Destin trip: Final post!

Holden's birthday!! You can't beat turning 2 and spending the day at the ocean. We had a very laid-back morning playing on the beach. He wasn't too sure he liked Jay being buried at first, but soon joined in on the action. :)

I love this family shot of us.

"I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean..."

After nap time, we headed back to The Track for an evening of fun. Holden had a blast playing in the arcade, riding several kiddie rides, and eating a fair share of junk food.

No birthday is complete without a cake! Holden picked out a small Cars themed cake at Walmart, and we sang "Happy Birthday" and blew out candles back at the condo. He definitely approved!

We left Holden in the capable hands of Aunt Allie and Karly one night, and had a "grown-ups night out." Our friend, Diane (top picture) turned 50, so a group of us thought that was a good excuse to go for dinner and drinks. We even had a conga line going...


Just some fun shots. Destin has a great outlet mall. I greatly enjoyed the shopping while we were there, and Jay tolerated it. Holden loved the cool sandy playground, and was awestruck by the fountains!

The first 5 days we were there were gorgeous. The last 3 were...well...more like a monsoon. We played cards, watched movies, shopped, and watched the frothing ocean from our window. Or in Jay's case, got as close to it as he could without falling in, then ran out to enjoy the hot tub in pouring down rain. When the lightning started, I saw him run faster than I ever have before! As he put it, "I didn't think my odds were very good. " He's such a goon!

One cool, rainy day, we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe. Holden was thrilled when he saw the guitar that was "like Murray's!" (from the Wiggles.) He was also thrilled with the french fries. :)

We had great plans of getting family pictures on the beach at sunset towards the end of the week. The weather didn't exactly cooperate (cold, windy, and wet!) but I still love these shots.

Holden had a blast walking the beach barefoot. We saw a washed up sea turtle that was pretty neat, and caught a dolphin swimming in a little cove. In the picture that looks like he is yelling, he was saying, "dolphin!!!"

The homes along the beach and lagoon were so beautiful. I loved all of the porches. Just a few ideas of what my future home will look like when I win the lottery. :)

Does this scene look familiar? It's in the movie, "Jaws!" It has not been changed since. I thought it really fit the part on the gloomy day!

On our last day there, some of our friends joined us for another beach walk out to a big rocky area. The "big kids" (Jay included in that, of course!) climbed way out on them in the rain, giving them great views and their moms heart attacks. Jay decided to throw food at the sea gulls, creating a scene straight out of "The Birds." Then everyone came over to have dinner at the condo. Holden enjoyed Diane's glasses. :)

In case you can't tell, we had a wonderful trip! We can't wait for next year!!

You know your Grandpa loves you when...

He does THIS because you want him to play with you at the park! :)

 

I had these pictures from a few weekends ago and thought they were too hilarious not to post. I'm just impressed he got himself back out in one piece!

 

My parents got Holden his first t-ball set for one of his birthday presents! On a recent warm spring day, Jay took him out front to test it out. They had a great time together!

 

Jay's parents got Holden a pirate ship for his birthday! The best thing about it is that they graciously agreed to keep it at THEIR house. :) We are running out of space in ours! It shoots plastic cannon balls, has buttons that make sword fighting and cannon blasting noises, and includes an eye patch and hat. (See Jay's pirate modeling below.) He has so much fun playing with it when we're there!

 

Tough Love

I have found the "terrible twos" rearing its ugly head this week! I love my little boy to pieces, but man does he challenge me some days. He has been pushing the limits on everything, disobeying me, throwing fits, and using the word "NO!" a lot. To top it off, he is going through a fear of being in his crib alone at night. He goes down fine for naptime, but stands up and screams, "MOMMY!" repeatedly at night. He is sooo stubborn at times (Hmm...wonder where he gets that from?!) and will literally do this for 30 minutes without stopping. We have given in and been letting him fall asleep with us on the couch before tranferring him to his bed. However, if he wakes up in the middle of the night (like last night) he will become terrified again and yell for us at the top of his lungs. Which is the reason he slept in our bed from 1:30 on last night. I have had some not-so-proud Mommy moments this week during which I have completely lost my temper with him. Tonight we were laying on the couch and he had his little dimpled hands wrapped around my neck, and he smiled at me with his fresh bubblegum toothpaste breathe and said, "Hi, Mommy! Kiss!" Then he gave me an eskimo kiss, laid his little blond head down on my shoulder, and was asleep within minutes. And I thought to myself, "Bring it on, terrible twos, because nothing can change how much I love this little boy." God makes them cute for a reason, doesn't he? :)

Fun Weekend!

