Noland Jr @ 4

Holy cow!

Can you believe that Noland Jr. is 4 already?

I sure cannot. It seems just like yesterday we were meeting him for the 1st time. It all goes by so fast. All goes by in the blink of an eye. When you think about the moments, it starts to make more sense because we have made tremendous memories already. We have been incredibly thankful for absolutely every moment with our bundle of joy....

Thankful for our hearts growing on the day he was born. Thankful for the fact that he is our baby. Thankful he was the child that made us parents. Thankful that he was okay after that rough delivery. Thankful for this boy that God gave to us!

Thankful for the fact that this boy has taken my likes and amplified them. Thankful he has made my passions deeper. My love stronger. Since day 1 he has done this. You don't think he can do that at such a young age, but he has had a smile and loved our favorites from the start.

Thankful for his love of Disney and making us stronger Disney lovers. Thankful for all he has grown to love about the company which most recently includes Kion.

Thankful most of all for the love you have given to us. Your mom, Eli, and I are beyond thrilled that you are here with us!

Happy Birthday Noland Jr.! We love you and we know that with you, the best is always yet to come.

Love,

Mom, Dad, and Eli

Thank You God For Eli Thomas

Thank you God for the continuous blessings you give our family. 

Thank you especially for our wonderful boys.

Today, I thank you especially for our happy sweet Eli!

A year ago yesterday, you blessed us with a sweet baby boy. This boy is our 2nd child you have blessed us with.

Little did we know at the time, how different he would be from the first.

He is so much smaller and so much more delicate than his brother, but you gave us another joyful child.

You gave us a boy that is always smiling, unless there is something truly wrong. 

You gave us a boy that lights up the room.

You gave us a boy that has made our hearts grow. 

We are so grateful.

I don't know why we deserve this love.

I don't know why we deserve this child.

I feel like we don't.

However, thank you for choosing us to be his parents.

Help us to be the best parents we can be.

Help us to be the best parents for these children.

Help us to love him as much as he loves us.

Help our hearts to continue to grow with love.

Help us to guide him as his parents.

Help lead us on this journey of being these awesome kids parents.

Thank you for continuing to watch over him.

Thank you for continuing to keep him safe.

Thank you for being patient with us on the many occasions he has been sick.

Thank you for time and time again answering our prayers that he be okay.

If you could make his pain a little less and make him sick less frequently, we'd appreciate it.

We are thankful though that you continue to lead us through and on the other side.

Help us to always appreciate the blessings and not focus on him being sick.

Help to continue to lead him through.

Thank you for always making him better.

Thank you for always leading us through.

We don't deserve these kids to be so amazing. 

We don't deserve anything.

You have chosen us and blessed us.

We are grateful for these blessings.

We are thankful for Eli.

Thank you God and please continue to bless this family.

Amen

Here are pictures of our sweet baby through his first year! Happy Birthday Eli!

At Birth

2 days later

After Baptism

With the man he's named after @ 5 months

5 months old with big bro

6 months old

9 months old

Always Smiling

Riding with his best bud

Doing the warchant going into the college football HOF 2 weeks ago

- Noland

Passholders Again!!!

So, we haven't been posting as much as normal lately, but my schedule has finally been rearranged to get back at it. Jenna will be on more now too, since Eli is 10 Months old!!!!! The little stinker is growing and getting quite the little personality. One of the first things we did when he got to be past 6 months was to get our beloved Annual Passes at Disney World back!

These passes are well worth the money if you live in Florida and Disney does a great job at making affordable payment plans for us. We pay about $60 a month for passes for me, Jenna, and Noland Jr. Eli is free because he is under 3 and Noland Jr. was free last time we had passes. For these passes we decided to get the Silver Pass because lower tier passes now come with free parking!!!! This family does not really have a desire to go in the summer when it is miserably hot and way overcrowded or during Easter/Christmas weeks when it is overcrowded as well. There is plenty of time to enjoy Disney in between those times.

Disney is full of magic for our boys and we just love it. There is so much to do and all 4 parks are like different worlds for our kids. Noland Jr. is at the perfect age for Disney and it is his favorite place to go in the entire world. Eli Thomas has a surprising amount that he can do at the park, especially  since he is under 1. While that is not the ideal age for a Disney trip, he still loves it and he is free!

Here are some of our favorite memories so far with these passes this time around!!!

We caught a rare character and my favorite...Jiminy Cricket

 On the safari! My favorite ride!

 Eli liked It's a Small World with KJ on her birthday!

 My beautiful wife and baby b4 Buzz

 With some of our best friends at the Visa character Meet. Love how suspicious Eli is of Mickey in this photo!

 With my best boys on St. Patty's day @ Magic waiting for Buzz. So much green!

 Waiting for the Disney Jr. show!

 Eli's 1st character he ever met, Donald Duck! This is @ the Baja Beach Club Breakfast!

 2 Boys Smiling with the coolest Duck around!

 Easter Egg hunting at Epcot!

 Met Brer Fox @ Character Palooza!

Disney makes us all so happy!!!

Thanks for stopping in and reading up on our recent adventures. Stay tuned for much more news and pictures on Disney, more zoo reviews, and more fun tips and tricks. Next week, we will have a review posted up on Zoo World in Panama City, Florida. Come to Florida! This state is unbelievable!

-Noland

Eli Thomas is So Blessed

One of the 1st things Jenna and I discussed while we were dating is that we wanted a good number of kids. What that number was, we were not sure, but we wanted/want as many children as the good lord could/would grace us with. Both of us love children and since having children, our love has thickened immensely and our desire to have a large family has grown. That biggest family possible is at least started and we will see what happens.

Our entire family is blessed, let's just start there. We are blessed to have two perfect angels and our extended families are blessed to have them as well. Every single person is blessed, especially me. Other than myself, who just gets blessings more numerous than the stars in the sky,  I would have to say that Eli Thomas is the most blessed.

Eli comes into a great situation. He has two parents that love being parents and were able to grow as parents before he got here. One of those parents just happens to be the greatest mother in the world that so happens to do everything possible for the kids. As important than that though and probably more important to him as he realizes it is that he has the best brother possible.

His older brother loves him so much and tries to teach him everything. Noland Jr. is a phenomenal older sibling. I could not have asked for him to be any happier or more excited for his brother. The response he has had at just 2 years old is heart warming. He wants to hold Eli at all times and teach him everything he can. I know that when Eli is old enough to play sports, this mentoring will grow even more. He is just so loved.

Eli, your brother loves you more than any brother can love another. Your parents love you as much as we possibly can. Your grandparents love you just as much as well. You live in a free country in America where you can be whatever you want. You are loved by so many and we will always love you. Most importantly God loves you. My son, you are blessed.

-Noland