Little brother is growing up.

Last weekend, Jude turned 2. 

I decided I like him a lot better now. 

His favorite things are coloring, the moon, popsicles, and the ABC Train on Youtube.

His favorite book is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?

He does not like broccoli. At all.

He loves me (a lot) and I've learned that having a brother is like having a best friend. We still fight, but I've been a lot sweeter these days.

When he hurts, I hug him and try to pick him up. I share my gum with him, let him push my ambulance, help him with his shoes, and we build castles together. 

My new attitude is paying off.

Life is more fun when we fight less!

But, ok...back to the big day.

Jude woke up to a sea of balloons. 

 He was so happy to have his own special day. He loves Curious George, so he got a giant singing monkey card. I drew a heart on it next to my name.

 For breakfast, we got M&Ms with our waffles. Then, present time! The kid racked up. He got Rody the Horse, an art easel (maybe he will stop drawing so much on the walls now), some clothes, a felt storybook, and play animals.

 His cake was French vanilla and loaded with M&Ms. He only ate the M&Ms, but I ate them AND the cake too. I don't think he knew you are supposed to blow out the candle at the END of the Happy Birthday song. Before we even sang "happy," he took care of business.

For dinner, we ate our favorite at Panera (broccoli cheese soup), then we celebrated with some ice cream and a trip to the park at Destin Commons.

It was a long day, but full of fun!

And it wasn't even over yet.

The next morning, we met our buddy Ava at the Gulfarium. 

We stared at all kinds of fish, sea horses, sharks, penguins, and dolphins.

Jude was grumpy though.

He was sweaty, tired, hungry and getting sick. He didn't care a thing about the dolphin show, but it was pretty awesome when the dolphins jumped high and splashed the crowd. 

Ava loved Sebastian.

She thought he starred in the 'Little Mermaid,' but I don't think he did.

But what do I know? I've never seen the 'Little Mermaid.' 

Lunch was quick and Jude was bad. He kept escaping our table at Angler's.

And then he passed out in the car.

As you can see, he racked up some more.

 And I think he has a crush on Ava. He still has the card she gave him in his room.

-Maddox

Meet the Dragon

I love Barnes & Noble.

Mainly, I love the train table they have there (and the books too).

Tonight we stopped by after some Moe's. I ate my entire quesadilla and all my chips AND my cookie. I am trying to grow to be 6 ft. tall. 

Jude likes Barnes & Noble too. He REALLY likes the stuffed animals there. They must remind him of his favorite blue "blankey."

Dad could only find one of his shoes in the car on the way in, so he had to rock his bedroom slippers. If anyone can pull off frogs on their feet, he can.

We watched the sunset in Destin and played at the park. There is a HUGE dragon there. 

He doubles as a slide.

Check him out!! He looks mean, but he's not. 

We sat on his nose and he didn't mind. 

But I'm not sure about this guy. He had a lot of teeth and he looked like he knew how to use them.

Thank goodness I got rainboots when I did....

It rained so much today that it filled up our little blue pool.

I ran to the window and sighed. "Poor Daddy, he cut the grass and all that water is going to make the grass grow big again."

On the upside, I got to wear my rainboots to school.

Jude checking out the rain

We made up a new game this afternoon.

We sat in our toy buckets and threw balls at Mom and her shield (aka a pot lid).

 We got a little carried away...

 ...but everyone survived.

Here's a flashback to yesterday. We went to church and of course I sat in big church. Remember, little church gives me a headache.

Jude went to little church and cried "Mommy!" But...when we picked him up he was smiling and walking around with a cup of Cheerios. He would think it was really unfair if he knew that big church has Yoo-hoos and doughnuts.

 I wore my rainboots to church too. You are only a kid once...and I don't think God minds.

Hey Good-lookin', What'cha Got Cookin'?

This morning we tried the new Dunkin' Donuts in town.

We didn't have any coffee in the house and apparently that is an emergency, according to Mom. Jude and I got glazed doughnuts. We ate every single last bite!

After the coffee kicked in, Mom took me shopping in Destin. We found some awesome monster rainboots and the coolest light-up shoes I've ever seen. I can't wait to show my friends Emmett and EJ at school on Monday! Maybe I'll put a picture on here soon so you can wish you had some light-up shoes, too.

 Tonight we watched a little Carolina football with Dad. Well, mostly Mom and I threw the football to each other and yelled out a letter A word every time. Then Jude and I started fighting. It's what we do best. That's when the kitchen saved the day! I helped Mom make carrot cream cheese muffins and Jude got to help too. He had his own flour and cups, though, so he couldn't mess up my muffins!

 The kitchen turned into a sugary, flour-filled mess, complete with cream cheese, but we had so much fun and played nice for almost an hour.

And in the end, we got to eat our yummy creation!

Now, it's time to go create a treasure chest for Halloween. Mom isn't saying why we need a treasure chest, but I guess we'll find out next month! I just hope it's full of candy...and maybe some money, too.
-Maddox