Disney

I remember it like it was yesterday....we were watching the ACC Championship game and hoping Tech would pull it out and win.....we were on the edge of our seats and when they finally won the game we literally jumped up from the couch cheering that we were going to Miami!!! We had already decide that if Tech went to the Orange Bowl in Miami we were going to go. The next few days were spent making plans for the trip and wondering should we take the boys or not, should we fly or not, etc.... In the end, we decided to take the boys and drive down stopping in Orlando on the way and taking the boys to Disney World. I was already excited about the trip, but I was even more excited that we were going to get to take the boys to Disney for a day! So a week after Christmas, the beverly hillbillies....I mean the Reardens... loaded up in the car and headed to FL. We made the trip with Joe's parents so we had a full car, but lots of help with the boys! As we were arriving in Orlando, Joe started not feeling good. He wasn't really sure what was going on, but he just wasn't feeling good.....we continued on with the evenings plans of eating at Margaritaville, but by the end of the night, Joe went to bed still not feeling well. The next morning we headed to Magic Kingdom and had a great day planned, but Joe was not really feeling up to a fun filled day and it was VERY cold!!! We spent most of the day at Disney and although Joe wasn't feeling well, we made the best of it. It was so exciting just to see the boys so excited to see everything. No matter how old you are, going to Disney makes you feel like a kid again! Cade was a little timid with the characters (no surprise), but Luke was high fiving them! They were actually tall enough to ride a lot of the rides and we didn't have to wait more than 20 min. for any ride! Overall, we had a really good time and I am so glad we got to take the boys. As the day progressed, Joe was feeling more miserable so we had to leave the park earlier than expected. I definitely want to take them back soon when Joe can enjoy their excitement and we can spend more time at the parks, but I am still thankful we got to go at all. After waking up the next day and Joe not feeling up to another leg of the trip, he decided he wanted to just go home. Although we were really disappointed about not getting to go to the Orange Bowl, it was best that we come home. After getting home, Joe was feeling a little better, but not 100%. Looking back, we are thinking there were a lot of factors involved in him being sick. We had been running non stop since the beginning of December and he was just worn out and tired. We learned a good lesson that we are getting old and can't run crazy like we use to!! Since the trip we have joined a gym, started eating a little healthier and Joe is going to have a full physical done to make sure there isn't anything else going on. All that being said, here are the pics of the trip!

Grandaddy with the boys at Margaritaville

Hey Mickey!!

checking out the show

hangin' at Minnie's house

visiting Mickey's house

waiting on the parade to start

they couldn't take it anymore...

it was a long day!!

still wearing his Mickey ears the next morning

Real World...

It is always hard to get back to the real world after the hoopla of the holidays are over and vacation comes to an end....we are trying to dig ourselves out of that hole and have been very busy doing so!!

We had a very busy Christmas, but it was wonderful. The boys got everything they wanted and more...much more. It took me several days just to clean out their play room and make room for the new toys!! As usual I took way to many pictures over the holidays and there were just too many to choose from to put some on the blog. Most of you who read this blog have already seen the Christmas pics anyways, but for those of you who haven't and are interested...you can watch the slideshow...(I just learned how to do this :) )

After we recovered from Christmas, we got to go out with some good friends for New Year's Eve. We left the boys at home with our wonderful friends Joi and Robbie. I don't know who had more fun...them or us. They brought horns, hats and noise makers and had a big time for New Years Eve. Joe and I got to play "adults" for the evening and went out for a nice dinner at Two Urban Licks. After dinner, we rang in the New Year bowling. By 11:15 we were struggling to keep the momentum going and stay awake until midnight...the only thing that kept me going is I knew we were going to finish the night off with Krispy Kreme doughnuts!! Then we headed home for our little bit of sleep before the boys were up and ready to go!!

Starting to look a little tired in the last picture :)

On Jan. 1st we headed out of town to visit Mickey at Disney World and then head to the Orange Bowl in Miami to cheer on the yellow jackets. That was quite an adventure so I will save that for my next post!!

