Giggle Box

Doesn't take much to get his giggle box turned over. His laugh is infectious!

Mack at 18 months

Mack was 18 months old on February 21st. It's hard to believe that he is already a year and 1/2 old! He is full of energy these days. He loves anything that is dangerous, like knives out of the dish washer, electrical outlets (he can rip the kids safety plugs right out of the wall,) and drinking Windex - which, by the way, is not terribly dangerous according to the Poison Control operator (at least not when it is sprayed in the mouth. ) He talks ALOT, although we can't always quite make out what he's saying. He loves being outside and loves a ball! He is like a magnet to any ball that is within a 10 foot radius of him. He's had several ear infections over the last few months. I'm waiting patiently for the pediatrician to give us the green light for seeing the ENT for tubes, but it hasn't happened yet. He LOVES his sisters. He is constantly laughing at them and doing whatever they want him to do. At times, he forgets that he is not their age. This little boy keeps us very busy, and I'm not sure what we would do without him. Love this kid so much!

Mack's 18 month stats:

Weight: 21lb 4oz - below 5th percentile
Height: 31 inches - between 10-25th percentile
Head Circumference 19 inches - between 50-75th percentile.

Obviously there is concern about his weight once again.There was a big concern at this visit because there is such a large discrepancy between the size of his head and his weight. Mack has no neurological deficits that we've noticed so far, and honestly, he is ahead of the game developmentally. The nurse practitioner commented that her hope is that we just caught him in an awkward growth spurt. We are on a 2 week high fat, high protein diet to try to beef him up. We go back March 27th and if his weight is still below 5th percentile, he will have to go for bloodwork and testing. I am not worried. All my kids are small - it will be a good thing for them later in their life.

Mack's favorite toy and word "vacuum"

Helping mommy cook. 

Sweetness. 

Poor kid is always being "decorated" by his sisters.

A little video of Mack in his swim lessons. He's doing so awesome. This was about 2 weeks ago and he's gotten much better since then. 

Bowers Sisters

So, a couple of weeks ago we had some cooler weather come through and LOTS of rain. The Bowers family had to spend some time inside and this is what happened:

Worth and I got individual invitations for this performance or "reforms" as Ellie wrote it. 

Ladies and gentlemen, the Bowers Sisters!

All my Valentines!

Just a few February pictures for everyone. (And for my documentation!)

My Birthday dates. Ellie, Emma, and I went to see "Into the Woods" on the afternoon of my birthday. So much fun!

Emma and Mack having story time together. A moment of pure sweetness. 

The girls and their handsome daddy before the Father/Daughter dance

One 75 deg Sunday afternoon at the neighborhood playground. Gotta love winter in South Georgia!
This is my best friend's son, Gowan with Emma.

Emma chowing down on cookies at her class valentines party

This was hanging outside of Ellie's classroom. Notice what she loves (on the middle right side of the heart)

I could just eat this one up!

Christmas Part 2 and January pictures

Sorry for the photo overload. This is the last of the Christmas pictures, including Chancey Christmas and our Christmas celebration with the Bowers in Athens that was a couple of weekends ago. I've also included some random January pictures at the bottom that were too cute not to post.

CHANCEY CHRISTMAS: This year my mom hosted at her house. Every year my mom's extended family gets together the Saturday that follows Christmas to just be together and celebrate the holidays. Sadly, some years this is the only time the entire year I get to see these aunts, uncles, and cousins. My mom had a white elephant gift exchange this year for us to play. She provided all of the gifts - which were left over items from her small booth/shop she just closed and random items of trash/treasure that she had around her house. It was so much fun, and even better to spend time with my family. We were minus 2 people this year, but we could certainly feel Mimi and Aunt Pat all around us that weekend.

Mack and Will - Double trouble

Emma happened to get the gift with a boa and a tiara (I think my mom helped her cheat when she picked it out of the pile!)

The guys

This is the look on my mom's face throughout the entire game - she thought she was so clever with some of the gifts. And, actually the gifts and who they ended up with were hilarious!

half of the crowd

The teenagers. Chancey, Cole, Micah

My cousin Haley and her precious little diva Molly Grace

My cousin Mark (Haley's dad) got the funniest gift. It was a box full of random items including lamp shades, an old purse of my grandmothers, and an assortment of other items. 

This (The Hannah Montana game) wasn't the gift Ellie picked out. (She picked out the grass skirt that is in her hand)The Hannah Montana game happened to be one of the items in Mark's box, but he immediately handed it to Ellie thinking it was perfect for her. Ellie had no idea who Hannah Montana was. The game is still sitting unopened in our playroom. 

Jaime and baby Rhett

Amos got a light up cup/straw combo. Couldn't have been a more perfect gift. 

Worth got a home accent decorating piece - "a stick" as he called it. He secretly hid it back in my mom's house so he didn't have to bring it to our house. 

Jesica and Will

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Emma ended up with Amos's cup

Uncle Jim opening his gift. Not sure what it was, but I was so happy to see a smile on his face. It's been a tough year for him. (He's the husband of my Aunt Pat)

CHRISTMAS WITH THE BOWERS CREW:  We celebrated Christmas late with Worth's side of the family because we were busy waiting on our newest nephew to arrive. Sweet baby Banks arrived on December 29th and we headed up to Athens on January 10th (we had to wait on Worth to have a weekend off) to celebrate Christmas with them.

All the Bowers cousins: Mack, Bo, Ellie, Banks, Emma

A very adorable baby Banks

Banks was not bothered by all the activities swirling around him. He was such a good baby! I'm not very familiar with good, quiet, sleeping babies. 

Mack loving "Christmas Morning" again

Bo was unwrapping pro this year

A sister and her brother

Another sister and her brother

Ellie looking cute except for her extremely chapped lips. It was frigid in Athens that weekend. 

Emma stayed warm

Bo showing off his tractor

Aunt Kate measuring everyone

Getting Mack still in one place for more the 0.5 seconds is a physical challenge these days and usually requires 4 hands. 

This just cracked all of us up. The cartoons were on, and the kids stopped in their tracks to watch. Assuming these positions. I can't believe that can be even remotely comfortable for Emma. 

Mack and Bo in the bath. Mack wasn't so sure about sharing a bathtub. He bathes on his own at home now. 

Biggest and littlest cousin

Checking him out

Ellie discovered a bad diaper, I guess. 

Bowers -Berryman trio

Sleeping like a log.

JANUARY PICTURES: These are just random phone pictures I've snapped this month.

Ellie did this all on her own. She normally cleans off the table after dinner as one of her nightly chores, but this particular night she decided to wash them out and load the dishwasher. I was impressed, especially with the towel over her shoulder. 

The girls got golf clubs for Christmas from E.W.,(Worth's dad) so Worth took them out  for their first golf course experience. It went as expected. Ellie was over it after about 5 min, and Emma would have been fine out there all day. 

Ellie's class dressed up as dalmations for the 101st day of school. I was proud of the tail I made her - and it held out all day long! 

Freddie. Need I say more? 

Riding in the Frozen Jeep

This is the usual scenario, Ellie driving Mack, while he enjoys a sippy cup. 

What happens when Emma wants to join in.