FOUR!!!!

My Baby Boy Turned 4 in July! I can't believe it. He's so big (in size and personality) and I love his to pieces! 

We celebrated his birthday in Kansas before we headed to Texas and then had a little party and such on the real day in Texas too!

Seth was excited and surprised to wake up from his nap at Grandma Chris's house and find a room full of surprises for him! He was excited to open presents and couldn't wait.

 He was excited about his little stuffed animal "cubby" a pirate friend from Disney's Jake and The Neverland Pirates. Aunt Chelsea and Uncle Bryan gave it to him along with a cool Jake t-shirt!

 But, I have to say the highlight came from Grandma and Grandpa Wofford. Seth got a cool grocery store cash register and ...

 What's in this big one (he was so curious and excited)

 ... A shopping cart! He had one that was plastic and broke after a crazy play date incident and was so excited to get this new "real" one.

 We immediately had to set up a "grocery store" and take turns being the shoppers.

 Seth's prices were pretty steep, but it was the greatest grocery store ever because he paid for the groceries himself with his credit card! (hey, I'd shop there!) We are currently awaiting the arrival of this great birthday gift because we couldn't fit it in our car and my parents are bringing it out in a few days!

 In Texas we celebrated the real deal. Seth was so excited for his birthday! He woke up and came over to me sleeping with a crayon and asked me to measure how tall he was now that he was 4! He wanted me to mark it on the wall or something. How cute? Although, I don't think he grew too much over night!

We started the morning out with his now, traditional, Birthday Doughnut Cake! He also had a party hat and birthday boy badge!

 Can you tell he was a happy boy!?

 He blew out the candles and then we got dressed and ready for a fun play date! He and his cousin Sara Mia went to "The Little Gym" for a few hours of fun play time. He was bouncing all over the mats, swinging on bars and had so much fun!

 While he was gone I got Shelby to sleep (she had been sick with a fever ... more teeth!) I made cupcakes and set up a little birthday party at the house.

 How cute are these Lego candles I found at Target?

 When he got home he wanted to lay down for a minute and watch a show and rest. About 2 minutes later he was out cold for a few hours just like this ...

 That night all the family came over and we had a fun little pizza, cupcake party for Seth. He wasn't too interested until the opening presents started ... typical Seth never wants to eat!

 He was excited about his Jake and The Neverland Pirates DVD and had fun opening all his gifts.

 Another highlight was his Mario action figure set. I found it online last minute and it made it just in time for his birthday. It was and still is a huge hit!

I can't believe my baby boy is already 4 years old. A year from now he'll be heading to Kindergarten and I don't know if I'll be able to handle that. I love this guy so much. He's the most loving little guy, strong willed, smart as a whip and most of all he always keeps us laughing! Crazy how time flies.

No Worries At The Beach!

We were at the Beach (South Padre Island) for a week as a family. It was a blast. Thanks to Uncle Rick and Tia Mari for letting us stay at their beach house for the whole time! We all had a blast and here are some more picture, for proof!

We went to the beach a few times at night to walk along the shoreline and Seth was looking for Shells. He found a few really great ones and a bunch to add to our shell collection. He had his spy eyes on, hunting for shells!

 This beautiful break from our crazy summer was just what we needed!

 Shelby was loving the sand on her toes ... she was all over that beach!

 We also took a few pool days while we were there and used the pool at the beach house. Seth was cracking us up. We got out there and he said he just wanted to RELAX for a few minutes ... what a character!

 Shelby wasn't too keen on sitting down ... she just wanted to jump right in the pool!

 Seth was VERY CAUTIOUS of the pool this summer for some reason. He started getting over it a little as the summer went on, but who knows? He loved the water squirters that Tia Madi got him! He even squirted a random person with them (who wasn't even in his swim suit! LOL, that guy had the look of PURE SHOCK on his face)

 Shelby wants to do EVERYTHING Seth does and just loved waving that water gun around.

 We had a blast the whole time we were there.

 We didn't have a high chair there so Shelby was all about eating her dinner on the floor ... even though it looks like cruel child treatment or something. She discovered how much she loves watermelon and probably ate a whole one by herself throughout the summer.

 More Beach fun!

 Seth was 100% pumped about daddy time...he was loving having Nick back around!

 Shelby was cracking up everyone on the beach because she would just lay out and almost do the snow angel motion just enjoying the relaxation of the beach. It was a major crack up!

 All Smiles from these two kiddos! They had the time of their life!

 We went to get some souvenirs from our adventure and Seth just HAD TO go in the shop with the shark mouth, I mean who wouldn't want to right? It lived up to the hype for Seth!

 Shelby also discovered she loves milkshakes. She drank at least half of Nick's What-A-Burger Shake! Whatever you do don't try and take it away from her once she starts ...

The beach was a blast and we were happy to get a chance to hang out together after a long summer apart! Woo Hoo for family fun week at the beach!

South Padre Island 2012

 A few days after the 4th, Nick flew into town and we drove down to South Texas. We headed straight for the beach and we couldn't have been happier about it. After not seeing each other all summer, it was a great chance to finally be together as a family and enjoy some fun in the sun at the same time!

Shelby took an immediate OBSESSION to the beach. She LOVED it! As soon as she saw the water every time she wanted to go right for it.

