And here's the rest of the photos

I have over 100 photos so I just created a Flickr account and put them into an album there. Here is the link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/keepingupwithkaleb/sets/72157630072177272/

Click on the Ft. Walton Beach 2012 and it will bring all of them up. There are two videos also. One of the videos wouldn't load on that sight for some reason so I have uploaded it here after doing some editing.

Summer Vacation at the Beach

Well, Paul, Kaleb and I have just returned from a week long (well, 9 DAYS actually) vacation at Fort Walton Beach, FL. We booked this trip back in January so we have been looking forward to this for some time now, literally counting down the days. What made this extra special, is my best friend from SCO, along with her husband and 2 year old son, flew down also! I haven't seen them since Kaleb's 2nd birthday party, which is WAY too long! So, not only did we get to do some major relaxing, I also got to catch up with a great friend.

We rented a condo at a resort called Waterscapes. We chose this place over the others because of the amenities it offered. Last year, Kaleb HATED the ocean, so we spent all our time at the pool. So, when choosing a place this year, we wanted to be sure to have a nice pool for Kaleb, in case the ocean situation hadn't changed. When we arrived Friday night, we found the condo to be more than we expected! It was HUGE and with great views of both the pools and the ocean. If you have young kids, I highly recommend this place. It has a lazy river, a circle pool, a splash pad for toddlers, AND a graduation pool (where it starts off flat and gradually gets deeper as you go in, where Kaleb had over 20 ft of pool where he could touch the bottom!). It also has two hot tubs and is right on the beach! It was a good thing we did invest in this place, because things had not changed and Kaleb hated the sand and ocean. But he had such a great time when at the pool, I didn't mind at all. Just seeing him so happy and having so much fun, I completely forgot about the beach, well, at least until he went back upstairs for lunch/nap, at which point me and Aub went down to the beach for some mommy time! =)

While there, we went to some great restaurants. My favorite thing to do while in Florida is to eat as much fresh seafood as possible! And that we did! The first night, we went to AJ's Seafood, which a great place on the Boardwalk in Destin. Kaleb wasn't too fond of just sitting and waiting for everyone to finish eating, so him and me made a couple trips up and down the boardwalk, looking at all the charter fishing boats. Here is a picture of him on the AJ's truck. It's a little out of focus but still a cutie:

The next night, we were all a little tired from the full day at the pool, so we decided to just cook some hamburgers and stay in. It was very relaxing. On day 4, we decided to just order in pizza, which was another relaxing night. Last year, Paul and I tried to go to this restaurant I had been to before, and remember being very good and had a great view, The Backporch, but the wait was about 2 hours, and that just wasn't going to happen with a two year old. So, I talked everyone in to trying it this year. When we got there, they said it would be about 45 minutes, which is better than 2 hours, but with 2 toddlers, still too long! So, we ended up going to McGuires Irish Pub, which I read had excellent steaks. Well, after waiting 35 minutes to get seated, and then a not-so-nice waitress, we did get our food, which was GREAT! The steaks did not disappoint and JB's sandwich was at least 8 inches thick! So the food made up for the wait/service, and the night was not a complete disappointment. On Day 6, we had decided to eat in again, and I found out there was a PF Changs only 17 miles away! Well, 17 miles in Destin, apparently means 35-40 minutes away! But, we made it there and back, and it was as delicious as it always is! And then, our last night, we decided to give The Backporch one more try, and we decided to get there at 5:30, to try to beat any crowd, and SUCCESS! Finally, after 2 years, I got to eat at The Backporch! They sat us on the second floor, on the porch overlooking the ocean! It was an incredible view! The food was good, not great, but worth the trip!

Like I said earlier, Kaleb LOVED the pool. He has really gotten the hang of this swimming thing! I mean, if he fell in without anyone, he would be able to come back up to the surface, but not save his life. So we still have to keep a watchful eye on the brave little turkey! I had Paul take a video of me and him in the pool. He loved to be thrown and then 'swim' by himself. Here is the video!

