Surfer Dude

Yesterday we took my mom and Greg to the beach. Before we hit the sand we stopped at a little beach shop and Braden bought his first board. They had a lot of different designs to choose from. I liked one with flames down it and Mike liked a pirate one. Braden didn't really care for opinion though. He went with a Taz board.

At first he was scared to use the tether cord. I think he thought it would pull him under the water. He did GREAT! He's not afraid of the water but I think he's cautious. He had a lot of fun body surfing. Maybe next summer we will check out some surf schools. Of course then we'll have to buy him a long board. So maybe we'll stick to body surfing and short boards for a little longer.

@ 3 Scrapbook Page

I started this page days ago but just couldn't seem to get it to come together. I'm still not 100% sure that I really like it but I want to finish it for MBI. I traced Ashlyn's hand onto the cardstock then had her cut up some paper to fill it in with. I colored in her hand with a glue stick then let her fill it in. Braden made one too but I haven't even started a layout with his prints yet.


For more info about this page and/or the products I used check out the baby forum at MBI!!!!

This layout is of course about Ashlyn at 3. The journaling has just some random things about her right now.
-loves the Little Mermaid
-learned to use the potty
-pretends to be Hannah MOntana daily
-love sports
-has a room full of baby dolls and Barbies

Some more things about my sweet 3 year old....
-loves to sing Disney songs in the car (as loud as she can!)
-mac-n-cheese and pop tarts are her favorite foods
-loves purple coke but has to drink milk most of the time
-calls every drink except grape coke "milk"
-makes piles of things around the house.
-never leaves the house without her purse
-still sucks her thumb at bedtime
-spits when she's mad
-thinks everything cost "twinny dolturds" (thats $20 if your not fluent in toddler talk)
-runs to her room, slams the door, and goes to bed when she gets into trouble

I could go on an on but I'm sure by now I'm sounding like the teacher on Charlie Brown so I will stop.


Side note: My mama and her hubby Greg are flying in tomorrow!!! Yippee!!!

Soccer Starts

This evening was Braden's first soccer practice. I think it has already started out 1000% better than tae kwon do. He was all smiles and seem to really be having fun. He is the tallest on his team. I kind-of expected that but I didn't know that some of the kids would be older than him. I know that at least one of his team mates is 6.

I will admit that I know nothing about soccer. NOTHING!!! Mike and I met yesterday at the mall to buy his cleats, shin guards, and socks. I was lost the whole time. It took us awhile to find a pair of shoes in his size. Then we picked out all the rest of his stuff. I wanted everything to be black or white since I don't know what the team colors are going to be yet.

When I picked him up from school yesterday, I told him I had a surprise for him. I tossed back the box and he tore into it like it was Christmas.
Then he said, "These are girl shoes! I'm can't wear girl shoes!"
"They're not Girl shoes. Those are your soccer shoes!" I said

"THEY'RE PINK!!!!" he yelled.

Oopses! In all the confusion of finding the right size socks and shin guards we mixed up the boxes and picked up a pair of pink cleats. He was not at all happy with his surprise. He was actually offended by my little surprise. I fixed my little mistake. We went straight from school back to the mall and exchanged the pink for the black cleats. He was more impressed with the black ones.

Kindergarten- here we come!

FINALLY!!! School actually was in session today for the first time. Braden didn't really seem nervous or excited until we got to the class. He was very very quiet once inside the class. His teacher had little bears set out on all the tables. They had worry bear written on their stomachs. I thought that was a nice little gift for comfort.


When I picked him up this afternoon I was ready to hear all about his new class. Instead I got a lot of "ummmm, I forget". He did perk up when I asked about lunch. According to the lunch menu today was spaghetti day. Braden doesn't like spaghetti but I wanted him to buy his lunch his first day. (And who knows maybe he'll try a few new things this year.) Instead of the scheduled spaghetti they had pizza. Pizza is one of this favorites. He didn't understand why he only got 2 pieces. I know he could have eaten at least double that.

We decided to use the same backpack as last year. He didn't use it at all in VPK. He didn't care so why buy a new one. Lord knows we spend more than enough on his stupid uniform. (yes that is a uniform. I don't dress my kids that dorky!) Wait until it gets cooler and he starts sporting the navy cardigan. That will be worth a picture or two.

Here he is at his table with his bear. He choose the red bear of course. Red is his favorite color. I think he looks really nervous in this picture. He looked nervous in all the pictures from his classroom. I hope tomorrow he starts the day more at easy. (me too!)

