Got eggs?

Holden was pumped to dye eggs this year. He is getting so big! He did it almost completely on is own, with great enthusiasm. I stuck Hunter in his high chair with his bedtime bottle so he could kind-of participate. :)

His expressions just crack me up! Such a goofball. He loved dropping the eggs in with a "splash!" (not so gently, I might add!) and then pulling them out numerous times to "check on them." I was still trying to get blue/green dye of his fingers three days later.

Hunter was fascinated with the eggs. Of course they just looked like a ball to him. Thus, we have a few cracked eggs. :)

Okay, these next few make me laugh every time I look at them. Jay wasn't home at the time, so I set my camera timer to capture the 3 of us. (Sans-makeup, sweatpants, and all...keepin' it real here!) Holden kept giggling after each shot, and then I looked at them and realized he was making the craziest faces!! Little stinker!!! He is SO like his daddy.

Seriously, LOL!!!!!!

This is the normal one I forced him to do. :)


Our completed dozen. Holden put a sticker on the top of each one. I used extra vinegar this year, and I love how bright they turned out. Can you see Hunter's cracked ones? :)


Hunter in action

Holden's thoughts on Easter and eggs. :)

Happy Easter!

Wishing everyone a very happy Easter!

Visiting the bunny this year was a whole story in itself. My parents and I had planned to just stop by Walmart quickly after church, as they were advertising free bunny pics. Mind you, this involved changing them into their Easter outfits in the van, as I didn't want them to wear them to church until Easter Sunday. Hunter had fallen asleep in his car seat, and I had to wake him up for this ordeal. We got into Walmart, both boys were miraculously happy, and there was no bunny. They informed us that the photo section was experiencing "technical difficulties" and the wait might be an hour. Forget that. The boys ate popcorn chicken and potato wedges in the van because I am a model parent. We got back in the van and headed over to the mall, where for the bargain price of 20.00, you get exactly two 5x7's with the lovely eye-shadow adorned bunny pictured above. However, it was all worth it because they both loved the deranged bunny (WHY?!) and we got the cutest picture of the two of them. Thank God I had dragged my parents along with me or I don't think we would have made it. Hunter kept touching the bunny's nose and just thought he (she?!) was hilarious.

I will have lots of new pics to post soon of egg decorating, a visit from Great Granny and her friend, Walter, and of course all of the fun that tomorrow brings. This year Holden is very excited about the bunny visiting our house. It seems like yesterday that he was scared to go to bed because "Dat bunny's comin'!" No more. He actually cleaned his room today to "make sure the bunny has a path."

We have been talking a lot about Easter and what it means, and this year he also understands that the most important part of Easter is that Jesus rose from the dead. Amidst all of the candy and egg hunts, we are so thankful for the wonderful gift that God gave us in His son's death and resurrection. Happy Easter! He is risen!

Hunter's 1st bday!

Hunter turned one on Sunday, March 27th, the day after we got back from Florida.

I can't believe this cute little munchkin is already a year old!

Since we had already celebrated with our Chuck E. Cheese party before our trip, we just had the grandparents over for cake and ice cream. Holden helped Daddy pick out the cake that morning, and couldn't wait to help Hunter eat it. ;)

Helping Hunter blow out his candle.


"Hmmmm....what to do with this??"


I love his expression. "Are you really putting this cake in front of me?"


"Okay, might as well play along."


The birthday boy with Papa, Grammy, and Memaw.

"Look what I got!" (Might I add that Jay's reaction to this messy 1st bday tradition was hilarious. He could NOT believe that I let him mess up the cake. I don't know if he just forgot about Holden's 1st bday?? When he had blue frosting up past his elbows??? Crack me up.)

Hunter wasn't as messy as I thought he might be, given his normal enthusiasm for anything he can get into. But he is just not a big fan of sweets. He had more fun playing with it than actually eating it. Give the kid a jar of diced baby carrots and he is thrilled.

Holden, on the other hand, would eat sweets 24-7 if allowed. He gave his brother a hand with that part.

Family picture with our one year old and our four year old. Man, time fies!

After cake and ice cream, Jay took a nap on the couch. Or tried. These pics are so typical Hunter. He discovered the strings to Daddy's hood, and the fact that Daddy was sleeping didn't really bother him.

My favorite 1 year old. These pics make me smile.