Holden and I had a full, fun weekend. Of course that means plenty of pictures to share! I swear he looks bigger and older to me everyday. I am really looking forward to being off this summer so that we can enjoy doing things together each day!

On Friday night, my school had its annual Karnival Knight. (It's spelled that way because our mascot is a knight in shining armor; I do know how to spell carnival! Ha!) Holden went last year but couldn't do too much other than look around and eat! This year was so much fun! He loved the little games set up, seeing and sitting in a fire truck, playing with Colin and Cade, and getting his face painted for the first time! There is a lady in town called the "Zoo Lady" who does incredible animal faces on kids. He chose the tiger and thought it was hilarious every time he looked in the mirror! We have a raffle set up with all sorts of baskets full of goodies. I put Holden's name on some of the tickets, as well as Jay's name and my name on others. Holden must be lucky, because he won us an overnight at the Chateau, which is the hotel we had our wedding reception at. We said he won an overnight with the grandparents. :) The only downfall to the evening was when he spotted the local football team's mascot walking around and flipped out. You know how he is with characters right now! I literally had to take him outside to calm him down. Poor kid! That's why he doesn't look too happy in the picture where he and Cade are sitting in the fire truck. Fortunately, the character moved on to other areas and we were able to resume the night with Daddy, who arrived after work.

Saturday was overcast, but really warm! We were able to go out in shorts for the first time this season. Holden was thrilled to get some riding time on his little Harley. He is obsessed with "Kickles" right now (what he calls motorcycles) which is funny to me because Jay can't STAND them due to all of the accident scenes he's had to work. This one is pretty harmless, although he can't steer to save his life and gets mad if someone intervenes. Mr. Independent! He rode it all the way down the street to Memaw and Pepaw's house, then discovered he could still drive on their grass. :)

Saturday afternoon we headed to Natalie's house to help her celebrate her first birthday!! I can't believe this sweet baby girl is already a year old. It's just a reminder to me of how quickly little ones grow. Holden adores "Atalie" (he drops the N for some reason!) and was excited to "help" her eat cupcakes and play with new toys. They were both thrilled with her little Mickey ride along toy and the two of them were so cute as she rode and he pushed her around! He gave her a bit of a wild ride but she loved it! You'd think she was my own baby with all the pictures I took. She is such a special girl and we love her so much! She had a blast at her party. As you can see she is such a happy girl! I love the way she scrunches up her nose when she grins. Bridget did an awesome job with the party. It had a cupcake theme, down to Natalie's shirt, cupcakes to eat, her plates, big balloon, etc. It is so fun to have a little girl in my life (two now with Miss Corinne's arrival!) so that I get my fix of pink, ruffles, and dollies. It's neat to see her and Holden starting to interact and establish a friendship. I am really excited about playing together this summer! Happy birthday, Natalie Marie! I love you

!

These last shots are from a recent weekend but I hadn't had a chance to post them yet. I thought they'd go along well with Natalie's bday. It was a rainy day and Holden and I met Bridget, Natalie, and our friend, Heather, for breakfast before heading to our house for playtime. They were a riot at the restaurant together; sharing and exchanging toys, throwing things on the floor and staring at them together over the side of their highchairs, Holden telling her things and Natalie smiling and babbling at him. He even attempted to share his bacon with her! She doesn't have enough teeth for that yet, so we told him she couldn't have it. I guess he thought we were being mean, because he kept trying to sneak her a piece! They were so cute playing at our house. He really likes to show her things and try to help her play with them. In the top picture, he is kissing her head! So sweet! I love when she kisses him back; it's a big slobber-fest and he usually gives me a look like, "Gross, Mommy!" It's so neat to see your best friend's baby becoming friends with your own baby.

