Ryder's Blessing Day.

On June 22nd (happy birthday Nikki!) Ryder William was given a name and a blessing by his daddy at church. We were blessed to have my parents, nephew Matthew, and Miles' dad there to celebrate this special occasion with us. It was incredibly hard for me to find a blessing outfit that would fit our tiny peanut. Even after I did find one close I had to take it in a little, this guy is just so small! It was a beautiful sunny day and we couldn't have asked for it to be more perfect. After church we had some friends over to barbecue with us. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of that, but I did get pictures of my beautiful flowers Miles picked up from the Farmer's Market the day before. We feel so blessed to have this sweet little presence in our home and are continually reminded just how close heaven is when we hold him in our arms.

Fishing with Pampa.

On Mike's last visit to see us in March we tried in vain to find a good place to go fishing. So this trip I was prepared. Caiden had found a spiderman fishing rod at Target that he was desperate for which really put this plan into motion. We went up to the Buford Fish Hatchery that has a catch and release family pond you can fish at. It took a while to find the perfect bait for the fish, but as soon as we did Caiden and Mike caught a fish on the first cast. It was the first fish Caiden has ever caught! He was excited until he fish started flopping in his lap. It kind of freaked him out a little. He liked to look at it, wasn't a fan of touching it. As Mike threw it back into the water Caiden said "bye bye fish" followed by "ok, let's go home." I guess one and done works for that boy.

Father's Day

Caiden and I decided daddy needed to be spoiled this year. I asked him what we should do and a huge smile slowly crossed his face and he said "cookie cake." I put him in charge of the cookie cake. I made it the night before and set him to work decorating it the morning of. He did that part entirely on his own. He also made daddy a very special "All About Daddy" book filled with pictures and paintings and some of the funniest and sweetest answers to questions about his dad. Ryder picked out some pretty sweet shades for daddy as well. The day started with breakfast, presents, and a cookie cake with candles because Cade firmly believes every holiday should be celebrated with candles. After we slowly got ready for church. I had 2 boys to make bow ties for this year which as pretty exciting and a matching tie for daddy. After church we barbecued steaks and asparagus and enjoyed a nice dinner. After Ryder went to bed the day ended the way any daddy day should end, playing legos together. 

Spaceships, Reading & Outfits.

Photos 1-4: Caiden got an idea in his head that he wanted to build a spaceship. He had been asking since before Ryder was born so when we bought some new patio furniture and it came in a few big boxes I decided to go for it and build him one. Ryder was not napping well that day. He was taking his sporadic 20 minutes naps and I was getting frustrated because I just wanted to finish the spaceship for an incredibly excited Caiden. Finally I gave up on getting Ryder to sleep and laid him on a blanket in the shade and finished putting it together. Caiden was thrilled when it was done. It was a huge mommy win for me.

Photo 5: Caiden loves to climb in bed with me in the morning and Ryder has started to join us recently. When I get up and start to get ready for the day Caiden likes to "babysit" his brother on my bed. Often he sings him songs or snuggles him under a blanket, but sometimes he likes to read him stories. We've been reading the same books for the last 3 years so Caiden has some of them memorized. He reads them to Ryder and I just think it's the sweetest thing.

Photos 6, 7 & 8: The weekend before the 4th of July we went up to the outlets to indulge in their big holiday sales. We got Ryder a few little RL onesie outfits and one just so happened to match a polo Caiden already had. After washing the onesie it looked like it might actually fit our tiny man so I tried it on him and Caiden ran to his closet and grabbed his matching shirt. Sometimes brother's just have to match, and sometimes their mommy just has to take pictures of it.

Photo 9: I love those sweet little feet. I love how they turn in like monkey feet, how they're so tiny that newborn socks won't even stay on them at 2 months old. I love his little toes and how he curls them around my fingers.

Photo 10: this marks a momentous occasion, our tiny peanut officially grew out of his first article of clothing. While it fits pretty nicely when it's on him, I feel like I'm breaking his arms to get it on. It's just too tight up there. I had to get a picture because it's just the cutest little outfit and I'm sad he only got to wear it a few times. No worries though, he's still exclusively in newborn clothes :)