The Boys...

We are enjoying some nice warm weather here.  We always love our local Botanical Gardens, but Alex really loves it in the Fall when the scarecrow exhibit is out.  He loves to lead us through the gardens exploring and trying to find all the scarecrows.  

A little break for some hammock fun...Brodie was a little unsure and never really relaxed, while Alex wanted me to push him as high as I could get the hammock to go.


Bert and Ernie..

 It is still warm enough that a cool off at the pond is needed after all the walking and exploring....

 The boys are playing better and better together, especially outside.  They love to ride their bikes and cars around and around and chase each other or play hunting (Grampy will be proud!).

 A little picnic fun...

 Sometimes they just insist on doing everything together=snack in the same chair.

 Fort fun....I hosted Bunco at our house last night so the card table was still up this morning and it quickly became a fort.

I haven't been as faithful with my monthly updates on Brodie, but I wanted to document a few things on the blog about what he is up to these days:

*His favorite phrases are "I see" and "want some".  Whenever we are cooking or there is anything interesting going on out of his reach he will say, "I see" and insists on being picked up to observe whatever is going on.  Whenever we have any sort of food, does not matter what it is and he doesn't even have to see what it is, Brodie will say 'want some" and insist on trying a bite of what we have.  

*He is very into shoes and uses them as his conversation starter :).  One time we were at Publix and Alex had received some new shoes and he showed the bagger his new shoes when we were checking out, so now every single time we are at Publix, Brodie will lift up his shoes and say "shoes" to the bagger and has to show off his shoes. 

*He is starting to sit by Alex on the couch for a little bit in the morning when Alex watches his morning tv show and Brodie will ask for "cereal milk" just like Alex.  It is so cute how he says it because there is no "and" it's just "cereal milk" like it is one word.

*Still obsessed with diggers and lawn mowers.  He watches for them whenever we are in the car and spots them constantly. 

*Whenever he sees something he likes - a dog, a butterfly, a bug, etc., Brodie will say "I touch?" and if I say no touch he will say "wave hi" and will say hi to whatever it is - apparently the alternative to touching :).  

*He amazes me in how much he picks up by imitating Alex (good and BAD!).  Alex likes to walk on the curbs and try to not fall off (into the "water").  So now Brodie walks on them and will say "no water!", even if Alex isn't around. 

*Brodie is starting to show a little toddler independence - not wanting to stop something or leave somewhere, etc.  But overall he is just the happiest, sweetest little boy, except when he is yelling "NOOOOOO" at the top of his lungs at his brother.  

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Nobody loves birthdays more than kids.  And when it comes to Alex, he doesn't care if it is his birthday or not because birthdays are just fun!

Alex was so excited about Eric's birthday.  I asked him what kind of cake we should make Eric and he said "a Phil cake because daddy likes Phil (Michelson)."  Well I didn't think I could pull off a Phil cake - so we settled on a golf course cake.  Alex was so excited and he did a lot of the frosting himself - he make the water and crushed crackers and filled the sand trap.

We went to the dollar store and got Monster Truck decorations (because Daddy likes those too) :).  Alex helped wrap and hide Eric's presents.  Before Eric could even make it in the door from work Alex was going a mile a minute  - showing Eric the cake and telling him to find his presents - "or actually Daddy I will just find them for you".  So within a minute Alex found all the presents he had hid for Eric and unwrapped them.:)

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Back to School

Alex is attending MMO again this year.  He is in the 4's class and will be going three mornings a week.  Yesterday was his first day.  He was a little anxious the night before (like at midnight the night before ;)).  He was nervous about having a new teacher.  After a little reassuring chat and a reminder that he had a new Spiderman backpack to bring, he was good to go and all smiles when he went to school.  When I picked him up he said he had "really super lots of fun at school".


A little first day of school celebration.  He wanted "fuzzy" to drink (Izze juice).

Family Vacation!

My parent's treated our whole family to a wonderful week long vacation in Destin, FL.  They rented a big, beautiful home for us all to stay in.  We had a fabulous time and the only things we would change would be to have a little more sun and a little less seaweed.

Loaded up and Ready to Go...

Our daily routine was pretty much to wake up and take the boys for a walk down to the beach or take a golf cart ride around to explore the area and the playground.

After the first morning we got smart and dressed Alex in his swimsuit anytime we went near the beach....on this day we had to use Daddy's shirt as a cover up on the way home...

After breakfast we would head out to the beach for the morning.  Alex LOVED LOVED LOVED the waves in the ocean.  There was a riptide and strong current most days so Eric and I would take turns watching Alex in the ocean.  He would get knocked over and get pummeled by the waves and just come up laughing then get right back in there for more. I think I aged ten years watching him in those waves! Brodie was a little unsure of the ocean and the waves and generally took a little time to get warmed up to it each day, but by the end of the morning he would be running in and out of the waves too. 

 


Alex in action:

 Brodie was pretty much constantly eating this trip.  Either a growth spurt or all the fresh air and energy burned just made him always starving!

 

They both loved playing for hours in the sand as well.....

 








Grandma spent hours walking Brodie along the beach and running in and out of the waves - back breaking work, but he always wanted Grandma to do it with him.

 After lunch and naps we would head over to the pool in the afternoon...

 Chicken Fights :)...

Thankfully when we had a little rainy time inside there were cousins to play with!

Nights consisted of dinner and sometimes games, but more often it meant a lot of exhausted people reading and heading to bed early!

On Friday night, our final night, we headed to HarborWalk.  We had dinner at Harry T's, enjoyed a beautiful sunset and walked around the docks.

Post Vacation Exhaustion....




Thank You Mom and Dad for a wonderful week.  It went too fast and we are sad it is over.  As Alex so perfectly put it on the last day, "can we please stay for a hundred million more days?" : ).