ONE BIG (BOY) WEEKEND!!

(WARNING: LONG POST WITH LOTS OF PICTURES! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!!)

It's been nearly a week since we "chatted" last, and BOY do I have A LOT to fill y'all in on! I wrote my previous blog entry on last Monday evening and I did a quick recap of Kaki's growth over the past few weeks, BUT what I didn't tell you is that we made a HUGE decision that day. In literally the matter of minutes, my sweet little baby boy GREW UP when he decided that he wanted to pack his suitcase and go to San Antonio to visit KK and Albi. KK and my Aunt Terry were in town doing some shopping and stopped by the house to visit and do lunch... while they were here, KK mentioned getting to come to San Antonio sometime soon to go to Sea World to see the new Sesame Street park that just opened... WELL... WAY TO GO KK, because he decided that later was not NOW and he was "YEADY!!" "I YEADY Mommy, San An-to-yo!" Oh DEAR!

But I'm not ready I thought to myself... I've never been good at the whole letting go thing... BUT I've been working on it... A LOT! And I decided that while I wasn't exactly thrilled with spending the weekend away from Caden that it would be the PERFECT opportunity for Justin and I to pull an EXTREME Cox home makeover and get Caden's big boy ALL ready so that when he returned home on Sunday we could have a HUGE surprise BIG BOY ROOM party!! So that was it... the decision was made and off we went about our week... talking about Caden going to San An-to-yo each and every day... the countdown was on!!

AND I had to get busy... LOTS left to buy, decide on and complete so Justin and I could make the MOST of our time this weekend! We had a mountain of work ahead of us, but the excitement of surprising Caden with his new big boy room kept me going ALL week! I went to Home Depot at least 4 times, Lowe's twice, Target twice, etc., etc. While Caden was at school Tuesday and Thursday I never went back home... just buzzed around town checking off my list! So by Thursday... I was P-double O- pooped!! BUT ... again... eye on the prize!! EYE ON THE PRIZE!

So that brings us to Friday...

12:30pm: KK and I made the hand-off in San Marcos! With minimal tears... ALL FROM ME, we headed off in two separate directions... Caden was in for a weekend of FUN and Justin and I were in for our OWN kind of adventure... and truthfully it really was VERY fun! I said it once and I'll say if 5 million times over... there really is NOTHING better than doing something special for your kiddos!! I love it!!

4:00pm: Justin called and said he was coming home early so we could get going and I got my first pictures from KK... he hadn't been there 4 hours before he needed a bath! :) Planting flowers in KK's garden can make a boy pretty stinky...

While, I LOVED getting sweet pics of my boy, it did make it surprisingly harder... that face is my weakness! :) Once Justin got home we busted over to eat a quick bite on a nice breezy patio and then we were off to buy a mattress... I walked in and said, "I need a mattress and a box spring and I need it by Sunday... what are my options?" Luckily, there were only two options to choose from, so we plopped down on each one to try them out... made our selection, loaded it in the back of our car and we were off and RUNNING!

Meanwhile, Caden was enjoying a nice relaxing burger and fries with KETCHUP with his KK and Albi at one of their fav spots!!

5:30pm: LOTS of prep work to do... here is the before shot... we had gotten C's bed a few weeks ago and already set it up... everything else was a MESS!! We had to clean out and start taping those walls... it was time to PAINT!

7:15-10:15pm: PAINTING... LOTS of PAINTING! I took the baseboard stuff and a few other detail paint jobs and Justin did the heavy painting... he's a paint-rollin' FOOL! :) And he looks SO cute doing it, doesn't he?! We opened the window to a LOVELY cool breeze and jammed to some Zac Brown Band Station on Pandora and painted the night away!!

11:00pm: BEDTIME!!

8:00am: I awoke to a SWEET picture of my little man eating his breakfast at his KK and Albi's!

By 9:00am we had finished a few more touch-ups on our paint job and were off to run a few more errands AND we did get a little incentive at Starbucks and a yummy bagel at Einstein's while we were out and about!

After breakfast, Caden had a FULL list of activities... including lovin' on Molli!!

Caden had a VERY exciting activity planned for his Saturday in San Antonio, but before they could head out the door to Sea World, KK and Albi took him to the tennis court in their neighborhood to "hit a few balls... " of course I think mostly he enjoyed running around like a banshee! :)

After his warm up "run," they headed out to Sea World, which was getting more crowded by the minute... and the sun was getting warmer... While Caden was HAVING SO MUCH FUN at Sea WORLD doing this...

This...
And this...
Justin and I were doing a little bit of this...

• Putting a ceiling fan up...
• Running to Ikea to buy a new bedside table when the STAIN I bought to redo one that we had was a decorating FAIL
• Moving furniture into the room
• Ironing curtains/bedskirt
• Washing new sheets
• Installing curtain rod
• Building bed rail
• etc. etc. etc.

And Caden just kept on playin'... CAROUSEL fun with Albi!!

At the Elmo show...
AND finally... KK and ALBI and Caden (I guess) decided it was time to GO! :) After what we know was a long BUT very fun day at Sea World!! And of course KK and Albi had to buy Caden another Shamu... and this one is almost as big as he is! :) Now he has TWO Shamus... and he is sure to tell EVERY ONE about it! :)

4:30pm: Justin and I were D-O-N-E... just a few last minute things were left to do and we were both WAY past it and were ready for a NIGHT OUT on the town!! And so was Caden... chips and queso on the patio!!

