The Holidays in Birmingham

I know it's been a month and half since we posted but of course its been crazy busy!  I finally have a day off from work and figured I would update the blog.  We went home to Birmingham for both Thanksgiving (2 days) and Christmas (4 days).  We really enjoyed seeing our families and Baxter enjoyed playing with all of his cousins.  We are so blessed with such loving families and our time in Birmingham was so much fun!  Here are just a few pictures from our trips home. 

Thanksgiving Pictures

Baxter and Pop (Warren's dad)

The Carroll Family 

He had the best time playing in the leaves...we couldn't get him to look at anything else!

Nelson was able to come and spend thanksgiving with us and Warren's family

Baxter and his great grandmother

Christmas Pictures

Baxter picking out his Christmas tree

Mommy, Daddy and Baxter at home in Shreveport before Christmas

The McGough Family down in Montgomery at Pappa's House

Christmas morning, waiting to go downstairs to see what Santa brought!

Emma Kate and Mason gave Baxter a Radio Flyer retro rocket, Thanks!

Baxter with all his grandparents

The McGough, Carroll and Alexander Families

We had a lovely date night with Alice, Matt, Hank and Carrie-  it was so nice to catch up with everyone! (Thanks, Sarah)

Baxter and his Grandaddy

I'm so glad Jan and her husband Kert stopped by on their way to the beach

Uncle Matt helping Baxter practice crawling

Arizona or Bust!

We had a fantastic time on our trip out west. Warren , Baxter and I loaded up in the car and drove to Yuma, AZ to visit my sister Alice, her husband Matt, and their two kids Emma Kate and Mason. It was such an awesome trip and the week we spent together just makes us all wish we lived closer together. Here's some pictures of the kids and all the fun stuff we did. We went to San Diego and visited the zoo one day and then of course we hit the park there in Yuma. We were able to meet several of Alice and Matt's friends and they were so sweet and welcoming. We can't wait for another visit although next time we might fly (not quite as many hours in the car). I will post some videos as soon as I can download them - having technical difficulties.

They had fun playing together although Baxter's still figuring how this whole playground thing works

Baxter and Emma Kate having fun at the park (he's not really that much smaller than her!)

Our family at the pier in San Diego (Seaport Village)- Baxter's first sight of the ocean

Fun at the San Diego Zoo can be so exhausting!

Emma Kate was great about petting the goats - as long as Daddy was nearby

Long day at the zoo!

Alice and Abbey in front of the 17 year old Giant Panda - the exhibit asked for silence and so we rushed the kids through very quickly just waiting for one of them to scream or shout...gotta love having kids

Emma Kate really had fun watching the monkeys - she called everything a "mooonkee"

Getting all 3 children sitting in one place with the eyes open and not crying is DIFFICULT!

Now you can really see how big Baxter is!  He may be her younger cousin but he's definitely not smaller.

Busy October!

Sorry! It's been over a month since we've posted and boy, has it been a busy month. It started off with Warren coming home from his deployment in October 3rd. We went to the base, watched his plane land and then they took the families out on buses to the planes to meet the guys. It seemed like FOREVER from the time his plane landed until we got to see him but in reality it was only an hour a half. Haha! It's awesome that he was gone for only 3 months, it could have been extended longer and Baxter and I are thankful to have him home. Baxter is sitting up, rolling over and babbling up a storm. We went to the local "Red River Revel" and enjoyed the arts, crafts and of course the funnel cakes! Last weekend we went to San Antonio where Warren and his friend Steve-O did a triathlon. It was great getting to spend some time with Shawna and Easton as well. We visited the Alamo and the RiverWalk. We had our sunday school class pumpkin carving party last night and Baxter and Warren dressed up like a cowboy and his horse. They are so cute! Once again, I'm sorry it has taken me so long to post our updates but hopefully the cute pictures and videos will help!

Here's our picture out at the plane when Warren came home

Baxter and Abbey at the RiverWalk in San Antonio

Baxter loves sitting all by himself

We had a blast touring the Alamo- a lot of neat US history

I was close by so don't worry I would have caught before he fell into the fountain!

Easton and Baxter taking a wagon ride to the Park

Abbey and Baxter at the Frisbee Golf Course- we had a blast playing with Dale and Holly

Funnel Cake at the Revel, mmmm, nothing like it!

Who knows?  Maybe Baxter will take up wrestling.  He's definitely winning here!

My cute cowboy and his baby horse

New Talents!

Our little guy is growing up so fast and I wanted to share with everyone his new talents.  He has started trying to hold his own bottle and to stand on his own (holding onto something of course).  He's only 5 months old and it seems like he's growing up so fast.  We're ready for Warren to come home so he can be here for all the other fun new things Baxter's learning to do!

Fun Times

We've been busy these last couple weeks. Baxter and I went to Memphis, TN to visit our friends Jan and Kert and do a 5K road race. We had a blast and really appreciate their hospitality. Jan and I boxed on the Wii while Kert laughed and took pictures. Kert also took us for a slow ride around the neighborhood in Jan's dad's convertible mustang. This past week GiGi has come to visit and we have loved having her here. We went to the SciPort Discovery Museum with our friends (Mackey, Riley, Riley's GiGi (Mrs. Sugar), Jessica, and Avery). Baxter loved watching all the activities and getting his picture taken. He is also practicing sitting up and getting very good at it I might add. We can't wait to meet our new nephew/cousin Mason and we want to congratulate Alice and Matt on their new son!

Jan ran with her niece Elaine and I ran with Baxter, the kids were so great and really seemed to enjoy the run.

Elmo was a little scary

Jan was definitely better at boxing than me, we had so much fun

He's getting so big and of course already trying to learn his numbers, haha

Maybe we've found a future construction worker or...

an astronaut??!!

Riley loved petting the animals

Our little musician!

Baxter Laughing!

We miss you Warren! While Warren's been gone I have been trying to capture all the new things Baxter does on camera so that Warren doesn't miss anything. This week I found out that Baxter is ticklish and had to catch it on video to share. Some of the pictures are from when my sister Sarah visited and helped us out. Hope you enjoy the pictures and the video!

Here's Baxter with his aunt Sarah- thanks for coming to see us!

What a beautiful smile

All the "boys" enjoy getting to know each other better! (under very careful supervision)

Baxter has started reaching out for things and Hunter just froze and didn't know what to do

Our little acrobat loves to lie halfway upside down; when he gets in this position he just talks to himself and laughs, its really cute

Here's the video of Baxter laughing, just ignore the goofy looking mommy in the video!