the byron family: well hello again

Go ahead and say it... you almost gave up on me, didn't you? Well I'm glad you didn't because I have a big monster post coming your way. My last post was from the weekend Matt worked... and Matt is working this weekend, too... I see a trend here. At least you know there should be at least one post a month :)

Thanks for checking in on us... here is what we have been up to lately!

I'm going to travel back to February for a moment so bare with me. Hopefully I can remember everything we did :) but if not, it's okay... no one will ever know! The last weekend of the month Matt had to work so Ben and I had one of our infamous Mommy-Ben weekends and loved every second of it. The most fun event for Ben was going to The Pink House for a Kindermusik play date. Our friends Britt and AS came, too! I bought a groupon for this when Ben was about 3 months old and it expired the day we finally went! Ben LOVED it. He had so much fun doing all the activities and especially loved the hula hooping. After our playdate we met Daddy for lunch at the hospital. Ben loved the extra wide wheelchairs :) After a long nap we went to a new park near our house. Not really "new" but new to us. It had several nature trails and hikes and a fun creek for Ben to throw rocks into - less than a mile away! So fun. Ben also had his first cookie and icee from the mall for being SUCH a trooper while we shopped for part of Daddy's birthday present. Ben has come to HATE shopping. I don't know if Matt brainwashed him or what but I was going to run into a cute boutique near our house and Ben started going "No, No, No!" as we approached and then tried to prevent me from opening the door! He did enjoy World Market however, and we had to buy a few items that were "accidentally" broken :) He thought these over sized Easter eggs were "fuh-ball"s....Ahhhhh!! Life (& shopping) is definitely more interesting now that this boy has an opinion AND an agenda AND thinks everything is a toy :)

Playing in the leaves with Dad! The leaves in our yard are INSANE. So so so so many.... glad I have a hubby!

Love this one! (The leaves, once piled, were literally up to my shoulders... while standing!)

busy busy...

Chunk monk still LOVES bath time... the faucet is his favorite part :)

Ben loves to sit in this little bookshelf. The above picture is with the flash on on our camera, but below is what he is really doing... sitting in the dark :) haha. Crazy kid!

Being bad and standing up in his stroller... he has figured out how to buckle and unbuckle himself :) joy! Being that fabulous mom that I am, I took a quick picture to capture the cuteness before fussing at him! ha

We no longer ride in the cozy coupe... we push it up the hill! Hard labor over at the Byron's house :)

The next week was the start of March AND Matt's 27th birthday! He got a new hat and shirt from Mountain High, a new North Face ski jacket that he picked out and bought himself :) and a Basketball goal! He has been wanting a Bball goal for awhile now and with the weather turning the timing of his purchase was perfect! Ben is OBSESSED with "basetba" and will literally sit in our garage for hours "practicing" dribbling. It is SO DANG CUTE! My mom said its a good thing I like sports because she sees a LOT of it in my future :) hahaha. I can't wait!

They could literally spend HOURS doing this....

Ben wants to be able to shoot the ball SO badly! He is getting so close :)

Mom's turn... haha. Bball was never my sport. I got "most improved" in my 5th grade church league team - and I'll just leave it at that :) I did have fun cheering for the sport in middle and high school!

Check out that form! yikes.

We went to a relatively new pizza place in Lakeview called Slice. So delicious. Several friends came and joined the party - it was a lot of fun! Matt had a great b'day that seemed to stretch over a span of two weeks! I went out with my dear friend SaSa, as Ben calls her, for her B'day that was two days later. It was fun having a girls night, drinking wine and celebrating SaSa!

Let me just take a minute to say how much Ben Loooooves Sa Sa. He associates us going out to eat with getting to see Sa Sa and does NOT understand why she is not there if it is just me and Matt. It is so cute. He says her name all the time, especially if we are out and see a cute blond :) He gets this excited voice and yells "Sa Sa!" Such a precious little boy and such a fabulous friend!

Speaking of excited voice... this is a new, freaking precious thing Ben does. We hear it most when we are in the car and see a truck on the road..." Oooh truuuuuuuck!" Oh my gosh, I just don't think I could love this child any more than I do now!

Back to the post now.... I think that brings us to the second weekend in March:

We headed to Nashville for two fun events. Saturday afternoon was my BFF Chelsea's engagement party! Her wedding is in September and I can't wait!!!! I love weddings and celebrating with my friends :) Kelsey and I were a sweet little couple that whole weekend because our men had prior engagements. It was fun twirling about town with my bestie and thank goodness she was there to keep me straight AND on time :) We drove to Cookeville for Chelsea's party and enjoyed a Mexican fiesta and some sangria with the beautiful bride-to-be. We headed back to Nashville for another dear friend, Casey's, wedding shower that night. We stopped by our friend Meagan's mom's house to see sweet little baby Lucas that was just about 2 weeks old! He is SO so so precious!! It was so fun seeing him and great to see his little mama, too!

at Chels's engagement party

meeting Lucas

sweet boy!

Meagan and Lucas - mama love!

Matt joined me for Casey's party and it was somewhat of a small reunion of all my college friends. Casey is doing a small wedding so this was our chance to get together and celebrate her and her soon to be hubby. It's always so much fun getting together with my friends.

A special surprise was news that my friend Christen and her husband Colby were pregnant!!! They are expecting a sweet little baby in September! I am SO excited for them... they are going to be amazing parents and I know that they are just going to be head over heels in love once they meet their little one. There's just nothing like it!

Ben got to spend LOTS of time with his BeBe and iPop, which he always loves. They redefine the term: spoil. It's so fun seeing Ben love them so much - couldn't ask for more!