Thursday, December 27, 2012

Bennett: 6 Months

 
Six months flew by and you are into the 2nd half of your first year!
 
Last month you were wearing 12-24 month clothes and size 3 diapers.


Firsts: Thanksgiving and sitting by yourself
 
You really got the hang of tummy time and started to figure out how to get your knees underneath you.

 

 
You love you to be held while you practice standing up; it won't be long before you will be able to do that too!
 
You really became a ham and will shine that big gummy grin when anyone looks your way!
 

You figured out how yummy baby food is and started eating any number one meals we threw your way, and even sampled some number twos.
 
 
You remind us so much of your brothers.  You love attention, being held, and still aren't quite sleeping through the night, just like Carson.  We see Deacon in you when you snuggle up with your blanket before falling asleep, along with your sweet, easy-going disposition.

 
As much as we see your brothers in you, you are also your own little guy.  Unlike them as babies, you have such an appetite and will eat any baby food without hesitation and keep grabbing for more.  By now both your brothers already had at least a tooth in, but you are trying to stay our baby a little longer.  You get such joy out of others happiness; hearing others giggle or seeing them smile is enough for you to light up. 
 
You bring such a positive energy to our family, we are so blessed to have you!

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Birthday Winter Wonderland

 
 
Carson and his bff James celebrated their 7th birthdays by having a snow party together. (Their birthdays are four days apart)
 
I'm not sure my neighbors knew what they were getting themselves into when they agreed to plan this event with me, but the party turned out amazing, with just a couple of glitches in the planning phase...
 
We initially thought for the invitations to attach the cards to plastic snow globes, but after searching every store we came up empty.  Thanks to pinterest and the fact that their birthdays fall so close to Christmas, we were able to improvise and create snow globes using ornaments with the invite tied to the ribbons:

 
 
 

Next up was the "snow."  We found a company that rented snow machines, promising to create flakes that would not leave a mess, by dissolving quickly:
It looked EXACTLY like snow falling from the sky, cars were even stopping on our street to watch the "blizzard." 

Luckily, Melissa and I discovered the weekend before the party that the snow "melted" basically on contact and wouldn't provide the fun stuff for kids to throw and play in. 

So we ordered SnoWonder, a fine powder that expands into "snow" when you combine it with water.  We ordered enough to make 240 gallons.  And what made it better than snow was that it wasn't cold or wet, so the kids could play as long as they wanted without freezing or needing to change clothes.

To say it was a hit was an understatement!  Although their birthdays fall in December, here in Texas it was a warm 80 degrees outside...kids played in the snow while wearing shorts!

Their was a 60% chance of rain the day of the party, so Brian and Rusty built canopies and a pit to play in.  Fortunately, the rain waited until well after the party ended before arriving.




We also had fencing between our houses so that we didn't have to worry about little ones (ie. Deacon) running into the street.
 
 
The guests also hit up the trampoline.

For the food, we brought out the firepit and roasted hotdogs and s'mores.  And even in the toasty weather, our hot cocoa bar was finished off.

 
 
The boys received lots of toys:

 
 
The cake turned out adorable too:
 

 
We couldn't have picked a better house to move into five years ago. Carson made a best friend, and Brian and I lucked out too!
 

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Alphabet Cousins

 
We realized our last pregnancy that the grandkids on my side on the family monopolized the first part of the alphabet, except for "B."  As luck would have it, Bennett's name had already been chosen.  My sister a fan of names starting with vowels, us consonants (and last names for first names).
 

My parents have five grandchildren, ALL boys!  (My dad earned it, growing up with 3 sisters, then having 2 daughters)

Allow me to introduce to you, in alphabetic order, The Alphabet Cousins:
A: Austin
B: Bennett
C: Carson
D: Deacon
E: Ethan
 
Luckily, we are finished because we have no favorite "F" names...

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Professional Photos of the Scott Brothers

 
We just got the disk with our family photos, and even though Deacon wasn't super thrilled (we made the mistake of having pictures taken near a pond; he wanted to get in that water and nothing to do with posing), our photographer captured some gorgeous shots.
 
 

 



 
 
More to come...

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Family Photo Video

We recently had family photos taken by our very favorite photographer, Carey Anne, who also took the boys photos in the summer of 2011.  She made this amazing video from our session (turn on your speakers, it's so much better with the music):


I love that it feels like a home movie and our input made it so much more personal and special!