Labor Day Weekend Getaway

John has decided that we need to leave town every chance we get -- and I would have to agree! We hope to get to the beach most of the 3-day weekends and were successful in doing so over Labor Day Weekend. We hit up Gulf Shores, Alabama for the first time, along with thousands of our nearest and dearest friends!

Gulf Shores is an interesting place...a very crowded beach town with lots of high-rise condos all along the shore. John and I often wondered if these places were truly full and in use often. It's surprising to see all the condos, hotels, etc. that are along the beach, but not that many restaurants or grocery stores that can keep up with the demand. Oh well, thankfully I brought a bunch of food from home and had a little kitchen in our condo. Speaking of our condo...quite disappointing! So small, hard to move around, a disgusting layer of dirt, dust and grime, and brown water out of rather old pipes (which thankfully cleared up after a while). Thankfully I was able to over-look all that after a while...especially when we were stuck inside most of Sunday due to the rain.

It was a nice treat to be away from our "norm." I think we all needed a break and an opportunity to just hang out as a family. It was also great to be at the beach again! The boys certainly loved it! John said it seemed that Luke forgot how much he liked the beach. The boys certainly played to their hearts' content in the sand, building castles, destroying castles, pushing around trucks, running, finding sea shells, etc. They even got into the water! By the end of the weekend Luke was standing on his own in water up to his waist while laughing as the waves came crashing in. Paden, being the little guppy that he is, wasn't content being in Daddy's arms, he'd much rather be on his own swimming -- crazy kid, doesn't he know he's too small?!

Needless to say we had a lot of fun!

Paden's first taste of a fried-pickle...

Rainy day activity -- Luke giving John a manicure!

1, 2, 3, 4 Haircuts!

We have been starting to look a little shaggy these days. I decided that it was time to chop off my hair, found a stylist that came "highly recommended, he's the best!" and took my picture...so excited yet nervous! Turns out it was something to be nervous about, I will post a picture but I believe this is the worst haircut I've ever had...I'm trying to grit my teeth and bear it.

The big news isn't my haircut, but my boys! All 3 (including Daddy) were loaded up yesterday after nap time and we hit a local salon. This was going to be Paden's first haircut -- yeah! John needed his usual shave down (I didn't really have time to do it myself before his trip), Luke needed his just cleaned up on the sides, and it was time for Paden to lose his "old man hair" in the back. Luke hopped up and acted like an old pro and Paden was amazingly well behaved for a newbie while sitting in Daddy's lap. I'm so proud of my boys - and they look great!!!

Happy Birthday Paden!

It's hard to imagine that it has been a year now that we've had Paden join our family (August 9th). Of course at this point in my blogging I'm at least 2 weeks off from that day of celebration -- surprise, surprise!

We kept P's day pretty low-key. Grandma Mimi (Char), who was in town for a couple of weeks to help us finish with our unpacking and decorating, and Mr. Eric (MackDad) joined us for lunch. Even though it was just the 6 of us I still spent hours preparing and ordering just the "right" items for our lunch and working on the cupcakes. A momma has to go all out for her babies, right?! We opted for a firetruck themed lunch -- of course! Hats, balloons, tattoos, and fireman-ducks all covered our table. I found some awesome cupcakes on the web and of course had to copy them myself...and I'm rather pleased with how they turned out too (it only took me 2 days to bake the cupcakes, make the gum-paste firetrucks and whip up the frosting)!

A few "notes" about my precious Baby P: easy to smile (except when he's teething), adores his Daddy, follows big brother around, has the sweetest personality and disposition, eats like there's no tomorrow, loves to play with big boy toys, started walking the day before his birthday, climbs all over the furniture and whatever he can find to use as "steps", cries when he gets the tiniest boo-boos, looks a lot like his Daddy (is a perfect match to John's baby pics), doesn't like it when Luke tells him "no", and so much more!

My heart is filled with joy and love for this little dude! Happy Birthday My Precious Boy!

A Big Boo-Boo

You know you have a little boy when you have Band-aids and Neosporene in nearly every room of the house. Okay, maybe not every room, but there are definitely more than one package of each in my stash!

Luke had a nice "ooops" yesterday afternoon that resulted in a major boo-boo. Playing around like he usually does Luke fell and busted his lip. He didn't only bust his lip, but it looks like his teeth went through his lip. I haven't actually been able to take a good look at it, but having done it myself twice in my life I kinda know what it looks like. Poor baby! We tried to keep cold packs on it as well as frozen yogurt sticks, but alas, it's a big-fat-puffy lip!

