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! 

December Happenings

Since I'm so behind on blogging, I'm just going to hit the highlights of December.

*Brayden was in his Christmas program at school and did a great job! He waved and blew us kisses pretty much the entire time he was on stage. :) But he also performed his songs like he was supposed to.

*We went on a trolley ride in Montgomery to see Christmas lights with his Hutton cousins. My mom went too and it was so much fun!

 

*We took Brayden to his first movie at the theater. I was a little worried about he would do. I even prepared Tyler to be ready to leave during the movie. But he did great! He loved it and was so fascinated by the huge screen. I have a feeling he will be requesting to go to the movies pretty often now.  



We've had such a great month. I'll post about Christmas soon!

Thanksgiving 2013

So, for the 3 people that read this blog on a regular basis, you probably think I've decided to give it up again. Not quite, I've just not been in the mood to blog for some reason. Life is busy, I'm exhausted, and this here blog is the last thing on my priority list. But, since I do this for memory keeping purposes, I'm taking you back to Thanksgiving. :)

Thursday
On the actual day of Thanksgiving, we got together at my mom's house for lunch. I know this may shock you, but I have NO pictures from that day. None! I just didn't think about it. We had a great lunch and it was so nice to be able to enjoy the day with my small family without having to worry about heading off to the next place. I'm so very thankful for my family and all they do for me.

Friday
Friday was the Hutton Thanksgiving, which is always lots of fun. Brayden loves spending time with his cousins and this time was no different. They played and played and played. I got to spend time with sweet Ella and even got some picture time with the big kids!

 Asher made sure to test out Ella's bumbo seat to make sure it was safe :)

 

Saturday
We headed to the tree farm Saturday to cut down our tree. We picked out a good one and Brayden and Daddy cut it down.

We took it home and decorated it. This was the first year Brayden really cared about decorating the tree. He was very interested in which ornaments were "his" and loved looking at all of them.

Sunday
Sunday night Brayden was in a Christmas program at church. They all wore their pajamas and sang a few songs and then listened to the Christmas story. I took all of those pictures on Tyler's phone so I had to steal some from Facebook (thanks Summer!). Other than the fact that he kept putting his hands down his pants, it was cute to watch and I was pretty proud. :)

We had such a great Thanksgiving weekend and I am so thankful for all the wonderful people in my life. God has truly blessed us beyond measure!

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!

Bentley's First Sleepover!

Bentley spent the night with me for the first time ever on Saturday night! Tyler worked at the fire department Saturday night so I knew it would be the perfect night because Bent & I would have the bed to ourselves. I won't lie, I was a little nervous about it. I was worried Brayden would want to sleep in my bed with us (& I guess I'm not a very nice mom for making him sleep in his own bed) (it's just the he sleeps SO much better in his own bed), I was worried Brayden would come to get in my bed in the wee hours of the morning like he very often does and would not be happy that he couldn't lay right by me, I was worried that Bent would cry or wake up in the middle of the night and want her mom. But, I worried for nothing because NONE of those things happened! Brayden slept all night in his bed until about 6:30 Sunday morning, Bentley slept all night, only waking up 2 times for a paci and a drink. It could not have gone smoother.

We started out the night at Nana's watching the football game.

We headed home at half time and pretty much went straight to bed.

The next morning Brayden came in and joyfully woke us up by saying very loudly "Where's Bent?!!" After that, he climbed up in the bed right by Bentley and started talking to her. I realize they look asleep in this picture, but I promise they were awake and talking. I thought it was so precious!

Even though I didn't get much sleep because Bent was practically on top of me all night and I had to be alert so I didn't roll off the bed, it was so much fun. I can't wait to do it again!