Brayden is 2!!!

We had so much fun celebrating.

Brayden chose the cake- a dragon

and the color - green!

(I got the idea and instructions from here.)

 

I have to admit that I was pleased with the outcome.

Because I'm not very artistic or crafty,

the outcome is often iffy,

but I think this attempt was a success.

At least Brayden thought it was great!

 

We also hung balloons from the ceiling.

After dinner we took them down 

and then the real fun began.

 

(Cousin Addy, Caleb and Brayden cheesing it with their balloons.)

Running!

Bouncing them in the air!

 

And then of course,

it's always fun to open presents.

I'm not sure what this expression means,

but he seemed pleased enough once he started playing with them.

It was a wonderful night.

I can't believe that it's been 2 years,

I am truly blessed to be his mother.

The Dangers of Exercising

SOOOO...
you know when you're busy doing something
(in this case exercising)
and you realize that the house is quiet-
TOO QUIET!!
And you go into the back room and see:
HAIR ALL OVER THE FLOOR,
Caleb with Brian's electric razor in his hand
and THIS

AND so there is NOTHING to do but THIS:

(The hair cut, not the chocolate all over his face.
That is the result of some really fun pudding painting.)
Oh, well, he's still SO cute - even bald.

My Boys

I know it's been a LONG time
but I have a few free moments so
here's some cute pics of my boys
and we'll see when this happens again.

Brayden is such a little character!
He loves to climb and hang on EVERYTHING.
I am constantly amazed at how strong he is.

(A side note: November marked the beginning of some minor incidents requiring doctor intervention. Kind of ironic that the first incident occurred because we were following the pediatrician's advice. Because Brayden was climbing out of his crib she suggested we switch him to a toddler bed. So a few days later we went out and bought some bunk beds, although the boys are still in seperate rooms. Well the boys discovered that the crib mattress made a rather fun slide if propped up on the couch. They had a lot of fun UNTIL they decided to prop it up on a small dresser.
Brayden climbed up the mattress which slipped and, unfortunately, he hit his nose on the dresser on the way down. He ended up with 5 stitches.)

A few nights ago we put Brayden down for the night
and I was quite surprized by how quickly he fell to sleep
-Or so I thought.
About 20 minutes later I thought I heard some noises coming from his room.
When I opened the door I found not only the light on, but
THIS wonderful sight.

What you can't see is the other pile of clothes out of sight on the bed.

Now for pics of the other little character
-or should I say PIRATE-
in my life!
Needless to say he now knows what the letter R says.

Ok, now for the other incident.
I wasn't in the room when it occurred but from what Caleb said
he ran into the corner of the couch.
From what the dentist said he must have been running at full speed.
He pretty much shattered his right upper lateral incisor
and chipped his right lower lateral incisor and canine.
Unfortunately, the upper lateral incisor
was damaged enough that it couldn't be saved.
So here's the cute little boy with his gap-toothed smile
and the infamous couch corner.

Hopefully this month will be incident free!

3-a month ago

So Caleb turned 3-a month ago!

Wow, I'm quite embarrassed that it's been over a month
and I'm just now blogging, but better late than never.
I guess it could be worse-he could be turning 5.

July was a wonderful month.
It’s made me kind of wish that my birthday was in July as well.
After all, it’s only in July when you can celebrate with fireworks.
That has been a highlight of the month for Caleb.
Many nights we have found him looking for fireworks out his bedroom window
instead of going to sleep.
He also got to celebrate his birthday twice.

The first was at Grandma’s house over the 4^th of July weekend.

He got to do a lot of the things he really enjoys:

Chocolate cake with strawberry toppings-his choice.

JUMPING!!!

Riding horses

On his birthday we went to the zoo.

Yep, it was the dinosaurs that made the biggest impression-
for both boys!!

Oh, and the water ball!
Wherever water is found, there Caleb will be also-
soaking wet and probably muddy.

I really luv that you can see the water droplets flying through the air-
evidence of the fun both boys are having splashing.

Here's a few more cute pics of my boys:

Caleb and his play dough "snowman".

My 2 adorable boys-
so sweet
so fun!!!

