Disney World 2012 - The Big Reveal and Day 1

We took Clayton and Drew to Disney World a few weeks ago! Man, oh man, did we ever have a good time! We started planning back in January. Wade was going to a conference in Orlando, so we discussed going early and taking the boys to Disney World. It just felt like the perfect scenario - Wade's airfare was paid for, we used hotel points and airline miles, Clayton was out of school for Spring Break... We just couldn't pass it up!

The only problem was that we knew it would be too much for our little Owen. We knew that he would be into crawling and exploring and would not be interested in sitting in his stroller all day long. I think that 5 days of playing nonstop would have been too much, even for our little dream of a baby. So... we decided to leave him with Grammie & Papaw. It broke my heart to think of not being able to see him for 5 whole days. I was literally sick about it. But, Clayton and Drew have sacrificed a lot of time with me over the last 10 months. They have entertained themselves for hours and hours and hours while I was nursing Owen or taking care of him. I wanted them to have a few days of big kid fun. I was seriously torn, though, and even thought about scrapping the whole trip at one point. However, it was a good decision for our family. We had a ball with our big boys and Owen had a ton of fun with his Grammie & Papaw. It just worked for us. :)

We held off on telling the boys about the trip until the day before we left. We set up the video camera and gave them a bunch of Disney stuff. As they were opening their gifts, we shouted, "We're going to Disney World!!!" Their reaction was priceless! They were hollering and dancing around - so excited about our trip. It was pretty cute. :)

We took our sweet babe to East Texas and spent the night with Grammie & Papaw, then we left from their house to go to the airport the next morning. While we were in line to get onto the plane, one of the gate agents asked Drew if he wanted to go in the cockpit. Yes, please!

He got to sit in the co-pilot's seat and push some of the buttons. The pilot was awesome & patiently explained many of the controls. Drew was on cloud 9! His sweet little face with that big huge grin is etched in my memory forever.



The flight to Orlando was awesome! (The flight home was far from awesome... but that is a story for another day.) We got to sit in first class and the boys did awesome! They were happy and quiet for the whole flight. I was so proud of them!

We landed in Orlando, got our bags, the shuttle let us make a quick grocery store stop, and then we checked into our hotel. We swam for a little bit and then we went to Downtown Disney for dinner. Drew fell asleep on the shuttle. Bless his heart.

His head started to get heavy, so Wade let him rest in his hands. One second he was awake and smiling...

the next he was fast asleep. ;)

We looked in the shops, explored Downtown Disney, and then had diner at the T-Rex restaurant. Between the Lego store and the dinosaur themed restaurant, my boys were loving life. :)

We had to rest up, though, because the next day we were headed to Epcot. :)

Clayton Version 7.0

My big boy turned 7 years old on March 13th! I just can't fathom it... Has it really been 7 whole years since he made me a Mama?!?!

Clayton is a fun, loving, bundle of energy these days! He goes 90 to nothing all day long. He gets dressed as soon as he gets up - no pajama days for this kid. He loves his brothers and the Lord. We are so proud of the young man that he is growing up to be.

I figured I would shake things up a bit and interview Clayton for his birthday post. Who better to tell about the 7 year old version of C than himself? :) The videos are below, but I am going to type out his answers as well so that they will be in the blog book (that is, when and if I ever print one). :)

1. How tall are you? 50 1/2 inches
2. How much do you weigh? 53 pounds
3. How many teeth have you lost? 3
4. What is your favorite animal? I have a couple. Sharks, tigers, cheetahs, tiger sharks, lions... that's about it.
5. What makes you happy? Spending time with my family.
6. What is your favorite thing to eat? Mac 'n cheese, and pizza (and Boston Market and Pei Wei)
7. What is your least favorite thing to eat? Green beans, peas, carrots and all sorts of vegetables. Bleh!
8. What is your favorite thing to do? I would go to Africa and see all of the animals. And go to Asia and see the butterflies that grow up to 2 feet. Or to go camping.
9. What is your favorite TV show? Probably Transformer Rescue Bots or Arthur
10. What are you really good at? Probably drawing. I was like born to draw. ;)
11. What is your favorite movie? Charlotte's Web and Lion King and all those animal movies
12. What is your favorite color? Red, blue, and green
13. What is your favorite song? I have a couple of favorites. Oh How You Hold Me, Trust and Obey, Do Right, Love, Love, It All Comes Down to Love, Do Everything - that's about it.
14. Who is your best friend? Stella, Aden, Aaron, Linley, Jacie, Lindsey, Grant, Luke D., Luke B., Ben, Maggie, Sadie, Avery - I have a lot of friends. And of course my two little brothers!
15. What do you do with your Mom? Homework, make costumes, go places and have some fun
16. What do you and your Dad do for fun? Go outside - we play a lot. We play games. We play Battleship a lot.
17. What is your favorite sport? I have 3 - football, basketball, and baseball.
18. What is your favorite sport to play? Basketball. I play football at school.
19. What is your favorite book? I can't decide because there is a whole series. I like Imagination Station and Magic Tree house books.
(He paused to get a book to show me. I got confused and turned the camera off by accident - hence the continuation. :) )
20. Where is your favorite place to go? I've pretty much already been there - Disney World. I got to stretch my Spring Break. Whoo-whoo!
21. What was your favorite ride? Tower of Terror and Expedition Everest
22. Who was your favorite character that you met? Well, I didn't really meet him, but I went to the Indiana Jones stunt show. It was really cool!
23. What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be an archeologist. I want to go look around. I like to dig, so I was thinking that when I grow up I'm going to find dinosaur skeletons. I was thinking I would go to... the uh... Hall of Kings. I want to be like Howard Carter who found King Tut. Only, I don't want to get arrested for it.
24. Do you want to be a Daddy when you grow up? Yeah. I want to have two sons - I want to have twins. So that when they are like 12 they can go on trips with me and stuff.



