12 Things from Vacation

I thought I'd share twelve random things from vacation today and then I'll share ton of pics tomorrow. We went to Gulf Shores b/c Miles' team was playing in a World Series, which just means that teams from all over play in a week long tournament. 

1) We set out last Sunday evening with the plan to drive as far as we could. At one point, everyone but Darrin was crying b/c Carson was so upset and unmanageable. We ended up stopping around halfway in Meridian, MS. We stayed in a Tru hotel by Hilton. It was so nice and affordable. We were all beyond impressed. I will try to stay in them every chance I get. 

2) These boys have played together for 3 years now. They are great friends and it's fun to see the way they hang out with one group for a little while and then another. Sometimes they fight like brothers. Miles has three friends on the team that he says are his best friends (Will, Nate, and Lane) but he enjoys everyone on the team very much.

3) Our best meal of the trip was a shrimp boil that included 3lbs of shrimp from a place called Blalock's. A friend from work recommend it and I'm so glad. Miles ate at least a pound himself. We called in the morning to place our order and then picked it up at dinner time and brought it back to the condo. We started ordering take out on vacation when Carson was a baby rather than waiting forever at a restaurant. I don't think we'll ever go back.

4) I wondered how baseball at the beach would go, but it was surprisingly doable even with Carson. It wasn't too hot sitting under a tent. They played 6 games total. I love watching baseball, but I have to say that I got my fill. I washed all the uniforms today and put them up until fall and it feels really good to know that we have a break.

5) We did not eat fancy meals. In fact, a lot of meals were cereal. That's a treat for the boys b/c I don't buy it at home. We would eat it all in record time and it's just too much sugar. 

6) I enjoyed hanging out with my friends. I knew I wouldn't be able relax much b/c of Carson, but I just took the opportunities as they came. We are the only family with a toddler, so our vacation looked a little different than everyone else's. We had to go in earlier than everyone else and couldn't spend hours together eating out, but that's okay. We had fun and I don't think Miles missed anything.

7) Miles had a good week of baseball. He did a good job pitching and got several good hits. As always, he played several different positions. I noticed during the week that he seemed a little bummed on the field at times. I gathered it was b/c he wasn't pitching much. I talked him about it after the game and he said with sincerity that he felt like he could have helped his team if he were pitching. We talked about contributing wherever the coach needs you and being ready when called upon to pitch. I was actually really happy to hear that kind of confidence from him. 

8) Miles loved playing in the ocean. The waves were bigger than usual for that area and the boys loved it. He spent 75% of his time at the ocean and the rest at the pool. He loved boogie boarding and hunting for sand dollars.

9) We got a two bedroom condo. The boys slept together all week and it worked! They didn't go to bed at the same time usually but it didn't matter. The first night Carson kept saying that he wanted to sleep by himself and he wanted the door closed. Miles was dying to sleep with him and he wanted the door open. In the end, Miles won. They slept together with the door open.

10) Carson ate upwards of 50 popsicles for the week. He would often put them up on his head like this. They were $.50 and they kept him cool and occupied. There were some siblings on the trip that entertained Carson so well. They played with him and helped look after him. I would just give them a couple dollars and tell them to go get popsicles for everyone. I'd love to know what we spent for the week. Whatever it was, it was worth it.

11) The boys got new uniforms for the trip. The parents have decided that they need to be burned. We have worn them twice and both times the games ended in 'fireworks' between coaches, umps, and parents. It definitely wasn't the highlight of the trip and the uniforms might need to go :) They sure do look good though.

12) After a couple days at the beach, Carson is blonde again! He is a water baby and beach bum. He loved it all. The sun and water wore him out. There were some tough moments with him, but overall the week went better than I anticipated, especially the baseball games. We decided that he is growing up a little. That's a good thing!

Lots more pictures tomorrow!

Happy Father's Day

We are exhausted from a long weekend of baseball, but I couldn't let the day go by without wishing Darrin a Happy Father's Day. He's the best dad I know. Of all the nice things I could say about him, I'm most thankful for the example he sets in front of our boys. He pursues the Lord, treats me like a queen, takes care of the boys without complaint, and loves spending time with them. We love you, Darrin.

Less Words Wednesday

10 pictures for this Less Words Wednesday. This is Carson's "I have on new pjs" pose.

I ordered something on Walmart.com and picked it up on the new orange tower in the store. Miles and I were very impressed and wondered how much we could possibly order online from now on.

This is a rare picture of Carson behaving nicely in the car.

And then just like that he was back to his old self. We are contemplating buying a new car seat for our trip to the beach in a couple weeks. Maybe a new seat would make him more comfortable. This feels like the time I bought 3-4 high chairs thinking he would act better at meal time.

I guess this is a comfortable place to rest while waiting on daddy to put his contacts in. Carson is stuck like glue to Darrin 24/7. If I even look at him when he's in this kind of mood he will scream "NO!" in my face.

Miles was so excited to see his BFF Mason at the ball field.

Selfie with my boys. 

I took a picture of the boys before school daycare the other day b/c they were dressed alike. I love the way Carson is looking at Miles.

All Carson wanted for potty training presents was balloons or "boons". He did a good job the other day, so I bought some home. He was ecstatic. 

Carson has a little girl in his class that has recently been diagnosed with leukemia. They sold shirts for a fundraiser. I bought one even though it was an XS and I thought it would be huge. Turns out it fit really well. We are praying for Josie! She is getting great results and excellent news!