Hunter, in some ways it seems like just yesterday that I brought you home from the hospital in your little puppy dog outfit with the matching hat. And yet in other ways, it seems so much longer. I can't imagine our lives without you. You bring so much laughter to our home with your goofy personality and the crazy things that you do. Holden loves being a big brother, and you adore him. You have taught Daddy and me that parents don't have to divide love between children; their love simply multiplies.

At one year old, you are a busy little boy. You are "on the go" from the time you wake up. You are still not walking yet, but I know it will be any day now. You could be, but you have a stubborn streak that I'm afraid you come by naturally from both Daddy and me. :) You can crawl at lightning speed, climb stairs, playground equipment, and furniture, like to pull yourself up on people or other objects, and can free stand but have not ventured to take steps unassisted yet. You love the "great outdoors," just like your brother, and it does not bother you one iota if your little knees are scraping across asphalt, wood chips, or rocks. On warmer days when you have had shorts on, your poor knees are scratched and bruised and filthy, and it doesn't slow you down one bit.

You LOVE any type of ball. You even turned the Easter eggs we dyed the other day into balls. Good thing they were hard-boiled. ;) You understand the concept of shooting hoops with your little basketball set, and the other day at the neighbors' house, you were eyeing their full-sized hoop and attempting to throw the ball from a sitting position up into the hoop. At Holden's soccer practices, we have to get you your own soccer ball to play with or else you try to go steal the balls from the kids practicing. You love to throw a ball and then say, "YEAH!" and clap your hands. You can also play "catch" to some extent; you will throw the ball to someone and then get it when it is rolled or tossed back to you.

You are very determined when you set your mind on something. We have already had some little temper tantrums when you don't get what you want. You are extremely persistent, and don't give up easily. I love to watch your serious little face, lips pursed, often with drool down your chin, when you are concentrating on something. You like to stack cups and blocks, put items inside of other items, and stack your rings on the ring stacker. Yesterday you played with a plastic toy cup and a bouncy ball for 30 minutes, putting the ball in the cup, dumping it, putting it back in, and trying to put another cup on top, and you love putting the mail in and out of your little toy mailbox. Recently I needed to get ready for church and you were wanting some attention. I handed you an empty medicine container and lid, and you would have thought I gave you the best present ever! Crack me up.

You continue to love the bath, and are a wild little maniac in there. You and your brother often take baths together now, and the two of you act like you are in a swimming pool. You leap and dive, splash like dolphins, and laugh and laugh. You often end up swallowing what seems like half the water in the tub to me, and come up sputtering and laughing with your long eyelashes dripping wet. You have had many injuries during tub time, even with your daddy or me sitting right there, because you are so WILD and have absolutely no fear. I have begun setting towels by the side of the tub before you start your bath because of the flood on the floor when you are done. If you are in a crabby mood, I know I can always improve it with a bath.

You are my great little eater. There is not much that you won't eat. You love veggies, like green beans, cooked carrots, and peas. You will eat grapes, strawberries, bananas, mandarin oranges, blueberries, and watermelon. You enjoy the Gerber graduate meals, but will also eat whatever we are eating for the most part. Mac n' cheese and any type of chicken are favorites. You are on whole milk now and would drink it all day if I let you. You will drink water and also juice, but aren't a juice lover like Holden was. (It's that sweet tooth of his.) You are starting to drink out of a sippy, and know how to do it, but your bottle is your security item, and you aren't ready to completely give it up yet. You never took to a paci, but you have to have your bedtime bottle, and when you are sleepy before nap time, I don't even bother trying the sippy. You are finally holding the bottle on your own, though. I guess I really spoiled you with that, because I always rocked you and gave it to you. I have no doubt that by 18 mos. or so you will be weaned completely off of it. You are my baby, and I'm not in a big hurry for it to be done. Holden took a little while with this, as well.

You aren't talking yet, but you sure are noisy! You do say "Ma ma" and "Da da," and have been doing that for awhile, although I don't think you necessarily correlate those sounds with meaning yet. You say "Yeah!" when you are excited, and clap your hands. You also sometimes say, "Diddy or Dee-Dee," which I am pretty sure is your version of "Kitty." You love our kitties! I can't wait to hear what you will call Holden. You are starting to understand a lot of what we say, though. If I say, "Hi," or "Bye Bye," you will often wave. If I say, "Who's here?" you will crawl to the door. If I ask, "Where's Holden?" you will look all around. Sometimes you will retrieve something if I say, "Go get it!" You love music and being sung to. If you hear a catchy beat you will start bobbing your little body and head, which is hilarious. During our Florida trip you introduced us to The Scream. A piercing, LOUD scream that you grace us with when you are happy, sad, mad, excited, scared, bored, you name it. So pretty much every day, multiple times a day. :)

