Barbecue... aka Cookout

I'll let Leda have this one. Afterall, she's from the west where barbecue is a verb, not a noun.

David and Leda invited us over for a barbecue (cookout) Friday night. We were also able to celebrate mom's birthday all together since David and Leda will be in Utah over July 4th (when we will be at mom's house).

They have a wonderful grassy area out behind their apartment. We got there and they had a big table set up outside and the grill going.

Uncle David manning the grill. We had grilled pineapple, hamburgers, hotdogs and corn on the grill. It was all so delicious!

Mom and Jackson

As usual, Caroline couldn't get enough to eat. It's amazing any of the adults got to eat as we all had to take turns shoving food into her mouth. Like a little bird.

This is the cake I made for mom's birthday. Of course I noticed a ton of problems, but overall I was pleased. Plus, it was YUMMY!

We went inside to have cake and presents because it was hot.

We had so much fun and David and Leda were so nice to have us all over, especially considering it was their anniversary. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

It has happened again!!!

On Wednesday, my baby girl turned

10 Months old!!!
And as you can tell from her "photo shoot" she won't sit still for anything in the world!

and she is in to EVERYTHING!!!

She gets very pleased with herself and "cheers" for herself when she does or gets something she wants.

She loves to play!

But, by far, this "little piggy's" favorite thing to do is...

EAT!!!

We love this sweet girl!!!

Pool Time

A few weeks ago we had alot of work to do in the yard so went and bought one of those chep, plastic, blue pools at Walmart so the kids could be outside with us while we were working.

Well, we might as well have a membership to Emerald Pointe! Tey LOVE it! We are out in it atleast once a day. They can't get enough!

Me and my water babies. I love them!

Baby Dylan

I'm a little late on this post, but Chris and Christal had their sweet baby boy, Dylan Monroe Howard, last Tuesday.

Jackson loves to hug and kiss him, and now every baby he sees is "baby Dylan". And, Caroline just wanted to get her hands on him. She didn't come when Jackson and I got brought dinner to them so I enjoy snuggling the sweet new baby. We love him already!!!

More Cake

I have continued to really enjoy my cake class. I just graduated from course 2, and our final cake was a flower basket. I decided to do a chocolate buttercream basket with royal icing pansies. I thought it turned out very pretty.

I just started to working with fondant and gumpaste, and I made my first fondant cake for class on Monday.

We learned to cover the cake with fondant and how to make the bow out of gumpaste. What do you think? I LOVE working with fondant, and my teacher's recipe is delicious!

Shower of Sisters

We had a baby shower for Christal and took our first picture of all the five sisters.

I'm so lucky to have them all in my life.

Just Jackson - May

- Dad and Dianne's couch is made of a denim type material. We were sitting on the couch and he said, "Mama, their couch is made of jeans."

-He was looking at a penny, and noticing the Lincoln Memorial on the back said, "this penny has a cage on it."

-After going potty one of the sevently-five times a day we go potty, he look up at me, so excited and said, "Mama, I'm potty-trained!"

-When I ask him to do something he doesn't want to do, he has sated telling me that I "need to wait a minute because he's busy right now."

-A while ago, when Mike was over here, he said, "uh-oh spagettios." Jackson has started to say that, but instead he says, "oopsie cheerios."

- He has learned that our last name is Howard so he has been calling me "Mama Howard" Does that make me sound old?

-The other day he coughed and said. "that's my tummy hurting"

-He brought me one of my Willow Tree figurines and said it was his teacher, Sister Holly, (his nursery teacher at church) and that she was very nice.

-We were out of something that he wanted (I think it was popcorn) and he told me that I needed to go to Wal-Mart to get him some more

- He loves watching the Wonderpets. On every episode they sing a song... Wonderpets, wonderpets, we're on our way, to save a baby (something that changes every episode) and save the day. We're no too big and we're not too tough, but if we work together we've got the right stuff. Gooooo wonderpets, YAY! ... The most recently, the song has been sung... Wonderpets, wonderpets, we're on our way to save the baby Caroline and Mama, too.... etc.

