One Tough Pirate

Anything Jaidan likes, Kikey likes too. And anything Jaybird plays with, Kyan wants a turn. This goes for the 'pirate eye,' the toy that the boys currently fight over the most. Kyan brings it to me constantly to put it on him and makes his very own 'arrr' noise. He's really tough with that binky in his mouth, huh?

I Think It's Safe to Assume

That Kyan really enjoyed the dinner we had tonight! Or, at the very least, the cornbread we had. He had it everywhere -- in his hair, all over his body, and, once he was finished with his bath, all in the bathtub!
Since our dinner was so yummy, I'm going to share the recipe. We had Bacon Cheeseburger Chicken and it was sooooo delicious. I got the recipe from here so I'll just link it rather than re-posting. The *only* things I did different were to scale back just a teensy bit on the teriyaki sauce and I seasoned the chicken before browning it. Enjoy!

Family, Friends, Food, Fireworks, and FUN!

We had a fantastic Fourth of July!

Our friends Kira and John invited us over to their place for BBQ and swimming. They invited a few other couples and their children over so the boys had plenty of people to play with. And best of all? Jaidan and Kyan were the only 'little' BOYS there! (There was another boy, but he was 12). Jaidan is such a little ladies man and had picked up a couple new girlfriends by the end of the day.

After the food and swimming, we headed over to Breckenridge Park to watch the fireworks show. There was a HUGE crowd, but we managed to find a parking lot behind a Walgreens that was practically empty. We parked there and sat up our chairs in a grassy area right across from the parking lot. We had a perfect view of the show and - best of all - didn't have to fight with the crowds. Woo Hoo! We didn't even have to fight much traffic once it came time to leave. Can't beat that!

Some pictures from our day:

Jaidan decided to crawl into the dog cage and, when he did it, the other kiddos followed suit:
Kyan enjoying some of Mama's homemade potato salad:The Playground Pimp:Kyan and Daddy:Swimming:Watching the fireworks show:

Happy 4th of July!

He Gets It From His Mama

It's funny how different we can be from one child to the next. With Jaidan, I doubt the boy ever left the house without a pair of shoes on. When it came to Kyan, I was much more relaxed. And, to be honest, he's probably only worn shoes a handfull of times.

Now that he's walking, though, it's time for him to get more accustomed to shoes. I tried some of Jaidan's old shoes on him today to see if they would fit and SURPRISE: he loved the shoes! In fact, he screamed everytime I tried to take them off of him. Wonder where he gets that love of shoes from!

Fashionista.

Gulf Shores

We had a fabulous vacation last week in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The water was wonderful. The sand was the color of sugar (or very close to it!!) and the weather was hot, hot, and did I say HOT? It was perfect weather for a beach vacation.

The boys had a fantastic time. We couldn't keep Jaidan out of the water while Kyan preferred to play around in the sand. They both had fun in the pool at our condo.

We spent Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then Thursday morning on the beach right in front of our room. On Thursday afternoon, we drove into Pensacola, Florida, and saw the BEAUTIFUL beaches there. It's no wonder they call it the Emerald Coast -- the water was a gorgeous shade of green.

All in all, we had a great trip and saw some great sites. In the month of June the boys and I were in a total of 11 states: Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Louisianna, Alabama, and Florida. I feel so blessed that we've been able to do so much! The boys have seen parts of the country that I didn't get to see until . . . well, until they got to see it!

I, once again, took a ton of pictures. You can see many of them by checking out my Facebook album here.

And here are a few:

And he is WALKING!

I think it's safe to say that Kyan is officially walking! He's up to five to ten steps at a time. He still likes to crawl, but he's walking more and more. And when we're in an area where there's a lot of stuff he can grab onto, he'd rather walk or cruise than crawl. I don't have any video yet, but here's a picture of him walking on the beach at Gulf Shores:
Yay Kyan!

Happy Father's Day!

We had a wonderful Father's Day today! MawMaw, PawPaw, and Aunt Karen all came over to help us celebrate. And . . . Uncle Booger, Aunt Jessica, and Jessica's sister, Cheyenne, came in on their way back from Virginia last night. They'll be here until tomorrow morning (they'll actually leave after we leave -- we're heading out for Orange Beach, Alabama, in the wee hours of tomorrow). We all had a really good time, though. Jaidan loved having an audience so he, of course, put on a show for everyone. Kyan was smiley and happy and just his usual sunny self.

Some pictures from the day:

Jaidan had Uncle Booger on a leash:

FYI: This did NOT keep him quiet!:

GiGi and Jaidan:

MawMaw and the boys (four attempts and this was the best we could get!):

PawPaw and the boys:

Me and the boys with MawMaw and PawPaw:

Daddy's boys:

Family Pic:

Mr. Cool:

Jaidan and Dylan:

Smorgasboard

This morning, I made a pan of brownies. Once I had them all mixed, Jaidan asked me if he could 'like' one of the beaters. I gave him one and Zhariah the other one. Z laid hers down on the table to run to the bathroom and when she did, this is what happened:
Of course, when he realized it meant he could get his picture taken, Jaidan had to make his own face messy and pose for me:Later, Lindsey came over with Dylan and Kaleigha. Zhariah was still here: the first time all of the grandkids had been together. Even though a majority of them were dressed kind of crazy (or half dressed), we had to get pictures of them together:Just as I started to post this blog, I *had* to snap this picture of Jaidan and Dylan. We had just come in from swimming in the hot tub. They were watching "Light Car" and both wearing their Lightening McQueen undies: