Chattanooga Weekend Getaway

I decided I wanted to take Brayden somewhere before the baby comes to enjoy some time with just him before I'm consumed with all things newborn and don't have as much time for him. I knew I wouldn't want to take any time off work because I'm saving it up for maternity leave so I knew a weekend trip would be all we could do. I also knew I wouldn't want to spend a lot of time driving so I limited our choices to Chattanooga or Atlanta. In the end, Chattanooga was the winner.

We left Friday afternoon after I got off work, just the 3 of us. It seriously was such a great trip. We did all the sightseeing, eating, and swimming we could squeeze into 2 days. Our only negative of the trip was the weather was a little dreary. However, it didn't stop us from having fun!

On Saturday, we did the aquarium and the Chattanooga Ducks. Brayden has been to the aquarium before, but he still loved it. We actually got to see a diver in the biggest tank exhibit and it was awesome!

Diver in the background!

If you've never done the Chattanooga Ducks before, I highly recommend it! I think it was the favorite for everyone. It's an old military vehicle called a DUKW and it can ride on land and in water. We started off by driving through the streets of Chattanooga and then went down a ramp into the Tennessee River and rode in the river for a little while. Brayden even got to drive it in the river for a bit. It was so cool!

We did a little swimming when we got back to the hotel, and honestly, Brayden would have been happy if that's all we had done.

We toured Ruby Falls Sunday morning. It was very cool and even though I'd been before, that waterfall still took my breath away.

 

 

We were supposed to do Rock City after lunch, but it was still pretty rainy outside and the walking at Ruby Falls had just about done Brayden and I in so we decided to skip it and do it next time. We headed for the Tennessee Valley Railroad for a train ride instead!

This trip was everything I hoped it would be and more. Brayden was so well behaved the entire time, which meant I got to spend every second just enjoying him and doing everything he wanted to. I sure will miss all this time I've had with just him, but I am more than ready to welcome another sweet little boy into my life and heart who will be just as special!

Life Lately

Well, I haven't blogged at all in 2014 - that's crazy! The main reason is because I don't have a computer anymore at home and I just don't like posting from my phone. So, I don't post at all! But since I like to do posts so I can look back at the memories, I figured I'd better update.

So, what have we been up to in 2014?

We took Brayden to his first Monster Truck show as a Christmas gift and he was so enamored by it. He loved it and still asks to go back on a regular basis.

Brayden experienced his first real snow. He was quite impressed, but realized when you pick it up without gloves on, it's not so good!

We took Brayden to the bowling alley for the first time to celebrate Tyler's birthday. He had a blast and actually did better than I thought he would.

We found out we're having another sweet BOY in July! Brayden is super excited about having a little brother. I can't wait for him to meet him.

Brayden got to watch a helicopter land and sit in it at the rescue station with Daddy. Every little boy's dream!

We celebrated our last Easter as a family of 3 with lunch at Nana & Papa's and an Easter egg hunt there and at Meemaw's.

Brayden and I have been squeezing in as many date nights as we can get before our world changes in July.

Brayden turned 4!! We celebrated with a day at Treetop playing Putt Putt, riding go karts, and playing arcade games. We ended the evening with pizza, dirt cake, and presents!

Brayden's last day of 3K was today. I can't believe he only has 1 year of preschool left. Why does time have to pass so fast?!

So, that's life lately. We're gearing up for a really busy next 2 months before the baby comes. First off is our last trip as a family of 3 to Chattanooga this weekend. I'm planning to savor every minute of time between now and then. I'm so excited to welcome a new baby to our family, but also a little sad that the dynamic will be changing. I know Brayden will love having a sibling to grow up with, but splitting my time and attention between the 2 of them will be hard.

I'm going to try my hardest to post more often!

2013 Recap

Well, 2013 is almost over. It's been such a great year. A year full of birthday parties, zoo trips, first trip to the movies, lots of time spent with family, 2 great beach trips, and so many more fun memories.

I think we're ready for 2014. 2014 will be so great. My sweet boy will turn 4! He will have his last "first" day of school at CBK! :( He will make so many great memories with his family and friends. His biggest memory will probably be the fact that . . .

