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

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

That Time We Had A Lazy Weekend...

Typically our family is go-go-go. We like to have fun and spend lots of family time at least every weekend. Whether it be a trip to the zoo, Disney, or something else, we like these crazy outings. However, this weekend we have just wanted time to ourselves, time to unwind, and time to RELAX. With my team's track season ending this seemed to be the weekend to do it and just lay around doing nothing just like the Bruno Mars song...Lazy Song

Now, we did not just do nothing all weekend and lay in our PJs. My family still went to church, still went to get groceries, and made a stop at the Catholic Store in Tampa. However, we didn't have some all day event and just chose to stay home for this one weekend. Sometimes, we all need these kinds of weekends. Sometimes, we just need to recharge our batteries and that is what my family has done this weekend. It is important to have these types of weekends from time to time especially with a lovely pregnant wife who can use the rest.

This weekend is also just another chance to reflect and realize how blessed we are. I am blessed. My family is blessed and you are blessed. We are blessed with life, with nature, with wonderful people. Sometimes it seems like some of us are more blessed than others. Circumstances dictate that we all have different challenges and obstacles, but it's how we embrace them that dictates how things will go. It is taking the time to recharge and reflect that we are able to really put things into perspective. These are the moments that allow us to be thankful. To appreciate the times and the people in our life that make them so great. I thank God for all the things that he has put in my life and embrace the challenges that the future brings. Judging by our past, the future for my family looks bright. Trusting in God and his plan will make it all the brighter.

In the future weekends, I will try my best to remember this reflection and try to embrace everything. It is important to stay on the positive train and look at opportunities for the potential happiness that they possess. One quote I remembered this weekend that I absolutely love is from the original first lady Martha Washington...

"The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not our circumstances." -Martha Washington

Of course sometimes its easy to keep a positive disposition especially with this little guy around....

Try to keep that positive disposition at all times. It is near impossible with the business of life, but just remember. There is someone somewhere that unconditionally loves you as well. Try to remember these people. If you cannot believe that, you can hopefully believe that Jesus is always there for you and will always love you no matter what. Happy Holy Week people!

-Noland

Our New "Baby Buddy"

Hey everyone, this is Jenna. Noland has been typing up posts every week for my little blog. I love that he is keeping it active because I just haven't had the time. We are so excited that a "baby buddy" is on the way! Back in December, Noland announced that I was pregnant to the Facebook world.

And last week I was 18 weeks, I was able to get my 2nd ultrasound. This was super exciting because we could find out if it's a boy or girl. The funny thing is that Noland already had a post typed up and ready to go to share whether it is a boy or girl and I had typed one up on my phone. So I'm combining them to make it a SUPER post from both of us and intertwining our 2 separate posts together... sorry if we repeat some things but here goes...

Jenna: And so I'll reveal the news... Drum roll, please... ITS A BOY! I am so excited! I never had a preference, I just wanted a healthy baby and so far it looks like everything is going well! His name is Eli Thomas Robinson and we will call him Eli. It is special because Thomas is my grandfather's middle name but he goes by Tom. Eli will actually have the same first 2 initials to my grandpa...which is E.T. My grandpa's name is Emrys Thomas. We love my grandpa so it's awesome to give him a special little legacy. Noland Jr. was named after Noland's side of the family (obviously :)) The name "Noland" goes back at least 6 generations. We are both excited that we have special stories for how we chose our kiddos' names.

Noland: Neither of us had a clue what this bundle of joy was including Noland Jr. who referred to the baby constantly as "baby buddy." Side Note: Noland Jr. calling the baby by this name, "baby buddy" was the cutest thing we had ever seen until the gender reveal. My wonderful bosses at school agreed to let me come in 2 hours late for the big reveal. We were very excited for the big news. Jr. was probably most excited when we told him "baby buddy" was on the ultrasound screen. He said "that's baby buddy" and "baby buddy is so pretty." Can't you tell that this is going to be the best big brother ever? Anyways, after the size checks were done, it was time for the big reveal and it's another boy! There are so many advantages to another boy that we are thrilled about. Most exciting is the less than 3 year age difference between our boys. The hope and almost certainty is that they will be best buds. They will have two years together at least on sports teams in HS and, if we are really lucky, two at Florida State! We are both Noles and I am a coach so naturally I think about that. However, I am just thrilled to be having another one and can't wait to see what my kids accomplish. These kids are going to be awesome! I can't wait to see how this new boy's personality develops. Judging by our first one, he will be quite the character. Judging by Jr.'s reaction, we will be quite blessed as a family with fantastic kids. No matter how many we have and what genders we have, we know that God has truly blessed our family.

