Here We Go Again

The Gardner’s are growing…

Baby number two will be here in August.

We’re more than halfway through this pregnancy, and just 10 weeks away from the gestational age Bowen was born. Things are going well, and we’re all so very excited!

Easter 2014

We celebrated Easter in Northern Kentucky with family. Due to Baker’s work schedule, we actually didn’t drive up until Saturday morning, which made for a short trip. We arrived just in time to enjoy a drink on the deck with my parents and tire Coco out playing in the backyard.

We made our way to visit with my brother’s family and get some snuggle time with their new baby, Samuel.

We had our usual, Dewey’s Pizza, celebrated Jenn’s birthday and let the kiddos play.

Bowen woke up Sunday morning a little later than usual. He was so pumped to see what the Easter bunny brought him, and even ate a Peep for breakfast.

 

This was his please can I have just one face – of course I gave in. 

My parents had family over for brunch, and an Easter egg hunt for the little ones. Bowen’s sweet cousin, Harper, was much more excited about running in the backyard than finding the eggs, so Bowen found quite a few eggs.

My mom put quarters in the Easter eggs, which ended up being a big hit with Bowen. He loves “monies.”

It was time to head back to Greenville before we knew it. It’s getting harder and harder to get Bowen to leave after playing with Nana and Papaw for the weekend. I have to remind him and myself, we’ll be back to visit before you know it.

We ended our Easter weekend with dinner at the local Mexican restaurant. Nothing says Happy Easter like chips and salsa, right?

Weekend Fun

We had a jam packed weekend full of fun.

Baker played in an alumni basketball game on Friday night. Unfortunately, he got hurt early in the game. He dislocated the top of his pinky finger, which was not a pretty sight. In typical Baker-fashion, he still played in the game.

He even received a certificate for scoring more than 1,000 points during his high school career.

Saturday was one of the most beautiful days we’ve had in a long time. We took a long walk around town, played at the park, and took a trip to Patti’s for dinner with Baker’s family.

 

 

 

 

 

Bowen had a great time walking around Patti’s and seeing all of the animals.

We’re ready for the warm weather to stick around. It was a great weekend!

Go Cats!

Even though Baker and I attended WKU and not UK, we are UK Basketball fans.

 

Baker and I were there for the 2000th win.

After all, both of my parents and both of my siblings (and lots of other family members) attended the University of Kentucky at some point in their lives.

We’re raising Bowen to love all things basketball.

 

We cheer on the Toppers and Wildcats all season long.

I can’t believe, for the second time in his life, he’s about to see them play in a National Championship game. Pretty exciting!

Proof that he witnessed the win in 2012.

If they win, maybe we’ll get a picture of him awake for the game on Monday night!

Not A Scrapbooker

Although I consider myself pretty crafty, I’ve never really been into scrapbooking. When Bowen was born, and I became picture crazy, I wanted a way to keep his life in pictures together.

I knew I didn’t want to run to the craft store for loads of stickers and different colored paper, but I wasn’t really sure of any other options. Then for Christmas one year, my Uncle Pat created a book online using kodak.com. He took pictures he had of us at his home in San Francisco to create memory books of all of our lives. It was beyond impressive, and such a cool way to look back at my life through my Uncle’s eyes.

When Bowen’s first year came to an end, I decided to try my hand at creating a memory book on kodak.com. I found it to be surprisingly easy, and loved the outcome. So every year (I realize he’s only two) I’ve created an online book of his life. I do January to December, rather than his birthday as the beginning of each year. We’ve also done birthdays and vacations.

Unfortunately, kodak.com shut down after I created the first book. I currently use Shutterfly, which is just as user friendly. I load my pictures to the website a few times a year and work on the books whenever I have free time. I save up my coupons and generally pay less than $20 for the smaller birthday books and vacation books, and around $30 for the yearly books.

I love that I have taken the time to do this each year, and Bowen loves to look through all of them. I hope to do this with all of my future children as well. It’s such a wonderful way to document their lives, without spending more than a few hours on the project.

 *I was not compensated by Kodak or Shutterfly for this post. All my opinions of online photo websites are my own.*

Nana Came to Visit

We had a special visit from Nana for a few days.

Bowen couldn’t get enough of her. In fact, she left yesterday and he is still asking where she is every ten minutes. To say Bowen loves his Nana is a serious understatement.

They played blocks, read books, and got out every toy we own. Mom and I got to do a little shopping and spend time together. Despite a massive toddler temper tantrum in the middle of Target, which was the most embarrassing thing to happen to me as a parent so far, it was a successful visit.

Unfortunately, Nana had to head back home to NKY and Bowen is battling bronchitis now. I’m enjoying the extra snuggles, but hopeful he’ll be back to his usual self soon.