He lost it! He finally lost it!

So I think Brayden is probably the LAST person in his 1st grade class to lose a tooth, but as of yesterday he FINALLY lost his first tooth.  We were all very excited.

The tooth had been hanging on by a thread for quite sometime, until yesterday during an assembly.  Brayden said, "It felt kinda wierd and so I started to wiggle it and twist it.  I just kept wiggling it and twisting it until all of a sudden it came out."  (in so many words)

 

Later on that day...

We were driving home from gymnastics and this is where Brayden usually likes to ask endless amounts of questions.  He was quiet for a moment which means he's probably thinking REALLY hard about something and then said, "Mom, are you SURE you don't wake up in the middle of the night, and sneak into our room and put money under our pillows?"

Me:  "What?" (responding like I had never heard of such an absurd thing)

Brayden:  "Are you sure you don't wake up in the middle of the night, and sneak into our room, and put money under our pillows?"

Me:  "Why would I do that?"

Brayden:  "I don't know." (with a little giggle)

 

Yes the tooth fairy showed up last night and left him 2 whole dollars for his tooth.  Is this the going rate nowadays?  I know I got $1 for my teeth, but with inflation I figured it must be $2 by now.  Anyway fun times!!!

'Tis the Season!

So I really liked seeing Julia's Christmas decorations that she posted, so I thought I would do the same.  I bought new ones at the end of the season last year for like 80% off at Hobby Lobby, so I had a fun time decorating with the new colors and ornaments.

 

Here's our tree with red and silver ornaments, instead of blue and silver, like we've had ever since we got married.

This is the train Andrew absolutely had to have, so he bought it with his own money from his piggy bank.

Just like Jacob, we must have our sporting teams represented on our Christmas tree.

Our stockings are hung by the chimney with care, or at least on our wall.

Here's the garland on my half wall by the stairs.

Just a few fun things.  (Notice the same Santa decoration as Julia-from Grandma Kelly as well-Love it!)

I picked up this cute window cling at Lowe's this year for 50% off.  I LOVE it!  It's my favorite find and I want to leave it up year round.  I would if it weren't for the snowflakes.

I hope everyone is loving the season.  I am!  Happy Holidays!

And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

if I can get them off Andrew's feet.

Children take things so literally!!!!

Did you see it? Did you see it?

                         

So, if you haven't seen the movie STOP reading NOW or else you may never want to see it.

Okay, so there were 21 of us all hyped up and ready to see the movie, 15 of us in matching Twilight Tee's (created by a friend of a friend), yes we are HUGE dorks, and maybe it was because of all the anticipation that caused the huge disappointment, but I left the movie theater completely unfulfilled.  I thought the acting in the movie left A LOT to be desired, and the special effects (I mean what special effects) were terrible.  Were we really suppose to think they were running through the forest at super human speeds?  I think what was most disappointing of all was the relationship between Edward and Bella.  I mean one minute he looked as if he were gonna vomit sitting next to her in biology class and the next time they were together they were friends and shortly after that they were madly in love?   I don't know, I think the best part of the books was the character development, and how into Edward and Bella you are by the end, that you never want them to be apart.  I just didn't get that in the movie.  Maybe my expectations were set too high.  I will say that the movie kept me entertained.  They did keep it fairly accurate as far as the plot.  I may give it another shot.  I WILL see future movies!!!  If you are one of the few who see the movie and haven't read the book, don't judge it from the movie.  You MUST read the books.  You will NOT be disappointed!

Halloween Festivities!

I have a lot of cute pictures of our halloween events that took place, so brace yourselves.

First we have the annual trip to the pumpkin patch.  We thought we'd try a new place this year, but the kids would have none of that, so back we went to the original spot.  We went with Brayden's BF from school Riley, and his siblings.  They had a blast!

The maze is their favorite part.  They probably went through it 20 or more times.

 

They have a not-so-haunted house as well.

Fenway even got in on the fun!

Here are the boys picking out their pumpkins!

Roasting yummy marshmallowy goodness!

Carving Punk-mens!

Here we are practicing our artistic skills.  We painted and carved pumpkins this year.  The kids really enjoyed themselves.

Look at that concentration! 

Sometimes I think Andrew had more fun painting the plate.

         

Here they are doing the nasty part.  Check out Andrew's face in the next pic.  He was so disgusted at first and then he got into it.

 

The final product!

 

Trick-or Treating!

In all of my MANY, MANY, MANY years living in Colorado there has never been a Halloween that we didn't have to bundle up from head to toe, and completely cover up our cute costumes to go trick or treating.  Well, miracle of all miracles this was the warmest halloween I can remember (aside probably from the few years I lived in Hawaii).  It was gorgeous!  We trick-or-treated for 2 hours, without coats, and no one ever complained of being cold!

