Legree's Birthday party... Part 1... getting ready!

Legree's 2nd birthday party will be this weekend. I've been stressing myself out like crazy about it! Last year I said I wouldn't do this and all the months leading up to it I said it wouldn't be a big deal, I wasn't going all out, I wasn't going to invite many people etc etc. And now here we are, just a few short days from his party. We have 50 or more people coming to his party, I've made two banners, his outfit for the party, got tons of decorations, made a wreath, got food all lined up, am making all the cupcakes and an extra dessert. I'm crazy! But I wouldn't have it any other way. I love decorationg and throwing parties. And I love my little man like crazy so combining the two just seems logical and even more exciting for me (although still a bit stressful).

Why do you need 50 people at a two year olds birthday party might you ask?? Well, we just couldn't leave out anyone! We want to share our little guy with ALL of our family and friends and not exclude anyone. Our aunts, uncles, parents, cousins, brothers, sis-in-laws, nieces, nephews and friends have all played such a BIG role in getting us to this point, we don't want to exclude anyone in the fun!! Plus Legree loves a crowd to show off too, so he'll have a ball! We also both have big, close knit families so there you go!

So, next week I'll have pictures of all the decorations, my little man (Daddy says I'm not allowed to call him a baby any more!), and all of our family friends together to celebrate the most important little boy on earth! Ok, well he's the most important to me :).

Legree did not disappoit!

Legree certainly did not disappoint me this year at the beach. Not that he really could... but I was super excited to see how he'd react to the wide open space, the sand between his toes, the waves, the waney (water). His reaction was better then I could have expected! Seeing these things through your child's eyes is like reliving the beach as a child again yourself. It makes you really appreciate the beauty, simplicity and fun that God gave us in a beach!

The highlights from the trip:

1. Legree running around and trying to keep up with all the "big kids" (his cousins). He played ball, danced, and showed off for them like I've never seen before! He was a hoot!

2. Legree loved the beach and wanted to go as deep as he possible could! Everytime a wave would hit him he would just die laughing. And he'd lick the water off of his face and say Yumm Yumm! ( So gross!).

Here's a picture of Legree going as deep as he would go. He would get mad if we tried to help him walk or stay steady in the water. When we let him go, he'd walk out until the water was up to his chin. SO SCARY for this mommy!!

Here's a picture of a wave hitting him and his reaction!! What kid likes getting hit in the face like that with water?? What a crazy boy!! (By the way, we did not normally let him get hit that hard with the waves. Although he would have loved it if we would have let him. This was a big one that hit him hard, he loved it, but normally we helped him jump them)

3. Ben and Legree build a sandcastle that Legree called a "Barn" for his John Deeres. He's always worried about where he's going to put his John Deeres. Even on the beach! He must have sat there an hour building onto his barn and playing in the sand.

We had so much fun at the beach we are ready to go pack! We were only there two days and only got to go out on the beach twice. We weren't planning on taking another beach trip and try to save the money, but we both decided we just have to. The memories are too special. We'll just cut corners and save money elsewhere. So, I think we'll be headed to Garden City beach sometime in August for the week with my parents!! I'm SO excited for them to get to see Gree out on the beach and playing. And they are too!!

Getting ready for Edisto

We're headin to Edisto tomorrow to spend the weekend with Ben's family (all his aunts and uncles and cousins on his dad's side). We went last year for the whole week with them. We are trying to cut expenses so we decided to only go for the weekend this year. I am SO SO SO excited to see Legree at the beach this year!! He was a TON of fun last year. He had just started walking and was into everything. He would just crawl right into the ocean last year. This year will be even more fun I'm sure! I just know he'll run around like a wild man! Pics and details to come soon...

Legree on Edisto beach last year... ohh the sweetness, the babyness, the cuteness in him!! I could just eat him up with a spoon!!

The world according to Legree...

Legree is now 23 months! I can't believe my little baby will be 2 years old next month!! So, in honor of the 23 month mark I thought I'd share some 23 month old "thoughts and ideas" according to Legree.







He sure is head strong and wants things his way already! When he gets an idea in his head it HAS To happen or a tantrum begins. We're working on that, but between mine and Ben's genes, stubborness is bound to be one of his fine qualities!




1. The word "green" does not exist. That color that you are referring to as "Green" is called "John Deere". You won't convince Legree otherwise.




2. The word "red" also does not exist. That color is "pink" and any shade of red or pink is "pink". Also, don't tell Legree otherwise.




3. All balloons are "mine bawoons" (Legree's) and he thinks he should have one whenever he sees it. Once we get home with a balloon, all interest is lost.





4. Pancakes and dip-dip (syrup) come before any form of drink in the morning. When Legree is ready for a drink, I hand it to him, he sits it on the table and then immediately picks it back up and starts drinking it. Why he can't just start drinking it when I hand it to him, I will probably never know!





5. If you say the word "fries" in front of Legree, you'd better be prepared with fries in hand to give to him. If not, you'll hear the word "fries" about 10,000 times until you hand them over.