As far as weather when we were there, it was PERFECT all week. Sunny, high's in the mid 80's, with a nice breeze! We all stayed SPF-50'd up, so no sunburn to ruin anything. The Friday before we left, it was calling for rain, so we decided to take the kiddo's to the Gulfarium, right down the street from where we were staying. As we walked in the door, there was a man holding a big parrot, which you could take pictures with and then pay for them later. It looked like the villian parrot off Rio, so Kaleb wasn't too sure about it, as you can see in the pictures! Afterwards though, he actually wanted to have it on his arm, but they said he was too little. Maybe next year! This aquarium was really neat. Most of the animal exhibits were outside, like a zoo. They had dolphins, sharks, seals, sea turtles, alligators, tortoises,  lots of fish, and otters, which were Kaleb's favorite. He watches a lot of Diego, and one of his favorite episodes is about a brother and sister otters, named Oscar and Ollie. So, he kept saying he wanted to go see Oscar and Ollie! In the episode, you find out that otters are afraid of Caymens, which looks an awful lot like an alligator. I had never heard of a caymen, but this aquarium had then! They are just small allligators! So, Kaleb was extra excited to see Ollie, Oscar and Caymens! There was a dolphin show that was really educational. Kaleb was entertained for maybe 5 minutes, then was begging to go see Oscar and Ollie again! So funny. I have a video of him looking at the seals. He was so funny. As we were ready to leave, we stopped by the gift store. Keegan, Aubrey and JB's son, has developed a recent obsession with Sea Turtles, so they wanted to get him a stuffed toy. I was hoping to get Kaleb something too, maybe an otter, shark, anything that had interested him the whole time. But nope, what did Kaleb find and HAVE TO HAVE... A Truck and a Helicopter! Leave it to my son to go to an aquarium and come out with a truck and helicopter! Oh well, that's Kaleb for you!

The morning of check-out, we had to be out of the condo by 10:00 am, but Aub and JB didn't need to be at the airport until 11:30. After a big game of tetris, trying to fit all our luggage into Paul's Tahoe, and still be able to fit 4 adults and two car seats, we went for breakfast at Waffle House. It was really crowded but didn't disappoint. Then, we went to The Crab Trap, which has two playgrounds on the beach for kids. This turned out to be a great morning! Kaleb didn't mind the sand so much since there was a playground. I got some great pics of him playing.

This is actually his "Cheese" face! He yells it! Hilarious!

This slide was big and fast! I actually went down it once with him and almost fell out it went so fast!

If Kaleb looks at this picture, he tells me "Look Momma, I'm sharing with Keegan" when in all actuality, Keegan was there first! 

Peek-A-Boo never gets old!

The Crab Trap is located in this big Boardwalk/Pier/Shopping center thing. There are three restaurants, a night club, an ice cream parlor and lots of little shops. So, after Kaleb was tired of the sand, we headed to check out the shops which had lots of little goodies for him. We found a pirate hat (he loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates on the Disney Channel) and this little alligator thing that would chop down when you pulled the trigger. I remember these things growing up and the mechanisms haven't changed much, but Kaleb loved it, so we got him both the pirate hat and the alligator. He kept walking around saying "I'm a pirate! Arg!" So funny! Here is a picture of him. He looks mad at me because he likes to look at the picture AS SOON AS YOU TAKE IT! But he kept moving so I kept having to take another! 

He's got the Big Bad Pirate look down pat! =)

I have some more pictures of stuff, but I forgot to bring my camera with me today to upload the rest of them. I wanted to get these from my phone up here so everyone can see them. I will create another post either tonight or tomorrow with the rest of the pictures and videos! 

3rd Birthday pics! FINALLY!

Well, sometimes I am a great mother, and sometimes things slip by! Birthday pictures are one of those things that slipped by! First, I have to explain that my camera malfunctioned the day of the party. It has since been shipped off to New York for warranty repair and is now in perfect working order, just in time for our trip to Florida in a few weeks. But, my loving mother's camera did function so we took turns snapping pictures. As soon as she got back to Covington, I started in on her to upload the pics to a CD at CVS so I could have them. And, like a good mother, she uploaded them that Monday, saying they would be ready in less than a week (the package says 3/26/2012!). So, of course I RAN to pick them up as soon as they were ready, right? right?! Nope! I would like to say that we were just TOO BUSY to go ALL THE WAY to get them. But truth be told, I'm forgetful! I drove right past that store multiple times and never once thought to stop and get them. Don't get me wrong, we have been busy, but not too busy to pick up the pictures of my son's birthday! Oh well, I have them now and have created a few collages with my favorite pictures. I love the way the John Deere theme turned out. Enjoy!

John Deere Party Decor

Let the fun times roll at the MS Children's Museum! Thanks to all who came! We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family!

