Dustin's Triathlon

Dustin did his first Sprint Triathlon today. We tried to be there to see him cross the finish line, but he finished earlier than expected and I got lost driving in circles trying to get there. But, the kids still got to congratulate him at the end of the race...

He finished in great time and had a great time doing it! We are all very proud of him. And we got a couple pictures of the kiddos goofing off...

Happy 1 Year, Charlotte!

Charlotte, I cannot believe that your first year is already behind us. How did that happen so quickly? My heart is severely conflicted, as part of me would like to keep you tiny and dependent and another part of me is thrilled to see you learning and growing. Stats: Height: Weight: Head:

You are such a chunky little baby, I cannot get enough of those little thighs and your sweet belly! But, you are growing quickly and I know this will be gone in no time! You still scoot on your bottom to get around. Everyone thinks it is so cute, and it is, but you are tearing holes in all your clothes!

You love babies and dolls. I gave you a doll right after your turned 9 months and I think "baby" was one of your first words, after "dada" and "mama." You also adore real babies and are very interested in seeing them and touching them. You also love to give hugs and snuggles. And you will give kisses when asked to by daddy and Mommy. Your sleep schedule is getting altered soon, as we are going to take you down to one nap a day. You tend to take a good, long morning nap and then refuse the afternoon nap. This makes for a cranky baby around 5pm. So we will slowly move your nap time up to get you to take one longer nap around midday. You got to sleep around 6:30 and sleep until between 6:30 and 7:00. Your developing speech continues to blow my mind. I love it! You say bye bye, baby, dada, mama and hi. What really gets me is how you try to mimic things I say and it's always so close! You're very eager to learn words and that's so thrilling.

This is a wonderful time for feeding you. You're at a wonderful stage where you will eat anything and you eat a ton of it. However, you prefer whatever anyone else is eating. We have started feeding you exactly what we are having for dinner and you will eat it all. This has been so wonderful. Breakfast is the most difficult time, you just don't seem to want to eat that much! You still have three bottles a day of whole milk, but we are going to slowly wean you from your bottles. It is so wonderful to not have to buy formula anymore! You still think your brothers hung the moon. Jackson makes you laugh and you're very interested in what he and Brady are doing. I love seeing you interact with your brothers and also get a kick out of hearing one or both of them yelling 'Charlotte" when you have taken some toy away or gotten to close to something they are building or a puzzle they are working on.

Your nicknames at 12 months are Beans, beansie and sissy. Baby girl, I love you so much. You are just the sweetest and happiest little thing I've ever seen. The sound of your babbling is the best music I know. I feel incredibly blessed to be your mommy. Daddy and I can't imagine our lives without any of you guys!

Very Hungry Caterpillar

Charlotte's 1st Birthday Party was the theme of the Eric Carle book "Very Hungry Caterpillar."

Grandma and PaPa Aldridge came to celebrate with her:

She had lots of friends celebrate with her. They sang and watched her eat her cake:

And, she really enjoyed her cake:

She also had tons of fun opening her presents, with her brother's help of course!

Thanks to everyone for celebrating Charlotte's first birthday. It was such a fun time! I can't believe she is already 1!

Jackson's Birthday Celebration

We celebrated Jackson's 5th birthday at the beach. He woke up that morning to one of his favorite breakfasts, powdered donuts and strawberries (from xmas) and opened presents.

Brady enjoyed the morning as well:

Then, we headed down to the beach where Charlotte enjoyed some hummus.

The Watsons joined us to play and celebrate Jackson's birthday...

Dustin made a sea snake on his cake since that is what Jackson asked for. I think Jackson had a great birthday celebration with family and some friends.

Happy 5 Years, Jackson

Jackson, Wow- five years old. You are growing into such a little boy. There are many times I would like to freeze time and make you stop growing. There are also days that cannot pass quickly enough! You are such a wonderful little boy. However, you are also very strong willed and love to challenge mommy and daddy. You still love all things related to animals of any kind. You love to watch animal centered movies and shows (Wild Kratts is one of your favorites), read any book about animals and do anything where you can explore the animal world. You love to go to the zoo, museum and aquarium. You can recite most facts about most animals, it is quite an amazing skill. Brady shares your love of animals and you two love to play together. You created the "animal guessing game" and we play this constantly. You are frequently changing the rules and the specific animals that we can think of, but you and Brady both love the game, so we play, a lot! You also love Charlotte. I think the two of you have some special connection. You are always in her face talking to her and helping her, sometimes it can be a bit much. But, she adores you as well. When she is crying in the car you always try and make her stop, sometimes you will ask her questions to distract her from tears. You also love Brady and the two of you play so well together most of the time. You are very demanding of Brady and pretty bossy with him. You are lucky that he is an easy going kid. Brady almost always follows your lead when you two play. But, you are brothers and you will fiercely protect Brady as well. It is one thing if you pick on him but if anyone else tries you are right there to stick up for him. It is very sweet. You love learning and we are excited for you to start kindergarten this year. I know it will be difficult at times, but I think you will thrive! You also have some dislikes. You do not like it when you cannot achieve something right away or you are not the best at something. You hate to lose. We are working with being a good sport and a graceful loser. You also don't like it when you don't get your way. There are times when you don't care at all, but other times that it will send you into a fit. You are a born negotiator and will negotiate anything, I mean anything! Overall, you are just a sweet, special, wonderful little boy. You love kisses and hug from mom and dad every morning before we leave and every night before bed. You love to for us to rub your back and sing songs right before bed. You are not the snuggliest kid, but I soak up any opportunity for the two of us to cuddle whether that is while watching a movie or a morning you are up too early and climb in bed with us. You are our first blessing, Jackson, and you are five! We love you! Love, Mommy

The Beach!

Our last stop on our "Tour De Texas" was the beach. We went to Galveston with my mom ("Grancy") and Mr. Dan. The boys had such a great time. Charlotte really enjoyed playing in the sand. Jackson was in the water most of the trip. Brady ventured out to the water a couple of times, but preferred to be on the beach- playing in the sand, and chasing birds and crabs. The only disappointment was the amount of seaweed- it was incredible and pretty much built a barrier between the beach and the ocean. That did not stop Jackson and Dustin from going out and playing and boogie boarding. We all the love the beach so much. Here are some fun photos of us that hung out on the beach:

Jackson and Daddy boogie boarding:

Each night Brady would disappear and we would find him on the deck in deep conversations with Mr. Dan. It was so funny!

Brady loved crawling inside Grancy's bathing suit coverup. He wanted to be a baby. It was fairly amusing!

We had so much fun. We were there to celebrate Jackson's 5th birthday, but that will be another post. I always wish I had more pictures, but with three little ones, it has become increasingly difficult to capture all the fun. But, we had a blast!

African Safari...in Texas!

Before we headed to the beach- we stopped at this safari place right outside of Houston. Mom and Charlotte getting ready for the tour:

Jackson and Brady sampling the animal food:

Checking out the animals:

Feeding the camels:

Zebras:

This was such a neat place- although it was already REALLY hot! The boys had a great time. Now, we are off to Galveston!