ONE

I can't believe my baby is ONE!!!
I guess the saying
time flies when you are having fun
is true-sigh.
Brayden
is such a sweetheart and has brought so much
LOVE
LAUGHTER
EXCITEMENT
ENERGY
JOY
into our family.

I LOVE his adorable smile,
and just look at all that hair.
I guess that's one good thing about the helmet,
he's had very little hair loss.
Hopefully we'll be done with the helmet sometime in the next couple of months.

For Brayden's birthday we went to the park.

Here's the birthday boy in the swing,
BUT
honestly he enjoyed his stick a lot more!


Grandma A, Aunt Em, Uncle Mat and Uncle B and Addy
came to celebrate with us.

So, I pondered quite awhile what kind of cake I should make.
I am the first to admit that I'm not very creative,
and most of the time when I try to test my creativity,
I fail-miserably.
So you can probably understand why I was having a hard time deciding.
The day before the party, the "light bulb" finally flashed on.
I was sitting at the table, watching Brayden scarf strawberries and
voila the answer appeared-
strawberry shortcake cupcakes!!

What Brayden enjoys:
(besides strawberry shortcake of course)
Caleb
Climbing on everything
Trying to run
(It's so cute to see him try to move faster
when being chased!)
Helping put the toys or clothes away.
(Of course he also enjoys pulling everything out to begin with.)
Playing in my cupboards.

He says "mama", "dadada", and "all done".
He can sign more, all done and drink.
And it's so cute to see him wave.

Got to LOVE this adorable little face!

Looking, looking, looking...

After what seems like forever of
LOOKING
WAITING
and
HOPING
perhaps spring is on the way!

Here's Caleb looking through his "telescope"
looking for birds and bugs in the backyard.

Ahh, finally a beautiful spring day!!

Brayden loved the old, dead tree limbs in our backyard.
(Ignore the ugly grass and weeds.)

Caleb: "I want to be a monkey in the tree".
So, here's our cute monkey.

feeling thankful

So the other day was one of THOSE days-

(Disclaimer: Actually in this pic all 3 boys were having a really good time.
Caleb decided he wanted to take the picture rather than be in it right before I took it,
hence the stressed out look on Brian's face as he tried to climb down on his own.
I just thought it portrayed how I feel some days rather well.)

both boys woke up too early,
neither napped very long,
and so both were clingy and very ORNERY.
AND
Brayden didn't sleep very well during the night,
so I'll admit I was a bit tired and ORNERY as well.
The culmination of the day was a trip to the library that did not end well,
at all!
Just ask all the library patrons!
I was SO glad when Brian got home.
He's so awesome with the boys!

(Please don't misunderstand-
I absolutely LOVE being a mom to my boys,
and I wouldn't change my life for ANYTHING,
some days are just a little,
or LOT,
crazier than others.)

Yes, I realize I sound a little whiny;
and honestly I feel a little whiny
especially after reading this blog the next day.

It's not only an awesome giveaway
but also a celebration of a bravery that I truly admire
and admit that I severely lack.
Some days I 'm counting down the hours (10-12 hours) until my sweet hubby gets home,
let alone 7 months or longer.

After reading Jessica's story and being reminded of many other circumstances like hers;
I would just like to say a big THANK YOU to her
(and all other military spouses)
and her husband
(and all other military personnel)
for their sacrifice and courage to serve our country.

Update

So I have a TON of pictures that I would like to share
that tell the story of our family for the past 4 months.
BUT if I ever want to actually finish a post enough to publish it,
I'd better just stick with what is current.

My house constantly looks like a tornado passed through it,
or rather 2 tornadoes!
Brayden is now 10 months and LOVES to get into everything,
literally!

And if wasn't hard enough to keep up with him crawling-
Now he's walking!
And loving it as you can probably tell by the huge grin on his face.

I love this picture of the cute guy!
He's such a sweetie,
is all smiles
and takes his big brother's "loves" like a tough little man.

Caleb is 2 1/2.
That should say it all!
He loves playing outside-
the mud was just a bonus.

He loves wrestling with his dad.
(Even Brayden gets in the action.)

He loves doing "new tricks":
Jumping off the couch,
jumping on the bed,
(yeah there's a lot of jumping happening at our house)
and doing somersaults.

Look at those BIG smiles.
Got to say I love my life!
But then, who wouldn't when you have these cuties to look at everyday!