A Carson Update

Carson is growing up before our very eyes. It's hard to believe that he will be three next month. Babies are so sweet, but there is something to be said for toddlers that can communicate and begin to do things for themselves. He is a passionate child that knows what he wants. But, for every enraged, screaming moment, he has a time when he is cracking us up. It's hard to predict his little personality, but for now, he is the exact opposite of Miles. Miles is extremely modest. He will hardly take his shirt off in our own yard. Then, there's Carson who rode his 'lawnmower' around the yard in his underwear which turned into his birthday suit before it was over.

His is still not the best eater in quality or quantity, although he is getting better. As I've said before, this is different from Miles too. We finally decided to get rid of his high chair b/c it was such a source of frustration. He would stay in it five minutes and then want out. We thought he might do better at the table. He is doing a little better, but he is soooooo messy. It makes me cringe when I see food falling all over the floor, but it's all part of the learning process and I'm reminded that the high chair was not a solution either.

He is doing okay with his transition to his new room at daycare. The notes that they send home always say that he had a great day. He usually sleeps the entire nap time and they say he's a great eater. Hard for me to imagine. He either likes their food better or he doesn't have anything else to do while they are sitting there. He was having a really hard time being dropped off in the gym b/c none of his friends are there when Darrin takes him. The director told us that we could take him to his old room and they would get him when his friends arrived. I thought that was such a nice suggestion. He is so happy to spend time with his former teacher. Darrin said when he gets there he walks right in and climbs in her lap. I think she enjoys seeing him too.

He's sleeping really well in his new bed. He goes to sleep without any trouble. Every now and then he will get up once, but then he walks back in without a fight. Miles was so challenging when it came to bedtime in his big boy bed, so this is such a nice surprise from Carson. The one problem we have is that he comes into our room almost every night. Last night we tried a Okay to Wake alarm clock that turns green when you can get up. I thought the chance of it working were slim to none, but he actually stayed in his bed all night. The clock was set to turn green at 6am. When I looked at the monitor at 6:30am I didn't see him, so I went to check on him. He was laying on his floor with the clock right in front of him waiting for it to turn green. He said, "It not turn green?" We don't know if it turned green and he pushed a button or if it never turned green at all. We bragged on him and told him he could come out. Who knew Carson could be such a rule follower :)

He's our Sour Patch Kid. Happy one minute and screaming the next. I think his personality is unique to our little family. His BIG personality brings a lot of  joy and life to our home.

Weekend Wrap Up

Our weekend consisted of baseball, sunshine, and rain. It was the strangest weather weekend. It was either sunny and hot or cloudy, breezy, & raining. Miles' games didn't start until late afternoon on Saturday, and we played close to home, so we have time on Saturday morning to weed the garden, cut the grass, pick up our online grocery order, and do several loads of laundry before it was time for baseball. That's my kind of weekend. I love when we can play baseball and still have time to get things done. It's so hard when we go away for the weekend and then have to start a work week without at least food prep and laundry done.

We played one game and then the rain came. Carson was the only one that was happy about it.

It made his weekend and we just let him go. It would have been impossible to stop him. He is all boy when it comes to water & mud.

While the boys were waiting for the field crew to come work the fields, they let Carson hang out with them on the field. 

This is my favorite picture of him from the weekend. Pure joy.

I thought his shoes would be ruined, but they actually came out of the washing machine looking brand new. 

The socks were a different story. They went straight in the trash. 

He wasn't intimidated by the big boys at all.

The rain delay took a while, so they squeezed in a game of jackpot. We are pretty sure these boys tolerate baseball in order to have real fun in times like these. Games like this bring out Miles' most competitive and confident side. I'm not sure why baseball doesn't, but you let him play dodge ball or jackpot and you will get 110% effort.

Times like these are pure joy for him.

About the time they started to work the fields last night, the rain came again, which postponed us until this morning. We had to be back at the field at 9:30am. Darrin took Carson to church and Miles and I went to the field.

Miles probably had the best baseball weekend he's ever had. He's been taking batting lessons for the last 5 weeks to help him gain some rhythm and confidence b/c hitting has been challenging. His work paid off today and he did not strike out a single time. He had his first legit double, hit a single to drive in the winning go ahead run, hit the ball and reached on error, and walked. This is major progress and I love the lesson that I hope he learned....if you want something, you have to work for it. 

Another big step this weekend was getting back on the mound after taking the line drive to the head. It's been two months, but he finally told his coach that he was ready to pitch again. 

Many times when you pitch, you get to be captain and attend the coaches' meeting with the umps.

He pitched four innings and only gave up one run. He walked a couple, struck several out, and his defense took care of the rest. I was so happy for him. He's been working on his pitching at home so he would be ready when he got his chance. He made the most of it today.

It seemed like he was running out of gas a little in the 4th inning. I was hoping he could get out of the inning without being pulled (just for his confidence) and he did. I think today was a huge boost for him. 

His friends were there to cheer him on and he did the same for him. These boys are special.

I hated that Darrin wasn't there, but I kept him updated, almost play by play.

This is the sign that the boys give when they are on second base. It is to tell their coaches that they understand the base running plan. It is also just a celebration of sorts. He was so proud to get a double and be able to flash this at his teammates. Proud moment and one that he's waited a while for.

We won two games today and had one more to get to the championship game, but it rained again and they canceled the rest of the games. It was a productive weekend for the boys and especially for Miles. When we got home and showered, he crashed and slept for a while. Happy, content kid.

Carson was happy to have some down time at home to play with his toys. He said, "Momma, you play cars with me?" many times and I obliged. 

It was a perfect combination of baseball, down time at home, and getting stuff done too. Weekends like these are my favorite.