Fun...Fun...Fun...

Wow...it has been a week or so since my last post and much has been going on with the Calvert's. We have celebrated birthdays, Easter, and even got to enjoy the beautiful weather and go for a boat ride. With that being said, this is a "catch up" blog...here are some pictures to document what we have been doing with our time the past few days.

Today (Sunday), we went for a boat ride with Billy, Katie, and Adam. Anna Lauren went on the boat once last summer, but she is old enough now to enjoy herself. She played and played on the boat and was such a good little girl along with Adam.

Adam and Anna Lauren just getting in the boat...wondering what we are going to do next...

Going down the slide at Jake's birthday party...she loved the tunnel slide and crawled up and down it with her daddy.

Thursday was Jake's 9th birthday. On Friday, we had a cookout at Brookhill in Brookhaven and celebrated his birthday. Happy Birthday Jake! Also, we celebrated another birthday on Thursday...Annie, our cousin, turned 2...she is in Spring Hill, TN so we didn't get to see her, but we thought about her on her special day. Happy Birthday, Annie!

Trying to get the kids to pose for a picture after their Easter egg hunt...these are our neighbors that we spend a good bit of time with and always have a great time together. Holt (bottom left), Adam (standing), John David and Anna Lauren (sitting on top).

Anna Lauren hunting Easter eggs...she seemed to know exactly what to do...

Dressed and ready for church...needless to say, we didn't get many pictures Easter morning because as always, we were just trying to get out the door and to church. For some reason, we have no trouble during the week, but on Sundays, we just cannot seem to get it together and get gone on time. Then after church, Anna Lauren is too tired to take pictures. O'well...at least we got a couple pictures...maybe we will try to get a family picture next year!

Checking out what the Easter bunny brought...

Dying Easter eggs...it was a family project and provided fun for everyone! Matt's grandmother was in town for Anna Lauren's birthday party, and she had a great time dying eggs with us. And MeMe was the artist...she painted on all the eggs.

Thanks to our sweet friends, we have fabulous pictures of Anna Lauren's 1st birthday party. Jennifer and Lisa (Two Sisters Photography) just happen to be good friends of ours and were willing to come to Anna Lauren's party and take pictures so that Matt and I could enjoy the party and not worry about taking pictures. Of course, as they always do, they went above and beyond and took wonderful pictures...we will always cherish these pictures and remember Anna Lauren's special day! It was so hard for me to pick some to post because they were all so good but here a few for you to enjoy...

Anna Lauren opening her presents...she was very interested...and especially in the paper!

A few of Anna Lauren's friends / cousins...she did not have one girl at the party to play with her...she has 9 boy cousins and most of our friends have little boys.

Proud Daddy and Mommy with the Birthday Girl...

Ok...I must admit...there were two more pictures from the birthday party, but I accidentally deleted them, and I am too tired to try to get them back into this posting. So...these three will just have to do.

Week of Rest...

I know...I know...everyone is anxious to hear about Anna Lauren's 1st birthday as well as Easter. But...on Monday, Matt and I realized we had reached a point of exhaustion so we agreed to do only the necessary tasks this week in order to get in bed a little earlier than normal each night and try to catch up on some much needed rest. On my "to do" list for the weekend (yes, there is always a "to do" list) is to get all our pictures downloaded and organized so we can share them with everyone. Be patient...we had a great 1st birthday / Easter so there are many fun pictures to come.

Preparing for the "Big" Day...

It is a bitter sweet night...as we put Anna Lauren to bed, I quickly realized that she is no longer the little baby that we think she is and she is quickly growing into a precious little girl. The "big" day is tomorrow...Anna Lauren will be 1! Although mommy is somewhat emotional about her turning 1, we are very excited about the next few days as we are expecting some fun days of celebrating Anna Lauren's 1st birthday. We begin with the following for tomorrow's celebration:

Anna Lauren will wear this t-shirt to school tomorrow...we want to make sure everyone knows it is her special day!

These are the party favors we are taking to her friends in her class. They will each get a bubble stick along with a #1 sugar cookie.

And these are the #1 sugar cookies Anna Lauren is taking to school to eat with her friends at her "school" birthday party. I know...they do not look exactly like I anticipated, but if you know they are #1s, you can kind of figure it out.

Having Fun at Nanna's...