. . . he will become a big brother! I don't think he quite gets it right now. He understands that there is a baby in my stomach and that he will be a big brother, but I don't think he understands how much his life will change. I know it will be a huge adjustment at first, because he's always been my baby boy and the center of my attention. I pray that he will love and cherish this baby and be a great big brother, which I have no doubt he will be. I cherished every minute of this holiday season with him because I knew it would be the last one that was all about him.

 

We are very excited and we cannot wait to see what 2014 holds! Happy New Year! 

Birthday Parties & Pictures

We had such a busy weekend - I'm sorry I'm just now getting around to posting about it. Unfortunately I was a very bad photographer this weekend - I really just wanted to enjoy the moments rather than worry about documenting them so this will probably be a boring post.

Saturday we had Tyler's grandfather's birthday party. Brayden got to see his cousins and we got to see some of Tyler's family that we haven't seen in a while. It was a lot of fun celebrating with them. Unfortunately I have no pictures to show for it. :( We had to leave the party a little early to go have our family pictures made. I haven't seen any sneak peeks yet, but I can't wait! Brayden does not know how to smile for pictures. I'm not sure why, but whether you say cheese or smile, you get the same smile. You know the one, you've seen it here on the blog. It will be interesting to see how the pictures turn out, but even if he's smiling a "Brayden" smile, I'm still glad I documented it because that will help me remember how he smiled when he was 3. :)

Sunday we had Stella's birthday party. It was at Treetop, which is one of Brayden's favorite places! He had an absolute blast. They got to climb in the tree house jungle gym thing, go bowling, eat cake & ice cream, and play games in the arcade! Right up Brayden's alley!

Sweet Stella!

After cake & ice cream, I took Bentley out to the tree house thing (think play thing at Chick fil A but a lot bigger) because she was getting restless while Stella opened her gifts. I just let her go on up and told Brayden to stay with her and not let her get lost. Well, a few short minutes later, she freaked out because even though Brayden was still saying "come on Bent" he had totally left her in the dust and she had no idea what to do. So, you guessed it, Big Mama here climbed up in that thing to rescue her. Needless to say, she wanted her momma after that and I gladly let Brooke go up with her. :)

Brayden was so tired from playing so hard he fell asleep on the way home like this. :)

You know what that means, another weekend closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas!

CBK Pumpkin Patch Trip 2013

Yesterday was our 2nd annual field trip with Brayden's preschool to the pumpkin patch. This year Daddy got to go with us. Even though it was a little chilly, it was still lots of fun. If these pictures look familiar, it's because this is the same pumpkin patch we went to about 2 or 3 weeks prior.

We started out the morning feeding the baby calves with a bottle. The teachers got to feed them and the kids watched. It was so adorable!

Then we went on the hayride out to the patch to pick our pumpkins.

He also got to climb a small hay "mountain" with his buddies and ride the swing.

After the hayride, we ate lunch. Well, actually, Brayden ate lunch. Tyler and I waited until we left to eat. :) After that, we looked at and petted the farm animals. Bray got to pet a chicken, bunny, lamb, and goat. I think I enjoyed petting them more than he did.

Then we did the hay maze. Brayden felt quite victorious after finding his way through that so I took a picture of his victory pose.

Then he picked some cotton. When we went a few weeks ago, he liked picking the cotton, but he was done with it after a little bit. Yesterday, I think he would have stayed out there picking cotton all day. I think it's because it wasn't so crowded and he could really enjoy it. And enjoy it, he did!

I thoroughly enjoyed the day and I loved getting to see him interact with his friends from school.

Happy weekend, friends!

Happy Birthday Nana & Weekend Recap

Saturday was Mom's birthday and we had a great, albeit long, day. :)

We kept Bentley Saturday because Brooke was helping her sister-in-law with a craft show. Brooke dropped her off at my house around 8:10 since we tend to be early risers. We had a great morning. We even got in a lot of great group hugs. (Please ignore my hair, Bentley was fixing it for me)

We met up with Nana around 11 to start her list of things she wanted to do for her birthday. First up was lunch at her favorite place - O'Carr's.

