Beachin’ It

One of the perks of getting married on Memorial Day weekend is that your anniversary always falls on a three-day weekend! We always try to go out of town for our anniversary and this year we went to Gulf Shores, kids in tow!

This picture has nothing to do with the beach, I just wanted to share the cuteness!

Ok, so the trip started out fabulously. We left right after lunch so the kids would have full bellies and go to sleep!

This worked for about two hours. After that, Cason decided that he was done riding in his carseat. Fun times! What’s even MORE fun than being stuck in the car with a crying baby is going through Mobile, AL at rush hour when one of the main roads is closed because of an accident and the ENTIRE population of Mobile is being re-routed to the bridge we are trying to cross. It took us at least 45 minutes to go over a bridge that normally would take about 2 minutes.

After we escaped all that traffic, we stopped at a Chick-fil-A for supper. It wasn’t that hot out so we left Bella in the car with the windows rolled down. STUPID STUPID STUPID IDEA. When we got back out to the car, she was basically about to have a heat stroke. We gave her tons of water and let the air conditioning blow on her for a long time. It was the scariest thing ever. And we feel like absolute dirt. Horrible dog parents. The worst. So needless to say, she was treated like royalty for the rest of the weekend and got herself a chicken nugget happy meal as our apology. And don’t worry, she’s all better now! And we learned a huge lesson!

So after we got everybody back in the car and settled and turned out of the CFA parking lot, Brad says “I think Cason pooped.” Seriously. Did I mention that Brad is sitting in the back seat in between the two carseats? So I pulled over, got Cason out and sat him in Brad’s lap (because Bella was sitting in the passenger seat…royalty, remember?). Cason has been eating a lot of broccoli lately so his poop has been smelling a special kind of funky. I pulled his diaper off and my husband proceeds to dry heave. I looked at him and said “I WILL DIVORCE YOU IF YOU PUKE RIGHT NOW!” Thankfully, he didn’t.

Finally, SEVEN HOURS later we made it to the beach house!

The next day Cason woke up at his normal time, 5:30am, so we all got up, had breakfast and headed to the beach!

I mean, come on. Look at those chunky arms.

As we were getting out of the car at the beach, a truck pulled up and someone yelled HEY! I turned around to see our friend that lives in Mobile and the man we named Cason after. This was the first time they met! Little Cason had his serious face on.

Cason was happy to sit in his Boppy chair in the sand and watch Noah play in the water.

This year is the first time Noah has really REALLY enjoyed being at the actual beach. He would have stayed there and played all day long. Splashing in the water, building sand castles, catching fish, he loved it all!

Cason didn’t really care about any of it.

He was living the good life on the beach, asleep and with a fan blowing cold air on him.

We couldn’t stay out on the beach more than a few hours before little C was over it. So we went back to the beach house, took naps, then went to Adventure Island to ride go-carts. Noah loves riding those things. You have to stand really far away to watch them, so I don’t have a picture.

The next day was more of the same! Beach, naps but this time The Track!

He is soaking wet in that picture because he and his Daddy rode the bumper boats!

While the big boys rode rides, Cason and I cheered from the sidelines. AND he rode in the big stroller for the first time!

We also stuffed our faces full of seafood (and cheesecake) all weekend and Noah actually ate popcorn shrimp! We were so proud of him for trying something new!

It only took us 5 hours to get home. And we are all exhausted. But it was a super fun trip with our little family and we made some of the best memories together!

Cubbie Awards

Thank you, Leslie Lambert, for my bloggy facelift! It was well overdue and I love the new look!

Our church does the Awana program that teaches kids Bible verses and helps them learn about God. The four year old class is called Cubbies. Each week the kids talk about and memorize a Bible verse. I think they did 26 total this year. So in celebration of memorizing their verses and ending the year, Noah and his friends got awards and fun prizes!

The preschool choir sang a few songs and they were SO cute! I didn’t realize how short Noah is compared to his friends!

Noah’s teacher gave him his Cubbie Award.

And then we got a picture with Cubbie Bear! Noah said, “Who’s in that bear suit?!?”

I can’t believe how big he is getting. And I can’t believe he will start kindergarten in a year! I will be a basket case that day!