Just recently you have started to get really clingy with me at times. You don't do this for Daddy, just me. We went to a bday party this weekend, and you had to be touching me or have me in your sight at all times. I was trying to cook dinner last night, and you were grabbing my pants legs and following me around crying if I wasn't holding you. You can also get very possessive of me if I am giving attention to your brother. You suddenly have to crawl up and sit in my lap, bumping him out of the way if he happens to be there. The funny thing is that if we are in a situation where I WANT to hold you, such as when we are at your brother's gymnastics or soccer, or outside at a muddy park, you absolutely want nothing to do with me and want to be Mr. Independent. Some days you drive me batty, but I try to remember that these days are short and that pretty soon you won't be a baby anymore.

It is so fun to watch you growing and changing and becoming a little person. You are smart, spunky, energetic, ornery, and for the most part a really happy little boy. Your grin melts my heart. I can't wait to see what this year of toddler-hood has in store for you. Just don't grow up too quickly, okay?

Florida Finale: Everything Else! :)

This post is just an assortment of other pics that I wanted to include but that didn't fit into any particular theme. I had so many "Kodak moments." :)

I love watching my boys play together. When they are not ripping toys out of each other's hands or vying for a position by shoving into each other, they actually do have some sweet moments together. Ha! We took their new Mega Blocks table with us to Florida. It stores he blocks inside and folds up like a suitcase, so it was ideal for travel. I'm glad we brought it because they played with it daily when we were at the condo.

One night, we went to a carnival that was right off the main strip. Jay said that was the most "WT" that we saw the entire trip, but we did have fun. Holden loved all of the kiddie rides, and also enjoyed the bumper cars with Aunt Allie. Jason and Daddy took turns riding on some pretty fast race cars with him. Hunter and I had fun watching the action. I can't wait for next year, when there will be two little boys side by side on the rides.




Car seat pics. The boys spent a lot of time in their seats throughout the week as we traveled to various fun spots. I love turning around and seeing their cute little faces.


My cute baby getting into mischief at the condo.



My cute big boy dancing to the music at one of the restaurants we ate at. The guitarist told me when he finished the song, "This kid needs his own guitar!" :)

This video clip may be a little grainy since it's from my phone, but I wanted to include it. Hunter absolutely loves the water!

I love eating out on vacation! This was at Sloppy Joe's with the whole family.

The boys entertaining themselves before dinner. If I am reading Holden's face right, he was trying to color and Hunter was annoying him. This particular night also brings back the memory of "Hunter's scream." It was the first time he really decided to showcase it for us. The Scream now occurs when he is happy, mad, sad, excited, scared, etc. It is a universal scream and not partial to one particular emotion. It is piercing, obnoxious, and can be heard OVER the loud din of a restaurant like Sloppy Joe's packed with tourists in Florida on Spring Break week, which I would say is about 10 times louder than Chili's on a given night. On this night, it was mostly a happy scream, but embarrassing nonetheless. Thankfully, once the food came he was too busy shoveling it in his mouth to make any more noise.

And until the food came, I found ways to quiet him such as sampling the lemon off some one's glass. Yep, he liked it. Ate the whole thing. The boy is a bottomless pit.

Oh, the fake poop. Paul bought it at a flea market, and we all had a lot of juvenile fun with it during the week. These pics are the first time we tricked Holden with it. We left it on a chair that he had been sitting on, and asked him if he pooped. His expression was priceless, especially when Paul then stuck it in his mouth. I know, we have gross family humor. But it DOES look real, doesn't it?!

Another place that we like to eat at in St. Petersburg is Gators. It has yummy food, a good view of the water, and big, tacky alligators everywhere. Oh yeah, and delivery cars with sharks on them. Allie and Holden broke into one that was parked. See below. :)

I am including this picture for Holden, who now likes to give input into my blog at times. He LOVED watching the bridges go up and down for the boats while we were there. While the rest of the people in the traffic around us were annoyed with being stopped, he would pump his fist and yell, "YESSS!!! The bridge is going up!" Glad we could please you, buddy.

My boys. Love them!

Holden got to hold and pet a baby alligator named "Cupcake." He loved her! He also got to feed some of her siblings. He still talks about Cupcake at home, and many nights in the bathtub we pretend he is her. I have to refer to him as "Cupcake," and pretend to feed him plastic fish. Crack me up.