And let there be CAKE! Kaleb really didn't like being sang to and refused to blow out the candles! Oh well, he seemed to like the cake though! But I think Hunter loved the cupcakes more than anyone there! =)

My first 5K!

Over Easter, my sister told me about a 5K that her church was hosting this weekend benefiting Hope Hollow, a local camp for handicapped children. Paul and I have been working out pretty consistently for over a year now so I have really been wanting to do a 5K to see just where I am physically. Kaleb had another birthday party to attend at 11:30 today so I told Melodie that I wouldn't be able to do it. But she told me it starts at 9 and we should be done by 9:30-10:00. So I thought 'what do I have to lose?' I registered online Friday and showed up at 8:30 for my first ever 5K! I have to say that I was extremely nervous. Paul had other plans so I brought Kaleb and his stroller along. It got started a little late but when they yelled 'GO!', everyone started jogging. I was doing pretty good at first. I made it past the 1/2 mile mark before I got out of breath. I think that's pretty good for pushing an extra 40lbs of toddler and stroller. Kaleb did really well until about the Mile 1 marker. He did not want to bein the stroller anymore! So I let him out, hoping he would walk or run beside me for a few minutes, then want back in. This was the case for about 2 minutes, then he just stopped and refused to move. I picked him up and carried him for a minute or two but that was hard trying to push a stroller and carry a three year old. So I just put him back in the stroller, kicking and screaming and took off running! At the 1/2 mile left point, Kaleb decided he wanted out of the stroller, mid run! I swear I about ran him over! I ended up leaving the stroller in the Elementary school grass (where my car was parked) and carrying Kaleb, piggy back, to the finish line. When Melodie saw me from the finish line (she finished in under 30 minutes!), she ran and got Kaleb from me so I could finish strong! My final time was 46:20! I'm pretty happy with it considering having to deal with Kaleb. My next one will not involve a stroller though, I can tell you that much! Hills and a head wind make that thing feel like 100lbs! Here is a pic of me and Melodie after the race!

Better Late than Never

Sorry it has been so long since I updated! We have been going NON STOP for the last few weeks. I don't have all my pictures ready yet, but will upload them soon.
In case you didn't already know, Kaleb's birthday was March 29. My baby boy turned 3! I am still in shock at how fast the time has flown by. I feel like it was just yesterday when he was so tiny that I would sit and hold him for hours, just watching him breath.
It is so hard being away from family and trying to throw a birthday party. Kaleb is finally at the age where he really likes all the kids in his daycare class. He had been to everyone's birthday, which were SO much fun, that Paul and I decided that Kaleb would have not one, not two, but THREE birthday parties this year!
On March 25, we had Kaleb's 3rd birthday party at the Mississippi Children's Museum. It was such a great time and I am VERY thankful for everyone that came. We invited all his little friends from 'school' and almost everyone showed up. We had one incident where an invitation got lost along the way. It was one of his little friends that I just knew was going to be there and was a little disappointed when they didn't come. They had just moved into a new house (and we all know how stressful that can be), so I tried not to think much of it. Well, the mom saw me in front of the daycare one day dropping Kaleb off and casually brought up the fact that they were sorry they didn't get to come but never received an invitation! If you know me, you know how HORRIBLE I felt. I have extreme guilt issues, even if something is completely not my fault, or even that big of a deal, I feel responsible and guilty over it for days to weeks. I apologized and she mentioned getting Kaleb a birthday present anyway, but I assured her that he had WAY to many toys already and we would just have to have a play date soon to make up for it.
Anyway, back to the party.... Our children's museum is really great for kid's Kaleb's age. They have 3 floors of activities for the kids to do. His theme was John Deere (of course), and I'd like to think that everything turned out really cute. (pictures to come later, I promise... My camera malfunctioned and I am having to get mom's that she uploaded to CVS for me). I was really excited that my mom, niece, nephew and sis-in-law got to come down for the occasion! They were really great and kept Kaleb for me and Paul while we got everything together and ready for the party. Kaleb is getting better about his social skills, but he is a lot like his momma, and doesn't like to be the center of attention. So, when it came time to sing Happy Birthday and blow out the candles, he froze and refused to blow out the candles. Luckily, there were plenty of kids around to help with the candles. We got a genius idea from another party, and didn't let him open presents at the party. We loaded them up and let him open them at the house later that evening. It would have been hectic with about 15 three year olds trying to see all the trucks and tractors and other great toys he got. Needless to say, I had to DRAG that kid out of the museum when it was time to go, and he fell asleep not 5 minutes into the ride home. Here is one picture I managed to get with my phone, amidst all the chaos:

