PLANES

Last weekend, we took the boys to see Planes.  They both love Cars so we thought that would be a fun thing to do as a family.  For $37. 

Eddie's sweet mom sent the boys a package with some planes from the movie and these shirts-- they were so excited to wear them to the movie!

We took pics while we waited for daddy to get ready.  

 We knew it was going to be crowded so we got to the theater early, which was our first mistake.  It was, in fact super crowded, but that is just too much time for Andy to have to sit still. 

Mr. Cal has been ALLLLL about his momma lately, and I am more than okay with that! He asked to sit next to me, and I was more than happy to snuggle up to him. 

We got our seats secured and then Eddie took Andy out to get snacks and to hopefully hold off on Andy having to sit still.  He returned with slush puppies.  This was our second mistake.  

Cal loved his, but it was hard for Andy to get it through the straw, and he was frustrated so he kept throwing his straw.  Plus, I am pretty sure a slush puppy is nothing but sugar.  Not good for sitting still in a movie.  

After 412 previews, the movie started and Andy lasted all of 15 minutes.  If that.  I have heard from a TON of people who had to leave with one of their kids....not sure if the movie was slow starting or if there were too many flying scenes and there's not much to look at in the sky (whereas in Cars, you can see roads, etc)... actually, I really can't speculate why people had to leave since I only saw 10 minutes of the movie and spent the rest of the time chasing this one in the lobby...

 He climbed up on the Turbo snail and waved to everyone walking by. 

 He spotted the m&ms in the concession stand and wouldn't quit until he got some.  So I got some $5 m&ms and we sat eating them together, talking about colors...it was really educational. 

Cal said the movie was great and he loved it...guess I will wait until it's on ABC Family to see it! ha!
The boys slept in their new Planes jammies from Mimi and were all smiles the next day!

We had high hopes for Andy since he did well okay during the Monster's movie... but, now we know he isn't quite ready yet...

At any rate...I loved being with my family!

 

iPhone pics from Mexico

I didn't have service on my phone in Mexico, so I took very limited pictures-- I took more videos than anything else, but I did take pictures in airports, etc, and I thought those were funny and worth sharing...

(also, since I lost so many pictures from my computer, I am trying to keep pictures on the blog...)

Packing for the trip-- I would walk away from the boys' suitcase, and Cal would "help me" by adding cars in:

Right after checking in at RDU-- Mexico, here we come!!!

Trying to keep Andy in one spot at the airport-- he was FULL of energy!

Giving thumbs up, ready to board first flight!

If you read back to my Mexico post, here is evidence of Andy's entertainment on the plane...

I thought he looked so cute in these huge headphones.  They didn't stay on, which infuriated him.  I need to find some kid sized ones for our next trip (13 more sleeps!)

The next picture is after our quick layover in Dallas.  Andy didn't have time to finish eating his Happy Meal so he munch on his apple slices on the plane...

Eddie had his phone on him one night and I had him take a selfie with me-- it didn't turn out very well, but hey, it's a picture of me and my favorite husband.... 

After a great week in Mexico-- this was going through customs in Dallas...Andy insisted on pulling this suitcase, which broke on the way out there-- we have to replace the handle before next time.  

The layover in Dallas on the way home was a bit longer than expected due to a delay (shocking!), and the boys were OVER it at this point.  For as good as Cal does flying, he was AWFUL during this layover! Eddie and I threatened (only half kiddingly) to put him in a cab and send him to Mimi and Poppy's house.  Whatever we told him NOT to do, he did it immediately-- sooo unlike him.  He was doing whatever he could to taunt Andy... he pushed him in front of one of those people mover cart things, shoved him to the ground, took lala and pretended to throw it in the trashcan-- I mean, all typical big brother stuff, I guess, but by this point, we were just ready to be HOME! It was already 9:00 and we were all worn out-- and the boys had not napped at all.  

We took turns taking them to vacant gates to let them get their energy out.  They tried to play hide and go seek... obviously, someone was unclear on the basic game play....

Both kids fell asleep on the flight to RDU, despite them keeping the lights ON for the majority of the flight.  Andy woke up when I tried to pick him up after we landed and Cal stayed asleep on Eddie while he: picked him up, exited the plane, walked ALL the way through the terminal, down to baggage claim and then finally he laid him down on a bench-- and the kid NEVER woke up.  I carried Andy, and he had his head on my shoulder, but he was awake-- and just wanted to snuggle. 

We got home at 1:30 am and had everyone in their beds by 2.... we were all worn out the next day! I think you need a vacation to recover from your vacation when you travel with kids.  

 

CAMP!

Cal's school offered week long summer camp sessions throughout the summer.  We signed up for the very last session, in an effort to remind him about school and that the real thing is just around the corner! His camp teacher will be the teacher he will have in the fall as well, so it was good for him to get to meet her as well.

