John's graduation

Last week our sweet John Bryant graduated from high school! What?! Whenever I thought about going to graduation I just imagined it being Patrick that was walking because it hardly seems possible that it's already been a year since he did. We realized that we've only gone to John's graduations together. Nothing against the other kids, it has just only worked out that way! I went to Hayden's 5th grade, David went to her 8th grade, we both went to John's 8th grade, I went to Patrick's high school, David went to Mary Shelton's high school. Whew. That's a lot of Baylor graduations! Only one left to go... that's wild. Hayden will be the solo Bryant child in the fall when John leaves to John Patrick at Alabama. After a rigorous application and interview process, John was chosen to be apart of the University Fellows Experience. We think he's a pretty remarkable guy, and obviously the university already does too.

Graduation was pretty special because John was asked to give the invocation. It really says so much about his heart and his reputation as a believer that he was given this honor. Mary Shelton gave it at her graduation too! We try to learn from Kevin and Lynn as much as possible because we hope to raise children with as much integrity and love for the Lord as theirs all have!

I know, these pictures are terrible... whatever.

After graduation we ran home to pick up Crawford and headed up the mountain to join everyone else for lunch. It is so fun to spend time with the extended Bryant/Mosier families at these sorts of occasions throughout the years. They have all been so kind to us, are know they are all so sweet to love on Crawford too. We intended for Crawford to nap while we were there, but I think he knew how much fun was going on downstairs without him so he fought the nap (hence the paci, lovey and no pants in all these pictures...). 

These crack me up. We weren't sure what he was about to do to Jimmy, and we were pretty relieved when he grabbed the remote. Jimmy is notorious for falling asleep after every single meal, and I was kind of hoping Crawford would crawl up and join him. No such luck.

John is pretty natural when it comes to this (at the time, whiny and cranky) little boy. I hate that John and Patrick won't be around much while my boys are growing up, but I love that they will always be an important part of their lives. And one day, between the two (Bryant) boys we'll have an orthodontist and endodontist to care for us :). 

We love you, Johner B! We are so proud of the man you've become and are so excited to see how the Lord uses you in the years to come!

PS- Here's a fun look back from a few years ago.

tender Tennessee Christmas

We came home from Columbus because David had to work Monday (and Wednesday through the rest of the week). Fortunately, he was able to bug out early most days, and work from home one day too. We got a lot of family time, which was so so nice.

We got up early on Christmas Eve to drive north. I dropped David off in Dalton to work a while, and Crawford and I went home to do laundry and get organized. David got home in time to make it to the 3pm service at church then we headed to the Bryants' for dinner. As if Crawford didn't get enough attention and loving with my family over the weekend, the Bryant/Hudson/Mosier/Skahan families poured it on. I can't say enough nice things about how these folks love us. They really treat us like we are a part of their family (we were the only non-blood family members there). Even all the kids - even the boys! - LOVED on Crawford. He was being fought over constantly. He ate it up. Literally. He ate Kaitlin's entire dinner.

Our sad attempts of a family picture...

This picture cracks me up... Poor Karen! Ha.

We finally changed C into his jammies with intentions to either put him down there or head home, but of course neither of those happened. He was a dream though. Seriously, it was hours past his bed time and he was a total joy.

And, he passed out (with the monkey he got for Christmas from the Bs) as soon as we pulled out of the driveway. 

Christmas morning was anti-climatic because he didn't really get it. It was sweet to read the Christmas story together and slowly open the little pile of gifts we had. I realized how silly it was that I bothered to wrap C's gifts (rookie mistake). 

favorite toy - practice golf balls! Thanks for the idea, Grandma Cathy!

food pouch from his stocking = he's obsessed

new magnet letters = also a hit

After having a lazy Christmas day (well, sort of lazy... we worked on a project that I'll post about later and I mopped the kitchen floor), we were going stir crazy. The Bryants were all home, so to get out of the house we headed back up to see what they got and say hi. Tons more phone pics of people loving on our kid... beware:

Another sad family picture attempt.

LOVE this. Dr. M playing peekaboo!

And again, changed into his pjs before we left, and he was zonked in the car. He is the sweetest little buddy we could ever ask for!

We definitely have some work to do on establishing our own family traditions, but it was a really precious time to just focus on God's goodness to us. All of a sudden, the birth of a baby boy makes so much more sense to me (duh), and makes the awe of Christmas that much greater. Thank you, Jesus!