TBT

#TBT stands for Throw Back Thursday and people use that hashtag to post old pictures - it could be from last week or it could be a 20 year old picture. I came across these little gems from June of 2014 and couldn't believe my eyes! I had forgotten that my little guys used to have rolls (mostly William) and just how cute and squishy they were back then!!!

Yummy babies...

Ryan
This is before he was stable enough to sit on his own

Stokes

William

Man, those are some scrumptious babies!

The third week

This is the third week of the boys being in school and everything seems to be going well! So far, we've had one sick day (Ryan) and a lot of snotty noses (which I'm told never really goes away from now on - yuck!). I think the boys really like school and seem to have a lot of fun there!

Every day in the car ride home, I keep asking them to tell me their friends's names and to tell me what they learned in school. Their reply: crickets.... We're going to keep working on the after-school question and answer time in the car!

The only minor hiccup we've had is drop-off. Everything started out really, really well. About halfway in to the first week, Stokes started crying during drop-off and would hang on to my or Thomas's leg. It was pitiful to see him crying and then having to walk out the door and leave him like that. Week two continued in the same fashion. By week three, he's still doing it some, but there was a day earlier this week that he didn't cry at all, or even seem to notice that we were leaving. It's definitely getting better each day! I know he's probably fine within a minute or two of us leaving, but it's still challenging to feel like you're turning your back on him while he's upset. William and Ryan, on the other hand, have had no issues and just jump right in as soon as we drop them off. We've got 3 little troopers!

Here are some of my favorite school pictures that we've gotten so far! You'll have to forgive the resolution...I pull them from an app on my phone so it's not the best picture quality but I love getting to see pictures and being able to check in on them throughout the day.

Stokes:

Fire hose on water day!

Rock climbing

Spaghetti play
His dirty diaper was green that evening...
I wonder why!!!!

Ryan:

We took his gait trainer to school and he gets a lot more
practice with it there than he did here. His friends at
school are pretty intrigued by it!

Fun on water day

Dressed up like a Dada

In a wagon with a bunch of friends helping to pull him

Such a sweet boy!!!

Handsome little guy :)

Music time!!!

William:

Fire hose on water day!

Coming down the slide

Playing with dinosaurs

Stokes and William together (they're in the same class so sometimes I get pictures of both of them):

Water day

Riding bikes

Playing with spaghetti

Birthdays and Father's Day 2016

What a fun weekend we had celebrating Dada! 

DAD!!!
Stokes, Ryan and William
p.s. I did one of these pictures in 2014, but didn't do it last year.
I did this one this year and intend to do one each year from now on.
It will be fun to look back and compare, but I am bummed I didn't do it last year!

It was a weekend full of birthdays and then was capped off with Father's Day. Their cousin, Madison, had her first birthday on Friday. We had balloons at our house to celebrate Madison and the boys got to call and leave her a voicemail - singing and wishing her a happy birthday. Saturday was Dada's birthday and we tried to let him sleep in a little. The boys and I got up and made him a nice birthday breakfast and had it {mostly} ready when he woke up and came downstairs.

Da-da and Stokes

William wearing a birthday hat for Dada!

At the breakfast table

Blowing out candles in his biscuits

After breakfast, we went to the pool and we had the whole place to ourselves! Dada was throwing Stokes and William and they were catching some major air and having a blast!

Dada and his boys

Airborne William

Airborne Stokes

Having so much fun!!

Ryan with Dada and William

"Hey there, brother!"

Relaxing before it's time to go

We ended up getting Layla (our former Nanny) to baby-sit for us on Saturday night so that Thomas and I could have a date night. The boys were so excited to see Lala! As soon as she pulled up to the house, they went running to the front door and were jumping around and so happy!

Thomas and I went downtown to celebrate his birthday. We started out at Pour Taproom and met up with some friends there. Pour has the coolest concept - you serve yourself and pay by the ounce so you can try out and test a lot of different beers. Thomas and I loved it! After Pour we went to Sassafras for dinner. It's one of Thomas's favorites and we haven't been there together in quite a few years! It was delicious. We parked on one end of town and ate on the other end (it's a small area), so we got to walk around before and after dinner and it was awesome. I just love meandering downtown - the people watching, music listening, window shopping and just taking it all in - it's awesome. And the weather was so pleasant. Normally in June, if you're out walking more than a block, you'll be covered in sweat, but this weekend was just perfect...a nice breeze and warm enough, but not too warm!

Sunday was Father's Day and we again tried to let Dada sleep in a little. We made him another yummy breakfast and the boys were being so sweet and wanted to snuggle up with Dada on the couch after breakfast and watch cartoon. Note - this rarely happens; while they love to watch cartoons, they typically will not sit still long enough for it to count as a snuggle session. It's like they knew it was Father's Day and they needed to be extra sweet!

Dada and his boys

All ready for church!!!
William, Dada, Ryan and Stokes

William loves his Dada -
and wanted to wear his hat and his shoes!

Gifts the boys made for Dada at school!
How cute are these?!?!

After church, lunch and naps, we spent the late afternoon outside in the backyard, sans clothes or diapers! We pulled out this mini water park for the boys and they were in heaven!

William "riding" the bike - really
just playing on it!

Ryan loves the water

Working on the veggie garden with Dada

Tomatoes!!!
Hurry up and turn red!

MaSha joined us for dinner when she got back in town after being in Charleston for Madison's birthday. We continued our afternoon fresh air with dinner out on the deck. Dada grilled us some scrumptious ribs for dinner and everyone ate well and had full bellies!

William and Stokes at the kids table

Dada, Ryan and MaSha at the grown up table

It was a fantastic weekend celebrating someone who is so special to us. We hit the Daddy (and husband!) jackpot with this guy and we all love him so much! I hope that this weekend in some small way reflected how much we honor and appreciate him.

And not to focus solely on Thomas, we need to give a shout out to these amazing Daddies/Grandpas as well!