Santa Clause Is Coming To Town!!

Yeah...only 3 more days till Santa comes!!! I don't know who is more excited me or the boys!! I think this year is going to be so much fun because they are really beginning to understand the whole santa concept. It is also really cool because they are starting to understand the whole Christmas celebration is to celebrate the birth of Jesus. We have really been talking about this a lot so they know that Christmas is not just about santa and presents. They now go around singing "Happy Birthday to Jesus" all the time. I love it!!

Anyway, on Saturday we visited Santa at the Marietta Square. The boys were so excited and told him exactly what they wanted...

"I want a big boy basketball"

"I want a Woody cowboy hat"

After these final santa requests...Joe and I decided we could have a really cheap Christmas this year.....Woody cowboy hat - $5, big boy basketball - $5.....only $10 dollars for Christmas not bad!!! :) Of course they are going to get a few other things too!!

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Christmas! Happy Birthday Jesus!!

Dear God, Thank You

As I lay in bed tonight trying to go to sleep, I couldn't help but get emotional again about today's events. All I can continue to repeat is "thank you God for letting Cade be okay." I got a small glimpse today of how quickly life can pass by, and it just made me so thankful for my sweet little boys and the time I have here on earth to share with them....

At about noon today Cade and Daisy (our dog) were playing "chase" around the house. As Daisy was chasing him, he was running and laughing with excitement. He got so caught up in the chase that he was running forward full blast, but had his head turned looking back at Daisy chasing him. I was only a few feet away in the living room, but I all of a sudden heard a loud slam....I waited a couple of seconds to see if screaming followed and sure enough it did. I ran into the kitchen to see Cade laying on the ground screaming. I quickly scooped him up and about that time he was crying so hard that he couldn't catch his breath and stopped breathing. (hindsight...he probably just got the wind knocked out of him when he hit the door frame and fell, but I didn't know this at the time) The next 10 or so seconds seemed like a life time. His lips turned blue, his eyes started rolling back in his head and he just seemed to lose all life...I was blowing in his face and shouting "breath Cade, come on, stay with me, breath Cade!!!" It was the scariest thing I have ever in my life seen. I didn't know if he was having a seizure, if he just got the breath knocked out of him or if he had a concussion. For a split second, I thought my son may never breath again....

As I got to the phone and was calling 911, he started to come out of it and breath again. As he began to come out of it he was very lost and confused for a few seconds then he finally started screaming again. I was soooo happy to hear screaming!!!!! Within about 8 minutes the EMS arrived and checked him out from head to toe. He was able to say his name, his brothers name and his dogs named. They felt like he was okay and just told me some things to watch for in case he had a concussion. After they were done checking him out, I guess they got a good look at me and saw the hives down my neck and how flushed I was. They asked me if I was alright and I finally lost it. My first priority was getting him taken care of...once I knew he was okay, I couldn't hold myself together anymore. Now when you ask Cade about the incident he says "I hit my head and mommy was crying."

Dear God,

Thank you for letting my Cade be alright. He is a part of me and I don't think I could make it without him. Thank you for reminding me to enjoy EVERY moment with my children and family. Thank you, thank you for protecting him.

Love,

Brittany

Off to find a box of tissues and hopefully get some sleep...

Fall Leaves!

All it takes for 2 yr olds to have fun is a beautiful day and a big pile of leaves!  

We had such a busy week and weekend so by the time Sunday rolled around, we wanted to just do nothing and enjoy the day, so that is what we did.  It ended up being a beautiful day outside so I suggested to the boys that we go outside and play in the leaves.  Loud shouts erupted, shoes were put on and we were outside raking up a pile of leaves within 5 minutes!!

They had so much fun playing in the leaves!!  It was so nice to just be outside enjoying the beautiful sunshine!!