Justin and I had a WONDERFUL dinner out last night... we got to sit and relax our way through an appetizer, meal, AND dessert... it was fabulous and LONG overdo! It was a GREAT treat after all of the hard work we had put in ... and it was the perfect lead-up to the fun and excitement of picking Caden up and bringing him home to his SURPRISE!! :)

8:00am Sunday morning: woke up with no text from KK so I decided to call and check in! Caden was STILL asleep! Poor guy was worn out from all of his fun in San Antonio...

Justin was up and at 'em WAY earlier this morning (because he can't stand himself) and finished up the last few things in Caden's room! Since Caden was getting a late start to the day we decided to take advantage and hit the store before we went to pick him up... we had already decided that we were going to play hooky from church... we took full advantage of a slow start to the morning... :) If you call Justin's 5am a slow start... haha! He's such an old man that way!

While we were at the store, KK sent this pic... Caden's breakfast set up... food, video and a view of the deer in the backyard! :)

And Justin and I agreed that it was TIME for Caden to come home... and boy was he in for a rude awakening after all of that GOOD OLD FASHIONED KK and Albi spoiling! :) Which we LOVE by the way! We can straighten him back out! (I think!) Ha!

10:50am: We left the Rock to meet back with KK and Albi in San Marcos... Caden was EXCITED to see us which made our hearts happy. We were beginning to wonder if he would even want to come back home, BUT alas... he still loves us and was YEADY to see his Mommy and Daddy! And you better believe we were YEADY to see him too! His hug never felt so good!!

After we said our goodbyes to KK and Albi and of course one million THANK YOUs we were back on the road and eagerly anticipating the SURPRISE!! We kept asking Caden what he thought his surprise was... he said... "Cookies" "Chocolate Milk" and "A toy"... and we were thinking..."NO WAY CADEN... It is SO MUCH BETTER!!"

BUT was it?!!

To be honest... the first reveal of his BIG BOY ROOM was a little rocky!! Almost FULL ON melt down rocky! We had the GRAND idea... (parenting fail #430) that we would make Caden "throw away" his pacis before he could enter his BIG BOY room. Well, turns out that was all too much. He was confused... is this the surprise? Throwing my pacis away? And why can't I open this door yet? What's in there?! It's my new big boy room... let me go in!! TEARS!! Lots of tears!!

So we quickly rethought the paci ordeal and headed into the room! Once the door opened his tears quickly dried up and he seemed interested in what he saw... but still wasn't super excited! I think Justin and I had both envisioned the kind of tears that the people on Extreme Home Makeover cry when they yell MOVE THAT BUS... tears of joy, gratefulness, etc. BUT what could we expect... he's a two year old! Ha!!

So while our intentions were GREAT, our execution was BAD!

Here are a few pics... NOT a few... a LOT actually... every feature of the room... that we took before we left to pick Caden up! Speed through or sit back and ENJOY! :)

A view from the door...

Dresser...
Big boy bed!!
Rocking chair... LOVE THESE CURTAINS!! :)

Books!!
Sweet boy...
Our Twilight Turtle and Bible... :)

Closet...
Cute little painting, Gran and Poppa had done for Caden while they were away on their cruise recently...
Another full room pic... (we're anxiously awaiting some Casey Wiegand art for the wall above his bed... CANNOT WAIT!!)

OLD ROOM... :( AKA, Kaki's room... obviously LOTS of work to be done!
Caden's new closet...
Shoes...
And NOW... for the CADEN pics... Daddy is also videoing his reaction!! :)

Playing with his "friends"
oooooo... what's this?! He LOVES his new Twilight Turtle! Justin and I do too... last night after dinner we sat in his room with the lights off and the Twilight Turtle on... admiring our work and dreaming about the next day when we'd bring the Chade back home! :)

Checkin' out his closet...

After our rocky intro... we decided to give him a break and play outside and around the house, then we decided to go back upstairs and unpack his suitcase... this time around he was LOVIN' his room, especially his big boy bed! We took the opportunity to practice the RULES of his new room so that he would be ready for his first night in his bed!!

BUT... he actually beat us to it, because later in the afternoon he asked if he could go nap in his big boy bed and who are we to argue when the kid asks for a nap?! He took about 5 minutes to find his spot and then he was out!! We had to go wake him up after a few hours so that he'd be ready for bed again tonight... check him out!! Such a big boy!! :)

We were so excited that nap time went so well and are keeping our fingers crossed that tonight goes just as well! And TONIGHT his Twilight Turtle will really be COOL! :)

After his nap we had a BIG BOY FAMILY PIZZA PARTY on the porch! It was the perfect way to end the day!! :)
We'll keep you posted on our progress this week... we decided to delay the paci thing for a few weeks... KK advised that it might be TOO much all at once, and after our near meltdown earlier in the day we had to agree! :) Sleep is important for us all! One step at a time... no need to become a BIG BOY overnight, right?!

Thank you KK and Albi for whisking our sweet boy away for a wonderful weekend! AND thank you Justin for being a HUGE HUGE HUGE help and literally TAKING OVER the room makeover project! I know you are super tired going into another work week, but I also know that you experienced the same joy as I did in completing this special project for the Chade! I love you!!

Happy Weekend!!