Road Trip Survival Kit!

Each year, we tackle the 9ish hour trip to the beach! In all honesty, we have always been pretty lucky and the boys have been super travelers. This year, I thought I would try to have some activities to do besides watching movies the entire trip. Even the boys get sick of that! So, I hit Pinterest up for some ideas. After a trip to the dollar store, and some prep work we were ready to hit the road! 

We always leave at nap time in hopes that this happens....

Big brother was just too excited, so he watched Toy Story...

He proceeded to tell us..."Someone needs to tell Woody and Potato Head not to say stupid." 

When everyone was awake, we did some drawing ($1 dry erase boards and Crayola dry erase crayons)

Dylan also did coloring (colored pencils, color book, and a clipboard from hobby lobby to keep things steady)

I also made mile marker signs to let them know our stops along the way, complete with a white suburban that moved to each new "spot" along the way. Dylan thought that was pretty fun!

And of course we did a lot of "snacking"!

We always break up our trip and stay in Hattiesburg on the way down. That leaves us a short 3 hour trip to Gulf Shores on Saturday morning. And the hotel is always an adventure...especially when the baby dives into the bathtub full of water (in his pajamas and after his bath) sending Daddy to the car for extra pj's which are located in the gigantic suitcase at the bottom of the pile. Memories oh memories!

Dylan rode with my parents on Saturday morning. Caleb, my laid back baby, watched Praise baby a few times and did great 'til we hit traffic in Foley. Then we resorted to the pipe cleaner stash ($1) and made fish. We then strung fruit loops on their tails and "snacked" some more!

On the ride home, we played with glow star wands ($1)

Sticky lizards ($1 and without much sticky)

And read books (I always pack a million for my reading boys)

This happened for about an hour heading home.  Both boys. Same time. A little quiet time. 

We used almost everything I took. We did not use:

Homemade map (laminated for drawing)

I spy game (laminated as well)

I am thankful for the movie player. It passed some time for sure. They both love books with buttons and music. We took those to pass some time as well. Of course, we did lots of singing and dancing. And we stopped to stretch our legs (but not much!)

And a shout out to this guy, who drove every little mile to and from to give our family a fun beach trip!

We survived the "road" again. It wasn't always perfect. We had tears, we had fights, and we had fits, but in a messed up kinda way, I love packing in and just heading out. It definitely is a different atmosphere than our road trips "pre-boys" but our lives are fuller now and I'm thankful for that!

One fish, two fish, red fish, Dylan fish!

Dylan started swim lessons this summer!  We gave it a shot last summer, but, being only 2, he wasn't ready.  This summer he couldn't wait!  We have had 3 lessons with Ms. Amy so far, and she is great!  He is very brave as long as he has his floaties on.  He will jump off of the side, put his head under the water, swim on his back, and paddle/kick for days.  But, he still isn't always sure about taking those floaties off.  Ms. Amy's one rule is: no floaties in the pool during swim lesson.  After taking him in the pool with me several times on vacation, he has really started being more confident without those floaties.  He loves using his kickboard and I think that by the end of the summer he will be doing pretty good on his own!  Sometimes I am afraid I put to much pressure on him to grow up to fast.  I don't want us to be the parents that are pushing him to do tons of things at such a young age.  I want him to enjoy being a "kid" for a while.  I think that is why I have been pretty laid back with the whole swimming thing.  I mean, it's kinda like pacifiers and potty training.  Not like he's gonna go to college with 'em.  He's a brave boy and fearless when it comes to most things, so I know he will get this swimming thing down....in his time.

Here Dylan is getting super brave with Mommy! No floaties and using his kickbaord to swim! 

Videos:

1. Swimming lesson with Ms. Amy

2. Swimming with Mommy on vacation

His confidence is building so quickly!  Very proud of this boy!

Family, friends, FUN!

Disclaimer: I think this is my last post to officially be caught up with last week.  I have all these ideas of "posts" that I would love to do about the boys.  Just day-to-day things that I notice about them right now.  But, I feel like I have to hit the milestones first and then hopefully I can fit some of those in too!  I will write them down as to not forget what they are.

We celebrated my grandfather's 86th birthday at the end of May.  The boys got to spend some quality time with their cousins which was great!  

We also spent some time with the cousins on Jonathan's side of the family!  Nana and Pawpaw turned their huge backyard into a toddler's dream!  Bouncy house, pool, water pad, etc. is the way to any little boys heart! 

We have also been spending some quality time at the pool with Lana and sweet Shelby June!  Love having the chance to make memories with friends!  One day, Caleb saw Lana and Shelby walking to the pool gate and gasped excitedly and said, "She-bee too!"  

Baseball, big sno cones, and....barf!!!!

