Drayze turns ONE!

As we quickly approach Drayze's first birthday my thoughts and emotions are completely scattered. I continue to replay the day he was born over and over in my head. I can still remember every detail, and I hope those memories never fade away. Reviewing the year, it amazes me how much our baby has grown, learned, changed, and transformed us. This is easily the quickest year gone by, and he is is by far our biggest blessing.

Since June 5, 2013 11:30AM Drayze has gained 13 pounds and grown 10 inches. He has painfully grown 6 pearly white little teeth and learned to say 5 words; Momma, Dada, yeah, no, and most recently, Dekee {short for Dedric} His passions are trucks, balls, dirt, water, and being outside. On bad days you can find him in his Momma's arms with a bottle of chocolate milk and a good story book. {Favorite books are ABCs by Dr. Suess and Nighty Night Little Green Monster} His little face lights up when his daddy walks through the door after work. He can't help but turbo crawl to his feet yelling "dada dada dada" the whole way. Together they are sports fanatics. Nothing better than a good ball game with your dad. The boy has some killer dance moves {including the "hand wave"} and can do a wicked head stand {feet planted on the ground} He does however refuse to walk, let alone stand without support. He is our perfect little boy who we absolutely adore more than anything in the world. 

I can speak for both Zac and I when I say there will never be the right amount of words to describe the love we have for our son, or how thankful we are he chose us as parents which impacted the changes we have adapted in our life together. When Drayze made us parents, we quickly changed our lifestyle in every aspect, even down to our daily routine. These changes are very much for the better. Thinking back a year ago I remember being absolutely petrified  of becoming parents. I constantly thought, "there is no way we are equipped to do this, we will never be able to afford the expenses of a child, will we be able to make our baby happy and teach him right from wrong, will we even know what we are doing when he finally arrives?" Those thoughts, I believe, are natural and what gave me/us the motivation to be the best parents we can be. And I will say, I am damn proud of us. Of course we don't always know what we are doing, and money can be very tight. Often the patience runs short, but at the end of the day we have each other. There are smiles on our faces and love in the air. Drayze is the happiest little boy I have ever known, and he loves his mommy and daddy just as much as we love him. We do our best with what we have. To us, that's living. 

I can not believe a whole year has almost passed. We have watched a miracle right before our eyes. The first time I saw Drayze he was a tiny caccoon with ity bity nubs for arms and a tiny flicker of a heart beat. Today he is a smart little boy with a personality sure to make anyone smile. He means more to us than anything else and has stolen our hearts. There is not one thing that compares to the love a mommy has for her little boy. We love you baby boy. Happy birthday! 

{Watch him transform}

Love at first sight

We became a family. I remember the day/night before Drayze was born Zac had the absolute worst tooth ache! He went to the dentist to get it fixed. They told him he needed to come in again the next day. He refused because there was not one moment of his son's birth he was going to miss. He suffered with a bad bad toothache the entire time. Quite honestly his pain was probably far worse than mine. 

Still one of my favorites. 

Chubby chunkster. I didn't realize he was really THIS chubby until looking back at pictures. 

Hahaha look at that hair!

Had to. This is just too funny!

First hair cut  

Hair cut number 3!

Tearing the doctors office up

And he's ONE!

Remembering Our Angels

Memorial Day has always been one of my favorite holidays not only because it means summer has surly arrived, but because it is a day to celebrate the life of our loved ones who have earned their spots in heaven. For as long as I can remember we have made it a point to deliver flowers to the cemetery, and make sure the headstones are beautifully cleaned up and decorated. 

This year instead of buying store bought mums {which are indeed pretty} I decided to add a little more personal touch and make something we can use over and over again. I simply bought clay pots from Walmart, potting soil, pretty flowers ready for planting, and a little spray paint. I painted and planted each pot with specific loved ones in mind This only cost be about 6 dollars a piece to make. I have really been in to the solar powered garden lights lately so I added one of those to each pot along with a watering bulb in hopes it will help keep the flowers alive. 

It was very fun creating each personalized pot of flowers for the intended graves, but even more than that, the joy we received from delivering these was over the top. We can only hope our angels were watching with smiles on their faces while we delivered their flowers. 

Base color

Added foam stickers and painted the color over top. I didn't love the finished results of the painting but with flowers I was much more satisfied. 

Can't see our flowers but Drayze visited his aunt nicki for the first time. Warmed my heart so so much. 

We also visited one of Zac's best buddies, Craig. 

Our Sweet Escape Continued..

As always our first trip of the season to The Cabin did not disappoint. In fact, our trip was so successful we decided to pack up the following weekend and escape once again. The first weekend was just our little family of 3 for two nights and three days. The next weekend, Mother's Day weekend, we joined Zac's dad and step mom along with his step sister, Jennika and her family. This trip was cut a little short due to the weather, but both trips were the sweet escape we had been looking for.

Our first trip was just as relaxing as expected. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the fish were {kinda} biting, and we were together. Drayze absolutely loved getting dirty and throwing rocks. It was a little hard for both Zac and I to fish at the same time while keeping up with the little. From eating rocks, kicking his shoes off every two seconds, and getting far too close to the water. He sure did have a good time though. I also realized I wouldn't survive two seconds stranded in the wilderness with nothing. We found ourselfs low on the water we  had to bring, as the water was not turned on yet. In a panic I drove one hour round trip to buy a couple gallons of water to last us the 8-10 more hours we expected to stay.

The following weekend with the entire family was fun, but we have to admit it probably wasn't quite as relaxing. Housing 9 people, The Cabin was packed to nearly its maximum capacity. It is fun to spend time with the family and watch the kids play together. Drayze and his cousin Kallen are only 6 months apart. Watching them interact and grow together is really fun. Kallen wasn't the happiest of campers during this trip, but he did occasionally play toys with "Baby Drayze." The fishing was actually hot this trip. They were biting as quick as we could get the line in the water, and Randy caught an impressive trophy fish. As Saturday came to an end, Emma AKA Bucky decided it was necessary to go on a Zombie hunt. We were checking a spooky spot where we thought for sure we'd find a Zombie, when suddenly we noticed uncle Charlie (Zac) had disappeared. We thought he ha been taken, when actually he was fighting off a zombie. This sure did give Bucky quite the scare. The night winded down and we finally laid down for a {decent} nights rest. Unfortunately the next morning we woke up to a good 3 or so inches of cold snow. This, of course, sent us packing for home. 

Both trips were very different, but each made for great memories we will cherish for a lifetime. The Cabin is always a great escape and a wonderful place to spend quality family time. We plan on spending much more time there through the warm seasons and years to come. 

Priceless. 

Not sure he is too happy about being packed in to the car like luggage. We made it work. 

The drive...not always the best part about the trip. 

Chopping wood for the fire. 

Porch sitting

Kangaroo corn. Strangest thing. 

"Wits End"

Love this. 

Carving his name closer to mine and Drayze's. 

Cousin time. 

Because I adore my hot husband. 

Bucky on the top bunk. 

The girls (and Drayze)

Glad the hubby is always willing to unhook the fish I catch. 

On our zombie hunt. 

Drayze sure loves Emma. 

Until next time.