Jocelyn's preschool trip to the Farm

Jocelyn's preschool took a trip to Flint Hill Farm. We learned about everything from milk to shoeing horses unfortunately I didn't get pictures of it all. Her preschool has done some fun field trips this year and we'll definitely miss going on them with her.

Jocelyn with a horse.

A goat head.

Each kid got to feed a kid:) Sorry I couldn't resist!

It was so cute.

These guys make Jackson look pretty clean while eating.

Jocelyn hitting a horse shoe on the anvil.

Waiting to plant some seeds.

Easter in North Carolina

This year for Easter we fortunate to go down to North Carolina and visit cousins. John-David has one brother in Durham and another in Lewisville. We first stopped at the Durham Black's house. We toured their awesome house in the trees and then went to beautiful gardens. My niece Sadie had sent her "Flat Stanley" to come and visit us so you will see pictures of him throughout the post.

Duke Gardens

Pictures of the cousins along a pond.

I don't think I have ever see lavender tulips like this.

They were absolutely beautiful.

The kids were feeding ducks and this thing by the pond.

I am not sure what this is.

We only stayed at their house for a day. After Duke Gardens, the caravan moved to the other cousin's house in Lewisville. The kids were loving every minute playing with cousins and got along so well with each other. Despite the fact there wasn't a boy to play with, his girl cousins really stepped up to the plate. Some of them even rough housed with him!

We went to Old Salem which a settlement form the 1700's but it

was absolutely pouring rain so we didn't get to do anything other than go into

the bakery and get some free cookies.

While we were there, we celebrated my niece Eliza's 7th birthday. We went to u-Bounce and had a blast. None of the pictures really turned. Jackson was in heaven boxing with these huge gloves on. All the kids loved the huge slides and bounce houses that they got to go in to.

I think this was the most fun John-David had had in a long time.

He was running around the place like a big kid.

Since it was Easter weekend we hit an Easter Egg hunt their ward Primary put on.

The kids after the hunt. I think they were happy with the results.

Family snap shot at the Primary Easter Egg Hunt

The Cousins with their loot.

We also had a family Easter Egg Hunt that afternoon. The kids went on a walk while the moms hid the eggs. We put all their baskets on the driveway for the start line.

What's an Easter without Kelsey having a bucket on her head?

Reason why we drove 8 hours for this:

To be with cousins!

I wanted an action shot of Jocey hunting for eggs. Instead I got the,

"Mom, hurry and take this so I can get back to finding eggs" look.

This is a picture we took right before church.

It was a little bright so everyone is squinting.

We meant to take a picture of all the cousins before church but we forgot.

This is the after church photo. Everyone is not as fresh looking.

Bryce is down right annoyed.

A house with 4 girls is going to have very girly helmets.

That didn't work for Jackson. But don't worry, nothing a little

tin foil won't solve. Thank goodness for Uncle Richard.

John-David and Uncle Doug helped Uncle Richard build in a fir pit in

their awesome backyard. We had to test out the final product with

a marshmallow roast.

Bryce and Tabetha enjoyed theirs.

It was seriously such a perfect little vacation. Thanks for all the fun North Carolina Blacks!!!!

Bryce's Therapy Adventures

I have been accused of blog neglect and I am guilty as charged, but I decided that I needed to get my act together and get back on it. Awhile ago, I reported that Bryce wasn't crawling. I called Early Intervention, they came out and evaluated and he ended up qualifying for a few things. Due to this, for the past two months now we have had an occupational therapist coming to our house to work with Bryce. Here are some of the things he has been doing.

This particular day she brought this special Elmo looking material just as a different medium for him to be on. Bryce couldn't roll over very well, so here she is doing some exercises to help him. He spent a majority of his therapy crying. He didn't really like it. She made him work.

She brought this fun ball to encourage Bryce to move to it. He thought he would taste it instead.

Sometimes she would use the exercise ball. We would put him on it in different positions and move him around on it. He really didn't like this either.

But slowly over a few weeks he began to get in a crawling position. I guess all those exercises had a point to them. (This is the typical Bryce face. He is a bit on the silly side.)

Then he started to do this position. I love this picture because he looks like a  crazed man. Wait until you see what he was after.

Who can resist Polly Pockets? Look at that stretch.

His new found freedom led him to all sorts of new discoveries like pushing himself backwards on the floor.

Scaling the oven and pulling down towels. He was stuck trying to crawl in this ballet position for awhile. I think he finally discovered that it wasn't a very effective way to move.

Deb, his therapist, also used massage at times to loosen him up and so he got use to her touch. He really liked it. Look at that serious face.

All of this must of work because as of last week he is officially crawling and getting in to everything! He is doing so well that they are sort of graduating him . Monday is his last therapy with Deb but on Tuesday it's his first day with the speech therapist. Our adventure shall continue.

Quiet Moments

Bryce's 1st Birthday

It's hard to believe that a year has already come and gone since Bryce was born. The time has just flown by! He started out at 4 lbs 6 ounces and now is around 22 pounds of huggable love. He is just a sweet little boy. Everyone just loves the little guy. Happy Birthday Bubba!

One of the few pictures we have of him when he was first born that he is not hooked up to al sorts of wires. Because I was under complete anesthesia when he was born, I never got to see him like this. He had really nice skin for a 32 week old baby I was told. Most born that early have skin that looks a little translucent.

A year later on his big day.

We celebrated his birthday the day before, so we could have John-David's sister Alycia and her family join us. We had dinner and then went for the famous 1st year cake smashing. Kind of an interesting tradition but Bryce sure loved it. Jackson had to get a picture with his Bubba.

He is a big cheeser when the camera is pulled out.

He wasn't so sure about this whole thing with everyone just staring at him but once he tasted the frosting, he just dug in. Jackson was having a really hard time not joining in. He stood next to the high chair waiting for whatever fell off the tray like a dog.

He finally picked the cake up and brought it to his mouth.

Ahh, the Good Life!!

He began to just play with it but he enjoyed all the reactions people

were giving him so he just laughed and tore it apart.

Mmmm...good!

"Sloth love Chunk"

After Bryce had a bath, we let the party guests have some cake.

We tried to take a picture of him next to his cake but he just wanted

to eat that so he had to view it from afar.

He opened a couple of presents.

He tried a little more of his cake on his birthday.

He enjoyed wiping that all over his head too.

Jackson insisted we save a couple of presents to open on his actual birthday. So that's what we did for our Family Home Evening activity. My favorite present was what Jackson, Jocelyn and Kelsey got him. They made him that heart card and then pooled their resources together and gave him 17 cents. They are a generous bunch.

Bryce liked tearing the paper into little bits and pieces.

Happy Birthday Bryce!