And, here is Wesley trying to give his newest cousin sugars!! He is soo excited and loves Carter so much!
Here is Uncle Jud with his Little String Bean!
Wesley even tried to help his Auntie feed Carter!!
Carter was really tuckered out after coming home and meeting his cousin!
And, here is Mommy and son!
We are so glad to have the newest member in our family home!! He is another wonderful blessing in our family!!
Needless to say, Wesley LOVED it!
We even put a stool down at the foot, so he could climb in and out on his own.
Now, for what I'm sure that you're wondering. Has he stayed in the bed to sleep? (Okay, so you may not be wondering, but I'll tell you anyway!) Yes!! The first few nights, he didn't get up during the night at all. About the fifth night, he got up about 15 minutes after we put him in bed and came into the living room. Jud and I went back to the bedroom with him and both of us gave him sugars and hugs. Then, Wesley climbed back into bed and Jud told him that if he got back up, he would get a spanking. We haven't had to worry about it happening again! He gets in bed every night after his story, hugs and sugars! This picture was taken his second night in his bed! (The lights were out. My flash lit it up enough for the picture to work.)
We chose to keep this party small, with Wesley's grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and great-grandmother. We had hot dogs and hamburgers with chips. My sister-in-law, Jennifer, worked her magic on Wesley's cake! Notice the alligator on the top of the cake and one on the by the bottom layer!
After eating, I helped Wesley open his presents! He got a Dinoco Lightening McQueen from my second Mom in Virginia. He also got A LOT of other goodies, including a big aircraft carrier (my parents), an army tank (Jud and I), a writing tablet with chips and other goodies (Jamye), some cute clothes with boots and a Tag Jr. book (Jennifer), a Buzz Lightyear ride-on toy with toy phone (my Grandma), Tag Jr. and book (Jud and I), a Mack Truck (from my parents), and money (Jud's Dad)! This is just SOME of the stuff that he received for his birthday!
After he opened his presents, Jud and Ashley (my little sister) took the kids swimming! Gracie didn't want to swim. The three pictures across the bottom are of Jud sneaking up on Ella and after he got her, she's laughing and saying, "He got me! He got me!"
These pictures are after everyone left except for Ella. Jennifer and JimEd had to go clean their church, so Ella stayed to play with Wes. They had a great time together! Jud decided to play with Wesley's aircraft carrier while Ella and Wesley played together with some of Wesley's other birthday presents!
His birthday party turned out really great. The kids seemed to enjoy themselves and, I believe, us adults had a good time too!
These are a few of the many gifts that Ashley and Carter received! The top left picture is of the hostess gifts, the baby monitor and the timer that Ashley was asking for. The Elmo bag and included gifts were from my sister-in-law, Jamye. The letters spelling Carter's name were from Lana. And, the stroller was from some of the nurses at the hospital that Ashley frequently stays at due to her Cystic Fibrosis.
These are pictures of some of the guests. Our cousin, Brandy, and one of her handsome boys in the top left picture. Mom and Brandy in the top middle picture. One of Ashley's close friends, Ronna, our Aunt Lou and our Grandmother in the top right picture. Another of Ashley's close friends, Jessica, and her beautiful daughter in the bottom right picture. The bottom middle picture is of one of Mom's friends, Cindy (who's house we were at), her daughter, Caroline, and a lady that my Mom and Cindy work with Sarah. And, in the bottom left picture, (left to right) Cindy's daughter Katie, Ashley holding Jessica's daughter, Jessica, Bridgett (my closest friend's, Morgan, sister-in-law) and Bridgett's mom, Jackie.
And, these are some gifts that were given to Ashley for herself and a few more of Carter's gifts!
I'm so glad that Ashley's shower turned out as wonderful as it did!! Mom, Lana, Cindy, Katie and I put a lot of work into it and it turned out amazing!
This was a LONG drive! I remember telling Jud and Wes once we hit Shreveport that "There is an end in sight!" And, Wes was SOOO excited to be home!!
Lana had this shoe box packed FULL of good stuff!! (Thanks, Mom!!)
After leaving Lana's house, we stopped by Kelsey's parents' house to see my Aunt Nancy (Kelsey's grandmother). I took one picture on my phone of Wesley with Aunt Nancy, but haven't loaded it to my computer. After we left there, I wanted to stop by the cemetery where my grandparents (my Mom's mother and step-father) and great-uncle are entombed. This picture is of Wesley by my grandparents. My grand-mother is a woman that will always be a woman that I look up to! And, my grand-father? Let's just say it was NEVER boring with him!
And, this was by my great-uncle's. I don't know William, but Johnnie West was my great-uncle. I remember before my younger sister was born (I was three.) when Mom and I would visit my grandmother, I would go curl up on the bed (He was sick by this time.) and watch TV with my Uncle Johnnie. He passed away right before my sister was born or right after.
