four.

How could daddy and I possibly have known four years ago what real, true joy meant? We didn't. Not until 12:43 AM on August 7th. Ashton Thomas. Fireworks went off in my heart the day he was born. Perfect and pink and lookin' just like his daddy. Four years later and the fireworks for this boy just keep getting bigger. Always putting others first, gentle, patient, smart and the best big brother. He told me tonight that I am his best girl. Oh, he has no idea...

Ashton, baby, I love you <-THIS MUCH->. Always.

Right now, Ashton:

• 
  
  loves his siblings. he is always looking out for them and making sure they have what they need.


• 
  
  is a big buzz lightyear fan. "to infinity and beyond" is a favorite phrase while jumping off of something high.


• 
  
  loves goggles, better known as "gobbles". not for swimming purposes, more for aesthetic purposes.


• 
  
  is starting to divvy out chores to his little sister. "emory, go get me my gobbles from my room"...


• 
  
  says "actually" and "always be a-peared" (aka, always be prepared) quite frequently.


• 
  
  would survive on gummie snacks and "red gator-gade" if we let him.


• 
  
  continues to eat peanut butter sandwiches to the point in which he may actually turn into one.


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  thinks of eating and sleeping as a mission to get "big and strong like daddy" so that he can play sports. We hear this a lot.


• 
  
  carries around a handy manny wallet full of pictures, coins, dollar bills and business cards that grammie put together for him. best.thing.ever.


• 
  
  favorite books are "dino baseball", "fishing adventures with johnny" and his "animal encyclopedia".


• 
  
  wants to be outside all the time, but is terrified of "bees". this was fine and was brushed aside until this weekend when he received four hornet stings after upsetting a nest, proving this fear and theory that being outside could lead to "bee stings". we will work on this.


• 
  
  prefers to walk around all day in his undies or post wake-up pull up.


• 
  
  let's me cover him in kisses and still requests to be picked up and snuggled at least once a day. the thought of this ending makes me nauseous.


• 
  
  loves his daddy. as he told me this morning after being scared during a power outage last night and being comforted by daddy, "daddy rescued me last night when I was scared of the dark. he is a really good daddy."


• 
  
  is a match car junkie. carries at least one everywhere he goes.


• 
  
  is baby hayes' idol. and emory's, for that matter.

Full of life and plenty of love to go around. Never change, sweet man. Happy birthday.

Home Sweet Home.

After all of the tears and emotion, it was nice to be "home" and focus on our new beginning in Macon. I must say, while super exciting, it felt strange the first few days. Almost like we were on vacation?! Especially when I would be drinking my coffee in the morning, looking out at this.

The dining/kitchen area. My gourmet-cook-husband's favorite place.

Front entryway. I love the doors in this house. They are all almost fully paned and old and heavy.

Looking in from the entryway. The massive amount of natural light from these windows have made for some fun pics of the kids.

Baby Hayes' room. Quite a step up from a pack and play in the corner of mama and daddy's room.

Playroom. One of my favorite places. The kids have absolutely loved having this space with TONS of room for their toys. We spend a great deal of time here.

Playroom built ins. These are now stacked with books and bins and frames.

Sunroom off of the playroom. Guest bathroom.

Master bath.

My favorite room. The master closet.

Basement family room. Super cozy. That fireplace makes me yearn for Fall!

Basement bathroom and stairs leading to the main floor.

Be back with more later. Kids are waking up and boxes are still waiting to be unpacked! Home sweet home.

The Big Move

I've been putting off this post. Things are hectic, boxes are piled high, we are all a little under the weather and time seems to tick by much faster in Georgia. While those are all great excuses, the truth is this is a hard post. I know I won't be able to adequately portray everything that I want to. There are simply too many memories. Too many stories to tell. Too many "firsts". Nothing will ever compare to our home in Texas. Our first home together. The place where all three of my babies were brought home. The home where they took their first baths in the kitchen sink. The home where... There is just too much. Seven years too much.

Our last night in the house, I walked around tearfully reminiscing. I tucked Emory into her crib for the very last time. I gave Ashton a bath in the bathtub where I learned how to bathe a newborn. I sat down on the kitchen floor where John and I ate our very first meal, picnic style, after sneaking in through a window before we were given our keys.

Ashton taking his last bath in his first bathtub, incredibly thrilled about having his picture taken.

The send off committee. Going to miss them more than they could possibly realize.

The dead end gang. Determined to make sure these little ones continue to grow up together by way of vacations and skype ;)

One more stop to shed a few more tears. Corbin and Cayden. Good thing there isn't a pic of Steph and I. Blubbering messes.

We will miss you, 2909 Morning Brook Way!

And then, after many tears and one very longggg drive, we were HOME. New house pics coming up next...

I'm here. I'm alive. AND I'm working on our "big move" post... Be back soon!

shiner.

