Bentley Turns 2!

Bentley's birthday was Sunday so Brooke had a small family party for her Sunday afternoon. The weather was perfect! The party was outside and the kids had lots of fun riding bikes, cozy coupes, and scooters and just running around. They also went down to the barn a time or two to check out the chickens.

 Here's the birthday girl with her Bentley cousins:

And with her Thornburg cousins:

Note: Please notice the notepad and pen she is holding in this picture. Not kidding, that was her favorite gift! Doesn't take much to please her!

And one with Stella (not a cousin, but still considered family!):

I'm pretty sure she had a blast at her party and got lots of fun new toys and clothes.

Bentley Grace,
It's so hard to believe you're already 2 years old! I remember the day you were born. I had a hold up at work and couldn't leave right away. I was so bummed out that I couldn't be in the hospital when you came into the world, but I got there as fast as I could.

You are a spitfire and I have a feeling you're going to make your mom pay for her raising. I grew up with her so I can't wait to sit back and watch. :) You don't have much to do with me now, but I'm hoping as you get older and realize we have a lot in common, you'll like me a little more. Always know that when you and your mom are disagreeing, just call me and I'll come pick you up. I can't wait to watch you grow up and see your sweet, fiesty, funny little personality develop. I love you sweet girl!

5 on Friday

Woohoo . . . it's finally Friday!!

1. My computer was dropped by an unnamed person in my house (the one who drops stuff a lot) and the part that you plug the charger into is broken. Tyler thinks he can fix it with some super glue, but that's why it's been pretty quiet around here lately.

2. It's Bentley's birthday weekeend! She'll be 2 Sunday (so hard to believe!) and her party is that afternoon. Here's a little walk down memory lane to get the weekend started!

3. Bentley has already gotten a trampoline for her birthday. Anytime she's come to my house in the past, the only reason she wanted to stay was because Brayden had a trampoline she could jump on. I'm pretty sad about the fact that she will never want to stay at my house now. I guess I need to find something else to entice her.

4. I watched this video last night.

If you haven't seen it yet, you seriously need to watch it. After I got done with my cryfest, I was lying in bed about to fall asleep and I realized this phase I'm in right now are the good times he's referring to. I try to enjoy every single minute I get with Brayden and Tyler, but I also tend to think about the future a lot(it's that planner in me!). I realized that even though I hate my house and sometimes we hardly have enough money to make it, I will look back on these days when I'm older and give anything to do them again. I'll probably be more secure financially by then and hopefully will be in a much better house, but I'll wish I could live in this crappy house again with no money if it meant I got to have a do-over on Brayden's toddler years. These are the best years of my life right now and I'm vowing now to make sure I remember that every day.

5. I am SO excited about October! The beach, my anniversary, the pumpkin patch, Halloween, my mom's birthday, my new blog design - there are so many things to look forward to! I haven't had anything pumpkin flavored yet and I need to remedy that!

Have a great weekend!

A 2K Recap

Brayden's preschool takes pictures throughout the year of the kids. At the end of Brayden's 2K year, they offered a CD specified to your child of all of their pictures for only $5! It was totally worth that. I just got it today (they had to send it home in his folder because I forgot and never went and picked it up last summer . . . oops!) I love it! So, I had to share some of them. :)

Here is a picture of the 1st day of school on 9/4/12. I blurred out the kids faces in case their parents don't want their picture on my blog. Hopefully Mrs. Kelly, Mrs. Diane, and Mrs. Rebecca won't care though. :)

9/27/12 - I love this picture!

2/9/13 - Donuts with Daddy!

2/13/13 - Playing with the cars & trucks

2/19/13 - Snacktime!

2/28/13 - Dr. Seuss Day/Wear Your Favorite Hat Day

3/28/13 - Spring Fling!

4/16/13 - Class Picture

4/30/13 - Muffins with Mommy

 

5/2/13 - CBK Day of Prayer (I love this picture of all the kids praying! Plus it makes my heart happy that my sweet boy has his head down)

 5/9/13 - Practicing for their End of the Year Program (Yes that's my child pulling his shirt up. So thankful another boy is doing it too. Even though Brayden probably started it.)

 I love Brayden's preschool. We are so fortunate to have one in our town, right at our church. The teachers are so caring and genuine. They do fun activities and field trips. He's made some great friends. We love CBK!





Asher Turns 2!

Asher's birthday and party were Saturday so of course we went to help celebrate. Before we get to that, though, let me recap Thursday and Friday.

Thursday evening Mom and I took Brayden and Bentley to the park in Montevallo. This park is so cool because it's HUGE and it has faces carved in the trees. Brayden is pretty enamored with the faces, but Bentley could have cared less. We got there right at dusk so we didn't have much time. We looked at a few faces, but then made our way to the playground where Brayden made a new friend. It is so precious to me to watch Brayden make new friends. His new friend's name was Tyler, so Brayden made sure to tell him that is his daddy's name too!

