Birthday Shopping!

For Xavier's first birthday, he got lots of presents! He also got gift cards in the mail from Grandma Lucy and Grandma Nee Nee!

We have been SUPER busy this summer as I am teaching summer school and training for the Disney Princess Mini, Dustin is knee deep in clinicals and training for a powerlifting competition, and Beanie takes up every single second of the rest of our time!

We finally got the chance to go birthday shopping this weekend and we got Beanie some really cool stuff!

He has 6 blocks that he LOVES so we though blocks were a good place to start. Of course, Dustin thought he needed 329 different kinds of blocks so we are all stocked up for the next few years ;) He got beginner legos (that he is surprisingly really good at), Big Brick Blocks, and Alphabet Blocks!

We also got him a pool that Dustin and I can sit comfortably in while bean splashes! It is a MUST for this Florida heat! We are going to blow it up this weekend and give it a try :)

Anyway, Xavier is really enjoying his new toys and we are so thankful for loved ones who care about and love our precious beanie baby!

Shoppin' in my Crocs!

Sleepy!

Look at that hair!

Building!

Smashing!

:)

Busy Busy Busy!

"Cutest Picture Ever" ALERT!

Sorry...just had to share this...immediately!!!

Have a good day :)

The Perks of Being a Teacher :)

I love my job! I get to work with kids every day and it is so very rewarding. The past two years were even more rewarding than usual, however, as I "looped" with my kids. That means I taught 4th grade last year and then many of the same kids for 5th grade this year. I really got to know and love my little babies over the past two years :)

Sara and I at the 5th Grade Graduation!

I became pregnant with Beanie in September of their 4th grade year so these kids went through all of the steps with me! Because they can remember me with a humongous tire around my waist, they were very interested in hearing stories about our precious beanie, or "Baby Bledsoe" as my students call him.

In May, one of my little girls, Sara, gave me a ticket to her very prestigious dance recital that happened to be last Saturday. I was honored that she would think to invite me to such an important life event and of course Beanie and I attended. She made it very clear that the baby coming was a MUST!

On Our Way!

Waiting on Sara's numbers :)

She loves my little guy and came to all of the after school activities this year ready to hold him and play with him. She does many genres of dance and I was able to watch her ballet number, tap number, and a jazz piece :)

She danced BEAUTIFULLY and she looked adorable, too!

Sara, Samantha, and Xavier

I was able to sit by her adorable 5 year old sister during the performances, as well. She is a hoot and she couldn't get enough of our baby! Even she dances in the company! Maybe one day I will be her teacher, as well :)

After her performances, I got to chat with her and the rest of her beautiful family. It is such a blessing to work with families who truly want only the best for their children and this family is definitely one of those families. They were an absolute pleasure to work with this year and I will never forget my precious little Sara!

Playing!

Group Pic!

Love this girl!

I wish her nothing but success and happiness in the future...I know she will find it!

Good Luck in Middle School Sara! We  love you :)

Happy Father's Day!!

This year was Dustin's second Father's Day and unfortunately he was away for the weekend :(  He went to Miami to volunteer at a Judo competition. He needs a certain amount of community outreach hours before graduation and this was a great opportunity for him. Xavier and I were going to go but at the last minute, I decided that it would be better if he and I stayed home. He was teething and not sleeping well at all. Also, we had just spent the entire previous weekend in Orlando and I didn't want to overwhelm him with too much travel.

Even though we were apart most of the weekend, Dust got home in time to take us to dinner and we gave him a special card!

Making Daddy a Card!

Messy!

Happy Father's Day Daddy!!!

We are so lucky to have such an amazing Husband and Father...we LOVE you Dust!!!!!!!

Beanie Updates :)

Well, our baby is a year old now...and he is learning so much!

Laying in bed with mama!

He is currently getting teeth number 7 and 8. This means runny nose, cranky and less sleep but we are all surviving :)

Teeth marks in his banana haha

He is answering yes and no questions by saying no or shaking and nodding his head. He clearly understands most of what we are saying. He responds to commands and simple sentences. He plays games like patty cake and Pom-pom (Spanish version of patty cake). He laughs at everything and is really starting to understand television and book plots. He is a silly goose :)

Playing with the birthday card Grandma Nee-Nee sent!

His hair is getting longer, curlier, and blonder by the day! We aren't quite ready to cut it though...it's just too darn cute!

Crazy hair!

:)

He is really starting to lean out. He has weighed the same for about 6 months now but is continuing to get taller. In fact, he hasn't changed clothes sizes in 6 months either. The 24 months and 2T clothes just fit him better length wise :) This is definitely due to all the crawling and walking because he is eating more than ever. I can't imagine how chunky this could would be if he didn't have such a clean diet!

Leanin' out!

He brings so much joy to our lives. It is incredible how his laughs (and screams...) can literally make our lives worth living!

My First Birthday Cupcake!

