More fun times

Here's Stephen having some serious fun at the Explorium! There is a tennis ball thing that shoots up to the ceiling and he was loving it so much! :) He is so stinkin cute!

So I was sitting in the living room the other day and the Fed-ex man drove up and pulled out this huge box, I thought what in the world?? Turns our Stephen's Uncle Scottie and Aunt Emily got him a John Deer tractor! He loves it, talks about it all the time and until we can get it to Grandma's house so he can ride in on some grass, he likes bumping the walls :)

Stephen playing in the ball pit at the Explorium

The Maddox house enjoys yummy pancakes on Saturday mornings :) Alan loves it so much he had to get in on the camera.

Stephen says "give me my pancakes!"

Day trip to New Orleans

This Saturday Alan, Stephen, and I and our good friends Dan, Lauren, and Emma Johnson headed down to New Orleans. Our main objective was to see the aquarium, but neither Dan nor Lauren had really ever been to New Orleans so we of course took them around the main sights. We started off at Cafe Du Monde which has been in New Orleans right next to the St. Louis Cathedral since the mid 1860's. It is an awesome cafe that basically only serves coffee and beignets (fried dough with powdered sugar, French donuts). They are awesome! We had a blast and the kids loved almost every minute of it. Stephen fell asleep right before lunch, which ended up being a blessing for us since it was a nicer Gumbo restaurant and he was getting rather fussy.

Stephen in line at the Cafe Du Monde, it was packed that morning, might have had something to do with the Sugar Bowl... who knows.

Mommy loving on Stephen in front of some fishies... note the finger in his mouth; most pictures now have this signature trait of his. Stephen picked it up during Thanksgiving and hasn't stopped - insert finger into mouth, twirl hair with other hand, and we have a happy boy!

Ahh the slide, smart thinking aquarium developers!

Stephen inside a tank....kinda. He loved it, I don't know if it was b/c he could see me and Emma through it or the fish.

Family

This afternoon we headed down to some playing fields at the University next to our house. I got some great shots of Stephen and Augie! Alan let me take pictures from afar. :) Enjoy

one of the few shots with all three boys

Silly little guy - He was having so much fun just running around in the grass



Still running

We couldn't forget about Augie. Recently Alan and I listened to the book Marley & Me and then watched the movie - Augie's a handful but compared to that dog he is an angel. :)

Christmas!

We had so much fun over Christmas - and still are! We started things a bit early by heading over to Alan's moms house to exchange gifts and spend some much needed time with her! Stephen got a firetruck, dump truck, and some elmo video's (I think grandma knew what she was doing!) He loved it all (you'll actually see a photo in the link on the right of him sitting in his dump truck the next day waiting for a ride!)

Then Christmas eve we headed to my parents house where the entire gang was there - my brother and sister-in-law, my sister, my grandmother, and of course my parents. It was a ball. After Mass Alan started building the train table! My brother helped out a bit and before long it was up and ready! Good thing b/c Christmas morning Stephen was so surprised and so happy. He started playing on it at 7am and only stopped at noon b/c I made him take a nap. He woke up and went right back to it. The only way we could feed him breakfast is by me bringing muffins to him - LOL silly goose!
After a wonderful Christmas day we headed down to the beach for a much needed and relaxing vacation. Stephen is still swimming his heart out and running on the beach..... actually he was taking a nap and I can hear him calling me, so I must go.
Merry Christmas and we love you all! Check out the link on the right for more fun photos!

Pre - Christmas outings

This weekend has been a blast! Alan started his two week vacation and we embraced it! First we headed off to Bellingrath Gardens for the amazing display of Christmas Lights!! Then we went with Mimi and Poppi for a fun train ride in the middle of the country! Here Stephen is dancing while waiting to get back on the train (the train took us to the "north pole" where all the kids got their picture with santa then got a toy choo choo train and decorated it! Then after the ride everyone got a cookie and some coco while the kids played on train tables; it was really neat. Stephen loves choo choo's and talked about it all day today!

Waiting for the train to start up

Mommy, Daddy, Stephen, Mimi, and Poppi

Just a fun picture of Stephen building with his blocks.

Stephen and Daddy at Bellingrath enjoying the lights. The lights are so beautiful with so many different displays, a family favorite!

He's so cute!!!!

Isn't he so cute and getting so big!!! I can't believe how amazing he is!! Stephen gave me the biggest smile yesterday when I asked, it was the cutest thing in the world! Oh, please ignore the pink tile and blue carpet, for those of our bloggers who haven't seen our home - we have blue carpet and pink tile, but a huge pile of hardwood in the office ready to go down when that project's turn is up! :)

Here's a pic of me for all those who've asked. Not the greatest, but I'm most certainly pregnant! About 27 weeks now, I can't believe it!!!

Thanksgiving with family!!! Stephen loves cousins!

This Thanksgiving we headed over to Alan's moms house for some great cooking and much needed time with family! Stephen got to play with his cousins Katherine and Taylor and his Aunt and Uncle, and of course his grandmother!! He had a blast and loved all the attention he got!

After thanksgiving and watching a horrible Egg bowl we headed over to my parents house where my cousins and Stephen's godparent's were visiting.

Stephen getting a work out with Katherine

BIKE!!! Stephen after a nice bike ride with daddy and Augie :) Yes, again I did not get a picture of him actually in the bike trailer :(