After that we hit up the toy store and Bentley's love for baby dolls grew. She takes her mothering skills seriously. I took the baby's blanket one time and put it up so we wouldn't drag it through the store and she said "NO! Need blanket! Cold!"

Then we went to the park because it was a beautiful day!

 

Brooke met up with us at the park and we headed to get Snow Cones. We decided that since neither of the kids had gotten naps, we would forego dinner out and pick up something to go and take to Brooke's. Brayden napped on the way home (Hallelujah!) and after a weepy wakeup he was fine. He even got to go down and feed the animals. Brooke bundled him up in all she had and when I sent a picture to his daddy, he said you need to take that off now! Why are men so weird? It's not like it's having a lasting effect on him!

As you can tell, we were going pretty much all day long. I was reminded yet again why I am a working mom because there is no way I could stay home all day. I also learned why the pounds seem to be falling off of my sister - you never sit down! When Bentley was at my house all morning, between the 2 of them, I was never able to sit down and relax. It was go go go all the time! It was fun, but definitely not something I could do every day. So, I found a new respect for my sister!

 

Brayden and Bentley are so lucky to have such a fantastic grandmother. All of her plans for her birthday included things that would make them happy. She is pretty much the best grandmother on the planet!

 

Sunday we went to John Darby's birthday party. The theme was pumpkins and it was so cute!

Nate was there so Brayden was ecstatic. They ran around like they'd never been let loose in public before, throwing sticks and tearing up the games, typical boy stuff I guess. Or at least I hope. It was such a great party. They got to pick a pumpkin out of the "patch" and decorate it.

They also thought it was great fun to see if they could make Claire laugh. Most of the time they succeeded, but it was giving me a mini stroke. They would jump right by her, make funny faces right in her face, and practically yell at her. The funny thing is, she pretty much loved every minute of it!

After Brayden and Nate did it, Zeke had to join in on the fun too.

After the party, we went home and I enjoyed watching these 2 play ball while I drank some Coke Zero and ate some Bareheads.

It was such a fabulous weekend!



Conversations with Brayden

I have had some pretty funny (& sweet) (but mostly funny) conversations with the Bray lately so I wanted to document them:

* One day we were in the car on the way home from Brooke's house and Puppy (his stuffed dog) was barking and wouldn't stop. Brayden said "Puppy if you don't stop barking I'm going to spank you." Obviously Puppy didn't stop because Brayden spanked him and then told him he was going to time out when we got home. Brayden put Puppy on his bed when we got home. I stood in the hall and listened when he went back to his room to tell Puppy he could come out of time out. This is what I heard: "You know why I put you in timeout, because you wouldn't stop barking. I still love you even though I had to spank you."

* After cutting grass one evening I came in the house, plopped down on the couch, and said "Man I'm sore". Brayden said "Why?". I said "I guess because I've been out cutting grass." He said "Oh baby, where are the sores?" I just went along with it and said "my arms and legs". He said "Let me see, where at, right here, you need to get a bandaid on those!"

* "Mom, if I'm good when we go to Tarjay (his daddy's name for Target), can I get some Bareheads?" (Airheads, his most favorite candy ever)

* I bumped my ear on a table one night while I was leaning down to plug my phone in and it hurt! (Side note: I never realized how sensitive ears are. I barely hit the table, but my ear was throbbing in pain!) Brayden was in the room with me and said "What happened Momma?" I told him I bumped my ear. He said "Here let me look at it, I'm going to be a doctor when I grow up." "Aww you have a bump on your ear!" That bump is a scar from where I've had my ears pierced so many times and scar tissue has built up.

* Last night we went camping in his Cars tent. He packed his backpack and put his pillow and sleeping bag in the tent. When I climbed in the tent, he said "Let's get out the 'plies" and pulled his backpack out. In it were puppy and a box of Legos. He really knows the necessities for camping. I said "Where are the snacks and drinks?" because let's face, that's what I live for. :) He said "Oh I forgot." So I said we'd just pretend and picked up a Lego and said it was bread. He said "Hold on" and left the tent and came back with a bag of leftover cornbread and a pack of hamburger buns and said "Here's some real bread." Haha he makes me laugh so hard!

I sure do love that kid!

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