After we left the cemetery, we got on the road to head home. We were going to try to drive straight through the night, but didn't get too. Wesley started throwing a fit (not used to the long hours in a car), so we stopped in Atlanta, GA for the night.
After the show, we rode a bird ride for Wes. Next, we rode the Grizzly and a few other roller coasters. Then, we came upon the Americana Ferris Wheel. The bottom left picture was taken right after we got on. The picture just to the right of that was taken after the guy told us that the ride would take TEN minutes! (It took every bit of that ten minutes!)
Then, we went to the water park! Jeremiah, Kelsey, Wesley and I rode the Lazy River while Jud stayed with the stroller. After the river, Jud, Jeremiah and Kelsey went to ride the grown-up water rides, while Wesley and I went to Lil' Barefoot Beach. I guess we spent about two hours in the water park. After I changed Wes back into his dry clothes, he fell asleep while we searched for Jud, Kelsey and Jeremiah. Once we found them, we headed over to ride the Intimidator 305! That ride is intense! Jud actually lost his ball cap on that one! After that, we rode the Volcano. Then, Jeremiah, Kelsey, Wesley and I went up the Eifel Tower. After we came back down, we went to one of the shops to buy Wesley a Kings Dominion bear and me a T-shirt!
This was a LONG day, but it was tons of fun!! I really enjoyed getting to spend this time with Kelsey, Jeremiah, Jud and Wesley! Wesley got even closer to Kelsey and Jeremiah throughout the day!
Wesley had a lot of fun playing with Jenna and Kirk, and giving Miranda and Jenna sugars! I really miss all of my family up there, and enjoyed getting to spend that time with them!
Pictures from the beach! I've got a picture of Jud and I under King Neptune from when I was pregnant with Wesley, also! Wesley did not like the sand at all!!
After the beach, the three of us headed back to my sister's for a bit. Then, back to Kelsey and Jeremiah's, where Wesley enjoyed some oreos with Jeremiah!! They seemed to really enjoy that!!
After we left Chuck E. Cheese, we drove through my old neighborhood and by my old high school! That brought a lot of old memories back, some of the very best memories of my high school career!
All of these next pictures are of Wesley with my cousin Kelsey (who we stayed with), her husband Jeremiah, and their dogs, Coco (chocolate lab) and Teddy (half German Shepard, half Australian Shepard). Wesley really got to love Kels, Jeremiah, Coco and Teddy! He was calling Coco by the time that we left and began calling JJ (Jeremiah) after we got home!
This was a wonderful, but busy day! We really enjoyed getting to spend time with family that I see very rarely.
I also did one of Gatlinburg.
And, here is the collage from the Aquarium! This was a wonderful side trip. Wesley has gotten to the age to make things like this so worthwhile and so much fun!
This last collage was leaving Gatlinburg going up one of the mountains, around, and back down. The middle picture of the collage is showing the curves of the road that we were on! At one point, we were on a dirt road going around the mountain and Jud was reminding me of the movie, "Wrong Turn!" When we came back out on a paved road, we ended up coming out by the Pigeon River (all water pictures) and the power plant (bottom left corner)where they put us in when we went White Water Rafting on our honeymoon!
This was just the start of a fun trip! More posts coming soon!!
I was taking Wesley to get Jana to sign his alligator book from our Mother's Day trip with Kent looking on.
Wesley and I with Gary Saurage. Wesley didn't hesitate to smile at him or go to Gary for a picture later. Wesley seems to really feel like he knows this crew after watching every episode of Gator 911 with us!
Gary signing Wesley's book!
Wesley and I holding Chubbs, the baby gator! I wasn't sure that Wesley would hold him by himself, but when the lady handed Chubbs to us, Wesley hugged Chubbs to him!
And, he did it again when he sat with his Daddy with Chubbs!
Then, he stuck his hand into his mouth! Like I said in my Mother's Day post, Chubbs was born with a birth defect where he can't fully shut his mouth.
And, this is where Wesley went to Gary without any hesitation. From left to right, Kent, Gia, Arlie, Wesley with Gary, and Damon. This crew go out of their way to be friendly and more than willing to autograph things and talk with their fans!
And, this is Big Al! They ended up getting Big Al out of the pond.......
restrained,.......
then, let us take pictures with Big Al! They wouldn't let us get any closer than the piece of black tape for safety reasons.
Gary ended up choosing Jud, among others, to help cheer his turtle on the Turtle Race and their turtle won!!
This is Gary and Arlie signing a magazine for Ashley!
They had fireworks and swimming with taped gators that day also, but we didn't stay for the fireworks due to the drive to get back or do the swimming with the gators. But, we will be going back to Gator Country. And, I am truly sorry that CMT did not carry Gator 911 for another season. CMT lost one family of fans due to their decision, I'm sorry to say. This crew put themselves in harm's way for a good cause and our family will continue to back them for that! "Quick Hands or No Hands"
