First Day of School

Yesterday was the first day of school for Damon and Xavier. Damon was very excited to not only get the teacher he wanted but to also have his best friend and the girl he has had a crush on for the past 2 years in his class too. He was beaming!

Xavier was excited for his teacher too (the same 3rd grade teacher Damon had last year) but didn't have his close friends in his class. He did still know everyone in his class so he was happy with that. Knowing Xavier, he will have charmed all of his classmates by the end of the week.
Aiden started preschool today. He is in the same class he was last year. He was very excited. I expected him to be a little nervous but he just ran right in like it was no big deal. Big moment for me, since he has been potty trained he has preferred to go "commando" but this morning I got him to wear underwear for the first time ever! Yea Me!

The most exciting thing for Aiden is his awesome new bumblebee backpack. He loves bumblebee from Transformers. Every yellow car we see is a bumblebee car (except Grandma Little's, that's the duck car).So far the boys have had a great time back at school. And my house has been soooo quiet!

Grayson - 1st Birthday Party

Sunday we celebrated Grayson's first birthday. We had both of our families over and a couple of close friends. We had a little dinner of bbq beef sandwiches, chips and watermelon then let the guy unwrap his presents before cake and ice cream.

Being the 4th boys there wasn't much this guy needed. So Adam and I decided to buy him a rocker. Its a little airplane and plays four different songs. It has been a big hit in the house. It was also the theme of the birthday party. Very fitting since the year did fly by. I just love his little dimple face in this picture!
Starting to unwrap the presents, he wasn't really feeling it.
Again, the dimples, I love them. The cake was vanilla and then I made chocolate cupcakes with a sugar cookie on top. We also had cherry chocolate and snicker doodle ice cream. And chocolate too that just didn't turn out very well.
Enjoying his cake.
Not enjoying his bath.Sharing his presents with cousin Jax.

Grayson - 12 months

Grayson is now 1! He turned one on Saturday the 20th. We decided to wait another day for the official celebration. So Saturday was spent with all of us at one time or another saying things like, "I can't believe you're one." "You're not a baby in more." "This has been the fastest year ever."
He is walking now. He took his first little shuffle step when we were on our vacation but now he is really choosing to walk over crawling. He can go from sitting on the floor to a standing position without pulling himself up on anything. He is also quite the climber. He can climb up on the boys beds, the couches, the ottoman and the stairs. Oh and the piano, that has been fun! He is a good little eater and likes most things. Recently I made a rice and bean dish with garbanzo beans and he loved it. I don't know how many babies eat garbanzo beans but he could live off of the things.

He went to the Dr yesterday. He is 31.5 inches tall (80%) and weighs 22lbs 8oz (50%). He was being real shy around the nurses and doctors and carried that little shyness over to the evening when we went to meet teachers at all the boys schools.

He makes a lot of cute sounds. He likes to gabber and seems to say dada and momma (but only when he is crying over something). He also screams at the top of his lungs when he wants something. Its the best when we are eating out. And recently, he has started this cute little lip smacking when he is eating something really yummy like ice cream.

Vacation - Day 9

Someone was very sick of driving but we did make it home safe.
It was decided to not do another 18 hour trip for awhile!

Vacation - Day 8

Saturday we headed towards home. We took the ferry across to Dauphin Island to cut the time a little bit. We stopped in Louisiana at one of the WORST bathrooms we have ever been in in the history of our lives. Adam put it best, "That bathroom was straight from a horror film." So true. And after having 10+ hours in the car with fussy kids and countless cartoons we made it to Ben and Kelly house in Dallas.

Waiting for us was the biggest pizza we have ever seen.
Adam and his brother are weird.



The best thing about Ben and Kelly house (besides the big pizza, chocolate chip cookies, and a free place to sleep) they have everything our boys could ever need.

Remotes for Grayson.
A Tucker for Aiden
And an iPad for Damon and Xavier (not to mention other game systems and iphones).

"Did you see the size of that chicken?"

