James turns 4!!!

Oh my sweet James! How is he already 4?! My one and only precious little boy....he melts my heart, he makes me smile, and he makes me slow down and be thankful. He is such a special part of our family....the middle child, the best friend of Grafton AND Price, the only son and brother and boy, the biggest cuddler, the one who is always happy, and the one who is most active. I can honestly say he just about loves everyone and everything! I am thankful that he is so easy going, that he makes friends with everyone, that he likes to try new things, and that he is a good listener. And I am even more thankful that he knows God and loves God, that he would choose to be with his family over anyone else, and that he begs me to go to church and school. He is one cool dude.

This year has been a fun year for him! He took swim lessons, did the boogie board in the ocean, started tots (a basketball program) at school, began playing tennis, and made many new friends. It has been such a blessing to watch him play with his sisters. He is Grafton's best friend, and they play cars or ninja turtles or monster games for hours and hours. He is also Price's best friend, and they play with her kitchen or blocks or read books for hours also! How cool is it to be in the middle and to get to play with your younger sister every morning and your older one every afternoon?! So so cool if you ask James! I've already started dreading the moment when he starts Pre-K next year and sweet Price won't have him with her each morning....and I won't have my boy to love on all the time. He is my little dude.

So today we have had a fantastic time showing James how truly special he is to us. We have more sweets than our tummies can handle, he has blown out candle after candle after candle, and I don't think we can sing the Happy Birthday song again before we all go nuts! DeeDee spent the whole day with us which was such a blast, we had a birthday lunch at Newks, and we ended the night with the Christmas parade and more cupcakes!!! The smile on James's face throughout the entire day made it all even more perfect! I hope and pray he knows how special and loved he is....

Donuts for the birthday boy!

 A special present from our Elf!

 His first present of the day!

 One from Price...

 And one from Grafton!

 Of course DeeDee spoiled him as usual!

 We ended the night with the Christmas Parade!

 And I love coming full circle...a candle for breakfast and a candle for dinner!

Celebrating my BOY

You know me and birthdays....we don't just celebrate on the special day, we celebrate all week long!!! James's Birthday has been just the same- we celebrated in the Grove on Saturday, we have opened birthday presents each day for the past 5 days, and we had a fun birthday dinner the night before his actual birthday with some of our best buddies! I know James felt very special, and I my heart nearly bursts as I think of how thankful I am for all the people in his life who love him. My dear friends love him like their own, my family kisses and hugs on him every chance they get, Aunts and Uncles could just eat him up, and Eric's family spoils him and adores him so much. I love that Birthdays allow us to focus on only him for a change! What fun it has been!

An Egg Bowl VICTORY!

Hotty Toddy! Saturday was such a fun and great day for the Rebels! After a rough few games, these boys were able to pull it together and beat Mississippi State so so well! It has been a fun football season in the grove AND on the field this year, and we are sad to see it come to an end. We are thankful for the friends, family, and special moments that we got to enjoy this fall as we cheered on the school we love. Go Rebs Go!

 We celebrated James's birthday in the grove!

Thanksgiving at the river

We celebrated a wonderful Thanksgiving at the hunting camp again on the Mississippi River, just outside of Clarksdale. It is such a great place to be- out in the woods, listening to the river roll by, and enjoying the company of friends and family. We always have fun out there. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins, riding on four wheelers and gators, making s'mores, riding the zip line, and running around until their legs were exhausted! It was a fantastic day!