My mom had a doctor's appointment in Jackson last Thursday and asked if she could take Anna Lauren home with her for a few days. Of course, Matt and I said yes...why would we not let her go stay with any of her grandparents if they want to spend time with her? She is such a little joy in our lives, and we are more than willing to share that joy! Not to mention, it gave Matt and I some time to get some things done around the house that we wanted to do that don't always get done when we are on Anna Lauren's schedule. So...on Sunday, we went to get her from Nanna's house and had a great afternoon playing with her cousins Reid and Jake. Matt, Reid, and Jake took Anna Lauren outside to jump on the trampoline...she absolutely loved it...when they stopped jumping, she would move her body up and down to signal to them it was time to jump again. Needless to say, she had a blast and showed mommy she may have a little "dare devil" in her...she does not seem scared of anything. I have posted a few pictures of them jumping for you to enjoy...

Just watching Reid and Jake jump...she loves watching other children play!
Matt, Reid, and Jake bouncing Anna Lauren...
And last but not least...breaking the rules! Anna Lauren will be "1" on Thursday so we decided it would be ok to turn the car seat around 4 days early since we were putting it back in the car. However, she was not excited that her car seat had been turned around...she was only concerned about drinking her bottle.

Beatiful Day to Run...

Wow...what great weather we are having this week! Matt and I love to run together and had the opportunity to run together during our lunch hour. Fortunately with my new job, I can spend my lunch hour doing what I want to do...no more luncheons, meetings, etc. It is my time, and I'm loving it and especially when I get to do one of my favorite things...run with my husband! However, we were sad when it was time to go in to take a shower and return to work...it was one of those days that we could have stayed outside and ran forever just so we could enjoy the warm weather and sunshine!

To all of you looking for pictures of Anna Lauren...sorry...none so far this week. However, she has not been the best little girl this week...she brought home a bite report from school Monday and Tuesday. Thank goodness no reports today! We have tried to "talk" to her and explain she is not supposed to bite her friends even if they upset her...of course, she does not take us seriously and just laughs. Let's pray this is only a phase. It makes us feel a little better because other kids in her class are biting also...she is not the only one.

Happy 1st Birthday James...

Wow...it is hard to believe that it has been a year since three precious cousins were being born within a few weeks of each other. Tomorrow we will celebrate the 1st birthday of James, Anna Lauren will celebrate her 1st birthday on the 20th, and Spencer will celebrate his 1st birthday April 5th. Unfortunately, we are too far away to get to be with James on his birthday...per his mommy, he had a fun birthday party yesterday, and I'm sure he will have a fun day tomorrow on his actual birthday. We will get to see James and Spencer in a few weeks, which we are very excited about because we don't get to see them near as much as we would like. James and Anna Lauren are actually going to get to spend a few days together with Poppie and MeMe while Jim, Kate, Matt, and I go to the Masters. And I'm sure Spencer will get to come over and play...that will be a fun few days for the sweet kiddos. Happy 1st Birthday James...we love you!

Birthday Boy...this is Uncle Matt's favorite picture!

The Cousins ~ (left to right) ~ James, Anna Lauren, Spencer

Parker's 2nd Birthday...

Friday our cousin Parker turned 2, and we got to celebrate his birthday with him on Saturday. Anna Lauren had such a good time playing with her cousins. Of course, they are all boys, but she loves all of them and watches every move they make. Happy 2nd Birthday Parker...we love you and are having so much fun watching you grow into a precious little boy!

First Steps...

Anna Lauren took her first steps for us tonight...she is becoming such a big girl so fast...no longer mommy and daddy's little baby! Of course, she only took about 3 or 4 steps then decided crawling was a better option, but it was so fun watching her take those few steps. We better get ready...it is all over now...we just thought she was "out of control" crawling.

Time Out...Look at Me...I'm Walking...

Cookie Cake...

For those of you that don't know, Matt loves cookie cake...or should we say Matt loves the icing on cookie cakes? Thursday night our friend Jennifer was coming over for dinner so Matt stopped at Kroger on his way home from work to pick up a few things we needed for dinner. Well, as always, Matt came home with a special treat...not just what was on his list. The funny thing is that he was looking for a way to get "more" icing on his cookie cake as if there was not enough already so he had the lady in the deli write "Happy Easter Anna Lauren"...only Matt...what a fun daddy!

Celebrating Holli Grace's 1st Birthday...

Holli Grace (you know Anna Lauren's best friend) turned 1 on Saturday. Therefore, they had a birthday party at school today to celebrate her birthday. So here goes some fun pictures of the party...

Anna Lauren eating a cupcake and proudly wearing her tiara...she loved it...I was so surprised she left it on. The funny thing is that even poor Whit (the only boy in their class) wore a tiara for the party! His mom said she was not so sure what dad was going to say when they walked in the door with a tiara.
Here is the birthday girl...she had a great time with the icing from the cupcake!
Anna Lauren not so sure about all that icing...it was her first time to have icing / that much sugar!
And here is our little princess...yes, Holli Grace's mom put "clip on" earings in their treat bags.
What a fun day being a princess in honor of Holli Grace...