a very fun weekend, but once again very busy. Friday night, we went out to eat with Thali and Maurice at Crust. We had a wonderful time catching up with them. We hadn't seen them in too long. Jonathan behaved so well at dinner and had a pretty good time playing with his toys and being held by all.

Saturday, we ran a ton of errands and then went to Robbie and Emma's house for a Low Country Boil. Everything was perfect as usual. Emma and Robbie are always such incredible hosts. Everyone really enjoyed themselves and the kids seemed to have had a great time.

Sunday, we wanted a relaxing day, so we went over to Debbie and Phil's for a wonderful pool day. I needed some sun and Jonathan loves the water. He enjoys his baths so much that I was sure he'd love the pool. Guess what, he did. He stayed in the pool for an hour. He was in heaven. He is going to be our little fish. He was kicking his little legs under water and just lounging in his cousin's float. Ashley and Justin brought Kendall and Ayden over and they had a great time with Jonathan. Jennifer and Brian were also over with us. Once Ayden saw that Brian was there, he realized he had someone to really play with. LOL! Same mentality level. J/K!

Busy Bees

This weekend was so busy for us. We went to Brian's Birthday dinner on Friday night. We had a blast and Jonathan behaved so well as usual. Then Saturday, we went to Addie's first birthday party. Kimberly and Zach did a wonderful job with her birthday party. It was a cupcake theme. Everything was so cute. The food was delicious, the kids had a blast, and we were so lucky to be able to spend such a memorable moment with them. Addie has gotten so cute and keeps growing like crazy.

After Addie's Birthday Party, we went to Grayson's Birthday Party. They had it at the Little Gym. Talk about a neat place for kids. All the kids, of all ages, had a blast (Travis even wanted to play). Grayson has gotten so big and so cute with so much personality. The best was when the music came on and he started dancing like crazy. That was the cutest thing I have ever seen. He's going to be such a fun little boy. It was great to spend time with all my friends from US Xpress too.

Then, later that night we went to Annie and Jeff's Graduation Party. Congrats to both of them for getting their Masters. We are so proud of them. They did an incredible job. They have the perfect set-up for wonderful parties. Their backyard is incredible. They had Cornhole, wonderful food, drinks, great company, and a wonderful time. They even had a blow-up jumping thing for the kids. Just shows how much our lives have changed. Before, it was all about the parties and the fun. Now, it's all about the parties and the fun, but we make everything kid friendly and family friendly.
We've grown up so much recently. Not just us, but all our friends too. We are all about being together as a family and not missing out on any memorable moments with each other. At this point in our lives, I love where we are headed. All our kids will grow up together and play together and that is an incredible feeling. Chattanooga is a wonderful place to raise our kids and start our wonderful families. So glad I can call Chattanooga our home.

J Loves to Grub

Well we found out about a month ago that J has some acid reflux issues and since he was starting to get more mobile, this was causing him to spit up more often. Dr. Meredith told us to go ahead and add some cereal to his formula and to also look to add some yellow vegetables to his diet and this should help out.

Well we have discovered this is definitely my son, the boy loves to eat. We are at 4 1/2 months right now and whenever he sees a bottle or a spoon the kid gets super excited. When he's finished with the bottle he gets upset because it's all gone.

Isa keeps him during the day and she says he loves carrots and sweet potatoes. We are going to start him on some squash next week, but thus far he's loved it all. She will tell him "Yum, Yum" when she's about to feed him and the excitement mounts. These days his bottles don't stand a chance.

I just hope this continues as he gets older because I know how much I enjoy eating and I need a little foodie to tag along with me.

Baptism Pictures

I already told you all about the baptism, but here are some pictures from that memorable day.

Family

I have a few quotes to share that tell everything about the pictures I'm going to share. We are going through a great journey and it only keeps getting better.

“Other things may change us, but we start and end with family."
“The love of a family is life's greatest blessing”
“A happy family is but an earlier heaven.”
“Every father should remember that one day his son will follow his example instead of his advice”
“In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.”
“The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works, is the family.”
“We are one big family of people, trying to make our way through the unfolding puzzle of life.”
“Treat your family like friends and your friends like family.”

Tuesday Nights

Jonathan Loving Life

Every Tuesday night we go to Music Class with Jonathan. Thanks to Melanie for the wonderful gift, Jonathan is developing so quickly. He loves his class and he loves the girls in the class too ;). He adores Mrs. Janice. He stares at her more than us. He is grabbing the instruments now and starting to shake them. He loves the slide too. Don't worry, we hold him the whole time. It's just an amazing bonding time for Travis and I with our son. Here are some pictures I took yesterday while we were in the class.

Arianna, Jonathan's Favorite Friend