The Beach

We had SO much fun at the beach for a week with my family! My nephew is 5 months old, just one month younger than the boys were when we took them to the same house last year so it was fun to see just how much the boys had grown. I took TONS of pictures but here are some that I thought I'd share...I'm going to do them in 2 posts since there are so many...and there are more where these came from because I took a ton with my Dad's camera also....hopefully I'll post those soon!

Our 18 month old boys!!

When did our sweet little babies suddenly become 1 1/2?!?! The boys are growing by leaps and bounds and amaze me every day with their new vocabulary, ability to communicate their needs and wants, and they even play fetch with Nestle...not that the ball goes very far but it's the effort that counts...

Lights, Camera, Action....Take 3 (The Before)

I just realized it has been a month since I've updated our blog!! I had written several posts but didn't get around to adding the pictures...so here come the massive updates...

Another busy day in the Haden household!! A few months ago I submitted our picture and story for a commercial that Chase bank will be airing on HGTV. They were looking for a family with a "story to tell" and we definitely have just that with our move to North Carolina, Jared's surgery, the birth of the boys, and our move to Atlanta. It has definitely been a whirlwind the past 4 years! I honestly didn't think that we would get the makeover, but we did! They decided to make over the boys bedroom and turn their nursery into a "toddler room" with toddler beds, bookcases, etc.

It has been a fun and exciting process as the designer has sent us links, our design plan, etc. and today was our "before" shooting of the boys room. To have your house turn into a "set" is an odd experience as they set up all of the lights, camera equipment, etc. but it was definitely a fun one at the same time. I took some pictures below and we will shoot the "reveal" shoot next month (October) and the commercial will likely begin airing some time in November. I'll make sure to post a link when that happens!

Slide climbing

Coleman and Carter amaze me everyday with the new things they can do! Last weekend Jared and I took them to a playground and they LOVED going up and down the slide...of course they would rather climb up the slide part instead of the stairs but who doesn't?! Here they are yesterday afternoon...

Toes in the sand

We loaded up the boys and headed to the beach to spend a few days with Jared's parents in Florida and had a blast. The beach is by far my favorite place to be and I have to admit that I was anxious about how the boys were going to react to the sand. They have never been in a sandbox, and the last time we were at the beach they were only 6 months old. Well...Coleman and Carter absolutely loved it (and even liked putting it in their mouths).

Here was Carter's first reaction when we got to the beach Monday evening...I wanted to do the same thing but for some reason a 1 year old looks a lot cuter laying in the sand than a 31 year old...

Playing in the sand...



Back at the beach on Tuesday afternoon....


Milk break with Daddy...

"Helping" put up the canopy...

We took some family pictures on Tuesday night and out of the many pictures we took here are some of the ones where someone isn't blinking, crying, not looking, or clapping their hands. I love how they turned out!



Playing in the sand on Wednesday morning:






More pictures of the munchkins:











I was sad to say goodbye to such a fun time with family and gorgeous weather but excited we will be back at the beach in just a few weeks!

Cookie Lovin' Boy!

Recently the boys have become VERY independent. They no longer want to hold my hand when walking, don't want to ride in their stroller, sit in their high chair, and are a hit or miss when it comes to riding in a shopping cart. So, as you can imagine grocery shopping can be an adventure when they both want out of the cart and to be held or walk, etc. I've tried putting them in separate shopping carts, the same shopping cart, holding one while the other rides, etc. By the end we usually have just a few things in our cart and one sweaty Mama!

In a desperate attempt yesterday to get our necessities I tried an all new tactic and found a cart that has the car in the front. This allowed me to put Carter in the front of the cart and be occupied with the steering wheel (without biting his brother) and put Coleman in the front of the cart with me. I also got them a kid cookie to split and they were AWESOME! Seriously the first time in weeks that I could take my time at the grocery store, look through my coupons (Love some couponing) and get everything on our list....but we did wind up a little bit messy afterwards...oh well, it was worth the chocolate mess!

Such Big Boys!

Coleman and Carter bring more smiles to my face each day than I could possibly count. They are simply the cutest things ever in my eyes and are becoming very independent lately. They can have their "moments" when they aren't happy and are at wits end (and usually so is Mommy), but for the most part they are just so content and sweet that I could eat them up!

Here are a few things the boys are doing lately:
~ Our highchairs are a hit or miss...they LOVE sitting at their big boy table but their attention spans are not the longest so it is difficult to get them to eat a whole meal there. This is a daily battle.
~ Talking. Some of the words the boys can say are:
Esee (Nestle)
Ish (Fish...for snack)
Ight (Light)
Bye Bye (complete with a blown kiss...such charmers)
I (Hi)
Yeah (this is used a lot on their toy phone...maybe I need to work on modeling different words...ha!)
Mommmm (Mama)
At (That)

I know there are a few more but this is what's on the top of my mind...and Yes, they definitely have their own "twin talk" language and will jabber on to each other making zero sense but the other one seems to get it!