Continuing on with the Arkansas road trip from last weekend…

Saturday morning was the baby shower for sweet Julia “Reese” Dickinson.  Everything looked fantastic, especially the food!

I also made a diaper cake for the party. Only 2 tiers this time but I added the cute little pig for big sister Livi.

The guest of honor…

The hostesses…

The besties…

It was a great party!  After the shower, Robert and I stopped by to see my cousin Amy and her husband, Birc. Their family of 2 will soon be a family of 3!  Savannah Cate will be here right before Christmas and Maxwell can’t wait to meet her!

side note: that last picture is proof of why I try to avoid using my flash at all costs. my forehead is a reflector there!

The funniest part of the visit was watching Maxwell check out Caddo the cat…and Caddo quickly running away from Maxwell!

We then headed back to Laura’s to play for the rest of the day.  These next pictures crack me up.  Livi is 2 and full of energy but Maxwell had no problem keeping up with her!

My favorite picture is the middle one.  She’s definitely showing him who’s boss!  🙂

We then went outside to do some more swinging…

and let sweet Joshua hold baby Reese.

We then made an attempt at a group picture of all the kids.  Considering we were dealing with a newborn, a 5 month old, a 1 year old and two 2 year olds…we knew it was going to be a challenge!  Maxwell was using up all his smiles while we were still trying to get everyone set up…

Once everyone was in place, we were ready to go…but our models weren’t exactly cooperative!

Look up here Livi! Smile Maxwell!

Uh oh, crying baby…and Ellis is making a run for it.

We can’t see Reese!

Pretty good but all looking the wrong direction!

Much better!

It’s not perfect but I’ll take it!

We had a great night just hanging out and wrangling the kids.  With all the action, Maxwell didn’t get a great nap that afternoon and then I couldn’t get him to go to sleep at Laura’s. By the time we got to the hotel around 10pm Saturday night, he was just exhausted.  He actually went right to sleep but then woke up at 11 and SCREAMED until 1:00. Robert even went to Walgreen’s at midnight to get some baby Tylenol.  While he was gone I got a visit from hotel management just to “make sure everything was alright.”  Things were far from alright. We had a teething, tired, screaming baby….in a hotel room.  Miserable.  After finally getting him calmed down, he slept from 1:00 to 3:00 am and then he was up again alternating between screaming and sleeping on either me or Robert for the rest of the night…which meant neither Robert nor I did much sleeping!  It was not a fun night but we made it through.  The best part was the next morning when I walked past the front desk and the guy that had called to complain about the screaming baby was at the desk.  I heard him talking to the management and stopped to apologize. He was really nice about it but I felt awful.  Oh well.

We hit the road Sunday morning to head home but made a stop through Augusta on the way to visit Susu (Maxwell’s great grandmother) and Dodo (Maxwell’s great great aunt). Susu was even nice enough to make me some of her famous potato salad!  While I would have gone to see her without the promise of potato salad, I sure was glad I got some!  🙂

We loved getting to visit…and get some good laughs in!

Maxwell did great on the rest of the drive home. It was a fantastic trip all around and I’m so happy we were able to see so many of our family and friends. Can’t wait until next time!!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

First, Happy Birthday to my brother today!  Keath – hope you have a GREAT day full of Delaney chatter and Nate giggles!!

Second, back to the road trip!

After stopping in Searcy we drove into Little Rock and headed over to Laura’s house to see my friends. These girls are more than just friends though.  They’re forever friends…the ones that have always been there, and will always be there…no matter what.  I’m so grateful to have Hannah, Laura and Andee and love that all of our little bitties are now getting to know each other too!  🙂

Maxwell was in hog heaven (literally given all the Razorback fans around!) getting to play with all of Livi’s toys…

and then when he found out that Livi had a swingset in her backyard?! It was almost too good to be true.

It was a beautiful night out and we had the best time just catching up and enjoying the weather.

Joshua climbed up the wall and slid down the slide probably 20 times…

and he even got a little “help” from Livi one of those times!  🙂

All of the sliding made Joshua quite electric too!

Maxwell practiced his walking…

and then showed Ellis how to swing!

This was Ellis’s first time swinging and I think she was a fan!

Livi didn’t miss out…she just hung out in the big girl swing.

It was a super fun afternoon….

with great conversation…

and all of my favorite people.

Love it.  Just love it all.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the baby shower and an attempt at a kid group photo!