Bryson's 1st Concert! The Fresh Beat Band!

When I heard that The Fresh Beat band was coming to town, I knew it would be the perfect gift to give Bryson for his birthday. The tickets were a bit pricey, so I asked my mom if she wanted to buy one and come with me. She did, and we had a great time. Children under 2 were free, so since we bought the tickets before Bryson turned 2, we figured it would be OK. Besides, there was no way i was paying $40 plus bucks for Bryson to have a seat that he wouldn't even sit in. On his birthday, since I knew he wouldn't understand what the tickets were, we gave him a copy of The Fresh Beat Band CD. We have been jamming to it since then and he now knows all the songs.
The concert was on Thursday April 26 and started at 7pm. I was originally going to take that day off since there was no way I could work until 6pm and us eat dinner and make it to the concert on time, but since my hours have now changed to 7:30-12, I didn't have to. I knew that we would get in late after the concert so I did swap shifts on Friday with my co-teacher so we could sleep in. Thank goodness I did because it was almost midnight before I went to bed. Of course Bryson fell asleep in the car so he was up bright and early the next morning.
Since I got off at noon, we were able to take our time getting ready and Bryson was actually able to take a nap. We met my mom on Lakeshore to eat Chick-Fil-A and headed downtown around 5:30. I had no idea how bad rush hour traffic would be so I wanted to get there a little early. There was no traffic at all. We made it there right before 6pm. We sat in the car for a little bit since it was still an hour before the concert started. Once we saw more people go in, we decided that maybe we should head in. Once we got to the door, the lady scanned our tickets and never questioned why we didn't have a ticket for Bryson. We then wanted to find to souvenirs, but the line was insane and so was the snack bar line. We decided to go ahead and find our seats instead. Bryson was OK for a little bit but then they were 15 minutes late and he got a little antsy. Thank God we were able to pull up some YouTube videos on my moms phone. It kept him entertained until the came on stage.
When they finally got on stage, Bryson didn't know what to think. He just stared at them for a little bit looking confused! It was hilarious. But as soon as I started singing some of the songs, he joined right in. He stayed in my moms lap most of the time, but he really did have a great time. It was so cute to watch him sing along with all the songs and it was hilarious to watch him clap at the end of every song. Right before intermission, my mom headed down to buy him a t-shirt, a light, and some popcorn while there was no line. Bryson decided to sit in her seat while she was gone and once the Freeze Dance song came on, he was ready to party! My mom picked the perfect time to go, because right when she sat down, it was intermission. The lines were insane! I have no idea why they thought it would be a good idea to only have 1 place to buy souvenirs. I decided to get in line for a drink, and I only missed 1 song (of course it was the Rock Star song), but when I went back in, the lines were still crazy!
After intermission, Bryson seemed to understand what was going on and he started to sing and dance with The Fresh Beats. He had a great time and I'm sure if they come back again, we will probably go. The tickets may have been a little over priced, but Bryson had an amazing time. It was defintely worth the money.

 Bryson ready to party!

 Goofing around before the show started.

 Thank God for YouTube.

 He was so confused!

 Now he understands and started clapping after all the songs.

 Singing along with The Fresh Beats.

 Now he's got 2 of his favorite things. Popcorn, and The Fresh Beats.

 Goofing off with mommy and his new light.

 It's impossible to get a picture with him. He just can't be still!

 Singing and dancing

 I think at this point he was tired of me taking pictures.

Bye Fresh Beats! Hope to see you again soon!

A-Day 2012

We are huge Auburn fans and couldn't wait until Bryson was old enough to make a trip to Auburn for a football game. Since tickets are pricey, we thought that the A-Day game would be a great chance for Bryson to experience Auburn without us having to spend a ton of money. We had a gift card to pay for the gas, a gift card for dinner (that we ended up not using) and somebody gave us tickets when we got there so we didn't have to pay (even though they were only $5 a piece). So it was definitely a cheap trip. Bryson did great in the car. He napped a little and watched a few shows on the Kindle. We packed the stroller so he wouldn't have to do much walking so he was still in a great mood once we got to the stadium. Even though we took the smaller stroller, it was still bulky so we have decided it's time to invest in an actual umbrella stroller for events like this. We picked seats that were close enough to see what was going on, but not surrounded by a ton of people so Bryson wouldn't be forced to sit still the entire time. He did great and really loved watching Aubie! He had fun climbing up and down the stadium steps and was even a big helper when him and daddy went and got the snacks! He made it a little bit past halftime, but we could tell he was tired of being stuck in one place so we decided to leave a little early so we could take him around the campus. Our first stop was to see the new Heisman statues. They look awesome! Then we stopped by the bookstore to find him a shirt and maybe an Aubie. We didn't like any of their shirts and even though they had an Aubie, we decided to wait until one of the other stores to buy him something. Our next stop was Toomer's Corner. The trees look terrible! It's so sad to see such a great tradition dying because of some ridiculous Bama fan. I know that not all Bama fans are that extreme, but it just makes me hate them even more. We then let Bryson run in the field in front of Samford Hall. He had so much fun chasing the squirrels. Once we finished there, we headed to Tiger Rags and J&M to look for shirts and an Aubie. They had some great shirts for the A-Day game so we got one, but still no Aubie. We couldn't leave Auburn without letting Bryson get his first taste of Toomer's lemonade. He loved it! Our last stop was to Ander's bookstore. Still no real Aubie, but they did have a stuffed tiger with an Auburn jersey. We got it, but were bummed that it wasn't an actual Aubie. We were so disappointed because Aubie was all he talked about all day. We are so glad that we were finally able to take Bryson to Auburn so he could enjoy the place that we both love so much. I'm not sure if he's ready for an actual football game, but football season is still a few months away. Hopefully by then he will be ready. If not, there's always next year! Now I'm so ready for football season to start! WAR EAGLE!!!

