Atley at 8 Months

Atley was 8 months old last Saturday (May 30).  She is changing so quickly these days!

• She finally has a tooth!  Her first tooth (lower left central incisor) popped through on May 23rd.
• She is still nursing 4 times a day.  And eating 3 meals.  Breakfast- baby yogurt & some banana (sometimes pancake/waffle or eggs)  Lunch- lately it's been peas, shredded cheese and applesauce.  Dinner- a veggie of sorts and  something else...depends.
• She's mobile!  She can army crawl all over and is very close to crawling on all four's. 
• She can also go from sitting to belly and back to sitting.
• She weighs 19 lbs (according to the bathroom scale)
• She goes to bed around 8:30pm and sleeps until 6:30-7:30 am!
• She has started standing with support a lot more.
• She has made 2 road trips to Arkansas and was such a good traveler and hotel room sharer :)!
• She's such a happy girl! And a great baby!

Happy 8 months baby girl!  We love you watching you grow and we love YOU!

Big girl! 

She's on the move!

Got it  :)

How has she grown so fast?!

This shows how she moves..pushes with her toes and pulls with her arms.

Standing with daddy!

Grandpa Bob

Last Sunday (May 24) very early in the morning, my Grandpa passed away in Arkansas.  He was diagnosed with cancer at the beginning of May and we lost him less than a month later.  I'm so thankful that he didn't have to go through a lot of pain, but saying goodbye was/is hard!

Here he is in Panama...not sure the year.

He was always such a strong, active man.  He loved to travel and I was lucky enough to join him on countless trips- always in the camper.  I remember picking blueberries in Michigan, watching the wildlife from the camper window in the smokey mountains, and about jumping out of my skin when he banged on that window and growled like a bear.  Grandpa also took me in the first wave pool I'd ever been in.  He was the best!  Not only did we travel with our grandparents, we spent weeks of our childhood just being with them at their home in North Little Rock.  He would pay us 1 penny per pinecone we picked up, and we thought that was awesome!  

I'm thankful my kids got to know him and that he was a part of their lives, even for a short time.  They called him Grandpa Bob :).

Ethan and Grandpa Bob

Nora and Grandpa Bob

There are so many things I will miss about him.  I will miss his witty humor- One of the last things I said to him, "I'll be back in the morning."  His response from his hospital bed: "I'm not going anywhere!" With a big smile.  I will miss his hugs.  I will miss listening to him tell stories of his travels.  I will miss seeing him keep up with technology- he was taking pictures on his iPhone last time I was with him!  I will miss seeing him sleeping in the chair and him denying it by saying "I was just resting my eyes!"  I will miss playing dominos with and getting beat by him.  I will miss walking into his house and seeing cat related decor everywhere.  

(I asked my mom to look for pics of me and Grandpa...this is what she found!)

Playing Cards (circa 1995)

Grandpa and my dad in a serious game of chess (Christmas 2013)

This was Christmas 2014 :)

4 Generations of "Blair" Boys

1st Annual Blair Family Ping Pong Tournament (Christmas 2014)

Father/Son Team

I love you Grandpa and miss you terribly!

We have a 6 Year Old!

Yikes!  How is Ethan 6 years old already?!?  His birthday was on Thursday (May 28).  He is such a joy.  He is so smart and funny and sensitive.  He loves being outside.  He loves Legos.  He loves sports...ALL sports.  He loves his family- especially his baby sister.  They still have a special bond.  I can't imagine our family without our 1 and only sweet boy!  Happy 6th Birthday, Ethan!!

Continuing the birthday donut tradition! Age-3, 4, 5 & 6.

Ethan's school puts names and birthdays for the month on their sign, so we had to go get a picture by it!

Ethan and his sign!

We are also continuing the tradition of birthday presents under the bed.  It's so fun!  And they now know to look under there on their birthday mornings!

Ready to open!

But not before some birthday spankings from Nora :)

Pirate legos!

Atley got in on the spanking action!

She's excited about it!

There was one more present in the living room for him! (Do you think he needs new pi's :)??)

It's a new BIG bike!!

Birthday donut :)

Hopping up on the bike!

He can ride it!

Unfortunately, we had to jump in the car soon after to head to Arkansas.  This isn't how I expected to spend Ethan's birthday and Jared and my 10th anniversary :)!  We had a long drive, but dinner and an ice cream cake were waiting for us when we got there!

Happy birthday Ethan!

Can't you hear the singing :)

He was happy!

Yummy!

Happy birthday sweet sweet boy.  We love you so much!  And we can't wait to see what the next year brings!

Goodbye Kindergarten

Ethan had his last day of kindergarten last Thursday, May 27th.  The actual last day of school was May 28th (a half day), but we had to leave town.  He has grown and learned SO much!  I'm so proud of how well he has done.  Every report card that has come home has been excellent.  He loves to read (and can do so quite well).  He loves to practice math and amazes us with how his brain works to quickly add numbers upon numbers together.  He quickly decided that he didn't want to bring his lunch and would only eat hot lunch.  I finally figured out why...most of the girls brought their lunch and he would have had to sit with them instead of the boys- who mostly ate hot lunch.  And only once came home with a behavior report...for writing on a fellow classmates shoe.  I decided that if that was the only trouble he got in, I would be happy ;).

1st Day/Last Day 

Ethan's Last Day!

Nora in PJ's had to get in on some pictures

Can't forget about Atley!

So excited for his last day of school!

Yay!

Memorial Day Weekend

It was a full and busy weekend around here.  And we really didn't leave the house!  I had a work weekend planned and that's what we did!  (We had some fun too!)
We Jared started by pulling out some overgrown, ugly landscaping.  I didn't take a before picture, but there were LOTS of weeds and 3 pretty big lilac bushes.  We replaced it with 1 lilac bush, 3 variegated grasses and (not pictured) 5 creeping phlox (ground cover).  Oh, and lots of mulch!  It looks so much cleaner.

After some demo...

He has too much might!  How does one bend and break a completely steel shovel?!

And the after!!  (Except, I planted some ground cover after this photo was taken)
Hopefully these plants will grow in to fill the space well.

Atley and I spent some time on the blanket "helping"!

We also broke out the power washer.  That thing is addicting!  At the risk of being judged for filthiness...check out these pictures!

Working on some green junk!  And look at the concrete!

We did the siding, concrete patio and the deck!

Sunday, I went to class with Ethan at church.  They invited the mothers to visit during the month of May for Mother's Day.  This was my first opportunity to go.  And it was so fun!

Selfie with my favorite boy!

Moustache man!  We learned about Esther, Mordecai and mean Haman (and mean men have mustaches, right??)

On Monday, we did a little more work and then went to check out a new park in town.  It was the perfect way to end our long weekend!

Smooshy face Nora

Smooshy face Ethan 

Atley loves to swing!

Nora's showing off her pull-up hanging skills!

Taming the dino :)

It was a fast slide!

I may be biased...but she's so cute!!

And here's my biggest kid :)!

I love my family!  And am so thankful for the service men and women- especially my favorite military men, Jim, Dad and Grandpa- who have sacrificed so much for our country and freedom...so we could have this long, work and fun-filled weekend!