Aren't my Jedi's the cutest!

Trick-or-treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!  (The kids probably chanted this a hundred times walking from house to house.)

 

The trick-or-treating posse!

 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Matt had changed into a black faceless costume, brought out the fog machine, strobe light, and scary music onto the porch, and waited for victims (children) in the complete pitch black house (mind you all by himself) for the doorbell to ring, so he could scare poor, young, innocent children who just wanted some chocolate!  I don't think I will ever leave him home again for 2 hours all by himself.  Who knows what I may come home to.

Welcome home, Fenway!

 

Yup, we named him Fenway.  Did I ever doubt that Matt would get his way on this one?  Anyway, the first couple of days we brought him home were sheer bliss.  He was soooo cuddly and cute.  He never made a peep, and at night he didn't even cry in his kennel.  Oh how a couple days can change things.  He now has let his inner puppy out.  He has discovered his voice, although still quiet, he likes to growl and bark while he plays.  He's also quite rough when he plays, he's constantly attacking our feet and pant legs while we walk.  He wants to chew on EVERYTHING and potty training, that's a whole other store completely.  He still is tons of fun and still so cute.  The boys love playing with him, as do Matt and I, he's definitely full of energy and spunk.  We love having him as a new addition to the fam!  All 2 pounds of him!

  

               

He's getting older...which means so am I!

  Happy 7th Birthday Brayden!!!

I cannot believe how quickly they grow, and how fast time flies.  It seems like yesterday that I was bringing him home from the hospital with his dark curly hair and his yellow jaundice skin.  No more curls and only pink skin left.  He's growing into an amazing person.

Here are 7 of my fondest memories...so far:

1.  Of course, the day you were born, and the first time I was able to finally hold you in my arms.

2.  The day we were driving in the car, when you were 3 years old, and you looked out the window at a man walking in an empty field wearing overalls and said, "Hey look mom, there's old McDonald!"  You've always said some of the funniest things.

3.  I love how you used to suck your thumb.  You always looked so cute doing it.  But I loved even more when we took you to the dentist for the first time, and he told you that you couldn't suck your thumb anymore because it was ruining your teeth, and all the other bad things it was causing, and you stopped just like that.

4.  I love how cuddly you were when you were little and you still are.  I love our Brayden and mommy times together, and when daddy is out of town how you still like sleeping in bed with me.

5.  I love how you sing songs with me in the car.  You have always learned the lyrics so easily, starting from the moment you learned to talk.

6.  I've loved all our intellectual talks while driving in the car about continents, cities, states, Greeley, clouds, tornadoes, rain, water, calories, just to name a few.  Believe me the list goes on and on and on.  Sometimes I find that you are just too smart for your own good.

7.  I love how much you love me and want to take care of me.  The day of the tornado when I finally got to pick you up from school and your teacher told me how worried you were about me, and how you had said, "I really hope my mom is okay.  I just love her sooo much and I don't want anything bad to happen to her."

 

You are the BEST, kiddo and I wish you a Happy Birthday!

Fido is coming!

So we haven't gotten our little addition yet, because he's still too little to come home with us.  I went down this weekend to see him, while shopping in Denver with some girlfriends, and he weighed 1 lb 12.5 oz which was 5.5 oz bigger than last weekend, and his biggest weight gain to date.  Our plan is to pick him up on Friday as long as all goes well.  He has to be at least 2 lbs.

Here is a video of him at 6 weeks.

We still don't have a name yet, but have narrowed it down to 4 (sorry no Bentley), so please vote.  I know some might be a little too cutesy for some of you, but  sorry, I'm a cutesy kinda girl!:)

It's official...

My hubbie is oh so smaht!!!!

Here's to the new 2008 graduate of the University of Phoenix's Masters in Business program.

Yup, tonight was his last class and not to brag too much about him but he finished with straight A's.  We are so proud of him and excited to have him home again.  He worked so hard this past year and a half to get this done.  Congratulations honey!  We love you!!!

Did you know...?

...that kids are some of the most disgusting creatures on the planet?

Sometimes.

So a couple days ago I was busy as a bee cleaning my house from top to bottom, and all the while doing it I had my little helper (A.K.A. Andrew) following me around and "helping" me with my chores.  We had gotten to his bathroom and I was busy cleaning the sink, mirrors and counter as quickly as possible, because I just wanted to be done at this point. All the while Andrew was busy jibber-jabbering at me as usual.  (I tend to tune it out sometimes because I can only try to understand or make sense of what he's saying for so long before my head starts spinning).  Anyway, when I came to again, I realized he was telling me that his hands and face were dirty and that he needed to clean them.  Well he had already decided to take matters into his own hands, and yes you guessed it, he had stuck his hands in the toilet water and was rubbing his hands together and then rubbing them all over his face and mouth to get them clean.

