Dear Cash

Dear Cash,
You are TWO!!!!!

 And you are so much fun.  You certainly beat to your own drum and have turned into your own little person.  Sometimes, that little person is crazy!!!!  As of late, you have become signifcately easier and you and I both feel confident enough to let you go off on your own up and down the stairs to play alone or with Eli and Owen, and to play outside alone with your brothers which has made me feel like a free woman!!! You still have a major (MAJOR) attachment issue, but when you know I am around and not going anywhere, you go off on your own and are extremely independent.

You are always dressing up, have a hat on, or lately, your latest obession (that is the best way to describe what we have been dealing with) is with your shoes and socks.



Lets go back to this obession i just mentioned.  About a month ago, you started having strong opinions on which shoes and socks you wanted to wear.  Generally speaking, you would always choose two different shoes, usually at least one of those was 4 sizes too big and on the wrong foot and your socks usually werent yours and didnt match.  Not only would you insist on these shoes and sock combinations, you wanted to sleep in them and always have them on.  There have been nights you would not go to bed until you have on the right shoes and socks! Occasionally the socks would even be worn on your hands and arms.  Many comments were made as we made our way out to run errands or pick Eli up from camp when you would be wearing one tiny croc and one giant black soccer cleat paired with some blue hospital socks that stretched all the way to your diaper.  You get so upset if you cant get your shoes on, or you are trying to tell us something about a sock and we dont understand. You have even gone swimming and in the ocean with socks on! Im kinda ready for this phase to be over.

Your other obsession is balls.  You always, always, always have a ball with you.  Any kind will do.  You sleep with these too and will not fall asleep until you have scoured the house looking for the specific balls you want for that nap/night.  You would kick and throw a ball all day long if we sat there with you. And you are really good at it.

You finally realized how cool your dad is!  Of course you have always loved him but it was always MOMMY.  You are finally giving your dad some love he deserves! Don't get me wrong, you are a Mama's boy 100%.  I am totally anxious about you starting school next year and how that will go down when its time for me to leave you there.  Not good i presume. If I go into the garage at home and you think i am leaving-full on meltdown.

At two years old, you try your best to keep up with Eli and Owen and do a good job.  Depending on the day, they include you and help you, and other days, not so much.  But when we have friends over, you are upstairs just like one of the big kids.

You are a picky eater and still pretty much a vegetarian with one exception-bacon.  No meat, eggs or dairy.  Your saving grace is that you love fruit and will eat a handful of vegetables like tomatoes and carrots,  and you also like nuts.
While you still don't talk much, I am certain its by choice, you understand everything, and I suspect one day you will just start spouting out sentences and we will wish that you would be quiet.  Since you are the third, I don't worry about your speech at all.  I don't worry about too many things like that anymore.
You love to jump and skip, you love to be outside and are very sweet and gentle with Lola.

When you dance you do your "chicken wing" move, you are amazing at miming since you don't talk much, and love riding your scooter. You have turned into quite the jokster, are goofy, wild, crazy and sweet.

very proud of the picture he drew all over his arms!

I truly feel like you completed our little family. Happy, Happy Birthday my sweet boy!!!

Love, Mom

Jupiter, Florida

We decided we were up for the challenge to go out a vacation just the 5 of us!!!!  We were really wanting to go on vacation!!! We were so, so, so excited about all being together, just us, for an entire week.  We have never gone anywhere, just US. We were literally counting down the days!  We all love the beach and decided Florida was the place to be!

The morning we were leaving, I got up at 5 to run and not but a few minutes later, Eli was awake, dressed, with his backpack packed and on.  He was soooo excited and ready to go!  

We were finally off to the airport and Cash's first plane ride!  He is totally at that age where he is into airplanes and trucks and can hear any flying apparatus in the sky no matter where he is or what he is doing.

The airport did not disappoint!  He sat at that window the whole time pointing out and ooooh-ing and ahhhh-ing at every thing that drove/flew by.

We were off!!!  

Blaine definitely got the easy side.  Cash did. not. stop. moving. the. entire. ride.  I thought taking off during Cash's nap would work to my advantage, but really, he was a little, crazy, animal the whole flight....but wait....he did fall asleep....9 minute before we landed.  I carried that heavy 20 something pound sleeping child through the airport, up escalators, through baggage claim, and on a bus ride to the car rental place. My arm was sore for DAYS. And shaky. And all I got out of it was a 20 minute nap.

After getting to Florida and then driving an hour and 20 minutes to Jupiter, the boys were begging to see the beach, so we dropped everything off at the house and desperately looked for somewhere to eat, scarfed down food to make it before the sun whet down and then went straight there.

