To-Nap OR Not-To-Nap?

Carter's game last Saturday was at the most inopportune time of 2:30. So the big question was to nap or not-to-nap for a young 3  year old who loves his sleep. After a busy morning, I opted for the nap. When I went to wake him up an hour later, he was dead asleep and didn't want to budge. I carried him to the car and when we arrived at the fields, it was instant sob fest and not wanting anything to do with playing soccer.

To make it even more special, we had all 4 of the San Antonio grandparents in full attendence to watch the melt down. All he wanted was hugs.

Finally after a few negotiations, he finally hit the field for the second half.

Once he woke up, he was happy as a lark and got to go spend the night with Ya-Ya and Gradpa at the lake to help me out since Blake was out of town for the weekend.

Great picture with Lolli and Pops! Thank you to all four of you for coming and a special thank you to my sister, Erin, for coming to the house during the game to allow Addie to continue her nap!

Hope You Are Having a "Super" Week!

"Double Dates"

When we found out 2.5 years ago we were having a girl, I got excited about the future and the "double dates" Addie and Blake would have I would have Carter. I imagined it would fun one-on-one time together. Well, today we officially kicked it off! Addie and Carter spent the day at Sea World and Carter and I went to breakfast at McDonalds, Kiddie Park and The Battle of Flowers Parade with Cash and his mom, Terri!

Addie Welcomes The Terrible Two's Early!

As sweet as our two precious kids are, there are rough moments at the Brown house. As fun as it is to remember the millions of fun moments, I want to make sure we are able to remember ALL moments! And the last month has added a new dimension to that statement as Addie has welcomed tantrums to our regular routine. We are averaging one major emotional outburst a day usually around 6-7 PM. We have already had SO MANY stories to go along with these like Addie getting so upset that I gave her "milky" in the wrong sippy cup which instantly caused a breakdown that lasted over an hour and my sweet neighbor, Sakarra, was left on the playground with Carter and her son as I tried to diffuse the situation inside.

This other particular night, Addie was HORRIBLY hot and bothered that Ella had her baby and preceded to have a melt down that lasted almost an hour.

Ella even went to try and tell her sorry and to get her to calm down and Addie wanted nothing to do with her!

That also reminds me of another totally and completley different meltdown last week while we were AT ELLA'S house and Addie got so worked up (I can't remember why) and I had to escort her to the car after only being there for 20 minutes, where it took me every muscle I had and 15 minutes just to get her buckled in the car seat because she was so worked up!

Theses 2 pictures take the cake to depcit how we feel about Addie's new found habit... these were not staged and Blake had no idea I had the camera so near by. For Blake to even seem ruffled, you know that these meltdowns are NOT TOO FUN! But I have checked out 6 new parenting books from the library including "Setting Limits With Your Strong Willed Child!"

However the good news is, since I wrote this blog post 5 days ago, we have had 5 awesome days of no MAJOR meltdowns! I wish I could say that it was from alrady applying everything I read in the books but I haven't even opened them yet! (Just give me one more major tantrum and I will be up all night reading!)

WE LOVE YOU ADDIE!

Fiesta Parade at Concordia

This is our 3rd Concordia Fiesta Parade and the biggest and most fun event every year!

Addie making her initial appearance and as soon as she saw me (even with the camera in front of my face) she was done and ran and sat on my lap the remainder of the parade.

Carter was awesome and marched around the parking lot 3X waving his flag and yelling, "Proud To Be A Texan!"

Us four girls!

Addie proudly watching her "Bubba!"

What a fun Fiesta morning!

Addie's Continued Passion For Dogs!

We can be in the car and Addie will find any dog walking along the road or in another car 50 feet away! We can be at a stranger's house and if she sees a dog, she jets right off to meet the puppy.  At this age, Carter really didn't even acknowledge the dogs so to see this level of love and constant attention to dogs is pretty amazing. She spends 5-6 times a day sitting with the dogs in their bed "patting" them and eve holds on to Maverick's collar and "takes him for a walk!"

Kiddie Park

Kiddie Park is where I had a couple of my birthday parties when I around 3 or 4 year old.  It was recently  re-opened and I had been dying to take the kids there. It didn't disappoint and it is seriously the perfect "mini-carnival" for toddlers and young children!

Every single ride is the EXACT same, minus the "Little Dipper" rollercoaster.. but the helicopters were a blast and were Addie's absolute FAVORITE ride! Notice how Blake is not in any of these pictures, as this spinning and flying ride made him nauseous by the 3rd time. This was the first time he was begging to take pictures if I would keep riding with the kids!

The original carousel was our first ride and Addie wasn't too interested in actually riding a horse but she enjoyed sitting on the benches for the ride.

Carter loved the "School Bus" ride!

This was one of Addie's favortites - the horse drawn carriage!

I remember the airplane ride as if it were yesterday!

The ol' cars were a major hit as well!

This Ferris Wheel is awesome, the perfect mini size. Addie acted as if she was just going get right on with Carter. Blake and I were kinda surprised but let her do her thing.

Right after they shut the door she wanted out... so no Ferris Wheel ride for Addie on this first visit.

We had an absolute awesome morning at Kiddie Park and look forward to many more trips here in the next few years!