Farewell Bowens :(

October 1st was a very bittersweet day for us--our sweet friends, The Bowens, moved to Charleston, SC. While we are very, very sad to see them go, we are excited to see all that God has in store for them in South Carolina. For 5 years Stacey & Brandon were beyond AWESOME next door neighbors to have & they definitely can't be replaced, but on the up side, they sure did move to a very fun place & we look forward to visiting them soon :) While we can't call them our neighbors anymore, I know they'll be our friends forever & we're very grateful for the wonderful friendship that developed from some of the very first people we met when we moved into our neighborhood. We had a sort of farewell party for them on the night they moved. They guys all helped pack up the U-Haul & the ladies entertained the kids & made dinner. Not all of our "Neighbor Night" friends were able to attend, but most of them were there and we had a great send off for the Bowens. We love you Brandon, Stacey, Ava & Landry...best wishes in Charleston & we're coming to visit ya'll soon!!! Here are some pictures from our evening...

Our sweet friends--the Bowens :) Ava was very excited about cake :)Cutting their cake We love these people!!!
Our AWESOME group of neighbor friends
(minus Emory & the Honakers & Dunns)

18 Months Old

Owen is now 18 months old and I can hardly believe it! He has grown so, so much over the past 6 months! Owen now loves to run everywhere, climb on anything, and generally get into as much mischief as he possibly can :) He constantly keeps me on my toes and busy, busy, BUSY! He's an absolute delight and keeps me entertained every waking second :)

He's starting to put several words together to form sentences--our family favorite by far being "GOOO DAWGS!!!"--and it's a constant surprise what he'll say next. Owen LOVES to play with Daddy--his favorites being golf in the yard and chase in the house. Some days he's more of a mama's boy and others a tried & true daddy's boy, but he always has more than enough affection to go around with hugs & kisses for everyone. Every color is "bue" (blue) and every number is "two", but he's starting to recognize & identify lots of animals & the sounds they make. His favorite book by far is "Cold Little Duck Duck Duck" which he wants to read at least once a day asking for it by name--"Duck Duck Duck!". He melts our hearts when he folds his hands for the blessing at dinner time and contributes, saying "tink you God" and makes us laugh out loud as he very frequently adds, GO DAWGS!!!" to the end of our prayers :) I am in constant awe & thanksgiving to our incredible Lord and Savior for the absolute blessing that Owen is to my life. Being his mama is the best thing that I've ever been a part of and I'm forever grateful to call him my son!

We went to his 18 month well check last week and here's how he's measuring:
21 pounds, 4 ounces (3rd-10th percentile)
33 1/2 inches long (97th percentile)
48 centimeter head circumference (50th-75th percentile)

Here are some of my favorite pics of my busy little 18 month old, Enjoy! :)

Christmas Photo Shoot

My friend, Karen, of Karen Baker Photography (do go check out her site...she's FABULOUS!!!) and I have decided to partner up for Christmas cards this year--she with her photography biz, and me with my stationery/card biz, HD Designs. We have combined forces and are offering Christmas Mini Session Packages (if you're interested & would like more info, please visit Karen's or my website).

SOOOOOO.... in order to sort of kick off our endeavor and advertise/announce our partnership, Karen did a photo shoot with our family a few weekends ago. I mean, I knew they were going to be great, but let me just tell you, every single last image turned out perfectly and we L-O-V-E all of them! We had such a fun time doing the shoot with Karen, she made the entire process so easy & natural. My parents came along to entice Owen to look in the right directions, cooperate, etc. and Karen even snapped a few of them with us at the end. It was quite hard to narrow it down, they really are all my favorite, but here are my very favorite, favorites of the session...

Golfing With Daddy

One of Owen's favorite activities these days is playing golf with his daddy! Noni & Grandpa gave Owen a set of his very own clubs a few months back (plastic of course!) and they are some of his favorite toys. It is so precious to watch the two of them out in the yard together. Owen is incredibly observant, watching Tony's every move and then mimicking him, just so. I really need to get a video of Owen lining up the ball and pulling the club into a backswing--he actually has pretty decent form! I'd say he probably makes contact with the ball 8 times out of 10--not too shabby for a 17 month old, eh?! Enjoy these adorable pics of Owen & Tony out in the yard tonight :) Getting some pointers from Daddy

What a natural!