The long day of travel was so worth it to see these smiling, sweet faces when they finally saw the ocean and played in the sand!!!

We got back to the house, settled in, set up beds and found our pajamas in our suitcases and just hung out.  We were all up pretty late that first night, just enjoying our time together and coming down from the high of finally being on our trip.  Cash was all set up in the back bedroom in a pack n play and Eli and Owen were stoked to get to sleep out on the huge sectional couch in the living room.

We are so lucky we were able to stay in this house. It was perfect for us and even had a pool in the backyard, which was a major benefit for us.

Everyone was up early that first morning and we couldn't wait to get to the beach on our first full day.  

The beach right by our house turned out to be our favorite but we visited a few other "beach parks" as the week went by to make sure we weren't missing out on a better spot.

Juno Beach

Eli was begging us to take him fishing.  Begging, non-stop.  Our second day there Blaine took Eli and Owen to the bait shop and to pick up some donuts.  Eli and Owen have been "practicing" fishing, and casting with my dad and his poles in the driveway on Sundays when he comes home from fishing, and playing with different lures.  Eli is one stubborn dude and he had it in his head that he wanted a certain lure my dad uses despite the bait shop guy telling him its for deep, fresh water and that there was no chance it would work.  Who cares....Eli had it in his head and he wasn't going to budge.
But he had a great time, and stood there forever trying and trying to catch a fish while the rest of us played around him.

Owen gave it a shot too with some shrimp lures he chose, but he lost interest pretty quickly.

We spent the mornings at the beach......

Dubois Park

Then we would go home, jump in the pool....

Grab a snack and then Cash and I would go take a nap while everyone else watched soccer, played on the ipads, or played games.  We pretty much lounged around a lot in the middle of the afternoon before getting back up and either hitting the pool or the beach again!  Their favorite part of leaving the beach was the ride back home because we let them stand up in the car (don't judge, it was 3/10 of a mile through a gated community). Or help Blaine drive home.

Snack time!

After a few days, the boys were getting a little bored of the beach so we mixed it up and went to a new little putt putt and burger place in the morning.  It was SOOO hot and humid that day, but only Blaine and I seemed to mind.

Muscles!!!!

We tried to catch some shade in a little tunnel and take a sweaty selfie of all of us.  Owen was not amused.

Another morning we headed to the Loggerhead Marinelife Center to see some turtles that were being rehabilitated.  They promote conservation of Florida's coastal ecosystems with a special focus on threatened and endangered sea turtles.  It was a really cool spot and it was fun to see some giant turtles and learn a little along the way.

I got up a few mornings while we were there and went for a run.  Sand is hard enough to run in, but adding in crazy amounts of humidity and it was pretty brutal, but a great way to start the day!

We had a few days of yucky weather with Tropical Storm Arthur that made us get creative and find other things to do.

And we spent more than enough time lounging around the house, entertaining each other, trying to decide what to do.

Every single evening, except for one, we went down to the beach for a walk after dinner.  I think this may have been my favorite part of every day. The entry into the beach from our house was really pretty.  From the street, you would never know the ocean was right there.

Here are a few pictures from a few of our evening walks.

One night when we were walking, we found this dead fish on the ground.  Eli did his very best to convince us all that he must have caught this fish when he was fishing earlier that day because it was resting right where he was fishing, so obviously, he must have caught it.....ok....

I sure am going to miss these tiny little footprints!

On the second to last night, we found our favorite spot to eat, Dune Dogs.  Great atmosphere, good food, good service, lots of fun....and ice cream!

Our last night there, we decided to brave the storm during a lull and head out for our last walk.  We were all so happy to be out there.  The big waves had made this little shelf of sand perfect for jumping!  We had a blast.  It did not last long before the storm rolled back in and we all ran to the car!

The morning we were leaving we snuck in one last swim in the pool since the sun decided to shine to see us off back home.  We were leaving with the beach badge of honor....white tushies.

Its amazing to see the strides Eli and Owen have made with their swimming skills since last year. What a difference a year makes!  Last year they were barely putting their heads under the water and would not even attempt to try and swim.  This year, they are swimming across the pool by themselves, jumping in and swimming to the steps, diving down to the bottom.  It has been fun to watch their progress and their confidence levels increase.

We had such an amazing and special time.  I cant wait until our next trip.  I feel so lucky and so fortunate that this little family is mine.  Blaine and I took this picture on our honeymoon.

We wanted to end our memories of this trip just like this!!!