Arts and Crafts with Daddy

I mentioned in my previous post that March is right in the middle of Dallas's busy season.  Since we don't get to see daddy much during his work week, we really tried to make the weekends count. Dallas was such a good sport at spending quality time with us even though he was exhausted after putting in such long hours at work.  I was able to find several fun activities for Daxton and Dallas to do on Sunday afternoons for one on one time.

Some of their favorite projects from March...
After having built this dump truck the previous week, they took a Sunday afternoon to paint it together.  It was pretty funny to see their matching concentrated faces.  Dallas tried to get Daxton to use other colors besides blue and green, but Daxton wouldn't budge.

I loved watching how detailed Daxton was.  He wanted to make sure every inch was covered in paint.

Working hard together!

Of course things quickly turned to painting each other once the truck was mostly finished.  Daxton kept singing, "I have painted nippies!"  He's quite the character for sure!

On another Sunday, Daddy and Daxton built a wooden airplane together.  I found the model at Hobby Lobby and it was pretty sturdy.  Daxton had so much fun helping daddy with the different tools and especially with putting on the wheels.

Love these sweet boys!

For St Patrick's Day, Daxton and I did a fun rainbow craft.  We got the idea from cousin Heidi and it was perfect!  Using Crayola Paint Dabblers, I drew a rainbow outline on a piece of paper.  Then Daxton used different colored paint dabblers to go over each line, creating a beautiful rainbow.  He was pretty proud of his work!

It was a great way to practice colors and Daxton loved feeling independent and successful.

On another Sunday in March, Daddy and Daxton decided to paint their wooden airplane they had made previously.  Once again I LOVED watching them both furrow their brows and concentrate on every detail.  They were especially careful on the propellors.

Once again Daxton chose blue as the main color, but after it dried, Dallas was able to convince him to add yellow stripes on the wings.  I love watching these two interact.  Dallas is Daxton's hero.  I love watching how Daxton lights up the second daddy is around.  We are both so grateful for how hard daddy works throughout the year, even if that means we don't get to see him as much during busy season.  It means so much to us that he would spend what little free time he has deepening his relationships with us and making sure it's quality time.

We love you, daddy!

Day to Day in March

Our day to day from March...
March was a busy month for our family, mostly because it was right in the middle of Dallas's most busy time of the year for work. During the week we rarely got to see daddy, so we definitely made the weekends matter!  I found crafts/projects that Dallas and Daxton could work on together Sunday afternoons to make sure they were able to have some quality one on one time.  

Their first project was building the dump truck below from Hobby Lobby.  Daxton had so much fun helping dad use the hammer and screw driver to help put it together.  They were both pretty excited to wake me up from my Sunday afternoon nap to show me their achievement...
Love these two boys of mine!  

Daxton also got obsessed with wiping off the bottoms of his feet.  He would run around the house and about every 5-10 minutes would sit down and clean off the bottoms of his feet with a wet wipe.  He was pretty proud at keeping his toes so clean and I just thought he looked adorable in the process.

We continued our date nights with our dear friends, Adam and Tiffany Bradford.  We decided to take them to Le Tub, an incredible burger place in Hollywood.  We once again spent the entire evening laughing our heads off and eating incredible food.  We love these two more than I could ever express.  They are truly our family here in Florida, even if they had to move to Boca!

Mid march I threw a fun baby shower for my friend, Jodi.  She was having her second little boy, so we had fun playing with mustaches and bowties.  I made a diaper cake and my friend, Monica, decorated cupcakes and made an incredible breakfast casserole.  We had such a fun morning/afternoon eating yummy food, opening presents, and helping Jodi celebrate her little man.

I had a lot of fun decorating!

I love how the light green and yellows turned out!

We had a great group of girls in attendance.

Jeni, Brittney, Kimberly, Carrie, Sarah, Lauren, Monica, Michelle, Arianne, Angie, and Jodi's mom were all able to come.

Some other highlights from March...

