Braden's First Birthday!

Our friends Becca & Jason's son Braden turned 1 in July. I just can't believe how quickly that year went by! Here's a picture of Braden's Firetruck cake that their neighbor made & decorated.

Here is Becca & Braden about to start opening gifts.

Here is Becca, Jason & Braden opening gifts.

More pics from Braden's First Birthday

Here are our friends Paul, Kelly & Jackson.

Here is Chad & Jessica at the party.

Braden's bear cake

Here's a close-up of Braden's little bear cakes (their neighbor made these for them!) - this is what all the kids got to eat at the party.

Here is Braden with his own bear cake and #1 candle.

Here is Braden thoroughly enjoying his bear cake!

Other animals at our house

We recently put up a hummingbird feeder on our front porch and I was lucky enough to capture this picture of one coming to eat! It's not the best picture, but those guys are so fast it's hard to get a picture fast enough. Hopefully I'll be able to get some better pictures in the future.


This is a garden spider that's got it's web at the front of our neighborhood. It's funny because I was just telling Chad how long it had been since I'd seen one of these spiders and then a few days later when I was out walking I saw this one. And Chad said that he's seen one at his parent's house too. When Hurricane Hugo came through Charlotte my family was living in Matthews and there was a lot of damage in our neighborhood, but we had a garden spider in our yard that survived the hurricane, so I always think these spiders are really cool.

Lounge cats

Here's a picture of Sandy & Roxy lounging in the living room. Right after I took this picture I was petting Roxy and she sat up, looked straight at me, then turned her head and looked right at the cabinet where we keep the treats. And she did this like 3 times in a row as if to say, "I would like some treats please"! So, of course because I am a well-trained cat person I got up and got her some treats!