To the Beach

We thought last weekend was our last weekend of summer so we took the kids to Disney. We didn't know that TS Fay would push back Braden's first day of Kindergarten to Monday. So this weekend actually was our last weekend of summer. We didn't want to go to Disney again because my mom and Greg are coming down next weekend and we will be going to Epcot. Three Disney weekends in a row might be too much. I don't want my kids to be spoiled! (yes, i know everyone is yelling TOO LATE!!!)

So we decided to go to CiCi's and then hit the beach for just a few minutes. We didn't pack up for a full day because we weren't sure what the beach would look like after Fay. I heard on the news that it was going to cost about 3 million to restore the beaches. It really wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. There was one large washed out area at Indianatlatic and there was obviously less beach to stretch out on but it wasn't too bad. The kids loved the "cliff" as they were calling it.

I think it was a good way to spend our last weekend of summer. Both kids had fun. Braden of course was disappointed that he couldn't spend the whole trip in the water but he made due with the sand.

Love Potion #9

What does a bored 5 year old do with a paddle ball, a bubble wand handle,water, toothpaste, and soap? He made a love potion of course! He wanted Mike and I to drink it but that wasn't going happen. We did play along though which made his day.

I do think it was funny that out of all the "potions" he could have made that he decided on a love potion. It wasn't a potion to turn you into a frog or a superhero but one to make you fall in love. I wonder if he could whip me up a Loose 25 pound instantly potion. I might have tried that one!

2 in 1

How cute is this? While shopping for a new dress for Baby Ava (cousin/ Randy and Sally's blond angel), we found this set at TJ Maxx. The dress was cute but the fact that it came with a matching dress for a baby doll made it a MUST HAVE! We came home and immediately changed Girl (yes the doll's name is Girl. She has a twin brother named Boy. hee hee hee) into it. They make a very cute pair.

Tropical Storm Fay

Tomorrow was suppose to be Braden's first day of school but thanks to Fay that has been pushed back until Friday. I personally think it will be Monday but we'll see. We were not prepared at all to be home bound. I did make a quick run to Wal-Greens Monday night to get a few cokes because I knew it would be windy and rainy Tuesday. I didn't know that it was going to rain for two days straight.

The storm is moving so slow but to make it worse it came to a complete stop directly on top of us. The wind didn't do any damage in my neighborhood. my neighbor did lose some of his plants to the winds but the houses were untouched. We have had about 16 inches of rain so far. I have to say so far because it is still raining.

Since we didn't stock up before the store, we found the refrigerator pretty bare today. Mike decided to run to the gas station a few blocks away for some necessities (Diet Dr Pepper!). He says that was the stupidest thing he's ever done. I find that hard to believe but from the looks of things it might not have been the smartest. We had no idea how bad it was. The news is really only showing pictures from Melbourne and only streets in Melbourne have been officially closed. The water is several feet deep on some streets. We have the pine needles and leaves in the grill of our car to remind us to stay our butts in the house. (even if we run out of Diet Dr Peppers.)

more Disney pics

I think maybe Braden is getting too old for certain characters! His face tells it all! Hee hee hee. Ashlyn enjoyed the Quincy and Rocket. I guess in the future I'll be taking Ashlyn to see characters and Mike & Braden can hit a ride.
Disney has lots of EXTRA MAGIC. At Hollywood studios there is a group called the Sunset Blvd citizens or something like that. Sunday, the director (standing behind Mike's shoulder) had Mike and Ashlyn do a little acting on the Sunset Bvld. I don't think Ashlyn even noticed anything was going on.

We ate at Mama Melroses. Mike and I ate there on our honeymoon. It hasn't changed in the past seven years. Mike still loves it and I still think it's OK. We've been there a few times in between and I've never really been impressed with it. The kids do like the Mickey Mouse sprinkles on their kid meal sundaes and it is nice to sit down in the ac to eat.

When we first got to the park, we headed over towards Mama Melrose's to make a reservation but we were stopped in route by the green army men. Braden was chosen to participate in the drill. They had to march and practice classic army men poses. It was a fun surprise!

Wall-E encounter

Right now my kids (especially Braden) are consumed with Wall-E. I think the whole family enjoyed the movie but Braden loved it! So when we went to Disney Sunday we decided to go to Hollywood Studios to see if we could find Wall-E. There is no "live" Wall-E meet & greets yet. I do hope that will change though. They did have a Wall-E cut out set up for photo opts so we did get some Wall-E on the trip. We also saw the "real" Wall-E while on the backlot tour. He was in the costume/prop building. Braden almost jumped off the tram when he saw him.

We had a great time Sunday. I'll post some more pictures later. :)