My husband is funny.

Vacation - Day 7

Our Beach Boys

Friday morning I got up to take some pictures of the beach at sunrise. It was kinda a nice moment to be at the beach by yourself.

We decided to take it easy on Friday since we were going to have 10+ hours in the car on Saturday and at least 7 on Sunday. So we just went to the beach, swam at the pool, and explored the old forts of Ft Morgan. (it has some civil war history here that we didn't know about.)

These beach pictures are really from Tuesday but we went to the beach every day so I'm throwing them here.

Aiden was really funny about the water. The first day I don't think he got wet at all, maybe his feet. On Tuesday he was jumping over the waves as they came to the shore. But by Friday, he was scaring me half to death because he would try to be as far out as his brothers. He loved the water and would have stayed there all day.

Xavier and Damon boogie board most of the time we were at the beach. Damon was pretty similar to Aiden. He got in the water but wasn't in love on Monday. In fact he hated it and really just wanted to go to the pool. I don't know what caused the attitude adjustment but he too was scaring me on Friday. He was getting so far out I would have to keep getting on him to swim back in.
Xavier is our nature boy. If we would have given him a blanket, he would have made a bed in the sand. He were dragging him out of the water every day.
Grayson had mixed feelings. It didn't help that he still takes a morning nap so he would always be tired. Almost every day we would hold him while standing in the water and he would fall asleep. I guess the waves really know how to rock a bye a baby.
Ft Morgan was a beautiful beach with the softest sand I've ever felt. You would just sink into it.

Vacation - Day 6

Thursday afternoon we went to Alligator Alley. I don't remember how many alligators he had, but it was in the hundreds. We got there for feeding time, no the boys weren't thrown in.
The No Swimming sign just made me laugh.

The gators knew he was coming with some food...

He might be a little crazy for doing this. But he was really nice. There is a part you get to walk through and throw food at them while up on a bridge. He was standing at the end so you could ask him questions and talk to him.

The one year old are kinda cute.

After the feeding demonstration, the boys got the chance to hold one. This is a two year old. Aiden would have taken him home. The gator whipped around and hit his cheek and the lady quickly said, "He just gave you a kiss." Aiden thought it was the greatest thing ever. I think every picture that anyone took, Aiden or his hand is in it.
This is the only gator Grayson got to hold...
For dinner we went to Big O's Seafood. It had the best grilled shrimp I've ever had. So yummy.

Vacation - Day 5

We went out a little bit later on Wednesday, I think we all needed naps that day, and went to Lulu's. It is owned by Jimmy Buffet's sister and is a very large restaurant. It is right on the docks and had a couple shopping places, sand volleyball, sand boxes for the kids to play in and two areas for bands to play. They have both places with musicians every night.
Aiden apparently really liked the ketchup. It was decided on the trip that Aiden makes us "that" family. He never has shoes on, prefers to wear pjs all day and does this in public.

They also had this large contraption that you could climb. Adam, Damon and Xavier couldn't resist so up they went. They climbed for about 45 minutes. I think Xavier would have lived on it.
Damon wasn't a big fan but did it and had fun. And as he waited for Adam and Xavier to finish he got to play sand volleyball with a bunch of teenage girls.

Vacation - Day 4

After the beach and lunch we went to ride the Ferry to Dauphin Island. We were in a hurry and forgot the stroller so poor Adam had to carry Grayson on the boat and as we explored the island too. It was a little tiring, especially for how hot it was that day.

On the way to the island we saw dolphins which was very exciting.

We then went to the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. It was a really cool place that had all the animals that are natural found in the area. The boys would not leave this man alone who had a horseshoe crab, spider crab and hermit crabs on display. They were having the best time until we pulled them away. I think they could have stayed all day.
They also had a bunch of dead stuff on display too. The boys loved it as well.
After we drove into Gulf Shores and did some souvenir shopping and went to dinner. Of course we had to stop here to eat dinner.
We couldn't resist.