Baby Hayes got his first shiner the night before last. I must say that I am in a bit of unchartered territory here. Ashton and Emory both chose to take their time progressing from scooting to crawling to eventually pulling themselves up onto furniture. Nice, slow progression. Baby Hayes? Not so much. Sweet boy literally crawled and pulled himself up onto our ottoman all in the same day. And that was just the beginning. He has now added pulling up onto his jumperoo, our couch and a sidetable in our living room to his repetoire. Being a trendsetter can be dangerous. After trying to pull himself up to a standing position on a sidetable, he fell and hit his eye a drawer knob.

Can't really even see it. It's on his left eyelid.

He's really broken up about the whole situation.

The first of many battle wounds...

mobile.

The Kerr household is officially MOBILE. Baby Hayes started crawling yesterday. Takes my breath away. He is just too too scrumptious. Just took this video. Grammie and Papa are here (yay!!) to help us pack up for our big move to Georgia. I guess he figured that since Grammie and Papa are here, he might as well pull out all his tricks because not only did my sweet baby Hayes start crawling yesterday, this morning he pulled himself up to a standing position!! Oh father time, slow down the clock. Pardon my high pitched southern drawl. Talking to Haysie always brings it out in me.

daddy's girl.

Emory has turned into a massive daddy's girl lately. "I wuv my daddy!!" is a phrase that we all hear about a million times a day. She wants to be around him at all times, tells me "My daddy is at work" throughout the day, sits by the front door and waits for him in the afternoons and would seriously prefer to just hang out in his arms all day. He taught her a few days ago to yell "Daddy's GIRL!!!!" when he asks her whose girl she is. Daddy has certainly seemed to be filled with pride lately. If she keeps up this daddy lovefest, his head may just swell up so big he won't be able to fit through the front door. That's ok though; she'll just have to run outside to outstretch her arms and scream "daddy's girl". ;)

this life of ours

Weekends like this are what life is all about. We started off with a little "going away dinner" with our Tallahassee friends (minus Steph and Dennis). We went to "A Taste of Texas" Steakhouse which is fabulous and is also where John and I had our first dinner when we moved to Houston seven years ago. A lifetime ago. At one point during our dinner, we all started laughing about the fact that we are all going to be together quite a few more times before we move. I guess it could be considered our "first" going away dinner. Still bittersweet. My sweet Tally girls have been an amazing stability and a little piece of home to me. We all know that we can lean on each other when the homesickness sets in. I am so proud to call them not only my "Tally friends" but some of my closest friends.

Ansley, Sommer, Laura and myself

The whole crew

The next morning, daddy and I loaded up our little family and headed to Galveston for a fun in the sun kinda day. We planned on going to Moody Gardens' little "faux beach", which we knew had a man made sandy shore and water. Boy were we surprised. It was a full on water park. What an amazing day. We explored every square inch. We jumped waves in the wave pool, got drenched by spontaneous bursts of water (me) at the Splashpad, floated in the lazy river (yes, all five of us), ate ice cream and lounged on the "sandy beach". Bliss. After a full day of sun and fun, we loaded up, grabbed some fresh seafood and headed home for a great dinner.

I am all over this post! Ha! Waiting to get on the bus to head to the waterpark. The kids were starving so my mountain man husband whipped out some spicy venison jerky. Love their faces.

We quickly made the conclusion that toting the camera around would not be wise. Daddy snapped this as we were leaving.

End-of-the-day pigtails. And one little sass who was too pooped to even push her hair out of her eyes. The mark of a great day ;)

Sunday morning we lounged around, made cinnamon rolls and didn't rush out of our pajamas. When we did decide to stop dragging our feet, we threw on "bathing soups" (Emory) and headed to our local splashpad/park. I love watching my kids play. Genuine and authentic.

Haysie baby.

Making memories and reaching milestones. Baby Hayes graduated to a convertible carseat. Apparently looking this good is tiring work.

Too cap things off, we had some post-nap popsicles. Ashton wanted me to take "close ups" of his orange popsicle.

They both chose orange. Ashton chose orange because orange is cool. Emory chose orange because Ashton is cool. Baby Hayes had his favorite flavor too: frozen teether. Mmmm.

Best weekend I can remember in quite a while. This is what life is all about...

pretty girl smile.

I realized a few weeks ago that my kids don't really smile for the camera. Which is fine. I truly prefer taking shots of them "in action". Doing what they do. That being said.. I have, quite frequently on occasion, been known to do everything short of a tap dance to get them to smile at me. It finally dawned on me that maybe I should just ask them to smile for me. Hmm. The other day I coined the term "pretty girl smile". Emory is into all things "pretty". Every morning when she gets dressed, she tells me, "mommy, I wuv my pretty dwess." She loves to wear pretty jewelry, play with her pretty baby, brush her pretty hair, etc. You get the point. So, I figured, if I call it a pretty girl smile... Well, it may have worked a bit too well.

I know I need to stop. Not sure I can. If some of these are blurry, it's because I'm giggling behind the camera. She tells her daddy, brothers and I that she "wuvs" us about a million times a day. My heart bursts at the seams every single time I hear it. Oh Emory. My love knows no bounds, sweet child. No bounds.