Our Boys

For those of you who are not on facebook and can't see the pictures I posted of Cade and Reece on there, I am putting some on here to share with you, too. This year for our 5th wedding anniversary, Chase and I chose to have some professional pictures taken of the boys instead of giving each other gifts. We are SO glad that we did! We are beyond in love with these pictures and will cherish them forever.

Reece Mark Layton

The newest and current cutest member of our family:

Born July 5, 2011 at 3:26pm
8 lbs. 6 oz. 20 1/2 inches

Proud big brother

We are so very blessed.

Life is so much better at the beach!

We ended up having 2 unexpected trips to the beach during the past couple of months. Our first trip was not due to good circumstances, however, and was very spur of the moment. We skipped town rather quickly in all my crazy pregnancy hormone freaking out after the horrible tornadoes hit our area at the end of April. Please don't judge. You try being told that your power is going to be out for at least a week (turned out to be 5 days) when you are very pregnant and very hungry all the time. With no way to cook my food storage (looks like I'm going to have to do some revamping and prepare better) is like a death threat. So, we headed south. After 4 years of not setting foot on the beach, we were extremely excited to go. Plus, Cade had never been, and we just knew he would love it.

WRONG!

This was him for the first hour- sitting in my lap. He did not want his feet the touch the weird "snow" (didn't matter how many times we told him it was sand, it was forever going to be snow), and he sure as heck did not want to go near that scary water.

Daddy tried to break Cade of being scared by forcing him to go in the water while Chase held him to show him it was fun. Nope, not fun. He screamed and was terrified the whole time. Then, when finally back on the "snow", he ran in the the complete wrong direction crying for me and tried to find solace in the arms of another momma who was definitely not me, which made him even more upset. So this is him finally running toward the right momma. It was all very dramatic.

After awhile he became more comfortable in the "snow" and started to play with his beach toys. But still keeping a very safe distance from the water.

Day 2 on the beach was MUCH better. He got over his fear of the water and would let it hit his feet. Afterwards, he kept saying, "That was fun!".

Trip 2 to the beach was due to Chase having a business trip to Ft. Walton, and Cade and I got to tag along. Yay! We had such a great time. We got to stay right on the beach and enjoyed a nice big room. Our hotel also had 2 pools which Cade loved. He loved being able to say, "Let's go beach" or "swimming pool, Momma?", and then just picking up and going to whichever one he pleased. It was really great, and he had a blast to say the least.

Cade was completely fine with the water this time. Daddy would take him out in the waves, and Cade loved it.

Coming back from the pool.

Family friends Marty and Christie were also there with us, and Cade was obsessed with going out in the waves and building sand castles with Marty. Here they are out in the water:

On the trip home, Cade had to stop and see the airplane.

Cade now asks almost everyday if we can go to the beach. We definitely need to take fun family trips more often.

Easter time

I am way far behind in my blogging, although I'm sure none of you have minded. Yes, Easter was 2 months ago, and yes, I am just now writing about it. Let's not dwell on that fact. Just pretend it was last weekend. Moving on- we had a great Easter this year. I love that Cade is at the age where he understands holidays and gets excited about them. I think we are going to hear all year long about how the "snowmans" are going to come out at Christmas every time we drive down our street (several people in our neighborhood put the blow up snowmen in their yards). So I was really anticipating Easter and even started planning out what we would put in Cade's Easter basket a couple of months in advance. And sweet success it all was!

To start off the Easter festivities, we were invited to an Easter egg hunt at a very close family friends house- the Messervys. They have the best egg hunts filled with a bajillion eggs to find, a pinata, breakfast treats, awesome goodie bags, and tons of kids on sugar highs. The kids always have a blast.

Cade running out to start finding eggs.

There are eggs hidden all over the backyard.

His loot.

Blue Steel

Kate and Cade. I ask for a smile and this is what I get.

Easter morning we had our own basket hunt around the house and an egg hunt in the backyard.

Basket filled with 3 Chuggington Trains, 2 new trains from the Thomas collection, a Thomas shirt, a little Mickey Mouse, a football, some other things I can't remember now because it was 2 months ago (I mean, last weekend), and some candy eggs.

Daddy made getting some of the eggs too difficult.

I went way overboard on the eggs this year. I filled about 45 eggs and could have done tons more but figured that was enough for one kid. It took him about 4 minutes flat to run around and get them all. A major improvement from last year where he lost interest.