New Moon Premiere

What a fun girls night we had seeing the midnight premiere of New Moon!!  I was of course thrilled to death to be seeing New Moon, but I was even more excited to spend a night out of the house with the girls!! (We were suppose to have 7 girls, but Corrie's little boy had the flu. :( We missed you Corrie and wish you could have been there!! Don't worry, I'll suffer through it again if Jake doesn't want to take you to see it!! :))

So we started the evening out with an awesome dinner at Copeland's!!  Everyone enjoyed their food and our waiter looked at us like we were crazy for all having on our New Moon shirts....he didn't even know what New Moon was!! Has he been living under a rock???

We then headed to the theater a little early for the midnight showing. (we only had to sit and wait 2.5 hours for the movie to start, but we didn't have to wait outside and we had good seats!!!)  2. 5 hours is hard to kill, but we made the best of it.  We did some serious people watching, played cards and just talked all while trying to stay awake.  Most of us had to get up the next day and work or go to school....we were wondering if we were crazy for being up all night for a movie....we were crazy, but it was worth it!!! 

 

Yes, I spent $5.50 on a crazy collectors cup...we all did!! :)

Then midnight rolled around and the wonderful movie began playing!!!  Over the summer, I was finally convinced to read the Twilight series and once I started I couldn't put it down.  I loved the books!!  Then I saw Twilight and was sooo disappointed. I did not like the movie at all so I was a little skeptical to see New Moon.  There was so much hype about New Moon so I had really high expectations for the movie and thank goodness I wasn't let down!!  So between all the teeny boppers ooohhing and aaahhhing over Jacob and Edward and me ohhhhing and ahhhhing over Jacob :) the movie was great!  I had so much fun and can't wait to do it again for Eclipse!!

Big Changes...

So we have had a lot going on around here lately and some BIG changes!!  The first big change is that the boys are finally in their "big boy" beds!!  I have been dreading this move for so long, but we finally just had to suck it up and move them.  God had great compassion on us and they never were real interested in climbing out of their cribs until a couple of weeks ago!!  Thank you God!  We knew they always could, but they just never really thought about it.  

So about 2 weeks ago, I walk into the boys room to check on them when they are suppose to be napping and Cade is climbing the railing of Luke's bed??? I look at Cade in astonishment because I was not expecting to see this and ask him what he is doing!!  He gets a big smile on his face and points to his crib saying "I jump!"  WHAT!!  So I explain this is dangerous and he must never do this again while putting him back in his bed and I leave the room in shock!!  Fast forward 2 weeks and Joe and I realize on the same day, that the reason Luke is constantly kicking the walls of his crib and waking himself up is because he is to big for his crib.  We decided that day the time had come...the dreaded big boy beds.  All I could picture in my head was children trying to come into my bed early in the morning and most of all, A LOT of playing since they are still in the same room and could easily get to each other.  Now that the switch has been made, half of my fears are happening.  They are playing a lot now that they have this new found freedom of no crib walls.  Nap time has been horrible around my house this week and I am ready to pull my hair out! Thank goodness they are doing great at night except for the occasional falling out of the bed.  Although this move has caused a lot of frustration....I feel sad that my boys are growing up!  I was holding onto the cribs for more than one reason....they are officially big boys now in big boy beds!!!!  sniff, sniff....

(Please disregard the ghettoness of their big boy beds....it is a very long story and part of the frustration of the whole change!!)

The second big change is that we are officially potty training Cade.  (No we are not just ignoring Luke, but he has absolutely no interest in pottying....we'll battle that another time.)  So Cade has been peeing on the potty when we remind him about it for some time now.  Then in the last couple of weeks he started telling his teachers at church and school that he needed to go potty. Again, not a big change I was ready for, but I didn't want to miss my opportunity if he was ready. So we decided it was really time to focus on it and see if we could get him potty trained. We are only 3 days into it and he is doing pretty well.  Like most children, he isn't pooping on the potty yet, but hopefully it will come soon!!  (sorry for the graphic nature of this post :)) He is only on his 4th pair of big boy undies today and I have only cleaned up 3 puddles of pee......Hopefully he will get the hang of it soon!!   He is very proud of his big boy undies though!!!

And Luke.....just interested in playing with his toys!

So basically in the last week....my boys have just grown up and they will be moving out of my house before I know it!!!