Putt-putt at Smuggler's Cove. This is the same place we went for Holden's bday, but these pics are from an evening that we went. Golf, ice cream, and feeding alligators. What better place to be?

The "Super Moon" was out during our trip. Personally, I don't think it looked much different than a full moon, but it was beautiful. It was out for at least 3 nights. So pretty over the water!

I could have taken scenery pics all day. I especially loved walking around the condo grounds at sunset and soaking in the gorgeous scenery.

During our stay, Paul bought these glowing thumbs at a magic store. The full humor can only be truly appreciated if you were there to witness his practicing, plotting, and strategizing as to how to perform the best tricks for anyone who would watch, but I did capture a few moments on video. Note how serious he is about it, asking me if the camera is rolling and if I'm ready for him to start. He did do a pretty good job, though. :)

And here he is performing with the thumbs as we head back down the corridor to the condo. What a goofball.
Hunter was Pepaw's little buddy during the week.

I took these last two on our last evening in Florida. Jay, Paul, and I took the boys to a little diner for dinner while Tami and Allie cleaned and got things put back to their original state in the condo. We clearly got the better end of the deal! But they did need the boys out of their hair for anything to get accomplished. We brought dinner back to them. I love the boys in little Hawaiian shirts.

We had a wonderful trip and created so many special memories. We can't wait to go back again next year! (Although I can wait on the drive.) :)

Florida Part 6: Holden's 4th Bday!

I took this picture of Holden sound asleep on the air mattress on his last night of being 3. Wanted to capture the moment. I can't believe my baby boy is 4! I feel like the years are flying. He is learning so many new things and looking/acting so much older lately. He still looks like my same little baby when he sleeps, though.

My sweet boy and me on his birthday! How fun to be able to celebrate in Florida.

Family pic before heading off for some mini golf at Smuggler's Cove. We had gone earlier in the trip and Holden LOVED it, so that was his choice for how to spend the morning. (Hunter's faux hawk is due to sunscreen on his head.) :)

The birthday boy on the green. He scored a hole-in-one on his bday! Daddy had told him that if he did, he'd give him 50 bucks. Needless to say Daddy wasn't planning on it actually happening! Ha! He did pay up and Holden was so pumped.

Memaw, Pepaw, and Aunt Allie came with us to putt-putt. It was a HOT morning but we had a good time. We also got to feed the alligators, which Holden loves.

After lunch, Hunter went down for a nap, and Holden and I headed down to the pool to cool off. Holden's buddy, Aunt Allie, joined us. He has so much fun with her. During the trip, he consistently introduced her to people as, "Allie, my best friend." So sweet! Daddy and Pepaw came down for awhile, too.

After a good swim for Holden and a good nap for Hunter, it was time to get ready for our big night; a trip on a pirate ship!! Memaw and I found these matching shark outfits for the boys in one of the little shops in John's Pass. We thought they'd be perfect for the pirate ship. Love these pics of the two of them, especially the silly ones. So typical!

We headed down to John's Pass to board the pirate ship. We took the evening cruise hoping it would be a little bit cooler. There was a little pirate shop we browsed while we were waiting to board. Holden got a sword and skull cap, and they threw in the eye patch since it was his bday. When boarding, they handed out wooden pistols for the kids to play with. Mike, Penny, and Jason also joined us. Here are some pics of us before and after boarding. (As you can see from lower left pic of Holden and Allie holding their noses, it smelled pretty fishy down on the dock.) :)

The pirate ship was so much fun for both adults and kids! The "pirates" entertained the kids with stories, a treasure hunt, water pistol fights, and face painting. There were quite a few kids on the ship and Holden had an absolute blast. The boat provided unlimited pop, water, and alcohol, so the adults had a good time, too. ;)

Hunter was too little to join the "big kids," so he took turns hanging out on various laps and also investigating the ship a bit. :) A cup of ice was the entertainment of the evening for him. It was still pretty hot until the sun lowered a bit, so I think he liked how cool the cubes were. The pic. of him and Jay on the lower left cracks me up. Can you see how bulging wet his diaper is?? Between the water he kept drinking and the ice cubes, plus the water he spilled on himself and the constant drool, he was loaded!

Some other miscellaneous pics from the evening. It was a beautiful night, and we had so much fun!

My favorite 4 year old enjoying piracy.