We took off the side of Daxton's crib!  He did really well at night, but fell out a few times.  We ended up putting a foot stool next to his bed which helped catch him a few times, but within a few weeks we ended up buying a single bed with a safety rail to help him feel more comfy.  Daxton also LOVED his iPAD time.  We found lots of fun apps, but he mostly liked to watch "his shows."  I have to confess that as long as he was snuggling with me, I didn't mind...

I love this little man!!

He was such a great help with running errands and helping around the house.  He became a major fan of home depot, probably because we spent hours letting him play with every power drill.

We did, however, have our first mishap.  While I was vacuuming and moving furniture around I found this lovely masterpiece behind one of our chairs.  He was more upset with me making him take a picture than he was when I made him clean it up.  Can I just say how amazing Magic Erasers are!?  The crayon came right off the wall and Daxton was able to clean it all himself, which in turn has reminded him that he NEVER wants to color on our walls again.

Another big milestone in March was Daxton finishing his first session of swim lessons.  He had been having private lessons with Coach Nicole for several weeks and was able to be moved up with two of his sweet friends the following session.  The below underwater picture makes me laugh!  It looks nothing like my little man with his orange tinted hair and air filled cheeks.

He was pretty proud of himself, though, when he received his first medal.  This mommy was pretty proud as well!

We also went to a fun St. Patrick's Day party at our friend, Kimberly's, house.  Daxton was pretty funny in a big group and tried to keep to himself as much as possible.  He loved jumping on their trampoline and crawling through their "Leprechaun" tunnel.

At home I had wanted to go all out, but the holiday crept up on me, so we sent him on a short little "treasure" hunt for store bought cupcakes...super low-key and yet this little guy couldn't have been happier.

My favorite part about March was being able to spend so much time with Tiffany "Tiffy" as Daxton calls her.  She helped me sand down two of our nightstands  and give them a whole new paint color.  I love how they turned out!  We just need to get hardware for the outside and they'll be ready.

Daxton and I also had a blast with Tiffy at Red Reef Beach.  Red Reef is located up in Boca Raton near where the Bradford family moved.  It was fun to explore a new beach and enjoy a sunny afternoon together.

The crazy thing was finding TONS of man-o-wars washed up on shores.  Their sting is SUPER painful, even after they've died, so we had to keep a close eye on Daxton.  But this didn't stop us from swimming in the ocean...we were super smart that day!

I can't get over how beautiful their colors were, especially when the light hit them.

These are two of my favorite pictures from the month...

It sums up the beauty that we are surrounded by daily and Daxton's energy and love of life.  We have a pretty blessed life for sure.

More playing in the sand...it was such a great day with Tiffy at Red Reef Beach!

The biggest event for March was Daxton's third birthday.

Because I went totally crazy for his second birthday, I thought we'd tone it down for this years'.  It's crazy to look back at this little expressive baby and see how much he's grown over the past few years.  My heart breaks just thinking of how quickly time is flying by and how much he grows each year.  I'm loving watching all his amazing milestones, but a part of me wants to freeze time and keep him my baby forever.

Fresh and snuggly in the hospital NICU

Some of my favorites from his first year...

Gotta love those crazy facial expressions!

He started out his birthday by getting a super fun package from Grandma and Grandpa Adams.  Daxton was so excited to get treats, a Baymax toy, and a Big Hero 6 book.  

For Daxton's birthday, he wanted a Baymax cake, but he couldn't decide between the Baymax with armor or without armor.  So I made them both.  I figured it was a good chance to practice some of the things I was learning from my cake decorating class.  The red was really tricky to mix and even though I used a ton of dye, I still wasn't too happy with the tone.  But besides that, I was pretty happy with how they turned out.

That week was also Tiffy's birthday, so we were able to celebrate with a few families.  We invited our Floridian family over, the Bradfords, Solanos, and Pesoas.  We had a yummy pasta and salad bar, spent the afternoon/evening laughing and playing games, and then celebrated Daxton's and Tiffany's birthdays.

So much yummy food!!

Joey gave Daxton the absolute CUTEST book called, Where Do Diggers Sleep At Night.  Daxton is still obsessed with it to this day!  He has the whole book memorized and reads it every night with daddy.  It was such a perfect birthday gift.