Contemplating his next stroke ;)
Now it's time to use Daddy's clubs!

Yeah, I like this one!

Oh, this one's a little heavier

Check out the concentration :)

Okay, time to call it a day!

Meeting Catherine!

Last week we were very fortunate & blessed to meet little miss Catherine for the very first time! It was such a joy to finally lay my eyes on this wonderful, darling little miracle baby and also have some much needed and much overdue catch up time with her sweet mama, Katie! On Friday morning we had some special "just girls" time with Emilie, Sara, Cori, Katie, and me. We met at a coffee shop to eat breakfast and chat. It had been quite a while since we'd all had some time to hang out and it was exactly what we all needed! We definitely missed our other sweet friends who couldn't make it, but we're all saying prayers & keeping our fingers crossed that everyone can be at our annual Girls Weekend this fall!

On Saturday morning we met at Sara & Richard's house to hang out. Emilie & Lee were headed to the beach that day so they didn't make it, but Katie, Catherine, & Cori were all there--along with Sara's mom, Linda, Tony & Richard too. It was so fun to watch Jack, Catherine, & Owen all play together. Catherine is such a smiley, happy baby girl and she sure held her own with those boys :) Here are some pictures from our visit!
Then on Sunday we got to see them again! We went to Catherine's 1st Birthday party which was so very special and exciting. It was emotional to reflect on how God has carried their family over the past year, but all glory to Him for the celebration of sweet Catherine Marie turning 1! We had so much fun celebrating Catherine and visiting with sweet friends. Thank you again, Katie & Donnie, for including us in your baby girl's celebration, we were so honored to be there!

Mississippi Trip

The weekend before Tony headed back to work, we took one last summer trip with to Mississippi. Kelly came with us, but unfortunately neither Robert nor Chris was able to join us due to work. First we went to Aberdeen, to Tony's grandmother's house (dad's side) for a visit and delicious dinner. Owen played outside on the swing set and had lots of fun running around all over the porch. That night we headed to New Albany to see Tony's grandparents on his mom's side, Daddy D & Dean. Lots more wonderful food and good visiting! We even helped D shell some peas--D has a fabulous garden! Late the next afternoon we headed to Pickwick to Tony's aunt & uncle, Ronny & Pat's, lake house. Tony's cousin, Dan, & his wife, Robin, & their 3 kids--Reese, Charlie, & Banks joined us that evening. The next day D & Dean joined us as well. We spent almost the entire day out on the lake boating, tubing, & just floating around and letting the kids play in the water. It was a great end of the summer trip--we had a lot of fun!

Beach Trip, Take 2!

We were so blessed to be able to take TWO trips to Orange Beach this year! We headed down mid-July with our good friends, the Dunns for round two at the beach. We had an awesome, relaxing trip with absolutely BEAUTIFUL weather! Our friend, Matt, was even able to join us the last part of the week. We don't see him very often as he lives in Shreveport, LA so it was very nice to get in a visit with him too! Here are our pictures, enjoy :)

Visit with the Montgomerys & Puppies!

About a month ago (yeah, yeah, I know I'm WAY behind...) Owen & I went to see my sweet friend Renee & her daughter, Bailey for lunch and to swim. We had a great time visiting with them as always! Unfortunately Bailey's & Owen's nap schedules didn't match up too well so we didn't have a lot of opportunities to take lots of pictures of them playing together. Renee's parents breed basset hounds and one of the dogs had just had puppies so we were able to play with them a little bit while Bailey was down for her nap. Here are some cute pictures of Owen playing with the puppies. They were only 3 weeks old at the time and so stinkin' adorable! Owen was pretty gentle (for the most part...) with them and the mama dog was very trusting to let my baby hold hers! The Montgomerys just moved to Asheville and we're way bummed to see them go, but know that fun & amazing things await them in the mountains! We miss ya'll already and can't wait to come and visit!!! :)