Bryce's Calling?

So everyone always says Bryce is a "big kid", a "bruiser", we hear it all, and everyone says he's gonna be a football player. Well, as soon as put this shirt on him yesterday, I realized, he is for sure going to be a hockey player, haha!

Sick Bryce

Bryce wore himself out at the yardsale on Saturday and before bed, he randomly had a temperature of 102. It was a rough night, and his temperature ranged between 104.5 and 105 all night. Sunday he was much better, but woke from his nap with a temp of 103. My poor baby sat on the couch and watched TV for a good hour until his medicine kicked in and he started feeling better :(

Disney on Ice

Kristy and Amaris took Parker with them to see Disney on Ice on Saturday. Kristy headed over to Norfolk Scope, had a photo shoot with the kids outside, then wondered why no one was showing up?? It was at Hampton Coliseum, haha. She said the hold first half Parker just looked around staring at the the light up toys all the other kids had and kept saying "I want one of those." She told him they would go look during intermission. When she realized they were $20, she told him no, and he said, very sadly, "I just want to go home." So she bought him what he wanted haha. He had fun, though he was disappointed that he didn't get to see the Little Einsteins and Rocket!

All Access 5K

Daddy has taken a liking to running and ran the All Access 5k with Jennifer and Ronnie on Sunday. His goal was to complete it in less than 30 minutes and not walk. He didn't walk and his final time was 28:13. We are so proud of him!!

Bryce's First Day & Night with Grandma and Pawpaw

Grandma and Pawpaw took Bryce for the day so we could try to make our trip to Kings Dominion as fun as possible. It was Bryce's first night away from home without Mommy and Daddy and he did great! On Saturday, they went to the zoo and out to dinner with some friends. Bryce finally got to experience a bubble bath in the big tub, and did he gave a good time!! Sunday morning, they fed him dog bones for breakfast (!) before heading over to visit Peepaw and play in his big back yard. He was excited to come home, but he did such a great time being away from us for sooo long!!

So, when are Grandma and Pawpaw gonna take both kids for the night????

Kings Dominion

Thanks to Lacey offering everyone the opportunity for Kings Dominion tickets for $21 through her work, the Respass side of the family all decided to spend a day together at the park on company day. We very much enjoyed our day with the family, and Parker enjoyed his time spend with Aiden, Carter and Peyton. We left Bryce behind to spend his first day and night with Grandma and Pawpaw, and we hear he had a blast! (a post and pictures will come later).

What a day!! Parker was soooo excited to ride some roller coasters. We weren't sure whether he would be tall enough, and thought that even if he was, he certainly wouldn't ride anything. Immediately upon walking through the front gate, he got to meet Sponge Bob, and he was thrilled! We don't really watch Sponge Bob, as I am not a big fan, but he usually gets to watch it at Grandma's when Amaris has control of the remote. He also had the opportunity to meet Blue, but was curious why Joe wasn't with him? The day, of course, was mostly about the kids, but thanks to Susie, Donna, Shelly, Kenny, etc., the adults got to enjoy some coasters too!! We started with some kiddy stuff, letting the kids drive some cars through a little town, the bumber cars, etc. When we realized Parker was tall enough for the Scooby-Doo we were thrilled! We thought for sure he would chicken out, but no, he wanted to ride in the FRONT car, haha. He was a trooper! He was certainly surprised at what he got himself into, but he did enjoy it. He also got to fly an airplane, drive some monster trucks, ride the ferris wheel and much to our surprise, also rode the Avalanche (bob sled type coaster), which was much bigger than the other coaster, but he survived and didn't cry! He was slam worn out by the end of the day and slept peacefully the whole way home.

As for mommy and daddy, we didn't ride much, but enjoyed what we did ride. Much to my surprise, I did the Drop Zone, which was INSANE! For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a circle of about 40 people strapped into seats, who are then lifted about 275 feet (maybe higher) into the air, and then dropped to the ground.....about the scariest thing I have ever done. Talk about a "free fall." The Volcane roller coaster was pretty freaky too....you go from 0 to 60 in like 5 seconds, haha.

If was so much fun, and I can't wait to do it again next year with both kids! I think this convinced me that we should get the summer passes to Busch Gardens next summer!

Yay for Bryce! Boo for mommy :(

This evening Bryce randomly blew a kiss...something he has never done before....but it was bittersweet. I was so excited and he was so proud, but it made me feel like a terrible mother that I hadn't taught him how to do this sooner, in fact, I didn't teach him this at all! Here he is almost 18-months-old and just now blowing kisses. I shoved things like this down Parker's throat and this time around certain cute, adorable things, seem to have fallen by the wayside. I don't realize that he hasn't done certain things utnil he does them and it makes me realize that I didn't teach him that...at least not directly. Regardless of the guilt I feel for "slacking", I'm extremely proud of Bryce these last few days....a couple new words, blowing kissing, blowing on his hot food.....love him :)

Bryce's Newest Word

So Bryce doesn't say much, just mama, dad, gramma, and makes the sounds of other words like kitty, dog, etc. The other day after dropping Parker off at school, I looked at Bryce and said, "Bubba didn't want to go to school today" and Bryce said "Bubba" and has been saying that since. Well, this morning, he handed me my new headphones and said something I couldn't understand, and I said, "Purple, they go in mommy's ears." Bryce looked at me and said, "Purple." It is soooo cute!!! The funny thing is, purple was the first color word Parker said too, although I think that can be attributed to watching Teletubbies....

