Pumpkin Patch Picnic

We picked a beautiful day for pumpkin picking this week.  The boys spent hours and hours there playing and soaking up the sunshine.  Here are a few pictures from our day.

Caleb loves to go see the animals

Caleb's 2nd Birthday

Birthday Boy

A certain boy I know recently turned two and had a pretty fun birthday party to celebrate it!  My fab friend and photographer was there to take some great pictures for us at the tractor party at the Little Gym.  This was the first party I have had away from home and this one was a huge success!  There was room for everyone and the kids had a blast.  The girls from the Little Gym were very good to work with too!

Digging into the cake and ice cream

"Fresh Cut Fields": I made these cupcakes and found these cute tractor cupcake toppers on Etsy.  

Country picnic theme

Our friend Cassie made these awesome cake pops for us that were as yummy as they were cute.

We probably didn't need more sweets but who could resist some hay bales?

Farmer Caleb's Veggie Garden

The birthday cake 

Caleb is 2!

The boys had not been to the Little Gym before but they loved it!

Great place for climbers and dare devils like my two.

Momentary pause

Loving the balance beam

This was the funniest thing - my shy little Adam would run up the incline mat, do some big jump from the top, land and then put his hands on his hips, shoulders back (big ending) and face his audience!  So cute!  We were all so surprised!  I later found out that his preschool camp had been playing "Olympics" in the gym so I guess that is where it came from.

It must be nice to have a big brother help you do everything!  

Walking, then running in a circle led by the birthday boy

Splat!

Parachute time!

Lilly and Caleb on the uneven bars

Big inflatable thing - this was really fun!

Upper body strength

Making it official - Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

The Crazy Clan

Here is the link for the short video from the Little Gym:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJsffgaoH3M&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Happy Birthday Caleb!!!!!!!!!!

What's on my Camera?

I could do something like this every day for a year and not feel caught up!  Just wanted to share some recent pictures of the boys from this summer.

Hanging out by the new playset - Caleb's and Adam's birthday present from us this year. 

Squeeze!

Hanging out up here while Daddy cuts the grass.

Not so little boy

Cute face

Caleb is really into this weird series of looks which were kinda scary the first time I saw them, haha!  He stares, then does the strange corner-of-his-eye thing.  Now it is a family joke and he and Adam do it to make each other laugh!

Looking for my eye in the camera - whatever works!

Mamaw moved to Lexington this month! The boys are really glad to have her so close. 

Bonus: Mamaw's new house has a pool!  Nana has been helping Adam learn to swim all summer, and now he hardly even uses his life jacket! He loves it, and does so well!  

Caleb likes it too when he is up for it.

'Til next time!

Papaw Bell

Since November when I lost my Papaw Bell, I have wanted to do a post about him, but I have felt like I could never capture what he meant to my family.  That is still true, but I have decided to just share a little bit about him.

My brother and I are so fortunate to have had four truly wonderful grandparents, all of whom had big parts in our lives.    I think every little girl and boy should have the experience we have had of growing up with such wonderful grandparents.  I have so many sweet memories of playing Candyland, Checkers, cars, Little People, and Cooties in my Mamaw and Papaw's living room floor growing up. He carted us around anywhere we wanted to go, was at all our "events", gave me my first car and kept it running until I got a new one when I was married, and was our family Mr. Fix-It.  He had patience that was unmatched and a good sense of humor.

I have been struggling over this post for months because how do you truly capture what a person means to you with a few paragraphs and the handful of pictures you can round up?  Well, you can't, and that is okay.  I have those memories and I am blessed that my boys were able to know him too.

I have always loved this picture - this was taken in April 2009

This is a picture of a picture but it is from their 50th anniversary, when I arranged for some friends and family to surprise them at a restaurant. It was worth every moment!  Scotty and I were "taking them out to dinner" and they weren't even suspicious when I pinned these flowers on them.  I told them, "This is what you do when it is your 50th anniversary!"  So thankful Jessica was there to take pictures for me - the first event I asked her to do! 

This was taken in the July 2006 at Scotty's graduation from fire academy

This came from a picture of a picture that I took (I dislike scanning) so the quality isn't the best but I love the grin! This was when Scotty first got an apartment in Richmond - Papaw was there to help with everything.

Love this one because it illustrates my Mamaw's efforts to always have Papaw's clothes match or compliment hers, haha!  This time, it looks like she picked out my clothes too!

Cannot even guess how many times I saw him just like this.  

I love this one from Christmas 2006 because when I see it, I can hear his laughter.  He loved a good prank. 

We miss you Papaw!