6. Don't tell Legree you are going somewhere until you are 100% ready to walk out the door with him. Otherwise, tantrums will ensue!




7. ALL tractors are John Deeres. Doesn't matter what color or make they are, if they are real or just in a coloring book. They are John Deeres and he loves them.




8. Whenever I give Legree a blank page of paper to color on, he always "draws" (scribbles) and announces it's a choo-choo train.


9. Legree now knows when we are passing by the local park. If we don't pull in, I hear "park? go n there!" Over and over again...




10. Mommy's hair is solely for Legree's pulling and playing with pleasure. 23 months and I still can't break that habit. It hurts like crazy, but is so sweet too!




11. Once we get outside to go somewhere he generally bolts for the fence to see the dog. I have to tell him that we're going to see Ian or Kaylynn to get him to come too me. I think he'll probably catch on soon that we're not really going to see them (at least not all the time). So, I should probably stop huh?





12. If the dishwasher is open, he must help get the dishes out. It doens't matter if they are clean or not, they must come out.





13. No one is allowed near him while he is... doing his business. If you try he yells "nooooo" and hides.


14. The word "yes" does not exist. Instead if you ask Legree a question and he wants to answer in the affirmitive it is answered with "I do". Like: Legree, do you want something to eat? I do! Legree, do you want to ride tractors? I do! He never ever answers with a yes. So weird!




15. He will not say Grandma or any variation of it. I think he's said it about 4 or 5 times. He can say about anything now and he knows who his grandma's are, of course. But he refuses to say it!




16. Popsicles and syrup are their own food group and he tries to make sure I give him 5-6 servings of each a day. (That doesn't happen, but he begs constantly!) Here's Legree with a "pop". While he eats the "pop" he says Yum Yum! And then followed by... COOOOLLLD! And he shivers... that's what he's doing here.







17. If he doesn't recognize a food, he will not eat it. Even if it's really good. Like hot dogs. He won't touch them because we don't eat them too much. But I know if he'd just try it he'd like it. Ohh well!




18. Going "outsii" (outside) to play with "Kiwo" (Kilo) is an essential part of the day. Don't mess with this time or you will get a serious tantrum! We often "fight" about this everyday. I won't let him go out while he's tantruming over going out, which causes more tantrums, which causes more time outs. It's a mess!




Okay, that's all for now!

I promise he does look like me...

Okay, in my last post I said that Legree looks a little like me. Then I realized the picture I chose as a comparison (see above post) makes Legree look JUST LIKE BEN! Honestly, it really doesn't matter... but I wanted to show a picture of Legree that DOES look like me :)




Same day, same photo shoot...
and the picture of Ben and I as little kiddos again :)

Things that make 22 month old Legree smile...

While going through some stuff at the house I found a picture of me around 18months old that was taken at Olin Mills. You southerners know what I'm talking about. The ONLY portrait studio back in the day where all cheesy family pictures were taken.

Anyways, I'm smiling in it and to my suprise Legree looks like me! Well, a little. He's still Ben's boy for sure, but I can see it in the smie. Since Legree was born everyone (including myself) thought Legree looks just like Ben. Now, I see some of me in him! Not that it really matters, I kind of liked that our little boy looks like Ben. I'm rambling now... so here's the picture, and one of Ben too.




And now one of Legree for comparison...




Seeing the picture of myself as a little lady made me think about the extent we go through to get Legree to smile in pictures sometimes. And then it made me wonder what silly things my parents did to get me smiling. So, I thought I'd list some things that we do to get Legree to smile for the camera...

1. "MUUUUSSSSHHH" said in a really deep silly voice. It really only works when Ben does it but he ALWAYS looks up and smiles. It started when Ben was reading Goodnight Moon to Legree one night and started saying Goodnight mush funny like and it's kind of stuck.

2. Pretend Sneezing. This used to always work, but is starting to run it's coarse.

3. Dancing and waving your arms like a crazy person. Works the best when Ben does it, Legree pays NO attention to me when the camera is out. I think he's just over me taking pictures.

4. Singing a silly song that you make up. If he knows he wants to sing along or doesn't pay attention

5. Making silly noises, but watch out because he'll start to mimick you!

Okay, that's it for this Wednesday's post... till next week :)

Wednesdays post

Well, as usual I'm a SLACK blogger. So I thought maybe if I set myself on a schedule I might do better. So, once a week and maybe I'll move up from there. I'm going to shoot for one post every Wednesday. So here goes...

This Wednesday we're going to talk a little about floors. Our carpet was gross! It needed to be taken out and changed. Ben and I are planning on putting the house in the market next spring and we knew this was something in our house that needed to be done before anyone would consider the house.

So, we picked out some nice (and inexpensive )laminate hardwood floors. So, hopefully it will help with the resale value of the house. Well, who am I kidding I just hope it helps to sell the house period!

Here's a picture of the new floor, complete with a cute little boy dancing with excitement over them!