Friday night, we went to the outlet mall to pick Asher up a birthday gift. Brayden found this cool helmet with the light on it and wanted me to take a picture of him. Then he said "Mom send that picture to my daddy." Anytime construction or building something is involved, we have to send a picture to Daddy.

So back to the party . . . we got to watch the Alabama game and party it up all in the same day! We got down there pretty early so I could get my hands on this sweet girl! :)

As soon as we got there, Emma and Brayden decided it would be fun to attack Tyler.

Brayden loves her so much. He loves Asher too, but I think because he and Emma are so close in age, they have such a special relationship. I love to watch them play together. When their energy started to get a little out of control, I took them outside. I tried to get a picture of the birthday boy, but I don't think he likes having his picture made because he started to hit me with this rake! I didn't hold it against him since Brayden went through that phase too. :)

Brayden loves baby Ella. He kisses her and talks to her while I'm holding her. He's still pretty adamant that he doesn't want a baby at home, though. (Not that I'm letting him make that decision, of course!)

I'm pretty sure he's about to go through a growth spurt because he has been eating SO much. He literally ate all day while we were at their house and finished it all off with a delicious cupcake!

We had such a good time at the party. I love watching Bray play with his cousins and I'm counting on them being the best of friends as they grow up!

Fitness Friday

I haven't posted about my eating & working out in a bit so I figured it was about time to do an update. You may want to get comfy, this has the potential to be a long post.

I have really been slacking the past 2 weeks. To be completely honest, I'm sick of eating healthy food! As bad as I want to like that kind of stuff, I just don't. It has seriously been having an effect on my mood & happiness. That's how much food has an impact on me. I need to go to therapy. (By the way, I have a post about mine & food's relationship in my drafts. I need to post it, but I'm scared. It will probably scare a few of you away.)

In the evenings, when I know we're having a meat (which I don't really care for unless it's a big juicy cheeseburger or boneless chicken wings) and healthy veggies scheduled for dinner, I don't even want to cook because I don't want to eat that meal. I want starch! Like seriously, my last meal would be macaroni & cheese, mashed potatoes, and rolls. That's it - no meat, nothing fancy, just all starches. It really sucks to have taste buds like that!

This week, I'm trying to get back on the band wagon, but I'm having trouble. I don't know where my motivation went, but I NEED it to come back!

I didn't work out the past 2 weeks either. I'm sick of Insanity! Do you see a trend in my life right now? :) Seriously though, I've learned something about myself from doing Insanity. I cannot commit to a 2 month workout video. I get tired of it after the first month. From now on, I will only be doing 30 day workout videos. But that doesn't mean I've quit Insanity. I started Month 2 Monday and I'm determined to finish it out. I'm on the max workout videos which last for an HOUR! First of all, it is kicking my booty to workout for an hour. But the biggest problem I've had with that amount of time is trying to fit it into my day. I don't want to do it until Brayden goes to bed, but since he goes to bed at 8:30 that pretty much only leaves from 9-10 to do it, which leaves me no time to do anything I want to do. It's really been a struggle for me to find time for myself lately.

So, after all that depressing talk, I do have some good news. Believe it or not, I actually still managed to lose weight during those 2 "off" weeks. I know I didn't announce my start weight, but I am so excited to announce that my weight no longer starts with a 2!! Yep, that's right, my weight starts with a 1 again! That's huge, folks. I am so determined to never go back in to the 200s. So, that only leaves about 50 pounds to my goal weight - no biggie. ;) Since I started back in January, I have lost a total of 32 pounds! One would think that would be enough to get me back on track, but one would be wrong.

I'm considering posting my before & after pictures after I get done with Insanity. We'll see how that turns out. :)

Any advice on how to get out of this slump I'm in? Would you like to see before & after pictures or would you rather not throw up in your mouth?

Bedtime Issues

Brayden is going through a phase right now that is not working out for me. I'm not even sure that you could call it a phase yet because it's only been happening since Thursday.

He is having issues being scared at bedtime. I have no idea what triggered it. I honestly have no idea if it's real or if it started out being an excuse to get out of bed and he's figured out that it works like a charm every night.

But Thursday night, he kept getting out of bed and saying that he was scared to sleep in his room. I normally put Brayden in bed for the night around 8:30. Well, he was still up at my normal bedtime of 10:00 saying he was scared. (Oh yeah, this was going on that night I was writing that post and he kept getting up) Soooo, by that point, Tyler & I just wanted to be able to go to sleep so we gave in and let Brayden sleep in our bed. Oh, the humanity!