We decided this police headquarters has just a slightly better view than Jay's. ;)

After our 2 hour boat ride, we all ate dinner at a pizza place before heading to the condo to call it a night. Holden had picked out cupcakes at the grocery store earlier in the day, so we sang happy birthday and enjoyed those before turning in. As usual, the frosting was his favorite part. :)

Finally, a little video clip from the pirate ship. Everyone sang happy birthday to Holden. He enjoyed it...but not as much as his Cheetos. ;)

Holden Jay, you bring so much laughter and love into our home. At age 4, you have a very active imagination. You love to play pretend, and to act out scenarios you have seen in real life, on the movies, or read about in books. You love all things pirates, dinosaurs, rescue vehicles, and construction. You are starting to get into sports-you love your gymnastics and soccer practice, and will begin tee-ball this summer. You take swim lessons and are getting a lot better about your fear of being underwater. You love to perform-singing with your microphone, dancing like a white boy, :) pretending to be in the circus, making parades with your toy vehicles, and doing flips/stunts off the couches that make Mommy a nervous wreck.

You attend preschool at NCWHS three days a week and absolutely LOVE it. You are actually bummed when you have time off for holidays! You have made a lot of friends there. You are learning new things each day; this age is so neat to watch because you are like a little sponge soaking up all of the new experiences and information.

You are still our picky little bird of an eater, but you are doing a good job of taking "one bite" of new things or foods you don't care for. Some foods that you DO love are pepperoni pizza, chicken nuggets, bacon, yogurt, french fries, Cheetos, bananas, strawberries, watermelon, cheese quesadillas, and of course anything sweet, like cake and candy. Your favorite drink right now is Gatorade. You think you are so cool when you drink it because you are "like Daddy."

Current favorite movies are "Despicable Me," "The Wizard of Oz," (you call it the "tornado movie") "Tangled," the "Home Alone" movies, "Goonies," "ET," and "The Polar Express" among others. TV shows you enjoy are "Phineas and Ferb," "Jake and the Neverland Pirates," the insufferable "Max and Ruby," :) and "Caillou," to name a few. You have too many favorite books for me to name, and I love that you enjoy being read to as much as I love reading to you! The "No, David" series, "Curious George" books, "McDuff the Dog" stories, and "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" and companion books are ones that we read over and over.

You still love music and singing. Every night before bed, we read two books and then you insist that Daddy and I each pick our own songs that we want to sing together, and you pick a song as well. Then we say our prayers. Some of your favorite songs are "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," "I'm a Little Teapot," "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," "I'm Bringing Home a Baby Bumble Bee," (you laugh and laugh at that one!) "Old McDonald," "The Wheels on the Bus," "Jesus Loves Me," and "Baby Mine" from Dumbo. I have sung that lullaby to you since you were a baby.

You are a wonderful big brother. You talk to Hunter and try to teach him new things, you give him kisses and hugs, you try to keep him out of trouble, (if he is getting into something he shouldn't you will grab him around the waist and sort-of hold him in a football type lock and yell for help, which is hilarious because he is not much smaller than you!) and you make him laugh daily. He adores you and thinks you are the coolest. Sometimes he gets on your nerves when he gets into your toys, bites you, chews on your things, or takes our time away from you, but you jump to his defense if anyone tries to bother him. I love watching you in your big brother role. Hunter is so lucky to have you in his life.

You continue to have a huge vocabulary. The things at come out of your mouth are hilarious!! We have to really watch what we say around you because you pick up on everything. You recently started using the phrase, "That pissed me out." We had to hide our laughter while explaining that it is not a nice word, and that yes, Mommy and Daddy need to work on not using that word, either. It was all the funnier that you didn't get the phrase exactly right. Recently, you have started making up "facts" to tell us, and no amount of arguing on our part will change your mind. Some recent "facts" you insist upon are: "Polar bears are NOT bears," "Turtles have 10 legs," and my personal favorite,"Skunks steal coconuts from squirrels." You also insist that the jets that we see in the sky that trail streams of fuel are "rockets." Today you found a rock outside and let out a huge gasp and yelled, "A DINOSAUR TOOTH!" You went running over to show the neighbors and explain to them that it fell out of a dino's mouth "a long, long time ago." You make us laugh when you begin a story with, "Back when I was a little boy..." meaning when you were younger.

We are enjoying every special moment of your childhood, and can't wait for all of the new memories we will make with you at the age of 4! Just don't grow too quickly, okay?