And a picture of him OUT on the way home:

Here is a picture of him with all his presents he opened after he woke up from his nap:

The second party was a little traumatic for me but great for Kaleb. He was in Florida, WITHOUT ME, on his actual birthday! Talk about one sad momma! Paul's cousin, who lived in Jacksonville, got married on March 31 and they had asked Kaleb to be the ring bearer. We were VERY honored, but a little hesitant with Kaleb and his lack of social skills. They suggested that we come down a few days early, so Kaleb could get to know the family and hang out with the flower girl (Aliyah, his cousin). It was a GREAT idea, except I don't have the vacation time to take off. So, Paul and Kaleb drove to Florida on Wed, while I flew down to meet them that following Friday, with Kaleb's birthday being that Thursday. His family is wonderful and made sure that they had a birthday cake and plenty of presents for him! It was still really hard to be away from him. Luckily, my lovely sister knew how much I was missing them and decided to take my mind off things. She took me to the painting class they have here where you drink wine and paint a canvas. We went on a particularly difficult night apparently, because we ended up painting an ARTICHOKE! Agh! We had a great time and our paintings turned out great (as long as you don't compare it to any of the others in the class!).

 Luckily, Friday morning, I got to get up before the  sun, head to the airport, fly to Charlotte, NC, and then after a 3 hour layover (and a pedicure), I landed in Jacksonville, Florida where my wonderful son and husband were waiting on me! Then, in a whirlwind of a weekend, we had the rehearsal and dinner Friday night, wedding pictures starting at 12 on Saturday, wedding at 5, then a 12 hour drive home on Sunday! Whew! The wedding was great. I was REALLY nervous about Kaleb because he didn't really behave at all during the rehearsal, and he wasn't able to get his nap in due to the photos before the ceremony, but he did well for a three year old! They let him carry his tractor down the aisle, which was very sweet and very smart. He made it all the way to the end of the aisle, then FROZE! Luckily, Paul's aunt was there to scoop him up, hand him to Paul and the wedding went off without a hitch. Then, at the reception, a great time was had by all. I was really hoping Kaleb would want to dance like he does at the house, but of course he wanted nothing to do with anything that would draw any extra attention. After a long day, and night, we got up bright and early and hit the road for an interesting and LONG 12 hour drive home. I actually wasn't that bad but let's just say that everyone involved was happy to be home!
Went all the way to Florida and this was as close as I got to the ocean!:

Here is a picture of him in his shirt they had made for him for the rehearsal! How cute is this:

It says "I'm in charge of the rings!"

Here is a picture of my little man in his suit! He REFUSED to wear the jacket!

Here is pic of the three of us at the reception. Love this picture!

The very next weekend was Easter weekend so we headed up to Covington to celebrate with our family and have Kaleb's third and final birthday party of the year! Let me just tell everyone right now, my child is not spoiled AT ALL (insert sarcasm here)! This was a smaller party for Paul's mother and my grandmothers to come over and tell Kaleb happy birthday in person. We didn't even bother singing or candles at this one. If he hadn't gotten it by now, he wasn't gonna do it! Plain and simple as that! We had Laurin and Walt, Cayden and Kylie, and Randall and Sawyer over to hunt Easter eggs and to help eat the cake! It was TONS of fun had by all.
Safety First! Playing with his tool set he got from Randall and Sawyer:

Now, we are back in Mississippi, trying to lay low for a few weeks! We have a BIG vacation coming up in May and believe me, it can't get here soon enough! 43 DAYS, AUBREY!!!!! 43 DAYS!!!!

Another great weekend!

This weekend was another great one. Paul and I are truly blessed to have such great friends and family that support us and love us even though we have moved so far away. We went back into Covington for a baby shower/diaper party honoring some really great friends of ours. We got into town Friday night. The mom-to-be's shower was Saturday at 2. I rode with another great friend there and got to do some much needed catching up. I have to say, the glowing mommy really racked up. She is having a girl, and I swear she got the cutest things. Afterwards, they had a diaper party honoring the dad-to-be for all the guys. I stopped by there for a bit to catch up with the guys but headed back to my mom's around seven to spend some time with my favorite niece and nephew! They knew Kaleb was coming to town so they wanted to have a sleepover at Nana's house. I have to say it was SO much fun but SO exhausting watching the three of them play together! It makes me really sad to know that we live so far and can't have these play dates more often but I know that by staying in MS, we are doing what is best for the three of us. I have a picture that I took that just sums up the night. I call it 'the three cowboy musketeers!'
It was a bittersweet weekend on Sunday. It is always hard leaving mom and dad's with kaleb crying in the back seat. But, Walt and Laurin are getting to come down here in a few weeks for Kaleb's birthday party and we couldn't be more excited!
Kaleb didn't take a nap today so he has passed out in the rocking chair with me while I am typing this up. I cherish these moments so much, knowing that it won't be too long until he doesn't let me rock him anymore! Can you say 'Spoiled?!'

