Look whos 2

My tiny little petite princess is TWO! She is the size of one year old and acts like a three year old so two is a good fit :)

She loves to have tea parties and play outside. Run climb jump and bounce....she has learned lots from watching big brother move. We have been told many times that we have some really FAST kids. :) Swings and slides, games and goofs. She is  a fun spirit to be around. And she is still a girlie girl. She lvoes her bows and her pretties. We can't go to a department store without checking out the pretties.

This little sassy two year old loves her "Bubby" (Brother) and still doesnt go far without Mimis (her blankie) which has actually become less of a blanket and more just a few little rags she carries around. She is a big daddys girl and recently a Gahmpas (Grandpas) girl. 

We were so happy that Grandma and Grandpa Peterson could be here to celebrate her big day with us. And that her new two favorite cousins, Nia and Tay Tay could be here also.

Happy Two year old Birthday Baby girl! We love you bunches!

Mommy and Daddy's Time Out....

So about three months ago Glade informs me we are going on a cruise and the kids are not coming. WHAT....leave my babies? I was reluctant but knew he was right. We had never left Bentley for longer than 3 or 4 hours and we had only been away from McCoy over night once in his entire 6 years so a little parental absence was long overdue but it was really hard for me to wrap my head around the idea. I mean I should have been jumping for joy at the thought of a week long vacation on a cruise no less but it was scary for me. The only reason I agreed is because Grandma and Grandpa Peterson were so excited about the chance to come out to Florida and spend some time with the kids. It really made me feel good to know their grandparents loved them so much to want to do that for them and for us. So the Grands flew out here and brought along two of the nieces to play with the kids. McCoy and Bentley sure love them some Nia and Tay Tay now. I think they have stole the roll of favorite cousins :)


I could go on and on about how much fun we had on the cruise. We did things I have always wanted to do. I swam with dolphins and sea turtles and snorkeled over some of the most beautiful reefs. We saw some of the most beautiful beaches and amazing pieces of history, not to mention all the fun times we had just hanging out on the ship, hitting up the shows and casino and just living the carefree life being goofy and silly and acting like kids. Staying up late because we knew we could sleep in the next morning. No getting up to take kids to school or pack lunches, or head off to work.  It was a much needed vacation for Glade and I that I don't think we even realized how much we needed it until we were immersed in it. It's nice to spend some time with your spouse without any other interruption and find that you still actually have much to talk about and cheesy as it may sound....just fall in love all over again. I heart my hubs madly deeply and am so grateful for how hard he works to make such a great life for our family.

 

It was a good thing we had such a relaxing time because we came back to a little bit of chaos. My poor boy had a double ear infection and one ear had actually suffered a rupture so the little man was in a lot of pain. But we got him on some meds and he was just so happy we were home. And the biggest scare was Grandma. She got sick the night before we arrived and by the time we got home she had to be rushed to the ER. She had gotten pneumonia and was so week they had to keep her in the hospital for a few days. Poor Vicki, she just wanted to get home and prep for her mission....Thats right Brent and Vicki got their mission call to Tennessee. We are so excited and happy for them both. It was mess trying to get them on a flight back home but they finally made it and as soon as Grandma Vicki is back to 100% and gets cleared they will be off for six months. We sure will miss them but are so so thankful they got to come to Florida because our kids got some quality time with them and they have a new found love for their Gahma and Gahmpa Peterson. Gahmpa is Bentley's new favorite Pal.

The SOFLA Fair

This was the 100th year of the South Florida Fair so of course we had to go help celebrate. Twice!

 First up Glade and Mac had to try out the shooting range. They each one a wooden flower and my sweet McCoy said he won his just for me :). Love my little man.

And of course the Big Mac had to check out all the cool cars. He was sure wishing his Pops could be there to see those cars. He said, "Man I know Pops could appreciate these beautiful Cars." Man that kid cracks me up. Sure loves his Pops. <3

And here is Bentley standing in front of the giant Sand sculpture of a cake and and a few other things only I didn't get a picture of the actual sculpture. LOL. Just the cutie in front of it.

 And the kids thought it was  hilarious to play in the PBC Sheriffs booth. They said they were in grown up "Time Out."  And they thought they were so sneaky when they found out they could "break out" because thy both fit right through the bars.

 And the favorite part of the fair for them is the Animal feeding/petting zoo. Especially Bentley. She has a soft spot for animals.

And we even did a few rides this year. McCoy is usually scared so we don't even venture in the ride area but this year he had his game face on so we tested out a few and he had a ball. His favorite was the Gravitron and giant slides. Bentley got on as many as she could too but she needs a another year or two before she is tall enough for the kid rides. But she had a blast. We are looking forward to next year!

 Oh and can't forget about the corn box is always a big hit too.

We had a ball but still miss our good ol' Cassia County Fair and Rodeo. We are going to see what we can do to make it there this year! Watch out Burley!

So a month ago....this is what we were doing...

Chrismtas has come and gone and New Years too. But I don't want to forget some of the fun things we did.

Every year since we moved here we attend the annual Wellington Christmas parade with friends. And every year this is McCoy's favorite part of the Parade. The Star Wars float and movie characters.

 Our neighborhood had a really nice Christmas fair for the kids where they could meet Santa and also do a bunch of really fun things like ride a train, rock climb, bounce houses etc. Mac had blast getting free snow cones and cotton candy. Hence the red mouth.

 And every year we also try to go down to Hoffmans Chocolate and see their light display. It is really beautiful. If you have ever been to the Rock Creek light display in Idaho...this is about a 1/3 of that but it is our little subsitute for now.  McCoy's favorite part is the train set up they have.

 And this year our favorite part of Christmas was having Pops here to celebrate with us. McCoy was so glad to have his best bud here to play cars and even pack him around.

 Bentley took her sweet time warming up to Pops but of course no  baby can resist him for long. :)

 One of our favorite things we did with Pops with going to see the neighborhood of lights down of Florida Mango Street. The whole neighborhood decorates. Every house! It is so amazing. It really gets me in the Christmas spirit to see so many nativities and beautiful lights and to see all the other families out and about. So glad I could be there with mine :)

 And our trees! I LOVE Christmas Trees! Our tradition continues...we had five trees this year. This tradition started with this little tree here. It was my bedroom tree when I was younger. My mom gave me and my brothers our own trees for our bedrooms and I have passed on the tradition to my own kids. It is so fun for them to get out their own trees and decorate them.

 McCoy's Tree. They are not on the tree in the first picture, but every year he adds a few star wars characters to his tree. Last year it was the yoda lights. This year he made his own Star wars ornaments from Legos! He made the Death Star and melenium falcon. I helped a bit but the idea and design was all his.  Legos and Star wars...Christmas dreams come true :)

 And Bentley Boo Boo's tree. the Princess loves Pink!

 The Front Room Tree and my footie Pajama babies. Quick story, so McCoy has not had Feeties since he was 2. I bought him some on a whim this year thinking he would love or hate them. well he opened them up Christmas eve and at first it was HATE! I mean how NOT cool. But after he got over the not cool part, he tried them on and it was love at first zip up. Now he wants to wear them every night. I even bought myself a pair this year but thats a picture you probably wont see on here.

And here is the Family Tree. I forgot to take a picture of it so this was taken Christmas eve as I was wrapping up the last gifts and of course watching the Christmas Story :) Love that movie. We had a wonderful Christmas and I am sad it went so fast but happy that it was such a memoriable one for our First Christmas in our new house!