The interview ended with a long soliloquy on Saber Tooth Tigers. IDK. ;)





Clay-Boy,

I can't believe how big you are! 7 sounds really old, yet I can't really remember life before I had you. You are so special to me!

You are something else, my Dear. You are smart and witty; full of life and energy. You have big blue eyes and the cutest patch of freckles across your nose. You make me beam with pride and challenge me all at the same time. We still butt heads at times, but you can make my heart melt like no one else on earth. You will still crawl up into my lap sometimes with your long, lanky body, and I wonder how on earth you got so big. I treasure those times when you want to be held in my lap, because they are becoming few and far between. I know that I am in charge of giving you roots and wings. I'm good with the roots part, but the wings part makes my heart ache a bit. I never want you to cease being my little boy. I adore you so...

I am really enjoying a new dimension of our relationship as you grow. I love to teach you about the world and learn from you as well. I feel like you are becoming more of a buddy to me everyday. I like spending time with you one-on-one and hearing what is going on in that beautiful mind of yours. I love hearing you talk about the Lord and animals and whatever else that you choose to talk about. We can talk on a deeper level now, and I love that. I hope that you will always confide in me and trust me with your inmost thoughts.

At this stage of childhood, we have lots of talks about self control and being a servant to others. Those are the two values that I really hope to instill in you. Having self control and putting others before yourself will keep you from a multitude of sins. I struggle with those things, too - it's part of being human. But I want you to be better than me. I want you to be more like Christ than I am. I know that you will be. You are an amazing soul.

I love you so deeply and hope that you always know that. Even on our hardest days, I still love you like crazy. I want to be with you and not miss a moment of your childhood. You are a precious gift, and I am so grateful that you are mine.

I love you to the moon and back,
Mommy

He's Upright!

Our sweet baby boy has learned how to pull up to a stand! It catches me off guard every time that I see him upright. It just doesn't feel like he should be old enough to do that! I've just recently gotten used to the fact that he is crawling. Now I have to wrap my mind around the fact that he can pull up. :)

Doesn't he look proud of himself???





He also learned how to wave over the last few days. I haven't been able to get a good picture or video, but it is really sweet to watch. He holds his hand backwards and studies his fingers as he moves them up and down, then he looks at you with a big grin. You can just see the wheels in his head moving...

This is a fun stage of development where they seem to learn a new "trick" every day. Such a sweet age...

Clayton's 7th Birthday Party

This year, Clayton chose to have his birthday party at a new trampoline park in Southlake called Urban Air. He had been to a birthday party there in January and loved it, so it was an easy decision for him. :) It is a really cool place, but definitely best suited for older kids. There were even several teenagers having their birthday parties there. I would venture a guess that this won't be the last birthday party that we have at Urban Air. The kids all loved it!
The place is literally wall to wall trampolines. Actually, even the walls are trampolines. Ha! It was great for our {almost!} 7 year old that has boundless energy.

Clayton was literally climbing the walls! ;)

He was fearless when it came to the ball pit - crazy flips at every chance he got! I'm pretty sure that he gave me some new grey hairs as I watched.

He was a big fan of dodge ball, too. Check out the birthday boy on the front lines with 2 balls in his hands. Ha!

A toe touch contest ensued between Wade, Makinley, and Leigh Ann. It was pretty funny to watch. :)

Miss Morgan was super helpful with Drew. They are good buds.

Sweet Angel... He would stop bouncing to smile every time that he saw my camera pointed at him. Bless his heart - Becca has trained him well. ;)

Sister Pic

Bestie Pic

SIL pic

Cousin Pic

I jumped at the chance to take some pictures with some of my favorite girls! :)

Wade was CUH-razy out there! Between he and Doug - the adults had more fun than the kids. Ha! When we laid down that night, Wade said that he felt like he was still bouncing. ;)

Leah and Sadie took Owen out for Justin Beiber's "Baby, Baby, Baby, Oh" song. Quite fitting for our Baby O. :)

How did he get so old??? It baffles me.

Trick candles never get old in my book. C loved it. ;)

Aunt Leigh Ann snuck Owen some icing. Naughty girl! I think her exact words were, "Busted!" when I walked over. Ha! Something tells me that he will go to town on his cake here in a couple of months...

Wade loves Sadie Bug... We all do!

Drew was a wild man in the pit, too.

It was a fun party, for sure! Our Spring Break baby will celebrate his real birthday on Tuesday. He's already been taunting me with a countdown. Only 6 more days of being 6 left... :)