2 Months Overdue...April Part 2

Here's a continuation of April...

* A Day Out With Thomas The Train! OMG! What an exciting day we had with the boys! John took the Friday off (April 17th) and we all drove up to Filmore, CA (northwest of LA) to enjoy a ride with Thomas and everything you could possibly imagine that was Thomas-related. I think I was more excited to see Luke's reaction when he saw the life-size Thomas than he was when he actually saw him! Of course we didn't tell Luke what we were doing or who we were going to see, he is certainly a kid of the moment. I believe he truly enjoyed his day seeing Sir Topham Hat, riding Thomas (only a 25-minute ride), jumping in the bounce-house, eating hot dogs and snow cones and everything else! Paden was such a trooper too, they both passed out in the car beautifully on the way home! John and I were certainly pleased with ourselves and the wonderful day we had as a family.

Luke's first ink!

Seeing Thomas roll in to the station -- too cool!

Family pic with Thomas

Boarding the train

Wow!

Mommy and Paden chillin' out during the ride

Isn't it cool how they even decorated the inside of the train?!

Enjoying the view along the way.

My happy boys!

Mommy and Paden enjoying the shade on this beautiful CA day.

One cool dude (new Thomas sunglasses)!

And he's out!

So is Paden! A nice quiet ride home for Mommy and Daddy!

* Paden's 3rd and 4th teeth made their debut (along with him pulling up to his feet and lots of vocalizations)!

This never happens! Luke passed out on the couch one afternoon before nap time, watching basketball with Daddy too! I think John's feelings were a little hurt that the little dude couldn't hang with the basketball game! Ha!

Paden loves hanging onto the baby gate and rockin' it like a crazy kid!

Playing with Luke's "old" activity table -- still interests the big kid too!

One very early morning...

Yummy Cheerios!

* We have a new nephew!! Kade Gordon Mizell joined proud parents Mike and Dawn and the rest of the Mizell clan on April 22nd. We can't wait to see him during our time in Austin in July!

And that wraps up April! Tune in for May's update and pictures!

2 Months Overdue

I haven't let myself blog because I have so many other things on my "to do list" that I saved this as my "prize" for getting them done. Needless to say I haven't gotten anything done and it's now been over two months since I've caught you up on our family.

I'll try to do a brief synopsis of these last two months with a few pics as well:

* April 3-6 found Grandma Ferne and Grandpa Walt visiting as they made their way to Australia. We filled that time with Paden's first swim lesson (and a refresher for Luke), an awesome Children's Museum in Pasadena, and of course plenty of play time.

* John sold his Trooper to our friends David and Krista -- that was one sad day for both Daddy and Luke!

* April 8th found Denise and I at the Aquarium of the Pacific with the kids, all by ourselves! Whew! What a fun and crazy outing...the things we do to entertain ourselves when we don't have our church activities for the week!

* We spent Easter Sunday with our good friends the Mills and Sidro. It was a small gathering, with lots of food and plenty of colorful plastic eggs (no candy for these kiddos!).


So that was the first half of April...here are a few pics...

Paden and Daddy after a cool swim.

Luke swimming under the tube...he certainly liked all the attention.

Tons of things to climb and jump off of at Kidspace Museum.

Oooohhh...what do we see?

One brave little lizard...didn't run away from the curious little boy and his momma!

Water, water everywhere!

Paden was one patient little dude while Luke explored Kidspace.

Run, boy, run!

Luke loved reading the Texas Magazine with Grandpa Walt!

Luke's last drive in Daddy's truck.

So Sad...goodbye Gonzo!

Our little crawler...loves to explore the entire house on hands and knees!

Anything in here for me to play with?

Hide and Seek -- Luke's favorite post-bath game.

What a face!

Bailey and Luke trying to pet the rays -- can you see Denise holding onto Luke's pants to keep him from falling in?! :)

Luke truly loving the "wet zone" -- and it was a perfectly warm day for playing in the water.

Paden and Laken hanging out while Luke and Bailey get soaked.

Not a dry spot on his body!

Two little boys...one toy...how's this going to work?

Bailey, Luke, John, Paden, Jonny and Laken...ready for an egg hunt!

Bailey and Luke ready to find some eggs to put in their big buckets.

Here's another one!

Paden and Daddy watching the older kids in action.