Surprise!!!!!

So a month or so ago Owen and I were talking about how we needed to go visit GJ and Pops and thought it would be fun to surprise GJ for her birthday/Mother's Day weekend. With some help from Pops, Granbertha and Kelsey it remained a secret and I think GJ was super surprised!! We had a wonderful weekend full of some yummy food (some of our favorite restaurants are in Birmingham), catching up and great memories! We surprised Owen's Mom at a great restaurant that evening where I enjoyed a GIANT piece of cake....YUM! Saturday we ate at one of our favorite little places in Birmingham...Mr. P's and got to visit my favorite baby store...Buy Buy Baby!! That evening we went for a walk at Star Lake and Mayzie loved the ducks!! It was such a fun filled weekend and I was also so glad we got to see Grandbertha...she and Mayzie are big buddies!! :) We were sad to say bye on Sunday but are really looking forward to seeing everyone soon!!

Max and Mayzie

A week or so ago my sweet best bud Megan came in town to visit!! She lives in Oklahoma now and I miss her very much but being so far away makes it so much more fun when I get to see her (I'm trying to be a positive Polly here...) Anyways we were headed out of town that weekend so we didn't get to hang out as much as I would have liked but we got to see each other at church Wednesday and have a quick lunch Friday! I got a sweet picture that I've been wanting to get for a while of our Mom's with their new grandbabies! Mayzie and Max are only a couple of months apart and I've loved sharing this exciting time with Meg!! We can't wait till Sean, Megan and Max are all back and we can hang out longer!! Love you guys!!

Time for Tea!

So my sister, Katie's friend, Mary Morgan, works at this ADORABLE store in Franklin called Lulu's. Mom, Katie, Mayzie and I all had a fun shopping day in downtown Franklin which was also the day of the Royal Wedding. SO in honor of the wedding, Lulu's had a Royal Tea Party and of course we had to drop by!!! There was delicious tea, yummy snacks and of course Mayzie loved the pretty plastic silverware! :) We ended up sitting across from two women from Great Britain (I know...how cool was that?!?) and chatted all about Kate and how great they thought she was! We had such a fabulous afternoon and can't wait till Lulu's has another fun event!! Thanks again for inviting us Mary!!

Here Comes Peter Cottontail!

We had an absolutely fabulous first Easter with our Mayzie. I have ALWAYS loved Easter. I have such happy memories of fun frilly dresses, beautiful Spring weather, church with sweet family, delicious cooking from my amazing Granny and Easter egg hunts on the farm. I cannot begin to describe how exciting it was to start those same memories with our baby girl! We started the weekend meeting the Easter bunny at our church's Easter Eggstravaganza and dying eggs the Saturday before! Mayzie just loved the Easter bunny and was a little confused about the egg dying but I think she had fun!!

We woke up Sunday morning and were so excited to show Mayzie what the Easter bunny brought! Owen and I had so much fun picking out her fun gifts and had a little bet going. I wanted to get her a 'Sophie' teething giraffe and he got her a remote...yup...a remote. We were curious about which she would go for first. I'll let you watch the video at the end of the post to see what she did!

Later that day we met up with my family. My parents had gotten Mayzie her 2nd Easter basket of the day and she loved it all!! We took some sweet pictures and headed off to Greenbriar to spend the afternoon on the farm with more wonderful family!! My grandmother is an AMAZING cook and we let Mayzie try some of it this time and boy was it a HIT! I have SO many happy memories at my Grandparents and am so thankful for them! Granny and Grandaddy got her ANOTHER Easter basket too!! She still plays with the little duck from this basket all the time!! After all our food had settled we had a quick Easter Egg hunt inside because it had started to storm. My sweet Momma had put together some fun Easter eggs full of puffs, small toys and little phrases like "Aunt Kate loves you!" (She had one from everyone at lunch that day). We had such a wonderful wonderful day and I can't wait till next year when she can run around and tell us all about Peter Cottontail!

Spring Family Visits!

Over the course of the last few months we have been blessed to spend time with our families...both near and far! Way back in March we went up to Greenbriar to my grandparents 'friends and family' day at their church and got some precious pictures of Mayzie in 'the dress'. We wanted to make sure to get a good picture of Mayze, Dad, Granny and I while she was still able to fit into it. My grandmother had the dress made by an 80 year old lady before my Dad was born. Since then my Aunt Jenny, Uncle Todd, me, my sister Katie, cousins: Jeffrey, Jordan, Annie and Jacob have ALL worn it home from the hospital. I was so blessed that Mayzie was able to do the same and we got some great pictures!!