[Let me interject here with a little bit of important info: Brayden has never slept in our bed or our room. It's just not something we wanted to deal with. As a baby he slept in a pack & play, then he moved to his crib, then to his big boy bed. We've never had issues with him wanting to sleep in our bed because his entire life has consisted of him sleeping in his own room. So, now that we're having this issue I've realized some things: when I'm falling asleep at night and when I wake up in the morning, I love him being in our bed. I love feeling his little body right up against me as I'm falling asleep and I love waking up to his sweet face every morning. However, I do not love waking up several times a night because I'm about to fall off the bed or because his leg is propped up on my side like I'm only there to serve as his prop. This is why I need a solution!! I work people - I need sleep!]

This is not us, obviously :)

Friday night we went to the Halloween store and there was a spider there that jumped out at you if you stepped on a button. It scared Brayden to death every time, but he kept stepping on the button so obviously he really loved it or he has other issues. When we got home, I opened my door of the car and this bug came flying in that I couldn't see. But I could hear it. And I promise it sounded like a raptor. Yes it sounded like a dinosaur. I promise. I screamed bloody murder and jumped out of the car. You can imagine what effect this had on Brayden. He too started screaming and when I ran around to get him out of his seat, the bug flew in the back seat making that awful noise. At this point, I saw the bug and it was only about 3 inches long, but still. Brayden was crying and shaking and he had his legs clenched together so hard I couldn't even unbuckle his car seat. I finally got him out and we got in the house, but at this point, I knew there was no way he was sleeping in his bed that night. I attempted to put him in his bed but when he came out 30 seconds after I walked out, I gave in and let him sleep in our bed again. It was a traumatic experience, ok?!

Saturday night, he fell asleep on the way home from Shelby so I carried him to his bed and he woke up, but went back to sleep on his own. However, he woke up about 1:30 and came in our room saying he was scared. (One thing I should mention: if he ever comes in our room after I'm asleep he pretty much climbs into it without a fight from me because I just.want.to.sleep.)

Sunday night, we had more of the same thing. 8:30 to 10:00 up numerous times saying he was scared. Scared of the shadows, scared of his playroom because it was dark, scared of the bug (yeah, the same bug from 2 nights before). By 10, his daddy caved in and let him get in our bed. This has to stop!

But here's the thing: I am not ok with him really being scared and us just forcing him to sit in his room and try to get over it. We are his protectors. As he grows up, I want him to know that no matter how scared he is, his mom & dad will always be there to comfort him and be in his corner. I will not allow him to sit in his room in fear just so we can sleep soundly.

But at the same time, I don't want to be taken for a fool by a 3 year old who has figured out how to work the system. You see my dilemma here?

I've already decided I'm going to cut the shows that have even a little violence that he's been watching. He has a light in his room so it's not like he's trying to go to sleep in the pitch dark. I've tried to explain to him that God created the dark so He's not scared of the dark and He will be watching over him while he tries to fall asleep - that didn't work.

I'm at my wits end and I need advice! I am hoping this passes as quickly as the rest of time seems to pass around here, but any suggestions in the mean time would be greatly appreciated!

Weekend in Review & Exciting News!

Well, another great weekend is in the books! This was our last low key weekend for a while. We've got Asher's birthday party next weekend, Bentley's party the weekend after that, and then we're going to the beach the first weekend in October! Yay!

Friday night we went to the Halloween store. Brayden has been talking about what he wants to be for Halloween for several weeks. He changes his mind pretty often so I'm not committing to anything until we get closer. Anyway, I told him we'd go to the Halloween store to get some ideas. He fell in love with several costumes, but I think he decided what he wants to be for sure. We didn't buy it so we'll give him a couple of weeks and make sure he still wants to be that. If he doesn't change his mind, he will more than likely be . . . a firefighter! :) I'm very happy with that choice so I hope he doesn't change his mind. At first he was leaning towards a tv character and I really want to avoid that!

After we left the Halloween store we went to eat dinner at one of my favorites! This was our view and it is even more beautiful at night than it is during the day.

 

Saturday we didn't do very much. Just went and got groceries and went to the park for a little bit. Saturday night we went down to the barn to have a little fun with the Thornburg clan. Debbie recently bought a horse swing that they hang from the rafters in the barn and the kids LOVE it.

Sunday we went to church, hung around the house, took a boat ride with Papa, and went back to church. The boat ride started out like this:

About halfway through, though, he ended up like this:

I'm pretty excited to announce a few things about my blog! I have officially bought my own domain name for my blog. The web address is now: www.hangingwiththehuttons.com. It will redirect you if you type in my old blog address, but I'm not sure how long that lasts. I've also signed up with Diamond Doll Designs to have my blog designed. I'm on the list for October so it will be a little while before my blog looks different, but I can't wait!

Hope you had a great weekend friends!