 She was quite the beach babe!

 She was having the time of her life, playing around with no boundaries, all the sand to play and dig in and of course the water to splash in.

 Seth loved finally getting some daddy time back! He was having a ball running along the beach with Nick! If you click on this picture to make it big, his face is priceless!

 It was a fun fun fun fun fun fun time just relaxing and enjoying the warm weather and ocean air.

 While we were there we went to the South Padre Island Sea Turtle Rescue Center. It was so much fun. They have all these turtles there that have partial or no fins due to predator attacks. They do operations, help them and send them to different aquariums and such around the country. The kids got a huge kick out of all the turtles, especially Shelby who is apparently turning out to be the animal lover of the family!

 They had this huge green sea turtle (like Crush in Finding Nemo) and they let the kids hold up a big piece of lettuce and the turtle swims over to try and bite it. Don't worry, after the fun photo op, they let the kids throw it in the tank! We could barely get Seth to look at the camera for a shot, he was too interested in watching the turtle try and grab the lettuce.

 This picture is pretty terrible, but I thought it was so cool. The turtle on the bottom has no fins and was attacks several times. However, some vet that lives on the island made this cool prosthesis so that the turtle can swim and still be alive. The turtle won't ever be put back in the ocean, but they use her to educate people and explore the possibilities of more of these types of amazing apparatuses. Pretty cool right?

 Seth really liked the poor little itty bitty turtles the best. It was so sad seeing their tiny fins with bite marks and removed fins. I know, the food chain, but it's sad when they are so small!

 Shelby saw this pink turtle in the gift shop and couldn't part with it, so it came home with us and she loves her little turtle!

More SPI fun to come! Seeing all the pictures makes me want to go back!

Let Freedom Ring!

I've been having some crazy computer/internet/blogger issues the last few days so I think I've finally gotten everything fixed and I'm going to try and get all these summer pictures up! 

4th of July ... in Kansas

So, we were in Kansas for the 4th of July Spectacular! It was a fun filled day jam packed with fun in the sun and traditional activities. My mom and I were reading an article listing 10 things you could do on the 4th to make your kids enjoy the holiday ... we already had all 10 on the agenda plus more! They were things like, wear patriotic colors, have a picnic, be in a parade (and mean who doesn't do these things?) 

We got up and at 'em and had a fun breakfast and immediately got ready for the parade. Everyone was decked out in red, white and blue!

 We borrowed a little trike for Seth to ride from a friend. It was a little small and proved to be a challenge (you'll see in a few pictures below) but it was fun none the less. Maybe someday we'll get his real bike there for the 4th!

 Me and Shelby were hello kitty 4th-ed out! I know, I'm a dork...but my San Rio roots go way back!

 We were so excited for the day .... just wishing Daddy were there with us!

 Shelby was ready to be the queen of the wagon!

The parade started off great! Shelby was ready to throw candy and Seth was all about seeing everyone in their 4th gear!

After me, my mom and Uncle Al all took turns pushing Seth and pulling Shelby we started getting creative. Uncle Al started to carry the trike ...

 Then we ditched the bike with our cheering section and Al carried Seth the rest of the way!

 At some point Shelby stopped throwing candy and started eating it and by the end of the parade was a pretty sweaty, chocolatey mess!

 Next up: Water Fight! Here is the gang filling up water balloons 

(Shelby was obviously, the most help in the back!)

 We all got our suits on and it was time for Shelby to debut her new suit for the 4th ... cute right?

 She was cutting in a new tooth so that tongue just couldn't stay in her mouth.

 We had a little down time to grab some lunch before the fight, so Seth and Chelsea were guarding the balloons ...

 ... because look how many we had! Quite the Hall!

 Shelby was feeling really patriotic wearing around a sailor hat!

 Here is the whole gang post water fight (minus the moms who tend to stay on the side lines)

 Then we took a dip in the pool ... our favorite summer pastime! Here is Lindsey, Chelsea and Jessie

 Me and Lindsey!

 Next we were off to Crazy Joe's Fireworks. You may be thinking this is the shop, nope ... this was just our personal table of purchases! (actually, they had already loaded a few at this point!) 

Yes, we are pretty much awesome!

 Then we all got showered and dressed up for the BBQ (again we were missing Nick)

 How cute and patriotic are these two!?

 Our friend Jenna has a little boy a few days younger than Shelby and they were inside playing around for a while, so fun!

 Then we got our jammies on (yes, Shelby had patriot pj's too!) They said USA ...Usually Stays Awake! They were too perfect for her so I had to get them!

 We set up shop at our usual location. This year we didn't even go for the city fireworks, ours are usually way better anyway, so we just went right for those! Here are Lindsey and Nancy, aren't they adorable?

 The lovely Gray girls with their men ...

 Seth was pretty funny. He was all about the fireworks until there was a really loud one ... then he was cautious and covered his ears ...

 Then he got scared and camped out in the back of the car with Shelby and grandma. A few minutes after that he was trying to convince me to let him light them. I guess he just had to wrap his head around it all before he was okay with the loud noises. We can't keep up.

The 4th was a blast! It's my favorite holiday, can you see why? The only thing missing was Dad, we wished he was there for all the fun! Hope you all had a great 4th as well!