The session Cal went to started the Monday we got back from Mexico-- the boys were all kinds of backwards and we had to wake them up just about every morning in order to make the 9:00 drop off time.

Cal had a BALL and camp, even though Ava was in a different group.  It is probably a good thing they were in different groups since they will be in different classes in the fall (sadly...) (Ava is older than Cal and will be in the grade above him...again, sadly).

While Cal was in camp, I had THE BEST time with Andy.  I even called my mom and told her I thought the terrible twos were a thing of the past and we were moving on! (I have since retracted that statement, but for the week, he was SO SO good).

Here's a look at pictures from the week...

Andy got some SOLO time with the superheroes! Something he never ever gets when Cal is home!

He was trying to go incognito. 

Oh.  And this.  We *thought* about starting potty training.  And I train naked... Well, he has yet to have ANYTHING happen on the potty and he pooped in the middle of the kitchen floor.  We haven't tried since.  It'll happen when he's ready and I am nowhere near the point of pushing him. We will aim for the next couple of months, I guess. 

He was having the time of his life with all of his mom's attention....

The first day, at pick up, Ava's little sister, Abigail, was there.  Andy is quite in love with her too, so they had to take a picture together...

...just like Cal and Ava!

These two have THE sweetest friendship.  Ava is a TOUGH cookie and on this day, was actually sent to timeout for pushing Cal- she said she didn't want to wait her turn for the monkey bars, and she wanted to go in front of him... now, I, of course, was sad that anyone would be less than nice to my boy, but I LOVE that Ava stands up for herself and is not afraid to tell some boys that she wants her turn. I also think it is great for Cal to see girls being tough.  She apologized profusely and was SO upset that she hurt Cal-- it was totally no big deal at ALL and they were back to being best buddies 4 minutes later. 

Andy felt like such a big boy after dropping Cal off each day.  He would walk away with his hands in his pockets, smiling at me.  Sweet guy...

Usually running errands with Andy is worse than a root canal with no Novocain, but this week-- he was a dream to run around with! We hit up a bunch of places and he never even fussed. 

I told him as we were leaving the gym this day that we were going to get a hair cut.  He stuck his bottom lip all the way out and said, "no haircut for me.  Haircut for Cal!" And as we walked into the barbershop, we were greeted by a woman and Andy immediately said, "no haircut!" I am sure they were drawing straws in the back for who had to take this one!

waiting to get the curls cut

I LOVE his curls, but the curls were starting to tickle his ears- ha! so we had to get them trimmed.  He was leaning his head whichever way the woman wasn't-- and he wouldn't look up-- it was too funny watching him.  He did great and got a lollipop for being such a good sport. 

Cal reached for Andy's hand walking down the steps into school on Wednesday....and then didn't let go.  He held it all the way down the hallway into the classroom.  My heart melted.  Is this not the sweetest??

The fire station is across the street from our house and the firemen from that station workout at the same gym as I do.  They are THE nicest guys ever and on Wednesday, they saw us leaving the gym at the same time and Andy was pointing/screaming/staring at them and the truck.  They invited him over to the truck to look around, and the kid climbed right up without hesitating. 

He got into the seat and grabbed the seat belt like he was going to strap himself right in. 

All of that fire fighting must have been exhausting because while I was getting some things done on my computer, Andy curled up underneath it with lala and pillow... he didn't go to sleep, but he stayed down there awhile.  He loves to snuggle with those things...

Cal made a hat/visor thing in camp and he thought it was just the coolest thing ever.... haha!

It was a GREAT week at camp and helped to kind of shift the gears into school mode from summer mode.  I can't believe I will be doing a back to school post soon!!!

 

Tee Ball

I think in another post, I wrote about Cal playing TeeBall this summer. I haven't touched on it again, so wanted to document it on here...

Cal really loves playing sports and Eddie and I both are so grateful that he does! He can't wait to play and when we tell him it is finally a day for it, he is SO excited!

Eddie had him out in the driveway the other night after dinner practicing catching balls and then throwing them (OVERhand).

Andy doesn't love teeball as much as Cal does because there isn't much for him to do at the games.  He isn't one to just sit on the sidelines and hang out.  One of Cal's buddies from the team has twin siblings who are close to Andy's age-- they have little chairs they sit in and they are so content the entire time!

Andy would rather run the bases....

Or help Eddie coach...

i adore this picture...

The games are sort of very chaotic.   First off, there aren't practices, so you just show up on game day and learn as you go.  Also, for each kid, there is at least one parent-- in most cases, two parents-- and at least one sibling--- all crowded around the field or on the field.  It isn't like we are just hanging out on the bleachers watching... we are right up in the infield!

We have loved watching Cal "play' another sport and it's fun to see him get so excited about things like catching the ball.