A Perfect Weekend

You know those weekends where you just smile to yourself and think, "that was a great weekend!"  Well, this was one of those weekends.  There was no reason is particular.  We didn't really go anywhere, or do anything exciting, but we just spent time together as a family.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous which always boost my mood, and I just enjoyed having fun with Paul and the kids.  Since Paul is in real estate, there are not a lot of weekends that we get him all to ourselves, so we were happy to have him home all weekend.

On Saturday we just spent a lot of time playing out side since it was so pretty!  Brady is very serious about his sunscreen.  He brings it to me and says, "I need my sunscreen momma so we don't get burned.  Katelyn needs some too momma." (Waldo would be proud.)

Training him young.

The southern belle got her new bonnet.

My little duet.

STOP

Katelyn tried her first brown cow.  She LOVED it!

Daddy's girl :)

After the kids went to bed Saturday night Paul and I had dinner and cocktails on the screened porch.  I always dreamed of these nights while our house was being built.

Sunday I went to church by myself, because honestly I didn't want to risk the little ones picking up anymore germs in the nursery.  I put on my dress and Brady said, "You look pretty momma!  You're a princess!"  Talk about making my day!  He is the sweetest!

After church we played outside, the kids took a nap, and I actually got to lay out in the back yard for a while.  When they woke up I took them out back to play in the blow up pool.  Too bad the water was freezing.  I put one toe of Katelyn's in and she screamed bloody murder.  Brady played in it for a little while, but it was really too cold for him too.

While I was at church Brady took Katelyn 4-wheeling.

If you could see her face under this hat...she was not happy.  See that bottom lip poked out??

I am so glad the warm weather is here, and I am looking forward to many more great weekends to come!

First trip to the circus

We were so excited to take Brady to the circus this year.  I have always loved the circus, but I thought he was a little young to enjoy it last year.  I was a little skeptical about taking Katelyn, but since Brady was out of school I just couldn't bare dropping her off instead of having her spend the day with us.  So, we just decided to take them both.

Brady absolutely loved it, and Katelyn drank a bottle and passed out within 5 minutes of the show which was PERFECT.  I think my heart was about to jump out of my chest with love for these 2.  Brady's smile and pure excitement was so contagious, and it has been a while since Katelyn has fallen asleep in my arms.  I was in mommy heaven.

We stayed about an hour and a half and Brady had pretty much had enough.  He did GREAT to sit still that long and watch.  Paul and I were also pretty proud that he walked passed at least 5 stands selling way over-priced toys, and he didn't ask for a single thing!  He walked right passed them and didn't say a word.  We were some proud parents.

They had to have matching circus outfits of course!

Waiting for the show to start...

And, she's out! 

Happy birthday Geno and Gigi

Brady and Katelyn are so blessed to not only have 5 grandparents, but also 4 living great grandparents.  We were able to have dinner with Gigi and Geno to celebrate both of their birthdays.  The next day we also went to their house to visit and ride the golf cart.  Brady has been telling me forever now that he wants to drive the golf cart.  Someone drove by our house the other day in a golf cart.  "I wanna ride it momma." I told him that it wasn't ours so we couldn't ride it.  He paused for a moment and then said, "I need to go to Geno's."  How he even remembers that Geno has a golf cart, I have no clue!

Let me also add a side note. Geno told me at dinner, and I quote, "Meredith, today I took a selfie and posted it on Facebook."  They may be getting older, but they certainly keep up with the current trends just fine :).

They are both so special to me, and I am so glad that my children get to know them as well.

Naturally, Brady had to help blow out the candles.

I love my Grandma Fran so much!

Wish we had better lighting, but this picture makes me smile.

She loved the golf cart ride as much as Brady.

We will have him on the PGA tour before we know it.

Love this.  It gives me a flash back to Geno teaching Dustin and I how to putt on this same green.

When in doubt, just place it in the hole.

Such a special moment.  She does NOT just cuddle up to anyone. 

So, so sweet.  She loves her Gigi.

Just because

I often times think to myself, "how did I get so lucky?"  I have a wonderful family, loving husband and father to our children, two absolutely precious children, a beautiful home that I could have only dreamed of ever owning, a good job that allows me flexibility to be with my children when they need me, but also lets me contribute to our family in more ways than one.  It all seems so surreal sometimes.  I know I often times take my blessings for granted, and I need to stop and think about just how great I have it.  No matter what I think is so hard or unfair at times, pales in comparison to what others are facing.

