Chalybe Fest

The little brothers took over the Jeep when the big boys weren't looking...Walker thought it was hilarious!

Kaitlyn, Bricen, and Walker at their first Chalybe Fest

Walker met a new woman, Laurel, who just moved in behind us.

Bricen and his pretty blue eyes.

I stripped Walker down and let him go to town on the pizza. I think I may have found his favorite food.

Kaitlyn wasn't happy that she didn't get any pizza. ;)

These two nuckleheads...

...love each other more than anyone else in the whole world (besides their families of course)...

...yet they got into a fist fight at school before Spring Break. BOYS!!!

Couldn't resist this one...Jake had to go potty, so Ryan and Brantley followed. Of course, though, Jake got a little stage fright and had to wait until the other boys were done and had walked away. So modest!!

I think Ashley pretty much summed it up in her blog; "Chalybe Fest," which is what we have come to call our back yard get-togethers, is a little different than it was back in the day. We used to put our kids to sleep, turn on the baby monitors, and had a little adult-time in the backyard. For some crazy reason, we decided to let the kids in on the fun this past weekend; it was fun, but just a different fun. ;)

As Ashley mentioned in her post, 1/3 of our trio is moving. :( The Turners are moving to Oklahoma this summer as Ryan will start his fellowship in ophthalmology. We are so excited for them, but I'm super sad at the same time. We're definitely going to have to make the most of their time here, so I'm sure there will be lots more Chalybe Fests to come.

Our Break

Sunset from Day 1.
This is the view as you walk out of the back door of the condo.

Seagrove Beach has the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen! Maybe even more so than the Bahamas, Jamaica, and St. Lucia!

Tyson and I camped out in these chairs the whole time.

Our chairs again. Can we please go back...like now?

Meanwhile, these two little turkeys were giving my parents a run for their money! :)

Jake and Buzz...his new BFF.

Family photo...attempt 1.

Family photo...attempt 25 or so.

We just got from the best Spring Break EVER! Tyson and I went to Seagrove Beach, Florida and enjoyed the week all to ourselves! Believe me when I say it, we totally needed it! My mom went back and forth on whether she'd keep both boys for the week (Lord knows they are a HANDFUL!), but at the last minute, she came through and kept them both. She must have seen the stress on our faces and felt bad for us.

So, Tyson and I enjoyed 3 whole days of eating out, sleeping as late as we wanted, playing on the beach, and just doing whatever we wanted without a care in the world. It was AMAZING! We also got to spend some time with our friends from the coaching business, the Smarts, and my cousin, Trey, who was Spring Breakin' it in PCB.

Jake and Walker enjoyed their time at my parents' house and only got spoiled a little bit. ;) Everytime we would call, Jake would say that they were having a "cool party;" in fact, as we dropped him off in Thomaston, Jake said, "ok, y'all can go...we're about to have a cool party!" Ha! So glad to know that we were missed.

Before we headed back to Birmingham with the kids, we hung around Thomaston so that we could see my grandparents. I LOVE my Grandparents so much, and I'll take any time I can get with them!

Thanks sooooo much to my Mom and Dad for taking care of the kiddos for us! I know it wasn't easy, but we really appreciate it!

Spring Break

We interrupt this blog to bring you Spring Break. Have a good week!

11 Months Old

In one month from today, our sweet Walker will be 1! I can't believe it! So what's new with Walker?

• He loves to clap to pat-a-cake! I'm trying to catch it on video because it's the cutest thing EVER, but as soon as I bring out the camera, he attacks it. :) I'm gonna keep working on it because it is absolutely adorable!
  
  
• He also claps whenever he gets mad...it is hysterical! I know I shouldn't laugh, but it cracks me up to see him in the mirror in his carseat mad about being in the carseat and just clapping his little head off.
  
  
• He is ALREADY throwing temper tantrums! I just can't catch a break between my 3 year old's tantrums and my 11 month old's tantrums. Jeez! Who knew an 11 month old could throw down so hard?
  
  
• He is sooo tough! He and Jake wrestle around a lot, and Walker holds his weight for the most part.
  
  
• He has now learned to crawl with one hand. He uses his right hand for holding a toy and he uses his left hand like a crutch to crawl. It's pretty funny to watch; again, I need to get a video of it so you can see what I'm talking about. If only he knew how much easier walking would be.
  
  
• He still only has 6 teeth (2 on bottom and 4 on top). I'm pretty sure he's been cutting some bottom teeth for about 6 months now, but has nothing to show for it.
  
  
• His favorite time of the day is when his Daddy comes walking through the door. Walker hears his Daddy at the door (and Jake running to the door, too), and he immediately takes off in a dead sprint for the door while waving non-stop simultaneously with the other hand. I know it must make Tyson so proud.
  
