April Trip to Mountains Day 1 and Happy 4 Months to Bates!!!

Happy 4 Months, Bates!!!!

Honestly, on his 4 month day I was confused on the date and I thought it was the next day.  SO, this is the only picture I took on the actual day.  At 4 months, Bates is 11 lbs. 14 oz., sleeping 12 hours a night and happy unless he is hungry.  He loves to smile, laugh, coo and play with Mommy, Daddy and his big brothers! He rolls over all the time and is a JOY to be around!  We are SO thankful he is part of our family and the boys can't wait until he is big enough to play with him!

Please keep praying that he will gain weight.  He does a little better then hits a wall.  He looks healthy to us and is much better than he was in the beginning but he is still spitting up and we need him to grow!!!

We took a trip to Mimi and Poppy's mountain house and went to Dollywood!  On our way we stopped in Cleveland and stayed with our sweet friends, the Cantrell's!  The boys had SO much fun with their sweet children and we had a great breakfast and played before we headed out of town!

Getting ready for bed!!!  They all wanted to have a slumber party together but, of course, we didn't let them!

Snuggling before bed!

All the kids (minus Bates) in C's crib!  In fact, they are all a year apart and it would be possible to have 5 kids all of their ages (and be a VERY busy mom!)

Sweet Calder!

Precious Caldwell!

Playing with sidewalk chalk in their driveway!

And with the parachute!

Calder was quite taken with the pink scooter!  SO fun!

Sarah, MB and all of the kids!

Then we headed up the road to the cabin and Mimi and Poppy had treats waiting before we headed to Dollywood!  

Before we left Cleveland, we stopped to buy some trip treats at The Village Bake Shop!  These Petit Fours are my favorite (along with the ones from Grant's Bake Shop in Macon)

And these cookies....something I miss from Cleveland!  I SO wish I could figure out how to make them!  They are YUMMY!!!!!!!!!

Sweet Bates (the day after he was 4 months!)

LOVE his sweet little smile :)

And laugh!!! (excuse the towel behind his head...he spits up like crazy)

Cass's favorite treat from the bake shop!

Plant we brought Mom!

All three boys in their matching shirts headed to dollywood!

What a PROUD big brother!!!

My little loves :)

Now, I must admit that I always thought of Dollywood as a redneck hangout.  (I know that is very stereotypical and I tried to find another way to say it but that just fit what was in my head).  I thought it was full of shows and I had NO idea how much fun it was!  I didn't know the rides existed there!  We had SOOOOOO much fun the days that we went and we can't wait to go back!

Boys playing the drums!

Smiling while we walked around Dollywood!!!

Taking Mommy for a drive in his convertable!!!

Daddy and Caden

He thought he was SO big!!!

Cass and Calder on the ferris wheel!  I am terrified of them so I let him and Poppy ride!

Caden and Poppy!

Calder and Cass looking at Poppy and Caden

Poppy and Caden

Mommy and Bates hanging out while brothers are on the ferris wheel!

The Veggie Tales Roller Coaster (I didn't even really care for this one but the boys LOVED it so I rode...but now Cass will be riding)

Fun on the ducks!

and on the pigs...

This was one of Calder's favorite rides!

They have SO much fun together!

Calder wasn't tall enough to go on the bumper cars so just Cass and Caden rode those!  SO fun!

I thought a lot of these car pictures were cute!!

SO happy to be trying out all of the rides!

Poppy and Calder on the teacups!

The all time favorite ride for ALL of us was the car ride!  Caden was tall enough to ride by himself and we took turns riding with Calder and by ourselves (and someone held Bates every time).  Caden ended up with the black cadillac almost every time!  It was hilarious!  Calder would bob his head and smile so big the whole time (and honk his horn in every tunnel) and Caden would just smile and try not to crash!  We rode over and over because the lines were so short!

Calder and Cass

Mimi and Poppy

After a long and fun day in the park, we headed to Bullfish for dinner and as a late birthday celebration for me!  We always do trips for birthdays and this was my 31st birthday trip!  This was the birthday cake there.  Calder ate most of it and it was delicious!  If you are ever in Pigeon Forge, give Bullfish a try.  It's one of our favorite restaurants!

When we got home, Caden got into the petit fours!  We let them have lots of treats when we are on vacation and this was a YUMMY one!  I would be 30 pounds heavier if they sold them near me!

Here is Calder enjoying his!

Calder wanted to snuggle with Cass before bed so Cass rocked him.  SO sweet!  We try to cherish these momemts because we know they won't last forever :(

Smiling while snuggling with Daddy :)