Cultivating A Heart for Jesus in Brayden

It is so important to me that Brayden grows up with a love for Jesus in his heart. I am so grateful to my mom for always displaying God's love throughout my life. (I type this as my child cries in his room because he doesn't want to go to sleep tonight. I feel a little hypocritical. ;))

Our pastor shared something on Father's Day (I think) & it was so eye opening to me. I had never thought about it before. He said you can't take anything with you to Heaven except for your children. Wow! Let that sink in! I want to make absolutely sure I do everything in this life to ensure Brayden (& any future children) spend eternity with me and Jesus. He also said that while it's important to show them how to strive for excellence academically and it's important to help them hone in on any athletic abilities they have, the most important thing to focus on is their spiritual lives and their love for God. What a great reminder that as he gets older, I should always remember to focus more on his relationship with his Heavenly Father than what grades he brings home or what extracurricular sports he participates in. Those things are important, but in the grand scheme of things they don't matter.

*Sidenote: He just came out of his room and told his daddy that he didn't get any loving from his baby girl mommy. I'm telling you, this kid is hilarious and really knows how to turn it on when he needs to. I'm sorry. Clearly I can't write posts until he is completely asleep.*

Obviously, one of the most important parts of teaching Bray about Jesus is leading by example and I feel like I'm not doing a very good job in this area. The main areas I need to work on are having love/compassion for other people and to stop being so judgmental. It is totally up to us as his parents to show him what's wrong and right. I really want to start doing some things with him to help him learn what showing love to other people is all about.

I pray that he'll have a group of close friends that he grows up in church with. I honestly believe that was one of the most effective aspects of my youth years. I had a core group of girls who were at church every time the doors were open praising God and we actually wanted to stay on the straight and narrow. I hardly dealt with peer pressure at all because of the people I surrounded myself with. That's what I want for Brayden.

I can not imagine spending eternity without my baby boy. I love him so much and I cannot imagine Heaven without him there. Sometimes, I wish God would go ahead and come get us now so I won't have to worry about Brayden growing up in this terrible world and so I'll know for sure he's going with me.

I can only pray that I'll do my part to show him the love of Jesus and teach him how to do his part to show the love of Jesus to others.

 

First Day of 3K

Yesterday was Brayden's first day of 3K.

Just for comparison, here is his first day of 2K last year:

This kid melts my heart!

Brayden is like me in a lot of ways. He likes to follow the rules and he wants other people to follow the rules. When we went to the McWane Center, he had to put things back where they belong. He also does not like change. Which is why I could sympathize with him this morning when he kept saying "I'm too scared to go to school, I don't want to go". I can sympathize because that's exactly how I felt the first day of school. I finally told him that even though I couldn't be there with him, God is always with him and he could talk to God any time throughout the morning if he was feeling anxious. When we were walking through the parking lot into the church, he said "God please be with me at school because I'm a little scared". The morning dragged by as I wondered how he was doing. Even though I don't have any more first days, I think I'll be just as nervous as Bray on his first day every year. When I picked him up, he said he had a great day and that he played with Enman, Anna Catherine, and Colin. He said he made some new friends but he couldn't remember their names. He asked if he was going back tomorrow.

So overall I think he had a great day!

Labor Day Weekend

We had an amazingly awesome, jam packed Labor Day weekend.

Saturday
On Saturday, I worked that sale I mentioned in my post from last weekend. Even though I had to be there at 6:00 6:50 and it was pretty hot outside, it was still a lot of fun. I got to hang out with some fun people and I got to work a cash register!! Best thing ever! When I got home from that, I was pooped! I got a shower and curled up on the couch with my favorite boy who I'd missed all day.

Sunday
Sunday we got invited to Todd's lake house and we decided to take him up on it. We got there about 11 and spent the day on the pier. Brayden really enjoyed the Mass Panic raft they had. His daddy did too. :)

The 3 of us got to take the jet ski for a ride and Brayden loved it!

After that we took a boat ride. Brayden got to help Uncle Todd drive a little bit.

He split his time between his daddy and me while we were riding.

I love this picture because it captures one of the many conversations he has with his daddy.

Brayden was struggling to stay awake toward the end of the ride, but he never fell asleep.

Todd grilled chicken for dinner and we had a great evening. The plan was to come home after dinner, but we decided to crash at the lake house. Sure, it meant I had to sleep in regular clothes and contacts, but it was fun. Ok, ok, it was a little too spontaneous for this Type A person but I survived! ;)

Monday
We woke up pretty early Monday morning to get ready to come home. The sunrise was so beautiful - it almost made the spontaneity worth it.

Once we got home, we met up with Nana to get Bray some new shoes for school. Tyler cooked a Boston Butt while we were gone shopping and brought it over to Mom's when we got home. We had a delicious dinner together to end a wonderful weekend!