NO MORE BOTTLES!!!!

After seeing multiple images like the above over last weekend, and filling up multiple bottles at the Hampton Inn breakfast area, I woke up Sunday morning with a resolve to make our house "bottle-free"!!!! I have been prepping Wilson on this for awhile now, and the plan was to implement it right before school started back. But I was determined and Wilson was surprisingly willing......

With SUPER-HERO strength, WILSON put all the bottles and in the trash can and took it outside to the BIGGER trash can and waved goodbye!!!!

I have to say it has been much easier than I ever imagined. I can't say that Wilson is eating or drinking any better or worse, except that now he's probably only getting about 16 oz of whole milk instead of 24 oz, BUT that will come. Besides, he's nearly 3 years old (you may wonder WHY my 3 year old is(was) still on a bottle - Well, Wilson has had feeding issues since he was born - no Doctor has ever figured out why- and we've had MANY tests and invasive procedures run - and then Henderson came along right about the time that I should have been taking Wilson off the bottle - so MORE bottles)!!!!

He has only asked for the bottle about 3 times since Sunday, but I just follow up his question with "Where are the bottles?" and he says, "The Trash can!!!!" Henderson hasn't even seemed to realize that they're gone! It's amazing how resilient children are - I mean, that bottle has been Wilson's "Paci" for the last 3 years - he would go to bed with it at night and then 4 hours later we would still be sucking on an empty bottle - I know, HORRIBLE for his teeth, but at least I knew he was getting SOME nourishment - if you've been here for long, you know of Wilson's issues with eating!

Hopefully he won't LOSE weight as a result, but only start eating and drinking more and more!!!!

The Wedding

We had a WONDERFUL wedding weekend - every part of it was fantastic!!!! The children did great, from the rehearsal (only picture I have of the church) to the party and the wedding and reception. I learned at the rehearsal that the BOYS.DID.NOT need to be present during the ceremony. They were climbing all over the altar and steps!!!!

The After rehearsal party was a alot of fun, though Henderson was a handful - note NO HIGHCHAIRS!!!!

Typical Emma Claire fingers - she's eating shrimp - she makes these fingers often when she gets in a mess - always needs wet paper towels!

All the bridesmaids and groomsmen were so nice and patient with all the children!

Matt and Katie love all our children too!

My mom and her sister, Brenda at the bridesmaids luncheon.

My dad's sister, Margaret, and his sister-in-law Annie (she's from England and has the most fabulous accent!!! - I could listen to her talk for days!!!)

Katie and all her bridesmaids.

The girls (my mom and sisters)

Katie and my mom and Matt's mom and grandmother.

Katie telling her engagement story

Right before the wedding

After pictures, before the wedding - they got stripped down and that always leads to silliness!

The babies after they walked down the aisle - Will intercepted them and brought them back to the room - a post about those bottles coming soon!

They both made it down the aisle! Wilson with his arm over his eyes and Henderson lagging about 10 feet behind just looking at everyone and toddling down with his cute self! Will came in the side door at the front to take them out and the music stopped just as he was exiting and you could here Wilson cry out "I want my Mommy!!!" It was a little comedic relief!

A quick photo shoot of my own after the professional pictures - ***all these pictures are completely unedited by the way!

And the RECEPTION!!!! The boys absolutely had the time of their lives watching and dancing with the band!

Emma Claire was little Crazy Girl!!! I caught her about 4 times "trying" to do the WORM on the floor - she CANNOT do it - she pretty much lays on the floor and rocks back and forth - she's seen her cousin, Chandler, do it for years - bless her heart, she tries!!!! (no pictures, though)

WE had a BLAST at the reception! All the family danced to "We are Family!" It was SO.MUCH.FUN!!!!!

The Beautiful Bride and Groom!

I LOVE this picture!

Wilson just plopped right down on the floor to eat his cake (or icing)!

Congrats Katie and Matt!

Going to the Chapel....

Katie (my sister) and Matt are getting married this Saturday!!!! I am so excited for them! They are perfect for each other, God brought them together at just the right time. I am so excited to be gaining one more fabulous brother-in-law. I'm super excited that they will be living down the street from us too, once they get back from their honeymoon!!!!

We leave tomorrow to head down to Montgomery for the wedding. It will be so much fun, but a LOT of work, for this is the "junior" Bridal party (taken a year ago, June 2008) - they will look something like this, except Henderson will be wildly running down the aisle, I'm sure!
Yes, Henderson is supposed to walk down the aisle as a ring bearer - Wilson too! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!! We will just see about that - you just never know how a child (baby) will do! I'll make a final decision about Henderson at the rehearsal tomorrow night! The good news is, Will is taking Henderson and Wilson OUT of the sanctuary as soon as they make it down the aisle, so as not to distract during the "serious" parts!!!
Keep us in your prayers, as Will and I will be staying in ONE hotel room with the 3 children - I'm hoping Henderson's pack-n-play will fit in the bathroom, and I'm packing the loudest noise makers we own! My biggest concern about sleeping isn't night time - we will be up late and they should crash - it's NAP TIME on Saturday before the wedding - that's the tricky part!

It will be a busy, but FUN weekend! I can't wait!

And the fun continues....

For a short while now, we have enjoyed much milder temperatures - 85 degrees in the day and around 60-65 at night - that is quite cool here in Alabama!!!! I actually saw a man wearing a sweatshirt while running early this morning - it was 67 degrees!!!!! In my opinion, he totally ruined the whole "cool" experience by putting on that sweatshirt - why not enjoy it?????

Anyhow, we have been living it up - outside every chance we get - we ate breakfast on our porch this weekend, despite the children whining that they needed a blanket!!!!! Seriously, it only gets this cool in July like once every 10 years - ENJOY IT!!!!!

Saturday night we had a last minute get together at our house and grilled steaks and shrimp. There were 11 children - all 8 and under - so needless to say there was a lot of action!

Wilson and Sarah Davis are a funny little two-some - they have something magical between them that started when she was about 6 months old (he would have been 18 months) - only time will tell where God will take them!!!!

Whoa Wilson, slow down there son!

Then the party moved outside. The children had fun playing in our "Rain Forest" - you didn't know we had a Rain Forest in our backyard? Well, the back of our lot is covered in Bamboo - it used to be alot thicker, but Will has gradually cut it back over the last year - it grows like Wildfire though, so it'll be back in no time if the children didn't continually "knock" it down!!!

They had big plans to pile it all up for a bonfire - Emma Claire even went as far as draggin her little chair up the hill to sit and roast her marshmallows - the fire never happened though.

What did happen was a lot of hard team work and fun!

A little hill-rolling!

Somehow Henderson got left inside, to gaze longingly at all the fun going on in the yard!

These 2 think it's hilarious to relieve themselves by the bushes!!!!

and apparently compare and laugh!!!!!

The next day, Wilson helped his daddy clean up the "pile"!

Then we headed to the grandparent's house to celebrate Patton's 5th Birthday - which is TODAY!!!!

Henderson LOVES the trampoline!!!!

He's climbing all over the place - on EVERYTHING!!!!!!

Check out this picture - 3 out of the 5 are in the air - do you see Wilson????? It's like from a scary movie where they do "light as a feather, stiff as a board?" Do you remember that as a child? Well, Wilson is floating in the air!!!!

The Batman cake was a hit!

Emma Claire got her creative juices flowing with this card!

Happy Birthday Patton!

Coolness, please don't leave us just yet!!!!!