Fun with Friends!

Playing the piano with friends Isaac and Maylee. We watched them for a couple hours a while ago, and they had a fantastic time playing the piano. I assure you that they enjoyed it much more than I did! :)

Eating ice cream with our neighbors Jacob and Jessica. We had managed to not have Jackson have know that you can get actual ice cream from the ice cream truck, but our neighbor bout everyone ice cream, so the secret's out. Yay for us!

Jackson loves "Yessica" as he calls her. They have a great time playing together!

Two Birthdays and a Graduation

May was a fun month for us. Cameron and Leda both celebrated birthdays and Leda graduated from her Masters program at UNCG.

Cameron turned the big 3-0, so I decided to throw a surprose party for him. We made it until the day before the party when not one, but two members of Cameron's family, who shall remain nameless (Colby and Mike) spilled the beans. It was done innocently, but I couldn't believe we almost made it, and Cameron had absolutely no idea.

The cake I made for the party. It was delicious and cute if I do say so myself!

Jackson loved singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out the candles.

Leda celebrated her 24th birthday, and mom took us all out to P.F. Changs in celebration of her birthday and graduation. It was an "adults only" evening, and we had a wonderful time!

Mom was ut of town for Leda's graduation and Cameron stayed home with the kids, so I got to go. I felt so special just being there... what an accomplishment!!!

Me and my sister-in-law. Isn't she wonderful, and beautiful? :) I love you, Leda!

David and Leda. They are so sweet together!!!

I'm so glad I was included in the festivities!

While I was being a blogger slacker...

... Caroline turned 9 Months Old!!!

Is it just me, or does she keep getting prettier and prettier?! :)

With her new boyfriend, Ryland. Did I mention thet she LOVED him!!!

I still can't believe it. Nine whole months. And now, its almost 10.

Florida... a month later

Right around Mother's Day we went to Florida for about a week to visit my dad and Dianne. It was such a wonderful, relaxing trip... I can't wait to go back. I say that every time I go to Florida. Ther's just something about it. It also doesn't hurt that we get to visit family.

We had just landed in Florida... aren't those great faces?!

Of course, one of the highlights of our trip was Ryland and Tyndall. If I ever thought that Jackson loved them, I had no idea how much Caroline would LOVE them. She spent the majority of her time following them around and getting very upset when they walked away from her.

She absolutely couldn't get enough.

Dad and Dianne live in a charming little place just outside of Coco Beach. There was a great park about a mile or two away that we walked to every day. It had a great playground and a fun fountain where the water shot up out of the ground that the kids could play in.

The favorite part of the park was of course, the swings!

I know its hard to tell in the picture, but Caroline and a squirell are staring each other down. This had to have lasted for atleast 10-15 minutes. I would walk away and come back, and there they still were. It was hilarious.

One of Caroline's favorite things to do was to crawl up on all the TV equipment. We couldn't keep her off of it.

This fountain was soooo fun. They played and played and played. Even Caroline would right up on top of the water. I definitely have a couple of water bugs.

This little girl loved Caroline, and the feelings were definitely mutual. Caroline is a social butterfly and loved all the attention.

Jacson had a great time playing in the backyard. It was basically sand. He spent so much time out there with his beach toys and would come in absolutely filthy.

I think my favorite part was surprise, surprise... the beach. It was very different from the beaches I am used to going to in Florida, but the weather was beautiful, and any beach is great to me. Jackson loved being taken out into the waves, and Caroline loved eating the sand more then anything. I finally had to put a paci in her mouth because she was shoveling it in by the fist full.

Caroline made another friend at the beach, and she spent most of the time crawling into other people's "campsites". She is a friendly one.

My babies were tuckered out after our long day at the beach.

Thank you Dad and Dianne for a wonderful visit! We hope we can come back soon!!!