Playing with new Diesel and Whiff after church

And because I really love food right now, I took a picture of our immaculate Easter feast that I slaved 2 days over. Homemade chicken cordon bleu with homemade mashed potatoes and other stuff. Even the breadcrumbs were homemade (and that really makes a big difference if anyone cares). Chase helped me stuff the chicken breasts and bread them so he tries to take credit for the whole thing. I did appreciate the help:)

And best of all- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake. Stop drooling.

Stock-up

Anyone think I'm not prepared with diapers for the baby?? There's even another box of Pampers on the floor. Don't come break in my house now that I've shown you my stash.

I've been scoring great diaper deals the past few months and have been slowly stocking up for the baby. I only try to stock pile as many as I can when I can get them for half price or cheaper. One of those packs of Huggies only cost me $0.69:)

And even Cade has a stash:

+ another box in the car.

My best prices paid for diapers to date are:

• my $0.69 pack of Huggies I just mentioned
• 4 packs of Huggies for $5 and change at Rite Aid (and still getting back $8 in Rite Aid bucks)
  
• a box of Huggies at CVS for $4 (and still getting back $10 in CVS bucks)

I may still have tons of cleaning, organizing, bedroom switching, decorating, clothes sorting (with laundry), yard work, and plenty of other things to do before the baby comes, but at least I know I've got the poop covered.

Little Boy Under Construction

Most of you already know that we are having another little boy! We found out a few months ago, so yes, I am late in posting this. Time is flying by with only 11 weeks left and still plenty to do to get ready. Chase told me a few weeks ago that I need to "hurry up and have that baby". I asked why, and his reply was "because I want him". (Secret: Chase has a thing for babies. That's one of the reasons he was so attractive when we were dating.) It is pretty safe to say we are anxiously awaiting his arrival. We hope our new little man will be just as loving and as sweet as this little man:

Best shirt ever. Federal Witness Protection Program.

And for one of those cute pregnancy pictures that I know everyone wants to see, here I am:

Literally. And this is why no pregnancy pictures of me will ever surface. And if anyone ever does without my knowledge, you better run. And probably not very fast since it may take me awhile to reach you, but I will and so help you when I do. And don't say "woah.." if you happen to see me around. Because I KNOW.

Now, on to the real reason why any of you even visit this blog- my crazy and adorable Cade (except when he's bad, then he's Chase's Cade). Cade's new thing is singing songs. He loves to sing songs. He loves primary songs. He loves the theme songs to all of his favorite shows. He loves songs on the radio that he doesn't even know. And he sings (or tries to sing) along to them all. There is a primary song app on the iPhone that Cade loves to use. He will sit there for like an hour and go through all the songs. Here's a little clip of him doing just that:

Need I say more?

POPCORN

I LOVE popcorn. Mmmm popcorn. Really, there is no excuse needed to eat popcorn- want to watch a movie? Popcorn! How about just tv? Popcorn! Want to play a game? Popcorn! Paying bills? That's right, popcorn! Ok, maybe not so much on that last one, but you get my point. It's the snack of choice. I've even thought about finding the kind you can make over a fire to put in our 72-hour kits. On rare occasion we ever go to the movies, I can not resist that delicious, buttery, salty goodness. And yes, I literally inhale that heart attack in a bag. Last time we saw a movie, Chase gave me all kinds of looks as he told me to breathe in between bites and to let him have some for once. What can I say, it's sooo good, and there is absolutely no way you can stop with only a few bites. I don't have that kind of self-control. I almost always get a tummy-ache, but I still continue to eat. I can't help it. Mmmmm...

That only explains why as a child, I always loved this Popcorn book:


It's about a bear who throws a Halloween party while his parents go out, and all of his friends bring popcorn with them. And since he has way more friends than I ever did, his entire house fills to the top with popcorn....MY DREAM!! I always thought that would be the coolest thing, to swim in a house (or even a room) full of popcorn, devouring as much as I please. However, I do not want that house to be MY house.

Thanks to Cade, this is what I found as I came out of the shower this morning:


These pictures don't even show it near as well as seeing it in person. It was ALL OVER. Where did it all come from you ask? Because obviously the kid doesn't know how to open a bag of popcorn and use the microwave. In the picture above, the big Santa can that has the 3 different kinds of popcorn in it is the partner in crime. I should have known something was up when Cade kept coming into the bathroom saying, "Ohhhh nooo, Mommy". And when I finally come out to see what's up and why some popcorn had trailed into the bathroom, he says, "Mommy, mess!". Thanks Cade, I didn't notice...

Thanks for the cleanup help, Babe. And showing us all how to be the perfect housewife.

But I can't really be mad at the kid- just look at him:

Awwwww! What an angel:)