Monday night, Westen and I picked some banana peppers from our garden and then set off to make that marvelous pizza!  Baron supervised while Westen put pepperoni and banana peppers on the pizza for me.

I think he liked it!

By the way, on the subject of banana peppers, I pickled some for the first time which you can read about here, as well as the making of homemade laundry detergent.  Then Tuesday we headed to a splash park.

The boys had fun!  Westen liked squirting the water guns and running through the sprinklers.  Baron just liked to splash:)

Tomorrow is hopefully a boat day! Have a great weekend!

I've been remembering to take some video again lately, so I thought I'd share a few that I thought were pretty good.  To try and help Westen maintain some of the basics he learned at his preschool last year, we've been doing a little homework lately...

While Westen's been working on his numbers, Baron's been learning to dance...

And last, Westen's latest feat, swimming from one side of the pool to the other.  Impressive for a 2 yr. old if I do say so myself.

Have a Happy Monday!

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned in this post that I had a picture of Westen that was really similar to that picture above of Baron.  So yep, the one above is Baron at about 8 months old playing in the sand at the springs.  So here's that similar picture of Westen...

Pretty funny, huh??  Westen was also probably around 8 or 9 months old - but his was taken at the beach.  After I took the picture of Baron and was later skimming through the photos I had taken that day, I instantly realized it seemed just like that one of Westen.  As soon as we got home that day, I found it and pulled it out to compare.  Here's a side by side...

I LOVE IT!!  These will be getting printed and blown up to a bigger size and put in the house somewhere.  Too cute not to, right!!  So, do they look alike or not??

What???  9 months old???  Baron will go for a 9 month check up soon and then his next one will be for his 1 yr!  It just seems unbelievable to me that we're fast approaching a 1st birthday!  9 months has been good to Baron.  Just after he turned 8 months he started crawling and it seemed the same day started pulling himself up on everything.  His crawl is pretty comical to watch because he still isn't doing it quite what you'd call "right" and sometimes it just makes me laugh.  But, I learned from Westen that, it doesn't have to be "right" to be considered crawling.  He is moving!  And that's all that counts.  It has changed our home environment fo sho!  First of all, because he is mobile and can get to whatever toy he lays eyes on - someone is having a bit of difficulty with that.  Yep, big brother doesn't like that one bit.  Sharing is quite the issue in our house right now;)  In addition to that, Baron gets into everything and finds everything tiny to put in his mouth.  And I think he's going to be a climber.  He also stopped nursing this month.  I was a little sad, but he was needing more than I could give him.  I guess I was kinda glad too though - hello caffeine:)  He's also getting more vocal.  We've heard mamamamamama and dadadada although he doesn't know he's saying our names.  Other things too...uh oh once and the rest just jibberish.  I'd like to think he's getting bigger but maybe longer is more accurate.  He's still a skinny butt and eating is still a battle, but we're working through it.  And he does eat... he just doesn't seem to like anything which often makes for unpleasant meals.  As for getting a 9 month picture of him with the bear...well, just check out the sequence of events.  First not bad...

The window above his head made the whole picture too bright, thus the reason his head is cut off, so I moved the chair, but this was what I kept getting.

He kept climbing up before I could snap a picture so I ran to the other side...

That one's cute too but I wanted to see more of him.  I headed back to the other side and kept dragging his leg back down when he'd try to climb and we got this...

He thought it was a game...

In the mean time, brother wanted some photo action.

Then, I made some more attempts with Big B, but he had decided he was all done with the photo shoot. He threw his bear at me:)

I put it back and he did it again..

Then, he went after the camera...

I can't really remember what was going on here.  Acrobats??

I finally gave up and just took another picture of Mr. Cool.  He was being still for once:)

Anyway, I want the clock to slow down.  I don't really like my babies getting bigger.  I'm not ready to have a 2 yr. old and a 1 yr. old.  I guess I oughtta savor the next 3 months, huh?  It's coming whether I want it or not.  Hope you're having a great Wednesday:)

And to see the rest of Baron's updates click here.

So this is a little late since these pictures are from last weekend, but whatev.  I just haven't been motivated so much this week.  Last weekend, we headed back to our new favorite park which I talked about here.  It's right next to some baseball fields and Westen's been all into baseball as of late.  He asks to watch it nearly every night while drinking his milk:)  What will we do when season is over??  We didn't think ahead enough to bring his bat and ball, but we did let him take a trip around the bases.  Here we are racing...

Here he is getting ready on homeplate.  He was so funny!

And here's my favorite of Westen and Daddy walking off the field...

It was really hot out that day.  We went Saturday late morning, so Westen didn't last too long on the field.  He got tired and hot quick and this was after he'd been playing on the playground for awhile.  What's funny is that after Westen headed to the dugout for a break, Austin and I then decided to time each other sprinting around the bases.  There's nothing wrong with a little friendly competition, right???  Well, I won't tell you what our times were, so as not to completely embarrass ourselves, but I will say Austin beat me AND that we left the field still speaking to each other:)  Oh how we've matured in our near 7 years of marriage!  LOL!!

That night as I got Baron ready for bed, I realized his pj's shirt for the pants I had already put on him was dirty so I just put a mismatch one on.  The combination made him look so completely and utterly tiny.  I don't think these pictures really capture it, but I just kept staring at this long, but tiny little baby crawling around and it was just so stinkin' cute!  He is sooooo long and skinny! And he's a total cuddler.  I just love him!