  
• He LOVES to sing! Whenever I start singing, he starts gibber-jabbering in song. Such a mess.
  
  
• He has started to point at things...it's not the straightest point, but he gets the point across.
  
  
• He is just so DANG CUTE! He definitely keeps me smiling and entertained with his antics all day long. I never knew an 11 month old could have quite this much personality!

Our Little Ring Bearer

Brush off the shoulder. :)

His superhero pose...I sure hope he doesn't do that on the wedding day!

Jake is going to be the ring bearer in Kate Bowers' wedding in May, so I went ahead and got his suit in case it needed alterations. Since Jake wears a 5T shirt and 4T bottom, I figured it would take a lot of trying on and sending back until we got the perfect fit. Turns out, though, it fits like a glove just the way it is! Woo hoo! Now, I just have to figure out how to keep him from growing for the next 2 months.

Jake was surprisingly super excited to try on his suit; Tyson was going into this big-long spill about being in the wedding, walking down the aisle, etc, but smart Mama told him that Superheroes wear suits during the day and their Superhero costumes at night, and he was sold. We couldn't get the suit on him fast enough!

I'm so thrilled that the suit fits and looks cute; that's one more thing I can cross off my list! Now, we just have to get the boy some shoes, grow his hair back out, and work on his fake smile, and we'll be good to go...oh, and figure out a way to convince him to walk down the aisle in front of all those people. :)

Have no fear, this cute little bottom won't be making the trip down the aisle.

This is one of the reasons why we made the reward chart from the last post.

Reward Chart

I remember meeting with the pediatrician over the summer when Jake had a string of ear infections, and we got to talking about Jake's behavior regarding his sibling jealousy/rivalry. Long story short, he said "it looks like the 3's are going to be worse for Jake than the 2's." I thought "no way." Wrong. The 2's were a cinch compared to the 3's...so far.

The 3's have been a nightmare for us. Jake has always been (in my opinion) very mellow, shy, quiet, kind, caring, pretty well-mannered, well behaved, etc...in a matter of weeks, that all changed. Almost a month after turning 3, Jake started throwing terrible temper tantrums, started talking back, began throwing stuff when he got mad, started hitting us, and just going into all out rages when he got mad or got in trouble. I don't know what the stressor was- the tonsillectomy, Tyson being home more consistently, me working more consistently, something with Walker, or just his age, but Tyson and I were at wit's end with it.

Tyson and I tried every sort of discipline imaginable, but nothing was working. One day, I was talking with Miss Brittany, Jake's teacher whom we adore, and I told her about all of our problems with Jake and asked what she thought. And she so brilliantly said, "Jake thrives off of praise." Duh. Why haven't I thought of that? So the next day I went to the Parent Teacher Store and bought this reward chart.

I researched behavior charts online and came up with this one- Jake gets rewarded for brushing his teeth, getting dressed, and taking a bath...those are the ones that are a given. His goals are to not yell out at naptime or nighttime and obviously not throwing temper tantrums. He's yet to get every sticker in a category in a day, but he still gets rewarded for getting 5 or better out of the 8. We've been doing this for about 2 weeks now, and I think things are a little better.

So anyway, there you have it...Jake's reward chart. I pray this works! ;)

Doors

The boys and I have been sick the last few days, so we've spent a lot of time at home...playing with the door. To quote one of my favorite offensive coordinators Coach Kim Helton, "all a boy needs is a door, a stick, and a ball." So true, so true!

Check out Jake playing with this same door when he was 12 months old. Who needs toys anyway when you have a door?

4 in a Row?

Cracking himself up after a sneeze!

Breaking it down on the bed. :)


Playing peek-a-boo behind the door.

Today was my day alone with Walker, so I decided to take some pictures of my silly boy. He keeps making that face that you see in picture #1, and I'm not sure if he's being silly/sweet or silly/evil...it could go either way. :) Love this kid! Can he just skip the 3's?

Aren't y'all impressed with how many times I've posted this week? I'm trying to get ahead because I potentially have some big news to share soon (no, I'm not pregnant) that will be keeping me pretty busy...well, that and the fact that my cleaning lady quit on me this week.

Playing with boats in the bathtub. Not sure what they are looking at.

Sharing? Or snatching?

Sharing. :)

Picnic in the Park

Jake feeding Walker some goldfish. :)

This trips me out...Jake was asking for 2 more minutes on his turn while Ryan waits patiently in the "passenger seat."

Our little picnic. I think Jake might be trying to steal some snacks. :)

And this is Walker's and Kaitlyn's little picnic...they munched on baby wipes and empty water bottles.

Sweet Kaitlyn

I did it! I finally took my camera with me! Today, the boys and I took a stroll with the Maddens to our neighborhood park where we had a fun little picnic. We are loving this beautiful weather!