Spring Break 2016

The boys had off for Spring Break about a week ago, so Wes and I decided to clear our schedules for Wednesday-Friday to take the boys to Galveston. His aunt and uncle own a small bayhouse near Moody Gardens that we have stayed in last summer a few times. They were so gracious to let us stay again for a few nights. The boys were really looking forward to this trip for the days and week or so leading up to it. Funny how something that seems just like another weekend away to us means the world to them. You'd think we were taking them to Disney. We packed up and headed out early Wednesday morning. Once we arrived, we unloaded everything and drove over to one of our favorite spots for lunch, Mosquito Cafe, and it did not disappoint. After lunch, it was time for Charlie to nap. Wes dropped me and the big boys off at the movie theater to see Zootopia. This was B's first movie and he was pretty excited. I had to explain to him about how we can't talk too loud or move around a bunch, and he didn't seem to understand why. So, I made the executive decision to sit us to the side where we could have our own small row to ourselves. Definitely a good call.

About 30 minutes into the movie, he was getting restless. I let him come sit in my lap and he promptly fell asleep for about 15 minutes. He did well for about the first hour and a half, but the last 30 minutes he was antsy. He was so excited to go to the beach, he couldn't contain himself. He started talking really loudly about how it must be time to go because he's ready for the beach. Wes came and scooped us up after the movie and we headed over to Pirate's Beach. We threw all of the kids' gear on and off we went.

 The beach was actually really clean, not too crowded, and no seaweed. Score!!

 The highs were in the mid 70's, so you can imagine what the water felt like, but it didn't stop Ryan.

They started off slow. Collecting some water to build various creations, but ultimately they ended up soaking wet head to toe. To say Charlie loved the beach in an understatement. He was chanting, "beet, beet, beet" by the end of the day.

This is becoming an tradition for beach trip pics. He likes to pretend he's posing as the Statue of Liberty.

 Bradley was bound and determined to get the bubbles going. He was finally successful.

   

 Charlie just looks funny here.

 Doing his part in collecting mud.

And there he goes. He ended up getting all the way in. I have to say, it was pretty chilly but not unbearable (or should I clarify, I was fine up to my knees. Haha).

 In his happy place. He was FINALLY beaching it.

 He's learning what happens when you dump a bucket of water all over yourself.

And then, he wants you to go fill it up again. I think Wes and I probably each made at 50 trips back and forth with buckets of water for them.

  Two of my favorites!

 Not a bad view for a Wednesday afternoon if I do say so myself.

 The beginning of their sand mountain.

 The moat has been filled, so Charlie felt it was a good time to taste the "mud."

 Num num. He doesn't seem to mind.

 Pretty sure Wes wasn't expecting this one!

After about 3 solid hours of playing in the sand, we packed up for the evening and headed to dinner. Time got away from us, so we were a little too late to go to the Spot (which I was craving), but we settled for another delicious meal of fried food at Shrimp N Stuff. The boys were so excited to get back to the bayhouse, and B was even more pumped for bedtime. The boys shared a bed for the first time ever. B couldn't contain himself.

We gave them the choice to stay up for a few extra minutes or get in bed so they could talk. B chose talking, no surprise there. After about what was supposed to be 10-15 minutes turned into 45 minutes of talking, we made them shut it down. They actually did pretty well both nights only waking up once each night for someone stealing covers, etc.

Thursday morning we started off at Sunflower Bakery for breakfast. I think we have only had lunch there before, and man, have we been missing out. It was so yummy!!

I'm sure you could guess where we headed next. That's right, the beach. We contemplated going to Moody Gardens or Pleasure Pier, but knowing Charlie wouldn't make it more than 2 hours before needing a nap, we opted for a second day at the beach. The boys had so much fun, they begged to go back. The second day's sand structures were definitely taken to a whole new level. They dug these "pools" to play in. Of course, mom and dad were stuck on filling duty, but the boys were in heaven.

Charlie would run back and forth from the "pool" to the "hot tub" and just throw himself down face forward into each.

 He would practice his yoga moves every now and then as well.

 When he's feeling it, he sure is cute.

 And about two minutes later, he was done. He had about had it. He plays hard and crashes even harder.

The boys had a quick bath that afternoon because sand was in every crack and crevice. They were pretty cute, all shirtless.

 What they do best. Wrestle.

Charlie and B actually both napped that afternoon, so Wes took Ryan over to his uncle's house where Ryan learned to play tennis! Once everyone was up and at 'em, we decided to head out for an early dinner to my favorite place, the Spot!! When we couldn't stuff our faces anymore, we drove over to the Strand to walk around and have dessert. The boys thought this was pretty funny. B kept saying, "I'm a girl!"

  

   We came across, what I think must be fairly new, over-sized chair so couldn't pass up the opportunity for a photo op.

   

  

  

And actually got a decent family pic of us. Doesn't happen to often. Might have to frame it :)

We ended the evening at none other than LA Kings. They were pulling taffy which was pretty neat to watch. They were trading the chocolate and vanilla malts back and forth. They were so intent on not missing out on one flavor vs. another for fear of one running out, they got so full and couldn't even finish them! They couldn't even take their mouths off the straw to look up for a picture.