My gymnast

Noah participates in gymnastics classes at his preschool. He loves rolling around and jumping and everything they get to do. Last week, his class had an end-of-the-year program for the parents to show off what the kids have been working on all semester.

After the show, the kids got a medal for all their hard work! And Noah was SO proud of his!

And we are SO proud of Noah!

An ice cream date

Before Cason was born, Noah was my little baby. I spoiled him rotten and gave in to more of his whims than I probably should have. But I didn’t care, he was my baby! So when the time drew near for Cason to join our family, I just knew the sibling jealousy was going to be bad. Baaaaaaaad. There was no way Noah was going to want to share me with someone else. So I mentally prepared myself for the worst. And what I got was the COMPLETE opposite of what I imagined.

Noah loved Cason from the moment he laid eyes on him. He never acted jealous AT ALL. He is always caring and loving toward Cason. He loves playing with him, tickling him, talking with him and just being near him. And he’s been that way since day one.

However….this past Sunday was Cason’s baby dedication so the entire day was about him. And that’s when it started.

Shortly after church was over, Noah burst into tears over something so small. At lunch, he burst into tears several times because he didn’t get to hand me his menu, or his silverware didn’t have a little green paper on it like everybody else’s, or this or that or this or that. He’s had a few of these little episodes since then. And he also wants me to hold him constantly.

I guess reality is finally setting in with him and he realizes that I’m now having to split my attention between him and his brother. It makes me so sad for him to feel this way. So in an effort to show him more attention, I picked Noah up early from school yesterday and took him on an ice cream date!

It took some convincing to get him to be ok with leaving Cason at school. We had to go give Cason bye hugs and kisses before we could leave! But he was SO excited about going for ice cream with just Mom! He had never been to Yogurt Mountain before. He kept saying, “This is an awesome ice cream factory!”

Cotton candy ice cream was his choice! He loved getting to pick out the different toppings.

We enjoyed our little date and I decided we definitely needed to have more dates in our future! Hopefully this will help him transition better into his new role as big brother! I couldn’t love that little boy any more if I tried!

Our Mother’s Day weekend

I got to celebrate Mother’s Day all weekend long and I can honestly say it was the best one yet! Friday morning, I had breakfast with Noah at his school.

He gave me the sweetest presents that he made.

The flower pot says “I love my Mommy because she takes me to the old Toys R Us.” When he can’t remember that it’s called Target, he calls it the old Toys R Us for some reason.

Saturday, I got to lounge around and love on my babies all day long. Then Sunday morning, I got even more presents! Noah made this at church.

And Cason made this.

And as if I wasn’t already having the best Mother’s Day, Sunday was also Cason’s baby dedication at church! We had most of our family there to share in our special day. We are so blessed!

Here is my 85 year old Big Mama with the boys! I love her to pieces!

Our little family! I have given up on ever getting a picture where EVERYONE is looking at the camera and smiling!

Did I tell you I love this lady???

Brad’s parents with the boys. Cason was over taking pictures at this point!

These next pictures are super dark because the lighting in the sanctuary is on the darker side.

And finally a group picture!

I’m so glad everyone came to support us on Cason’s big day!

My friend Donna made Cason’s little outfit and smocked it by HAND! Noah actually wore it to his baby dedication as well! So sweet!

Cason at five months…

and Noah at three months!

Was that an awesome Mother’s Day weekend or what?!?

Baseball awards!

Last night was Noah’s team baseball party to celebrate their season and get their trophies!

His new favorite thing to do is to take a picture with food in his mouth….

We ate at a pizza place so of course, we had to stop and get a happy meal beforehand because “I don’t liiiiike pizza!”

And we had to take a pack of crackers. Little brother enjoyed the entertainment of a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds running around, too. He wanted a bite of pizza so bad!

Noah was so excited to get his trophy and his medal! He slept with them last night and he took them both to school this morning to show his friends.

Love! The pizza place also has a little game room area and Noah asked Brad for some money to play some games. Brad said, “I don’t have any money, I’m broke!” to which Noah replied, “No you’re not Daddy. You’re put together!”