June 2, 2013
Caleb went to his very first Arkansas Travelers baseball game.  It was Sunday afternoon, so the timing worked out better for our boys than the late evening games.  Caleb took an early nap and Dylan got to skip his for the day.  We headed out and had nice seats right behind the home team dugout on the 3rd row.  We were all having a blast.  The boys were eating a sno cone, Daddy a hot dog, and Mommy some nachos.  We were cheering for the Travs and Dylan kept yelling "Go, baseball team!"  We kept trying to tell him they were the Arkansas Travelers, but he had his own cheer all figured out.  Seeing independence start at such a young age is quite an event.  Anyway, the game was actually quite entertaining.  Then.....Caleb lost his lunch.  It was quite the sight to behold, bless his little heart.  My "mommy mode" clicked in and I immediately started stripping all of his clothes off.  We got him down to his diaper and sat him back up in a chair.  He never whimpered, never cried.  That's so my sweet little Caleb.  It took several lots of minutes to get our area cleaned up, and then the Rogers family headed to the house.  Poor Dylan was sad to leave the baseball game, but perked up when Daddy told him that he could help wash cars and run through the sprinklers when we got home.  Caleb got sick two more times.  He never ran a fever and no one else in the family got sick.  He had ravioli for lunch and I just think a combination of that and the heat of the game was deadly.  Anyway, despite the pretty nasty end to the afternoon, the beginning was great.  Lots of smiles, lots of fun, making memories.  All things to store up in my heart, and treasure.  Even the barf.  Hehe.

Bible School

We are blessed to have such an amazing Nursery Department at church that teaches the Bible to our kiddos at such a young age!  Dylan graduated from the Nursery Department and they had a BIG graduation program!  He had us laughing pretty much the entire time.  He had trouble sitting in his seat, and kept biting his nails (which is an ongoing battle), but even with the busyness, he sang along to the songs and it made our hearts smile!  Way to go Dylan!  Now, you are heading to the Preschool Department (gulp)!

"Roll the gospel chariot along..."

Leading the prayer... 

Favorite part: TREATS!

Mrs. Greta is the best!

Dylan went to Vacation Bible School for the first time this year!  He is getting to be so big and I am struggling with how quickly he is growing up.  He absolutely loved it.  It was named "Fellowship of the Rings" and he was learning all about the Fruits of the Spirit.  He came home singing the "ENTIRE" song and not missing a beat!  He loved being with his friends and doing a "big boy" activity.  He insisted on wearing his VBS shirt back to church the next Wednesday night! His medal has also joined us on several outings!  Our preschool department is amazing and I already know he is learning so much for the glory of God. 
June 6-8, 2013

Nineteen months of non-stop fun!

Caleb,

What a fun age you are at right now!  You are the sweetest thing I know!  You are full of life, developing your personality, and showing us the things that you want!

Favorite things to do:

1. vacuum

2. sweep, mop, anything that involves "keenin" (cleaning)

3. whatever your brother is doing

4. swim in the pool: play on the steps, motorboat, watch Dylan swim big

Favorite new phrases/words:

1. "Howd jee" (Hold me)

2. "I hepin" (I helping)

3. "I push"

4. Dylan (you officially say this correctly) sometimes it still comes out "Dy-yan"

5. "Whea Dy-lan go?"

Favorite songs that you sing along to:

1. Twinkle twinkle little star

2. If you're happy and you know it

3. God is so good

Random things:

1. You have started to throw fits, say no often, and try to hit your brother if the sharing isn't going your way.  I know that is just part of "figuring things out", but it can make for a busy day!

2. During bedtime prayers, I will pray for our family and the things we have done that day.  Then I ask you who you want to pray for.  You usually give me a list of things that crack.me.up. "bacuum" (vacuum), "Tom mow-ning" (Tom mowing), "bu-boo" (bubbles), "papi" (pacifier), etc.

3. You want everyone in the family to "bacuum" with you.  You know where the vacuum is located at all of your grandparents house, and you say "Bacuum.  Howd jee.  I hepin.  I push."

4. You still love to be attached to your Mommy.  You light up when you see your brother.  If you are ever up before him (which is rare) you will say, "Whea Dylan go?"

5. Mommy is pretty impressed with your growing vocabulary.  You will most definitely tell me what you want these days.  You can comprehend and answer things with a simple, "yes" "no" "good", etc.

6. You are getting taller and taller and your hair is (gulp) turning blonde!  Don't get me wrong, I love my little blondies, all three of you, but I sure thought your hair was going to be dark like Mommy.  Maybe it will darken some day!

7. You love the swimming pool, but would just as soon be playing on the steps or sitting on my hip, rather than in your floatie.