You know spring is just around the corner...

...when it's time for the first mow of the season!

Holden, for one, was thrilled! :)

Easter '09

As usual around here, Easter was no small event. It is wonderful to have our family all in town; it also means quite a few celebrations! Holden and I were both in bed by 8:00 Sunday night. :)

On Saturday, Memaw (Jay's mom) and I took Holden to see the Easter bunny at Walmart. They were offering a free 5x7 and I couldn't pass that up, especially since I knew Holden was NOT going to be a fan! Remember the character phobia? Yep, still there! (In case you can't tell from the pictures below.) It didn't, however, prevent him from snatching a piece of candy out of the bunny's basket before he ran off to Memaw! See what you think....I believe his fear is justified...how creepy is that bunny?!

Memaw took the pictures below and I thought they were hilarious. I guess I am just a mean Mommy. Check out the expression of the guy watching in the background!

I do have to add this little story: on the morning of Easter, Holden woke up around 3am, screaming, "Mommy! MOMMY!" in a terrified voice. I figured he'd had a nightmare and brought him in bed with us. He went right back to sleep, clutching his blue "nigh-night." (blankie) In the morning, I asked him, "Honey, why were you upset last night?" He looked at me with round brown eyes and said, "Dat bunny was comin'!" Can you imagine??? He must have woken up and pictured THIS (check out bunny pictures) peeking around his door. Poor traumatized child!

Easter morning was so much fun this year! After assuring Holden that the bunny had already LEFT our house and was not coming back, he was thrilled with his egg hunt around the living room, and of course all the candy. It took forever because each time he found an egg, he'd stop, open it, and eat the candy before moving on. He was on a full-on sugar high by the time we got to church! He was very excited about his soccer ball and Easter books, too. I love how he has his little tongue out in some of these pictures as he is concentrating.

"CHEESE!"

All dressed up and ready for church! Daddy had to work. :(

They still need cops on Easter. We missed him! During church, my friend Susan's son sang a song by Matthew West called "History." It was perfect for remembering what Easter is all about. The main refrain talks about "The day that love made history." If you haven't heard it, I encourage you to check it out!

I decided to let Holden run around in the backyard before church to run off some of that sugar energy! We had a nice day; cool but sunny. The grass is suddenly so green! I had a hard time getting him back in the house...and preventing grass stains! :) I meant to get him some new sandals before Easter but ran out of time so he wore his favorite "Scoobies." At least they're khaki, right?!

After a nice Easter Sunday church service, we headed to my parents' house for lunch. My brother, Eric, was there, and so was my Granny. Holden is really into the piano right now. Anything musical with that little boy! Jay was able to stop by and eat with us before heading out on a call. My mom made a delicious lunch of ham, fruit salad, lettuce salad, hot crossed buns (the cross was symbolic of the occasion), rolls, a hash brown casserole I brought, and of course Easter eggs! For dessert we had cheesecake and chocolate pie. Mom and I split a small piece of each; Easter comes but once a year. :)

After lunch, Memaw and Aunt Allie met Holden and me at my parents' house, and the four of us headed out to Colfax, a small town nearby, for Easter with Jay's family. His family just keeps expanding, so for the second year in a row, they rented a church hall with plenty of room for everyone. It was great to watch the little ones run around together! Ironically, Jay's call was to Colfax, so once he took care of things, he was able to stop by for a short while. There was a huge spread of food; unfortunately I didn't eat much of it because I didn't pace myself well at my parents'! Holden always has room for more sugar, so he went straight for a big frosted sugar cookie with a "quack quack" on it and proceeded to eat all the frosting off of it before handing me the remaining cookie. :) We had an egg hunt out on the lawn. Aunt Allie was a big help with Holden. It was funny watching some of the little ones decide to just plop down on the lawn and munch on their chocolate. We had a fun afternoon!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend!

More Destin posts coming soon!