Wheeeeee!

Or is it Wii?! Either way, it is hilarious watching my son play Mario Kart on the Nintendo Wii. We will get to that later.

This past weekend, Paul, Kaleb and I got to go back home to TN for the weekend. We ended up waiting to Saturday morning to head up there because I was invited to a Mommy's Night Out with a few moms from Kaleb's daycare. We ended up hanging out at Bonefish Grill and turning in a little early due to the bad weather. But it was LOTS of fun getting to hang out with other moms and have drinks and complain about things only a mom of a 2-3 year old would understand! =) Anywho, we left Saturday morning and made the 4 hour drive to good ole Covington. But it was for a VERY special reason... Walt's 4th birthday party!

Paul and I had already made plans to head up to C-town for the weekend of March 10th due to a baby shower of some very good friends that we miss dearly. Well, my sis-in-law text me saying that Walt's party was going to be March 3rd. I feel like we are missing so much of him and Laurin's growing-up, so we decided that we were going to make the trip both weekends. (I have the best, most supportive husband ever!)

His party was at a local Bounce House place on our town square. And boy did they have fun! Kaleb just adores Walt and tried to follow him all over the place. Walt really racked up in the superhero toy department when it came present time. Oh, and did I mention that my sis-in-law is incredibly talented and makes all the cakes for Walt and Laurin's parties?! Seriously, she is incredible! I wish I had pics, but I'm awful like that and get caught up in the moment and never take pictures.

Since we didn't get into town until Saturday around lunch, we decided to wait until mid-morning to leave rather than our usual 8 am. Kaleb, of course, was up before 6 so he had plenty of Nana and Pop time before we left. Well, mom remembered how much he liked the driving game at the party the previous day, so she got the Mario Kart Wii game hooked up and ready to play. I really didn't think he would get the hang of it (and eventually get frustrated), but I was completely wrong. He LOVED it and didn't want to leave! So, guess what Kaleb will be getting for his birthday at the end of this month?! Here is a short video showing how funny he was and how much fun he had playing this game. (Please ignore the crazy hair do... This is how his hair looks every day when he wakes up).

After leaving my mom's house, we headed over to Paul's mom's house for a quick visit before heading back to Mississippi. Kaleb and Mrs. Judy ended up playing with some toy cars and some dice. It was hilarious watching him. They ended up getting into this "don't touch it" game. I am going to have to remember to tell her "Thanks" for that though because Kaleb now LOVES to tell me to "Don't touch it"! ha!

On a more personal note, I have always been a "mole-y" person (per my dermatologist), and with my mom having had some skin cancer issues in the past, I am always being told to go get various moles checked out. Well, this time it was my OBGYN that instructed me to get a few on my torso checked out. I have had two moles removed back when I was in middle school and it was a rather traumatic experience with lots of pain (at least that's what I remember from being 12 years old!) and eventual keloid-type scarring on my chest and back. So, after much procrastination, I finally scheduled myself to have them checked out by a local dermatologist. He confirmed that the two on my torso needed to be removed and sent off for testing but there were two on my back that he wanted to keep a close eye on also. I went in for the procedure a few weeks later, and got the results back a few days after that. Moderately Atypical.... I had no idea what that meant so the nurse explained that it meant I didn't have cancer! Yah! But... it did mean that they would have to go back in to the same sites and excise more of the tissue because the borders of the previous sample were not 'clean', meaning they did not get all the atypical cells. If they left them, they could eventually develop into melanoma. So that is what I did today on my lunch break. My wonderful husband met me at my work, picked me up and took me to my appointment. He is so great. He knows that I am not a big fan of the needle portion of the procedure and could possibly pass out if I see too much of the blood. I tried to tell him that I would be fine, but he wasn't having any of it. He was there the whole time, making me laugh and generally keeping my mind off of what was happening! I don't know what I would do without that man!