After eating dinner, we were on a mission to find a cupcake for Xavier's birthday. Of course, the bakery that normally has an overwhelming amount of goodies was being remodeled so we settled for the "Confectionery" on Main Street. We chose a white cupcake with blue frosting and mickey mouse sprinkles. Unfortunately, there are no candles allowed in The Magic Kingdom so he wasn't able to make a wish :(

It was quite the task finding a suitable place for Beanie to devour the cupcake after purchasing it.  The rain made sitting outside impossible so we searched for a restaurant area that we didn't need reservations for. We found one in Tomorrowland that had seating but we couldn't find a highchair so we walked back to Fantasyland where we had eaten lunch earlier at "Pinochio Haus." Here, we set up shop and got everything ready for Xavier's first sugar consumption. After all of the measures we had gone to to make sure he eats only organic and healthy foods, it was difficult to watch but we didn't want to rob him of a first birthday tradition :)

Interested...

Here we go!

Nom Nom Nom!

At first, he just wanted to play with it. He has texture issues with food so he did not put the icing in his mouth immediately. After I fed him a bit, however, he caught on quickly. He got messy, but not nearly as messy as I had anticipated. He ate rather cautiously but enjoyed his first cake experience :)

He definitely enjoyed the cupcake. He was bouncing off the walls for the next 45 minutes and then immediately crashed.

YUMMMMMY!

Daddy stole a bite!

HYPER!

He was crazy afterward!

Anddddddd he crashed haha

Although it wasn't the healthiest thing he has consumed in his one year of life, he enjoyed it and we got some cute pics :)

Beanie Meets Disney Friends!

One of the most exciting parts of visiting Disney World is meeting the characters! Xavier is obsessed with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so we were anticipating his excitement in meeting his favorite characters. We were very pleased with the wait times. In the past, I can remember waiting what seemed like hours to get signatures. Because we got signatures early and later in the day, we lucked out.

Early on in the morning, we got in line for the first two characters, Goofy and Donald Duck. These two characters were under "The Big Top" in Fantasyland. After waiting for a short 20 minutes, we were up! While he was not necessarily afraid of the characters, he also wasn't overly keen on them either. He got his autograph booked signed, a quick pic and that was that.

Meeting Goofy!

Daddy, Goofy and Xavier

Slightly uncomfortable..

Donald!

Candid :)

Not a fan...

The next character we met in Fantasyland was Lady Tremaine, the evil stepmother from Cinderella. We only waited 3 or 4 minutes for her autograph and a signature. It was amazing how well these people stay in character. She acted annoyed, like any evil stepmother would, and made funny little comments. Xavier was fine with her because she didn't have on a big costume :)

While we were in Frontierland, we ran into Chip and Dale! This 10 minute line seemed to last forever because at this point it was HOTTTTT outside! Xavier did fine with these two, but again was kind of whiny and did not want to let go of daddy.

Getting Signatures

So Cute!!!

We ate dinner and Tony's on Main Street and this just happened to be in the same building where people usually wait for literally hours to see Mickey. Because of the rain, we only waited 5 minutes!!!! It took us longer to walk through the winding rope and into the room where mickey was than waiting on the two people in front of us. It was amazing!

After being taken back into Mickey's room, Dustin put Xavier down so he could walk to Mickey. It didn't happen. Xavier was not very happy! Dustin had to practically drag him. Although he didn't react the way we had anticipated, we still got some cute pictures :)

Apprehensive to give Mickey the pen...

Autograph time!

:)

Mickey got down in hopes that Xavier would find him less scary from below...but it didn't work.

Family Pic :)

 After the Mickey ordeal, we took Xavier to see the Princesses. Just like Mickey, the usual 2 hour line was a mere 10 minutes. In this room, we saw Rapunzel, Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and Cinderella! This room was more for me than Xavier...haha. Again, Xavier enjoyed the "real" people more than the big costumes.

Rapunzel@

Sleeping Beauty was so excited that Xavier came to celebrate with her!

<3

Cinderella was very good with "Prince Xavier" and sang happy birthday to him. She told him he was very handsome and also that he reminded her of her mouse friend Gus. It was hilarious!! For those of you who don't know who her friend Gus is...

hahahaha

Meeting Cindella!

Charmed :)

The last stop for characters was back in Fantasyland. Here we waited for about 15 minutes to see Daisy and Minnie. Again, he was whiny and not a huge fan but we got the signatures and the pictures :)

Daisy Duck!

Totally over the characters at this point...

Minnie Mouse <3

He wanted his pen back...

Clinging to me!

Although we got the above character pictures and signatures, there were a few characters that we saw but couldn't get pics or autographs from. Aladdin and Jasmine were in Adventureland but by the time we made it to them, the line had been closed. Xavier still got to see them though.

Aladdin and Jasmine

We saw Pluto and Marie from the Aristocats but it was as we were first walking through the entrance and we didn't have his autograph book and pen yet.

Pluto

Marie

We also saw Pooh, Tigger and Piglet but you had to have reservations to go into the restaurant to get pics.

:)

Overall, we had a VERY successful day as far as characters are concerned. I put Xavier's autograph book and pen in his Hope Chest so that the next time we go, he can add more to it :)