Christmas

Our 3rd day of our Christmas adventure and we can't believe how different things are at the beach in December vs July. We love that we can go do things and aren't fighting a crowd anywhere. We took Braxton to the aquarium yesterday and he's been asking about piranhas all day! (Why didn't he see their teeth?)

Today we went swimming in the in door pool. Mckinley LOVED it! She looked absolutely adorable in her bathing suit but she was like a fish kicking and splashing about!

Another First

We have a tradition in our family. Every Thanksgiving we go around the table and before we say the blessing we say what were thankful for. It never fails that year after year I always say the same thing. My family. Look at these pictures. We had dinner at Aunt Lisa's like so many years past. Braxton had a great time with baby Zoie (who's a trip!) and Mckinley was loved on by her Grandaddy and Aunt. Again, I am reminded of how lucky I am. I am so fortunate to have a husband that I love and love being married too. I am reminded everyday of how lucky I am to have healthy children.
Last night we had dinner at church followed by a special service and since Brandon was helping
prepare the food, the kids and I drove out by ourselves. Mckinley does NOT particularly enjoy the car seat. She can handle it better if I'm sitting in the back with her but last night she screamed the entire ride and Braxton was sitting on the other side of the car singing "Humpty Dumpty" (but his always comes out sounding like Huuuunty Dunty). She's screaming, he's singing. And I'm up front chuckling. My children are healthy. They scream, they cry, and they sing.
I am so thankful!

How is it Halloween Already?

How can it possibly be Halloween? Last night was "Halloween" out here. We hope (only by the amounts of candy that we still have) that some people will actually come and Trick or Treat tonight. Spiderman had a blast. At first he didn't want to wear his mask and I had to convince him to put it on just so I could get a picture. After that he didn't want to take it off. The town we live in had it's first Fall Festival last night and there was a huge turn out. We walked up expecting a few people but it was really crowded. He jumped in the Bounce House (without one of us and with other kids!) and did some Trunk or Treating. When he said he had to go to the bathroom we headed home because it was a little chilly out and the costume had to come all the way off for something like that to happen.

We had a fire in the fireplace and Brax was so excited when people would come to the door. I was even able to get a picture of him in the candy bowl. A tradition we started his first Halloween and almost was unable to get him to pose for last year. This year he climbed in happily and posed!

Happy Halloween!!

Will You Be My Valentine?

Brax came home today talking up a storm about making Valentines. He made one for us this afternoon and was very proud of it. I told him that we would make his friend's Valentine's when we got home this evening. Don't think he didn't remind me the whole time we were gone.

As soon as he walked into the house he started asking for them. I pulled the boxes out and let him choose which ones he wanted to use. For every friend at daycare I named I let him pick the one he wanted to give, sign it, and hand me their "treats" to staple to them. He picked cards for each friend that suited them. I had to include not only Maw-Maw andPaw-Paw but Brax, of course! Couldn't leave him off the list!
Just look at how big he looks!

Happy Mother's Day

So today was my 2nd Mother's Day being an actual mother. Three years ago I celebrated my first but to be perfectly honest I had nothing to celebrate.....yet. We celebrated a little boy that wasn't born yet. We had no idea what we were in for. I can't imagine life without Braxton. I know all moms say that but it is true. Today was my 2nd Mother's Day to truly celebrate. It was a day worth celebrating. This morning I woke up before the boys and went for a walk. When I arrived back at home Brandon and Braxton were up and watching t.v. We got ready for church and when we dropped Braxton off in the nursery there were NO TEARS!! This made the next 2 hours so much more enjoyable. After church we all went to Aunt Lisa's for a delicious lunch and then we went to Dottie's for a nice dinner. It was a beautiful day in every way.
I also want to pay a tribute to my mom. This Mother's Day marked the 11th one that I celebrated without her. After she first died, for several years actually, it was a sad day. I used to dread the day. I felt I had been cheated and although we always have done something every Mother's Day I felt after she died that there was nothing for me to celebrate. My mom was gone. The past 2 years have not only been a day for me to celebrate because I'm now a mother but it's given me another day to reflect on how great a mother I had. I realize now that the day isn't for mothers but ABOUT mothers. I had an incredible mother. My time with her was very short but I learned so much from her and saw what a great mother is and all that a mother can be. I know that I am a mother that wants to be just like her mother. And of all the things that I regret my mother has missed out on for the past 11 years not meeting Braxton is what I regret most.

Looks can be deceiving...

Sunday was Easter. It was wonderful and despite the weather report that it was going to be cool it turned out to be a beautiful day. We woke up (Braxton woke us up) about 7:15 and we went into the dining room to see what the Easter Bunny had left. Braxton had a great basket. It had some cars in it, a Tupperware cake taker (just like Grandaddy's), a movie and SOME MARKERS!! Braxton has really gotten into crayons and markers and they are normally the first thing he goes searching for regardless of where he is. Crayola has this wonderful line called Crayola Wonder. The markers only work on the specific paper. So no more marking on skin, carpet or clothes. You can look at the picture and see Braxton's face when he saw his markers.

After church, which we didn't get to attend because we had nursery downstairs, we went to Grandaddy's house where the Easter Bunny had stopped as well. Another great basket full of clothes, toys, a really cool firetruck, and chocolate. All the family came over about 3 o'clock. We had a wonderful dinner and enjoyed catching up with each other. Grandmama seemed to be having a good day. This news in itself seemed to brighten everyone's day! After we ate, we went outside to walk around the garden and for an egg hunt. Braxton's egg hunts consist of tossing the eggs on the grass and watching him pick them up. He was very entertained and was incredibly proud of himself for every egg he found. Half-way through the egg hunt Braxton looked at Grandaddy's basket and noticed that HE had all the eggs while he himself only had about 3. So he switched baskets. So although it looks like Braxton has found a lot of eggs it's really the basket that we were using to "hide" the eggs.

Smart "egg", right?