Jenna: I absolutely agree that Noland Jr is going to be such a good big brother to his little brother! I just can't wait to see him in action. It's absolutely crazy because I almost think he understands a little bit. We've been telling him that there is a baby in Mommy's belly. As Noland shared, before we went to the ultrasound, he kept calling Eli, "baby buddy." It is so funny. At the ultra sound he said, "Baby buddy, on screen." He continued to point at the screen and even said, "Baby buddy is pretty." It was the sweetest most genuine moment. Every night I ask Noland Jr for a kiss before bed and he says, "Eli kisses?" And then proceeds to pull up my shirt so he can kiss my tummy. Even today I asked for a kiss and he said "No". But then I said "Eli kisses?" And he will kiss my tummy. I'm not sure he completely understands but it seems like he does. It will be so awesome for him to have a little brother. I know they are going to be best buddies. We are just excited to grow our little family!

Noland: Eli Thomas is a name that packs a lot of punch for us. One reason is that he is named after the nicest man alive. Not only that, but he will have the same first two initials as that great man. We did change the first name though even though her grandpa goes by Tom and his middle name is Thomas. We changed the first name to give it even more meaning. You see on our first date, Jenna and I saw the Book of Eli. Eli is also a famous name in the bible. This name is perfect for this child. A fantastic name and story for a fantastic child on his way. Please welcome Eli Thomas coming in July 2015. In the meantime we will enjoy Noland Jr. going up to mommy's stomach and saying, "I love you, baby Eli". It is adorable watching him kiss that baby belly everyday and telling Eli how much he loves him and can't wait to see him. That is the best part of my day everyday. Below are pictures of Jr.'s new "baby buddy.":

In this second picture below, I'm pretty sure that you can see his leg and his little boy part has an arrow pointing to it. Also in the bottom left, that is his head. He way laying in a silly position during the ultrasound.

In this picture below, I'm pretty sure it is his bottom and legs.

Thanks for stopping by to read our news. Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Love,

Jenna & Noland

We Are Back!

Hello This Little Light readers, it has been awhile and we have missed you. First, let us apologize for the delay in between our last post and this one. It has been a crazy, but awesome time for us lately. Jenna has been especially busy with her new job and everything else going on lately (she is pregnant again! and we are super excited for the new addition!). She has had a hard time posting on this blog, but thinks about what she can share with others and we talk about it eagerly waiting to share the goods. The difficult thing is just getting it on the computer. However, we have come up with a solution.

You see, I get up a half hour earlier than everyone else in my house each day to dedicate to writing. I typically do this because I feel like it helps start my thinking process for the day. This writing each day helps me to keep up with two other blogs I run ransports and zoozooreview. Typically I stick to sports or my zoo reviews, but I want to help Jenna with this project. She started this blog to brighten up people’s days and that’s what this blog will continue to do.

I will post weekly on this blog or as close to weekly as I can. These posts will typically be on Fridays, but don’t hold me to that. I will write about things I discuss with Jenna that can help others out in some way. Whether it be a positive news story, a cool product, a fun recipe, inspirational quotes, Disney tips, or some other fun topic, we will try to make you smile with what we provide. Get ready to expect a lot of Disney tips. We had passes this past year that just expired and consider ourselves experts at this point. Jenna, Jr., and I went to Disney once a week this past year. It was an awesome treat to 2014 and we are looking forward to some new adventures for 2015. Our family looks forward to sharing our explorations and positivity with you and yours. Stay tuned next week for our 10 most underrated things to do at Walt Disney World. Until then, just browse Jenna’s ETSY shop or something else fun. Jenna will be checking in from time to time, but for now this is Noland signing off and wishing you a great weekend.

Feel free to enjoy some pictures of us while we were away!!!!






























-Noland