graham turns two.

Last Thursday Graham turned two. Which is still kind of unbelievable since he was just born yesterday. But it happened. And we celebrated the morning with donuts (and candles!) and wrapped up the evening with dinner at Ihop (we fancy) and gifts from us.

On Saturday we had a small family party to celebrate our Little Bit's life. Complete with a Mickey them. Graham loves Mickey and I constantly hear him walking around the house singing, "Hot dawg, hot diggity dawg..." on repeat. We played in the backyard with family and cousins, moved the party inside and opened a few special gifts and ate way too much sugar.

It was a no-nap-for-anyone day, and considering that two-thirds of our kiddos still require a daily nap, I'd say things went really well. This mama was thankful to keep things simple. And I think I'll remember that for the next two months when Cayden and Sawyer's birthdays creep up on us!

the name game.

We had a list a mile long for another boy. Boy names were super-easy for us. Girl names? Well, girl names were a little bit harder. We'd read something one of us kind of liked, and then the other one would not care for it so much. For added pressure, we ran names by the boys first too. I mean, I think it's a little important for them to care about their sister's name as much as we do. Every name we mentioned, Cayden would say, "That's not a real name. Why do you keep asking about these made up names?" (Just so you know, they were all very real names. Maybe he's just not used to girl names?)

My youngest nephew had a great suggestion: Supergirl. And because we couldn't come up with anything, that was sounding more and more reasonable.

But then I stumbled upon a name and loved it. And loved the way it sounded with her middle name. I tossed it in Jeremy's direction. He sat on it for a while, decided he couldn't do it, and then later decided that he loved it. The deal breaker? The kids. We mentioned the name to the boys and it was literally the first name that both Cayden and Sawyer paused on and said, "yeah, I like that," while nodding their heads.

And just like that, her name was picked. Definitely the hardest for us to decide on, but a great name for sure.

Tatum Rebecca. Rebecca was kind of a no-brainer for all of us as the middle name. We do like to keep to family names for the middle name. And since I'm a Rebecca, my mother-in-law is a Rebecca, and my mom's middle name is Rebecca, it seemed like the perfect fit.

As for Tatum? I loved it when I saw it, but we wanted to make sure it meant something... And y'all, Tatum means, "Cheerful, Full of Spirit, Brings Joy." And that could not be more perfect for this first little girl coming into our family. And being our last little baby... Also? All the boys have already picked out her nickname: Tater-tot. Hearing Graham say that? Adorable.

I whipped up those little name art pieces through Minted. We might order one, or something similar for her room... And her room. I'm excited to share plans for it sometime soon, too.

spring break, 2016.

Our spring break this year looked a little different than last year. And TimeHop was sure to point it out to me almost every single day. Last year? We took a week long trip to the beach. Just our little family. And it was one of the best trips we've ever taken. And while we would have loved to do that this year, we knew with a fall Disney World trip coming up, that it just wasn't in the budget.

The fun thing about spring break though? You can make it whatever you want it to be. We played outside. A lot. We took an exciting leisurely stroll through Target and the boys spent all their earned money on Tsum Tsums. A fun day at the park. Hours at the zoo. A rainy trip to the Space & Rocket center in Huntsville. And donuts and a trip to their Granna and Poppa's house to round out the week.

On Friday I asked the boys if they remembered what we did last year during break. They didn't. I reminded them and then asked how they felt about this break compared to last years. And their answer? Could not have been more perfect. Cayden said, "They were really different, but both of them were awesome." And just the day before, unprompted, Cayden said, "Mommy, thank you for letting us do all these awesome things this week." Sigh... I love our kids!

So while my heart may have been dreaming of warm sand and the ocean, it was really nice to know that a staycation for the Allen boys was just as appreciated. And for that? I'm so, so grateful.