Friday morning, we were beached out and couldn't eat another bite, so we packed up and headed home. Over the course of the beautiful weekend we ended up having, Ryan finally learned to ride his bike without training wheels. It took less than about 2 hours, and he had it down. We were so proud of him. Wes really is a trooper for running full speed ahead for long periods of time to try and keep up with him. We topped off Sunday with a 3 mile jog in which Ryan rode his bike the entire way with only one slight incident (he came a across a lady with a dog on a leash and it tripped him up a bit). Now, the other two boys want to partake on all of the bike riding as well. B is now bound and determined to learn how to ride without training wheels as well because as he puts it "I'm getting bigger and bigger. I'm 3 now!"

I've tried to upload a video of him on his bike, but for whatever reason I am having a lot of trouble. You'll just have to take my word for it. He even mentioned to us that he learned before he was 6 (barely, but he did it!) and was pretty proud of himself. It was such a fun week and hard to get back to our normal schedule. Luckily, it was only a 4 day week with Easter the next week. That's the next update to come!

20 months - CJM

I swear I just wrote his 19 month post, but here we are again 4 weeks later and it's time for another update. Charlie is really settling into toddlerhood and is becoming more and more independent by the day. He's always wanted to be independent, but along with that came a lot of fussing, fighting with the big boys, whining, etc. Now, he can just figure some things out on his own and play with his brothers more without them being mad at something he is doing 99.9% of the time. It's more like they are frustrated about 50-60% of the time, but hey, it's an improvement. And I'll take it. He's just a fun kid to watch because he's always "working" and on the move. He won't sit still for too long and always seems to have an objective in mind! I turned his carseat around a few weeks ago because he was so crammed, and he's a much happier boy in the car these days.

Now he can point at "cahs" very five seconds!

I know I have described this habit before, but the kid loves to hide. And, here's the proof. When it's time to change a diaper, he hides. When it's time to go down for a nap, he hides. When he runs away with a toy or piece of food he knows he shouldn't have, he hides. You get the picture.

  Here he is trying to peek back to see if we are still looking.

 Waving bye-bye. He'll also blow me a kiss every now and then.

 Twinsies.

 Does he not look like he is about 3 or 4 right here?!!?

 His new found love. The ice cream from "Cheek-o-lay"

 What's better than eating the ice cream? Feeding it to someone else.

 And then eating from the spoon before feeding CoCo again.

 He takes his job seriously

 Forget the spoon, let's go straight to the hands.

 Love, love, love him

His new favorite place to sit. As soon as he sees the fridge door swing open, he promptly finds his place inside of it.

One of his favorite times of the day. I love watching it. After baths, he and Wes just laugh and giggle while Wes tickles him, then Charlie points up to the fan and calls it a "Tee" (no clue what that means because he also calls the TV a Tee), then he usually pokes his fingers around in Wes' eye or mouth. It's super cute.

I don't have any pictures of him this month with his new obsession, but he is currently all about his toy cars (and real ones for that matter, too). He wakes up talking about cars and goes to bed not wanting to let them go. He "dive, dive, dives" them everywhere. Up my walls, on top of my trashcan, on the arms of the couch, they travel all over our house. He lines them all up, races them across the wood floor, crashes them into each other. He is ALL boy, no doubt.

He's also been very into washing his hands, or more appropriately described as holding them under running water.

He could just stare at the water and be perfectly content.

In his happy place. With fresh haircut, no less!

I think he weighs about 26 lbs. these days. He still seems really petite for his age. Tall, but super skinny. He could easily wear all 18 month clothes if it weren't for the length of the clothes. The next size up swallows him. He is still a great eater, when he is hungry. He eats most anything (except for veggies, not a huge fan), but sometimes his appetite is huge and other times he laughs at the sight of food. Milk is probably his favorite food/drink, except for candy or chocolate of course. He knows when it is dessert time. He goes and grabs a bowl from the kid's drawer, runs over to the counter where our limitless supply of M&Ms reside (Thanks a lot, CoCo!!!!), and jumps around dancing and screaming until somehow promptly fills his bowl. Just the talk of anything sweet basically ruins him from any and all future food we had planned on him eating in the next hour. He will hoover down certain dinner foods. Crockpot Spaghetti squash (as we call it), lasagna, ketchup, pizza, you get the drift. Pretty sure our kids are Italian because they could live off of Italian food for dinner and be perfectly fine. Oh, and he is SUPER messy. I used to think he was just so much more careless than the other two, but I think it is because I give him much more freedom to feed himself and to also not monitor him as closely as I probably should.

 I am almost positive I have mentioned before, but here is more proof of his love for shoes.

Little guy. Big shoes.

We've even branched out into women's active shoes.

Every once in a while he will slow down and take it easy. Although he is normally running 90 to nothing, I like when he takes it easy. My heart rate appreciates it, too. I feel like I live most of my time around him in panic for the next fall or accident he is going to partake in. 

This photo pretty much sums up our life with Charlie in it. Wild and Crazy. To the MAX!! We wouldn't have it any other way (except for if it could maybe be a tad bit safer. That would be nice)!!!