Excuse me for a minute I think I'm going to be sick!

Okay, I'm back!  All the while he was so proud of himself for washing his hands and face.  DISGUSTING!  I was just so happy that right before this moment he asked me if it was okay to flush the toilet and I said yes.  Someone needs to remind me again, why do we have children?

                       

                    Isn't he cute!

 

Okay, I guess I just answered my own question.

Olympic Gymnasts in Training?!?!?

Okay, maybe not...but Brayden's been in gymnastics (a.k.a. Super Heroes class) for about 6 months now, and I just signed  Andrew up a couple weeks ago for his Mighty Mites class.

Brayden has always been the ultra, super duperly cautious child, in fact words can't even describe how cautious he really is.  We tried signing him up for gymnastics one summer when he was 3 years old and he wouldn't do anything, including jump on the trampoline or hang from a bar 2 feet off the ground.  The teachers didn't really push him, so we gave up and pulled him.  Well now he seems to be a different child.  I would say he is still super duperly cautious, but now he's at least willing to try things with some assistance, which is a huge step for him.  He had an awesome coach that wouldn't let him say he couldn't do things, which helped a lot.  So now he's taking more risks by hanging off bars more than 8 feet off the ground, jumping off tall mats, doing tricks on the trampoline, etc.

Andrew on the other hand is a little more fearless.  He jumped right in and is doing awesome.  He's the type that if he sees other kids doing it, no matter how scared he is, he will do it too!  I can't believe how well he follows directions and listens to his coaches/teachers either.  It's so fun to watch!

Andrew doing a backward roll down the cheese mat.

Brayden working on his cartwheels.  They're getting much better.

Some Videos...

You can see the difference between the 2 boys here.  Brayden acts like he's 20 feet off the ground, where as Andrew looks a little scared, but he's not complaining.

He's a big kid now!!!

                  

                    (Isn't that just a lovely picture of a toilet!?!)

So for the last couple weeks we've been working on placing our (well most of us already know how, but I'm talking Andrew here) "pee-pee's" and "poo poo's" IN the potty.  And by george I think he's finally got it!!!  Yippee!!!  He's kept his underwear clean and dry now for over a week.  No accidents!  I think I'm sooo exicted I might pee MY pants!  So congratulations Andrew on being a BIG BOY!!!

            

           Now I'll be well practiced for when the dog comes!!!:)

It's a BOY!!!!!

Don't worry you didn't miss some post announcing that I was pregnant, but we do need to announce that in 4 weeks there will be another addition to our family.  We will need lots of help in coming up with a name, so everyone needs to start thinking. 

 

So without further ado here he is...

 

 

(I couldn't tell you which one is him.)

So, this all came about a few weeks ago when the family was driving home from Wal-Mart after dark, and on the side of the road (might I add a VERY dark road) there was a tiny, little dog.  I made Matt flip around to go get her because I was convinced if we didn't, she was either going to get hit by a car, or eaten by coyotes.  So he humored me and we chased the dog down.  She was a tiny little thing and so cute.  Well, that night we took care of her and she was the sweetest thing in the world.  She didn't make a peep the whole night long, she even curled up in my lap and fell asleep for awhile.  The next morning Brayden played with her before school and was convinced that we wouldn't be able to find her owner and that we would be able to keep her.  Well, when Matt walked Brayden (and the dog) down to the bus stop that morning one of the kids on the bus recognized her, and told us it was his dog, and showed us where they lived.  Brayden was devastated, and I must admit that so was I.  So from that point on we decided we needed to get a dog.  So Matt and I started researching different breeds and fell in love with the Maltese.  We found a breeder in Denver, and so we went down yesterday to see the puppies.  He had 2 boys left.  They weighed only about 1 lb. a piece and were only 4 weeks old.  We fell in love with one of the little guys and put down our deposit, so in 4 weeks we will get to bring him home.  We are extatic!!!  Names anyone!?!?!?  And if you have any potty training tips bring it on, I'm going to need all the help I can get!!

We will be visiting our pup next week, so I'll remember my camera this time and take lots more pics.

Good Friends, Good Times!

So in order to document my whole vacation, before we went to Cali, the kids and I went to visit our good friends out in Reno for a week.  We had a blast!  We ate some incredibly yummy food, spent a day at the splash park, went to a play at the beach up in Tahoe, and best of all Janna and I got to act like teengagers again the night "Breaking Dawn" came out.  Thanks Don, Janna, Aleah and Mya for the good times!