I know everyone brags on their children, and I may be a little biased when it comes to my opinions on my own, but these two little people we have created could not be more special.  I cannot even put into words the LOVE that I have for them both, the special place in my heart that they occupy daily, how THANKFUL I am that God chose us to be their parents.  Yes, there are times that are frustrating, stressful, exhausting, but the good times, the joy, so over powers any of those feelings.

I love the sweet innocence that they both possess right now. Brady is seriously the sweetest little boy.  He has such a big heart, and he genuinely gets concerned when things seem out of whack.  He does not miss a beat, that boy.  When Katelyn was about 4 months old, and we were living at my dad's house I fell down the front porch stairs while she was in my arms.  I was at the house by myself with Brady and Katelyn, and we were trying to take Riley out to go potty.  I somehow lost my footing and tripped falling down two stairs onto the pavement.  Brady also fell, because he tripped over me.   I frantically ran inside to call Paul, Katelyn was screaming her head off (more scared than anything), and Brady cried for a moment, but then just didn't want to leave my side, because he knew something bad had happened. Thank the Lord Katelyn just had a small scrape on her head and Brady and I were a little scuffed up, but fine. However, Brady will never forget this moment, and still reminds me of it often.  Certain things will trigger this moment in his head and he will look at me, "You fall down at Waldo's house momma?" "Katelyn fall down stairs momma?"  Something triggered this in his memory the other morning, and he looked at me and said, "You fall down momma? You need to be careful momma."

The other day I dropped my iPhone in the toilet.  Naturally, I started screaming for Paul to come help me (what he was going to do I'm not sure...)  Brady came running to the rescue as well.  The rest of the evening, Brady kept asking me, "You're phone broke momma?"  And everyone we talked to he had to tell them, "Momma phone in toilet."  That night we put him to bed and about an hour later I hear the thump of him climbing out of his bed.  I walked upstairs to meet him at his door, and he looked at me with this concerned look on his face and said, "you're phone broke momma?"  I told him that yes it was, but that it was ok and he needed to go back to bed.  Another hour or so goes by and I hear the same thump, which is unusual for Brady, because he typically does not get out of his bed.  I again went upstairs to see what was going on and he opened his door, looked at me with basically one eye opened and said, "your phone broke momma?"  The fact that my phone was broken was literally causing him to lose sleep.  I told him this time that I had fixed it and it was fine. "Oh you fix it momma?! Alright."  We didn't see him again until the morning :).

Another funny bedtime moment happened the other night.  As I mentioned, he typically does not get out of his bed.  But, if he does it is usually within 30 minutes or so of us putting him down, and he typically tells me he needs to go potty.  I heard the thump of him getting out so I rushed upstairs to beat him to the door.  When I opened it he looked surprised to see me there.  He paused for a minute and then said, "you were hiding in here momma?"  It took all I had to not bust out laughing.  Just the sweet little tone he had and the fact that he thought I must have been hiding in his room to have busted him trying to escape so quickly.

I had on shorts the other day.  This was something new for Brady I guess, because it has been cold so I haven't worn shorts in a while.  He looked at me, and in his sweet little voice said, "you got new underwear momma?"  Oh my how I love love love his sweet little innocence.

Katelyn is on the go these days and constantly getting into things she is not supposed to.  Brady often tells her, "Uh uh, Katelyn! No mam!"  I wonder where he gets that from??

I love how the two of them are interacting and playing so much these days.  Every time we say we are going somewhere he asks, "Katelyn come wif me momma?"  He always wants her to be with him.  He has been telling me that he is going to drive the airplane to go see Uncle Dustin.  He says Katelyn and Riley are coming, but I am not allowed to come.  "I am going to drive airplane to see Uncle Dustin momma.  Katelyn comin wif me.  Riley comin wif me.  You not coming." Other times he says I can come, but under certain circumstances.  "You not drive airplane momma.  I drive airplane.  You hav'ta sit in you car seat."

He was pretending in the bathtub that he was going to work.  He first had to shave, then he said "oh no, I can't find my keys."  Then I asked what he does at work, "I play with Waldo."

Brady always calls me "momma", and I love it.  The other day he started saying "mommy" sometimes.  After realizing he was saying this he looked at me and said, "You aren't mommy, you're momma!"  That's right buddy, I hope you ALWAYS call me momma.  I love it so much.

I am so enjoying his two year old imagination and the cute things he says.  I just want to eat him up!!