Seriously...isn't he adorable!

And my fave...

I totally think he looks like a Day in that one:)  Have a great weekend!

You may remember from my Mother's Day post that our church does its baby dedication twice a year, one of them being on Mother's Day.  Well, this past Sunday, I finally got the CD of pictures that the ever so kind Mr. Eddie from our church took that day of baby dedication, thus our sweet little Baron:)

That's us on the right.  At the beginning of the church service a prayer for these babies is made. Then, a few words are spoken about what "baby dedication" really means. It should really be called parent dedication because it is really us parents who are making a commitment to raise these babies in a Christ-centered/biblical home.  And we're kind of making a vowel to do so with our church family as witnesses.

Below is the collage Mr. Eddie made each family.  So nice.  Austin and I look forward to see what God has in store for our little Baron.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. - Jeremiah 29:11

Hope you had a Happy 4th of July weekend!  We certainly did!  We spent some time at the beach on Monday before the fireworks celebration that night.  Austin and I were laughing this weekend as we remembered when Westen was Baron's current age, we'd take him to the beach and put sand toys all around him and he'd sit in one spot and never move. I mean for over an hour he'd sit in the same place and just play.  Baron on the other hand...

Let's just say we couldn't take our eyes off him for a minute.  He'd head straight for the water!!  He was so cute!  And as Westen would go wash his hands off in the sand every little bit...

Baron would get himself covered in it and couldn't be happier.  It's so funny how different they are!  I suppose it'd be boring otherwise:)

Here's Austin with our friend, Mr. Tim, who invited us to go with him and his wife that day!  Thanks for the invite, guys!  We had so much fun!

After a beautiful day at the beach, we headed home for some much needed naps...especially since we planned to see the local fireworks that night that didn't start until 9:30pm.  I wasn't sure if the boys would make it. Before we left, Westen and Daddy lit a couple sparklers.  Of course, Westen burnt his finger and had to get a bandaid.

We got to the park for the fireworks about 730 or 8pm, so we had lots of time before the actual event.  There was  alive band playing and our own live entertainment from Mr. Westen.  You know I usually can't get him to stop for a picture but this night, he was so wired (I don't know how - Austin and I were exhausted), but he was all, "Mommy, take a picture of me running."  "Mommy, take a picture of my bandaid." "Mommy, take a picture of my ball."  He danced and played so hard before the fireworks ever began:) 

Here's my patriotic boys...

You may remember Westen's first kiss from last summer with the ever so adorable Addison.  Well guess who we got to see Monday...

Isn't she sooo cute??  Well, we didn't try for a reenactment of last year's kiss, but we did get a cute picture.  And they played well together:)  And wouldn't you know Miss Addy has a little sister too...

That's Baron and Baby Ella.  We just can't help ourselves but to take these pictures!

Yeah - Westen was hamming it up that night:)  And while Westen and Daddy watched the fireworks - and declared every color they saw...

Baron played with the stroller and climbed all over all of us - clearly not that impressed:)

Such a fun day!  And thanks to all our men and women in uniform who keep and have kept this country free!

Last night before dinner, we wanted to check out this new park we've heard about in town.  I don't know about the boys, but I loved it! Here's Baron crawling around on the rubber-like floor - ground? (I'm drawing a blank...what would you call it?)

It's completely fenced in and what I think is perfect for toddlers.  Westen could pretty much do everything there.

There was even more than just a baby swing for Baron.  Look how cute this is...

Baron tried to eat everything there including the mulch and little happy face airplane:)

Westen would hardly be still for me to take a picture.  I got him here playing with his brother.

Baron couldn't really play on this thing but he looked so cute sitting there I had to snap!

And check out my big boy (sigh)...

I think it's safe to say he loved it too!

And Baron on the swing...

The whole time we were at this park I was thinking...potential birthday party for a 3 yr. old???  After the park, we headed to dinner at our favorite wings restaurant then home for a good nights rest because today was...

BOAT DAY!!  It's been almost a month since we've had the boat out.  We were out of town, then it rained the past couple weekends.  We were having withdrawls:)  We headed to the springs.  This next picture was taken after we'd been parked at the springs for at least an hour maybe more.  We didn't even hardly see Cousey that first hour or two because he was so busy playing with other dogs up and down the beach.  He will sleep for the next 2 days

Westen floated out to the actual spring with Austin, although he doesn't quite get what it is and didn't even put his head in the water to see the awesome fish. LOL! He looked good in his Buzz Lightyear goggles, though.

I think this was the first time since Baron's been sitting up and active that we've had him at the beach.  I'd say he loved it!  He was all over the place.  He definitely ate some sand and he'd darn near crawl face first right into the water.  I had to watch him like a hawk.  He seemed to have a ball!

And I have to get a picture that's saved on our old computer of Westen sporting those very same shorts and hat that Baron's wearing.  It'd be cute to see those side by side.  I'll post it when I have time to find that pic.  I know there aren't as many pictures of Westen as there are Baron in this post, but the kid won't stop for a second for me to take a picture of him.  He played with his beach toys most of the day and tried to catch fish with his little net. He loves being out there.  Here's a couple I got...

And here's the best I could do of getting them together.  They're so funny!

Baron did get to drive the boat a bit on the way home...

But I'd say we wore their two little tales out!!

Have a Happy Independence Day!  I'm sure I'll share more pics soon;)