Stone Harbor, NJ

These are a little late in coming (okay, SUPER late in coming) but nevertheless, here they are- our pictures from our Labor Day weekend trip to Stone Harbor. On Saturday morning of Labor Day weekend, the Estep/Boykin crew packed up and got on the road for a relaxing trip to Stone Harbor, New Jersey. It was great to spend those days with family at the beach in a really nice beach house. Matt, Braeden & I were only able to stay until Monday because I had to be back to school on Tuesday but, we were really excited to get some much-needed vacation/beach time!

We followed Matt's mom & dad in their fancy new van!

Daddy & Braeden heading down to the beach. The 3rd pic is Braeden's face as he first encounters the ocean. See the awe? :)

A beautiful Saturday at Stone Harbor. Pic # 2: Braeden's typical "Whoa!" face. (Thanks to Uncle Nathan for the awesome Baby Gap hat. Braeden kept that on the entire time on the beach! Wow!)


Some nice pics of our lovely beach house.


Pics from our evening trip to Wildwood.


My men on Monday morning, ready to head back home.

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

Summer sweetness

This is a picture of the beautiful sunflower Braeden gave me for Mother's Day that REALLY grew over the summer.


One of Braeden's favorite meals- Spaghetti!

Sleepy after a long day at King of Prussia-great day of shopping!!

Supporting Aunt Jenna as she completes her first triathalon!


Braeden's 24-hour Ambulatory EEG

Major slacker

So as you've probably noticed, it's been over a month since my last post. I know what you're thinking (or, in the case of my brother, saying), "C'mon, keep up with this stuff, slacker!" And though I have so many things to share with you from the end of our summer and beginning of the school year, I won't be able to share things as frequently as I have in the past. Here are the basics:
-Braeden is doing well and has seen several doctors/had several tests, most of which didn't give us any real answers/direction about why he keeps having these episodes. However, as a parent it's a relief to know that they didn't see anything that would be cause for concern with his heart. He also had the ambulatory (24-hour) EEG and I must share, he was the happiest I've seen him in a long time walking around with his little fanny-pack full electronic stuff bouncing on his tush. :) Hopefully we'll find out the results of that soon and when we do, we'll be sure and share.
-Our first day of school with the kids was this past Monday. As you can probably imagine, being a "first-year" teacher with CD has been a great deal of work but I'm so thankful to have my own classroom and...well...have a JOB! :) My kids are GREAT, the teachers I work with are AWESOME and I'm very blessed! Though my school work has been demanding my goal is to make the family time we have in the evening special and I try to take that time and leave school at school (you teachers know what a challenge that can be at times.)
-Matt is being the most amazing husband and father, taking on so much more than he really should have to as I have been swamped with school stuff. I'm so extremely blessed to have him and can't thank him enough for sacrificing so much for us. Throughout our marriage we have been blessed by God to have the strength to carry one another from time-to-time when things get too crazy and right now, he's really helping to carry me.
Well, pictures will come in the near future. I hope your lives are moving along smoothly. Thank you for keeping up with us even though I haven't been able to be as dedicated to sharing with you. Have a wonderful Friday and a Happy long Labor Day weekend!

Randomness

Hi there and sorry for the delay in posts! Many exciting things are happening in the Estep world and I wanted to take a minute to share with you. We received word on Sunday night that we had an offer on the house--FINALLY! These last few days we have become well-acquainted with the church fax machine and have had a great deal of practice in perfecting our signatures! But seriously, now that all of that is taken care of we are in the process of working on a closing date. It's so exciting for us to be at that place where we know we can really begin to look toward our future as a family without having the strings attached to a house we don't even use anymore. (I do have to admit, though, that it is a little bit sad handing over the keys to our very first house...the first house Braeden came home to and spent his first year. It's difficult but we've learned quickly that life brings a great deal of change and we have to move right along with it. So, ready or not...HERE WE COME!) Continue to keep us in your prayers that everything will continue to progress in God's perfect timing.
In other news (and I hope they don't mind me sharing this on our blog) but we also found out this week that we're going to have a niece and a nephew! A BIG congrats to Adam and Kendra on the good news that the babies are healthy and doing well! We can only imagine the fun Braeden and his 2 cousins will get into as they grow up together!
Well, I hope to have more pics to share with you in the near future. Until then, take care and enjoy the rest of your week!

Summer days

Here are some snippets of what Braeden has been up to lately...

A few weeks ago we received a package in the mail from Nathan, Matt's best friend from college/grad school, with an adorable hat from Baby Gap for our little Braeden! It's this adorable reversible hat with little straps so that the hat stays on no matter how much Braeden pulls at it (and we know this from experience!) Thanks for keeping me stylin', Uncle Nafey!


When caught these cute pics of Braeden with his grandma (Matt's mom) one night when he was in the happiest of moods! What a blessing to see him interact with his grandparents!


This is one of Braeden's favorite moves he likes to share with us from time to time. What good balance he has for an almost 16-month old!


Below you'll see some footage of Braeden trying to jump like his daddy. What a cutie!



A few weeks ago we had to take Braeden for some blood work and considering the fact that they had to stick him 5 times, he was a real trooper through it all. Here are some pics of our brave little guy!