He also got a couple fun water toys from the Bradford family, which Daxton couldn't wait to try out.

Dallas and I got him his first set of wooden blocks cut into all different shapes.  He immediately used them to build ramps for his cars.  It was a pretty great birthday and a great way to finish off the month of March!

Heidi and Tommy Visit--Lion Country Safari

Another fun adventure we had with Heidi and Tommy was at the Lion Country Safari.  It is one of Daxton and I's favorite places to go, since we see something new every time.  We had a blast on the drive-through safari portion of the park.  We let both boys out of their carseats for the drive, since we were going less than 5 miles an hour which they thought was awesome!  They each took turns helping me steer the car, stand out of the moon rood, and point at all the animals they saw. 

So yeah, we technically weren't supposed to open any windows, but we made sure no animals were around first.  Daxton was pretty excited to be able to stand up through the roof!

These little guys were pretty awesome drivers!

The ostriches were super inquisitive that day.  Several of them approached our car and one even picked at the dead bugs on the bumper.  The ostrich came to each of our windows looking inside as well.  The boys were a pretty good mix of excitement and fear at that point.

One of the most exciting things was as we were slowly driving along, a MASSIVE rhino crossed right in front of our car!  It was so interesting to see how these unique animals moved.

At one point as I was watching the rhinos, I looked over and caught Daxton staring at himself in the mirror.  When I asked him what he was doing he said, "I so handsome, mommy!"  I'm afraid we have a bit of a vain little man on our hands!

After we spent about an hour driving through the safari part of the park, we had the boys hop in their strollers to explore the rest of Lion Country Safari.  I loved that Daxton had insisted on wearing his smelly rainbows, batman shirt, and zoo Miami safari hat.  It was the perfect combination for adorable pictures!

The rides are all included in the park admission, so we spent some time hitting up as many as we could.  

Another fun spot was feeding the Lorikeets.  There were several throughout the enclosure, all attracted to either Heidi's smoothie or her sparkly shoes.  It was so funny to watch Tommy back away as his momma was covered in Lorikeets. 

We loved looking at the gorgeous giraffes, but since we had already fed them at the Miami Zoo, we didn't interact with them too long.

Heidi and Tommy had a blast riding on the camel.

The kids also had a blast riding on the train.  Heidi was a trooper and rode with the boys to make sure Tommy didn't fall out.

Last but not least, the kids had a blast playing on and behind all the different signs.  They thought it was pretty silly to have their heads in an alligator's and lion's mouths.

We had such a wonderful time with Heidi and Tommy!
We love them so much and hope they can come back to visit very soon!

Heidi and Tommy Visit--Miami Zoo

The rest of the week was a Girls week with Heidi! 
Dallas was away on a business trip and Greg was stuck at work in Raleigh, so Heidi and I lived it up while spoiling our little guys.  I love this girl so much!  My cousin, Greg, could not have found a better wife.  I love that she's not only family, but a dear friend.

Our first big adventure we decided the boys would love was going to the Miami Zoo.  It's such a massive zoo that the only fun way to get around and see everything in a day is on bikes.  Heidi and I had a blast pedaling the canopy covered bench bike while Daxton and Tommy rode in the front bucket seats.

It was a pretty warm day, so I bought Dax his own safari hat and squirt bottle to keep him cool.  The boys had lots of funning sitting in the front, looking at all the animals, and spraying each other with the mist.

We also got a kick out of feeding the giraffe!  Tommy tried it once and then realized how long and black the giraffe's tongue was and quickly lost interest.

We also loved playing in the different splash pads throughout the zoo.  One of Daxton's favorite things was the shower.  He thought it was so funny to feel the water drip over his face.

Heidi's a pretty awesome Auntie running in and out of the fountain with our boys.  It was prefect since NO ONE was at the zoo, but us!

We loved exploring all the different enclosures and pathways, especially the jaguar.

But above all, the boys' favorite was seeing the giant Tiger relaxing in it's enclosure!  It was such a fun day biking around the zoo, playing in the water, and observing all the amazing animals.