Easter 2012

This Easter we were lucky enough to celebrate with both my family & Drew's. All of us were packed in my mom and dad's house this whole weekend and loving it. It wasn't as bad as it sounds...we all had our own bedrooms. Mark and Stacy had to hit the road back to Virginia so we had to get our morning started pretty early.

We started off with an Easter brunch

[three cheese baked grits, greek yogurt with granola, fruit, muffins, and bacon]

After we ate we let John Brady see what the Easter Bunny brought him.

[crayons in a Mickey Mouse poutch, side walk chalk, bubbles, stuffed animal, shorts, chapstick, books, plates, bowls, silverware & stickers]

His favorite thing was the crayons because they were in the Mickey bag & the chapstick. All he wanted to do was hold the crayons and not actually use them. He liked them because they were the HUGE crayons not the standard size ones that break all the time.

Mark and Stacy had to head back to Virginia to get Wilbur in time so we held off on our hunt until after his nap.

Drew, JB, nanny, papa & I took the gator down to the field where we hid the eggs and he took off running.  He loved finding the eggs and shaking them. Once he realized there were treats in there he was eating his treats on the spot.

His treats included [raisins, cheerios, graham cookies and goldfish ]



Little John Brady...not so little! TWO YEARS OLD!

Happy 2nd birthday John Brady! This year we decided to do a birthday with just family so it would be more intimate and his out of town family could have more one on one time with him this Easter/Birthday weekend! John Brady's current obsession is "airmanes". Every time we see airplanes when driving down the road or playing outside he says "mommy airMANE!!" He even hears them go over the house and runs to the windows and flings the shutters open to catch a glimpse. So we decided to go with the airplane birthday theme this year. The second choice was Mickey Mouse but we are going to Disney World this summer and thought that could be his "Mickey fix" and this could be airplanes for the simple fact we have family friends with planes and JB could go to the airport for his birthday surprise!

The morning started off with a nice breakfast spread of muffins, fruit, yogurt, granola, juices, coffee cakes, etc for my parents, drew's parents and sisters and our family too! Once we were done we loaded up and headed to Russell Field Airport in Rome, Ga. His poppi's friend Howie Lowden has a plane that he so graciously offered to show us and let JB tour the hanger and get up close and personal with the planes for his birthday! John Brady was in awe the whole morning watching planes take off, land and circle over head. We spent a little over an hour running around at the airport watching and touring.

Once we returned home it was time for his "party".  I set up his table with a suitcase lined with cloud paper filled with "jet packs". Which were paper to go lunches with Rome's yummy Sweet Pickles chicken salad sandwiches. Everything was mini and travel sized and went with our travel theme. He loves pretzels so I made large pretzel rods dipped in white chocolate with red sprinkles for an added treat. Drinks were mini waters and "jet fuel" aka lemonade. His adorable cake was made at Honeymoon Bakery of course and was equally as tasty!

After lunch and cake time we opened presents which included balls, books, broom and dustpan set, Elmo and Elmo DVD's, clothes, stickers, games, a pool, a etch-a-sketch, etc. He loved his Elmo so much he took him with him for nap time and put on his new Mickey Mouse T-shirt for nap time too!

Today was a beautiful fun day with family. Great company, food, laughs and memories. Watching John Brady's face at the airport was so priceless.

We finished off the night with cooking out and watching his 2nd year dvd slideshow I made. Once we finished it we watched his first year slide show and couldn't believe how much he had grown up. I can't believe we will have another little boy here with us before we know it!!

Happy Birthday John Brady! Mommy and Daddy love you!!

william.beckett.nichols room is complete!

Baby Beckett...we are ready for you any time! =)

We have completed Beckett's room..below is a little collage of pics to show a little of what we did. I had lots of fun doing his room because I already had all the pricey pieces from John Brady's old room and got to do some creative things with Beckett's because I wasn't so worried about when my furniture would arrive or how to put it together. Matter of fact...I was so bored thinking I haven't had to buy this baby any clothes hardly, accesories, furniture, toys, etc I need to do something for this sweet boy thats on his way!

I decided to do his room in a vintage african safari theme. I used to be a Darlington tiger, Alabama elephants and Phi Mu lion...I had plenty of accesories to pull from.

Items from John Brady's room: Bed & Rocker

New items: 4 foot tall giraffe, Restoration Hardware organic linen bedding, swing, bamboo and linen lamp

Made items: wooden plaques I painted with maps modge podged on them, three animal canvases painted by his grandpa Mark Nichols, covered old books with map paper, picture frame from his Jordy!

Old items: my parents old binoculars, wooden table with elephant legs, Drew's old baby blanket, odd and end animal pieces

Visiting the baby chicks, ducks & bunnies before Easter

This morning my mom and I took John Brady to Lavendar Mountain because they got their chicks, ducks and bunnies in today...just in time for Easter! Also had some time to get some swinging in....

We brought John Brady last year and he was semi interested but this year he held the bunnies with me, pet them and kissed the little chicks. He was running around going "bock bock bock" and "ka ka ka ka" his version of quack quack. It was a fun morning and nice to see him interact with the little animals. <3 my little man and even teared up just watching him examine all the animals and really study what they were doing and the noises they were making!