A Playdate for Bryce

My friends AnnMarie and Kristen, from high school, have kids born within a week or two of Bryce, so on Wednesdays while Parker is at school we get the kids together to play. Finally, Bryce has his own friends! For so long now, he has always just played with Parker's friends, which is fine, but it will be good for him to be around kids his age. Yesterday we met Kristen and Haley and AnnMarie and Cole at MacArthur to play. The kids all lasted about 45 minutes, and they were done, but we enjoyed ourselves!

Bryce Doing What Bryce Does Best....

...destroy the train table!

Parker Loves His Pawpaw

Parker is constantly torturing his Pawpaw, so to see a moment like this, and to catch it on film, is almost impossible! Grandma and Pawpaw babysat the boys the other night so mommy and daddy could go out for a little while, and once Parker calmed down, I found him resting on Pawpaw, eating a snack, and watching some tv.

They watched the boys again last night while we went to our church group, and when Parker got up this morning, I went to take off his diaper, it was on backwards, haha. I said "Pawpaw put your diaper on backwards!" and Parker said, "Pawpaw don't know better." He said it so matter-of-factly, as if I shouldn't have expected it any other way....

Second Day of Preschool

Thankfully, Parker is just as excited to go to school today as he was on Wednesday. Here is to hoping he let's me leave him at school just as easily as he did the first day....

My Handsome Boys

Just wanted to share these up close poses of my very handsome sons! They are total opposites....everything about them...sleep, food, personality, physical appearance, but they are the most handsome boys I have ever seen :)

First Day of Preschool!!!

Parker was so excited for school this morning, walking around with just his bookbag on, haha. He was so excited about his cheese biscuits mommy made him for breakfast, and he couldn't wait to get dressed! He started to question everything as we pulled up in the parking lot, saying he didn't want Bryce and I to go home. But once we parked, he took off his hard hat and left Lightening McQueen in the car, got his bookbag on and was ready to go in! He walked right into the school, and went right in his classroom, and never questionned a thing. He didn't even seem to care that Bryce and I were leaving :) So Bryce and I headed over to the mall, he rode one of the rides out in front of Target, then threw his first real temper tantrum when I made him get off! He went rigid and didn't want me to carry him, then plopped himself right down on the floor and decided he wasn't going anywhere, haha. I had to laugh because that started with Parker long before 17 months old! But we found Parker a little gift for him being such a big boy, and he was so excited when we gave it to him. He was more than ready to come home when we went to pick him up. We peeked in the window and he was doing great, but once the door opened and he saw me, he couldn't move fast enough to get to me! They said he did okay, just a little unsure when they had down time between activites. He told me, "let's go home mommy...I want to go home!" In the car when I asked him what they learned, he told me "nothing, we didn't learn anything!" in his little angry/attitude voice, haha. Ms. Krystal brought over some cupcakes, so he got to celebrate his first day of school with a cupcake :)

Peepee update :)

I'm not really attempting to potty train Bryce, but much to our surprise, he has been peeing on the potty several times a day now! This morning when he woke up he actually ran to the potty by himself and waited for me, and sure enough, he peed! I'm not going to push him by any means, but if I ask him if he needs to go, and he runs to the potty, then I put him on it. Hopefully he'll catch on and things will just fall into place :) At 17-months, the last thing on Parker's mind was the potty, so I'm so excited that Bryce seems so intersted!!

Fun in the Sun!

We've spent quite of bit of time outside the past week, as the weather has been awesome. Parker has finally learned to ride his bike, and is super excited that Mondays are bike days at preschool, so he will get to take his bike to school! The four wheeler was the best investment we made, by far, but he's stingy about giving his brother a ride....but he was quick to let his little friend Emily climb on! We're also very sad that our pool time is coming to a close :( We've had soooo much fun at Grandma and Pappy's this summer!

PEEPEE ON THE POTTY!!

So I know it was probably just a freak happening, BUT it still happened! Last night I put Bryce on the potty before his shower, and he "made" himself peepee just a little, but I was excited :) Well, tonight, Grandma and Pawpaw were over because we had Parker's preschool orientation, and it was just about time to get in the shower when I asked Bryce, "do you want to go peepee on the potty?" Bryce ran to the bathroom, let me take his diaper off and sit him on the potty, and sure enough peed.....ALOT! Parker and I sang a peepee song and danced around, and Bryce seemed pleased, haha. Who knows where this will lead? 17 months is a bit young to potty train a boy, but I will try!