 Heading to the stadium

 Our Heisman winners

 Waving to Aubie

 He's not really to sure what's going on

 Helping daddy bring back the snacks

 Enjoying some Auburn football

 He loves him some popcorn

 Trying to find Aubie

 Cam's Heisman statue

 The boys with Cam

 Bo's Heisman statue

 Pat Sullivan's Heisman statue

 Poor Toomer's Oaks

 He loved being able to run

 Bryson's 1st taste of Toomer's Lemonade. I think he liked it!

Easter 2012

This year, our Easter weekend was very busy. We swore that we wouldn't take Bryson to see the Galleria Easter Bunny, but Easter weekend snuck up on us, so we didn't have a choice. Since I was off work for Good Friday, we thought that Friday would be a good day to take Bryson to see the Easter bunny. It turned out to be a great time. The line was not long at all! However, it was a terrible experience, again. For some reason they thought it would be a good idea to have the Easter Bunny in the food court next to carousel. That is a horrible location. It was so loud and once Bryson saw Chick-fil-a, all he wanted was french fries. We were 4th in line so we didn't think it would take that long. Boy were we wrong! The lady that was running the Easter Bunny pictures kept taking all the kids, picking them up, getting in their faces, kissing their cheeks and talking to them. Just sit the kid in the Easter Bunny's lap, snap the picture and move on! So when it was our turn, Bryson was fine. He waved at the Easter Bunny and looked really excited to see him. Then the creepy lady picked him up, got in his face (thank God she didn't kiss his cheeks), and made him cry. I was so mad! Her solution was to have him sit in Robert's lap and take the picture. Um, no! Why would we want to be in Bryson's Easter Bunny picture! So the lady tried to take Bryson from Robert, but Robert took him right back. Why would you take a crying child from their parent?! Anyway, Robert sat him in the bunny's lap, they snapped a picture and told us we were done. We didn't even get a chance to try and get a good picture. Bryson wasn't scared of the Easter Bunny, he was scared of that crazy lady! She said that we were done because there other kids in line and they didn't need to see Bryson cry. Has she never seen a kid cry when they visit the Easter Bunny or Santa? Anyway, it was a terrible experience at the Galleria, again. Next time I'm going to plan ahead, even if that means driving all the way to Leeds to go see them at the Redneck Riviera (which I don't want to do). Here is Bryson's Easter Bunny picture for this year!

Saturday was a busy day too. First, me and my mom got up early and went to the kids market consignment sale. We thought we got there early but by the time we got there, the parking lot was packed. I was so bummed because I thought we weren't going to find anything good. The main reason my mom went was to look for a toddler bed for the boys to use at her house. Saturday was 50% off day so some things were half price. The first place we went was to the cribs and beds. They had the cutest Toy Story toddler bed, but the people wanted $75 for the bed, a separate price for the mattress and it was not 50% off. No thanks, that's a little overpriced for a consignment sale. We did find a toddler bed for about $25! I couldn't believe we got such a good deal! We ended up finding a decent about of stuff even though it was the last day and it was so busy. I just wish they did it more often than twice a year.
After the consignment sale, we had to rush back home so we could dye Easter Eggs and get ready for our friends wedding that night. My mom offered to spend the night at our house so we could go have fun at the wedding, and Bryson would still be home for the Easter Bunny. Bryson was more interested in dyeing eggs this year. His favorite color was pink! Hahahahaha! He really did enjoy it though.

We had a lot of fun at Vann and Lindsay's wedding. They got married at the Botanical Gardens and it was so pretty! The reception was there too and the food was amazing. The DJ was the same DJ that all the Marshall's get for their weddings and we always have a wonderful time. Her cake was cupcakes and his cake was old school Aubie and was chocolate with peanut butter. Both were amazing. We had a blast but decided to come straight home afterwards because we had a busy day the next day.

Easter Sunday was busy too! The Easter bunny was very good to Bryson because he was a very good boy. Of course he got candy but the Easter Bunny also brought him Yo Gabba Gabba underwear!

We slept later than I wanted to so we didn't have to time to make Resurection Rolls before church. Oh well, maybe next year. We were rushing to get to church on time, but I don't think it would have mattered. The church was packed! Once again, we were stuck sitting the lobby where we couldn't hear anything. Bryson kept running around and finding all the Jesus pictures and statues and pointing at them saying "Jesus"! I love that he knows who Jesus is.

After church with Robert's family, we headed to my parent's house for lunch. Of course the Easter Bunny stopped at their house too! After lunch, we headed a few streets over to my Aunt's house for dessert and an egg hunt. Bryson and Will were so funny hunting eggs this year since they actually knew was was going on.

Bryson had to be exhausted because his only nap was the drive from Trussville to Pelham, but if he was tired, we had no idea. He had a great time over there!

We had a fun, busy, crazy, exhausting weekend; but we all had a lot of fun.