It’s weekends like these that make me excited about blogging again

For Memorial weekend, our family headed down to Topsail Island, NC to enjoy some sun, sand and relaxation with our friends the Anderssons and the Emericks.

The weather was perfect (most of the time) and we had a ton of fun doing nothing but working on our tans and having fun.

As soon as Brendan saw the ocean, he was off! He loved the water. 

Brendan even got to try out boogie boarding, thanks to Patric. He was freaking out at first and didn’t want to get on but I forced him to and once he was going, he loved it. Patric was awesome to pull him around for a several minutes.

This was Alex’s response to the beach. He did not share Brendan’s enthusiasm at all.

And of course, I’m a mean mom and snapped about 50 pictures of him crying on the beach, laughing the whole time. It was just too funny and cute though.

If he was being held or distracted, he was okay.

It’s a good thing we had plenty of friends who were willing to distract him for us.

  At least I have one photo of Alex on the beach looking happy!

 

 

While Alex was being grumpy, Brendan was off happily collecting sea shells. I think we brought home about 20 pounds of shells.

The boys got buried in the sand.

Marshall, Brendan and Josh- the Three Musketeers! These boys had a blast together.

Brendan showed off some butt-crack this weekend too. The saddest part was he got sun burned on the top of his butt since I didn’t apply sunscreen there. I didn’t realize how big his swim trunks were on him- whoops! He was a good sport about it though.

On our second day, we finally got Alex in the water. Again, he was not impressed.

He’d see a wave approaching and start to get freaked out. When the water actually  hit him, he’d be okay for a second and then…

Out came the tears and screams. Poor baby. He really did NOT like being in the water.

And yes, I do have about 30 pictures of him crying in the water. I couldn’t resist!

Alex did, however, enjoy eating sand.

I gave up trying to stop him after a few fistfuls of sand but Chris was more diligent than I was. That’s his hand swooping in to stop Alex’s feast.

I’m sure it didn’t taste good but it didn’t seem to bother him too much.

 

At least both of my boys enjoyed the sand!

It was such an awesome weekend and it was hard to leave. Brendan was actually in tears saying he didn’t want to leave “his” beach house while we packed up. I’m glad that we had the chance to go- thanks Sasha for planning everything, and thanks to everyone else for the good company, the good food, the good laughs, and the good memories. Who wants to go back next month?

Parks and Recreation

We had some gorgeous weather last week and to celebrate, we headed to the park of course! This was Alex’s favorite activity of the day.

He definitely loves the swings. Part of me can’t comprehend how he is big enough to fit in one of these swings. Wasn’t he just a tiny newborn and only 6 pounds?!

Brendan got to bust out his new, cool shades too. He refused to smile for any of my pictures but I think it adds to the look. :)

After some quality time with the swings, Alex retreated back to the stroller and spent his time downing a bottle. Brendan used his time to run around like crazy and try to burn things using his magnifying glass with his dad (guess who taught him that one?) Now he asks to “go outside and burn things” every day. Oi vey.

  Ah, brotherly love. These two play together much better than I imagined. Brendan just adores Alex and constantly gives him hugs and kisses. And Alex loves to watch Brendan. He’s fascinated by him.

A couple days later, we hit up another park with some friends. The sand pit was a big hit all around.

This park was really cool and Brendan really loved it.

And I had to get a shot of Brendan with his BFF, Josh. Every time the doorbell rings, Brendan think it’s Josh and he goes running to answer the door. And when it’s not Josh, he is very disappointed (unless it’s the mailman and then he’s excited because that mail really excites him). So when we actually DO play with Josh, Brendan is in heaven.

I am typing this post while it’s pouring buckets outside- beautiful weather come back soon!!!!

And here are my 2 Easter photos

Just after waking up and before the Easter basket was handed out

Just after the Easter goodies were handed out

I did a pretty lame job of taking pictures on Easter but it was a good day. This year, Brendan was so excited for the Easter Bunny to come to his house. We didn’t do much else- no egg hunt, no big dinner- it was a pretty laid back day, which is what I needed. Brendan loved all this little toys (we decided to forgo the candy mostly since Brendan doesn’t really like most candy) and had a blast playing with all of his new stuff while Alex took a super long nap after church. It was a great day to relax and remember our Savior.

Sometimes, I wonder why I bother

Recently, the library had a small petting zoo set up for the kids to enjoy and of course we had to go. Brendan loves animals and so I knew he would enjoy this. Brendan was definitely impressed by the giant turtle. And that little lamb in the photo above was just about the cutest thing I have ever seen.

I spotted a goat, so I was in heaven too. It’s a strange dream of mine to own a lot of land one day and have goats. They’re just so stinkin’ cute! And then I saw this:

Two baby goats!!!! I was a goner. I could have stayed and played with the baby goats all day.

There was a sheep as well which was not as soft as I expected but still it was cool. The animals were much more subdued than I thought could be possible with a bunch of young children running around screaming and trying to poke them.

The funny part was that Brendan looked at the animals for about 5 minutes and then all he wanted to do was run around the grassy field with his buddy Nate and play with sticks and rocks. Such a boy!

The boy likes to eat

Alex is such a better eater than Brendan was as a baby and for that, I am grateful! It was always such work to get Brendan to eat- and still is- but with Alex, if you put food in front of him (or even in the vicinity), he wants it.

I don’t actually let him eat pieces of bread this giant; it was just for picture-taking purposes but he was totally into.

This was more manageable for him and he was happier since he could actually get it in his mouth.

What a happy boy! It’s so nice to be able to make him happy since we’ve had a lot of cranky days due to this:

Can you see that tooth there on the bottom? It’s amazing how something so small can cause so much trouble. But then Alex bit me and I realized it much sharper than I thought it would be, so maybe he’s not overreacting. :)

Okay, one more food shot and I’m done.

I just couldn’t resist that messy face. And look! He doesn’t lean/slump to the side anymore! Baby boy is growing up… too fast, if you ask me.