A little more recently we were SO excited to get to see Uncle Evan,( and Pops and Kelsey too of course)! We met them halfway at our FAVORITE bbq place, Big Bob Gibsons. We were sad GJ couldn't make it because she was feeling bad but appreciated her thinking of Mayzie. Evan and Kelsey got Mayzie a precious little camo lovey (Evan is in the army...so the camo was so stinkin' cute!) with 'Mayzie Moo' written on it...a sweet nickname they gave her! She loves it so much and loved seeing everyone!!! We loved getting to spend some time with Evan and can't wait till he's home for a few weeks in May!! We are SO proud of him and ask that you please keep him in your prayers when he's deployed in June. I have always been thankful for our military but now it is so much more real to me and I am amazed at the sacrifices these men and women make for our freedom. Thank YOU Uncle Evan!!! We love you!!

A week or so later we were so excited that GJ, Granbertha, Uncle Rob, Aunt Sharon, Will and Rebekah came and visited!!! Unfortunately my camera decided to be RIDICULOUS and I only got one picture...but we had a GREAT time! I sure do wish they could have stayed longer! We really enjoyed catching up with everyone and Mayzie loved seeing all of you (she told me so herself! :) )

Owen's Uncle Bill and Aunt Carol live in Indiana so when they are on their way down to visit their kiddo's and sweet Grandbaby Lucas they will stop by and see Mayzie. Mayzie ALWAYS loves it when they come to visit because they bring her SO many sweet gifts!!! (Not that she's spoiled or anything...yeah right!) She just loved playing on the floor with Aunt Carol and cuddling with Uncle Bill (which she NEVER does with us!) It was a great little visit and we're looking forward to seeing them again soon!!

Our sweet baby girl is growing up fast...nine months TOMORROW! We are SO blessed to have so many family members that surround us and love our Mayzie so much!

Beach Bums!

In February Owen and I decided we wanted to go on a little trip so we thought we'd go to Chattanooga...booked it and everything. Then we started thinking we wanted something a little more familiar so we changed our minds and thought we'd go to Gatlinburg. During this time we were getting snow days like crazy so after being stuck inside for weeks we knew where we wanted to go...ha! We cruised on down to Destin (a little anxious about how she would do since it was a LONG drive) but it was GREAT!! We at breakfast with GJ and Pops in Birmingham and then we ended up stopping half way at a park and eating a picnic lunch! We stayed at a great little place right near the beach (thanks Castles!) that was wonderful!! Our first day there we rented some bikes and biked down to Seaside. Mayzie did so well and we all had so much fun. Later that afternoon our Mayzie went to the beach for the first time! It was a little cold so she didn't make it into the water but she had fun watching all the waves and touching the sand!

The beach didn't last too long since it was a little chilly. Luckily our condo had a heated pool...another first for our Mayzie McClain! Boy did she love that water!!! She cried and cried when we had to get her out! Her little float was just perfect. That night we went to Stinky's (another fabulous recommendation from the Castles!). It was delicious and I got my seafood fix for sure!!

The next day we tried the beach again...still a little cold! Spent a little more time in the pool and took a nap!! That night we met up with some good friends of ours, Justin and Kayla and their sweet girls, Kendall and Addison. We met at the Old Bay Steamer...yum!!! I think I could eat my weight in crab legs and shrimp...and we did. Ha! We had a fabulous fabulous time and can't wait till we can go back to the beach again soon!!

6 month pictures

I'm doing my best to catch up on my blogging...the fact that our baby girl will be 9 months this month and I'm blogging about her 6 month pictures explains how behind I really am...regardless here goes!

We were very anxious to meet our photographer, Kim. I was concerned how Mayzie would do since she hadn't had a good nap but she was SUCH a trooper! Kim was absolutely AMAZING!! We had seen her work from SEVERAL of our friends and I never failed to be impressed! She had such a positive energy the WHOLE time so Mayzie couldn't stop smiling! We had so much fun! Here's some of my favorites:

I grew up looking at 'panels' of Katie and I in my parents' bedroom. I was determined to do the same with my babies. And for those of you who don't know what a panel is (my sweet friend Sarah says it's a 'Tennessee thing) its a frame with spots for a newborn, 3 month, 6 month, 9 month and 1 year pictures. So why am I explaining this?? We decided to use this chair for all those pictures. It was Owen's mom's chair growing up and I LOVE it. I also decided that for each picture she would wear a white dress. The one she happens to be wearing was also Janie's! We just loved her little foot hanging off...don't worry, I was RIGHT next to her the whole time :)

I absolutely loved this one!!!

My sweet baby girl!

My favorites :) Such a precious picture!

I love these two. Especially the one on the floor! That is her daddy's sweet smile and I love it! I was so excited about her wearing the dress I made her too!

Our sweet family of three!

Near the end of our session Kim told me to go get all of her hats! I think they turned out so stinkin cute! These are some of my favorites!

This one is my favorite...I don't know what it is about it but I absolutely LOVE it!!

We knew it was time to stop when we saw these faces! :) We had such a great time and can't wait for our next session with Kim!!