Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Brayden's Third Birthday-April 18, 2014


We started off celebrating Brayden's birthday with his classmates and some Spiderman cupcakes.  There is not much sweeter than hearing a bunch of three year olds singing happy birthday and Brayden was so happy :)




It is so funny how interested they all are in Sterling!  She loves all of the attention :)

This year Brayden's birthday fell on Good Friday so we decided to go ahead and just have his party that day.  We chose to have it at lunchtime at his favorite restaurant and place to play Bigz Burger Joint.  It was a gorgeous, warm day here in San Antonio and a perfect morning for an outside lunch with friends and family celebrating our favorite three year old.  The day couldn't have gone any better and we just had the best time with Brayden on his special day!  Thanks to all of our family and friends that came out to celebrate, it meant so much to Brayden and to us to have you there!


We brought a ball for each kid to play with

Brayden with his best girl Dylan :)

Happy Grandparents with our Tootie girl

Uncle Keithy came all the way from Colorado!


And some pretty cute friends :





Brayden with his very best friends Cooper and Colten





Of course we had our traditional double decker cookie cake, yum!!!!




As always, Brayden enjoyed his cake just a little bit.... 

We headed home with two very tired kiddos and two tired parents as well.   Somehow we managed to get Brayden down for his nap without opening any presents!  However, when he woke up from his nap it was time and it was an unwrapping frenzy!!!  Brayden loved his new toys and is still having fun playing with them, especially the remote control trucks that he got.  


It just felt wrong to not have a birthday cake so I made one of those as well and we had some after having some of Brayden's favorite pizza for dinner.


Yes I am aware that the cake is incredibly lopsided and I definitely got my share of a hard time from Brian about how ugly it was!  All that mattered was that Brayden liked it and that he did!

Adore this precious face and smile

Make a wish!!!


And to prove that Brayden and Sterling are indeed mine and Brian's children... let these kids stuff their faces with birthday cake!!!!




Both kids had to be carried from their chairs directly to the bathtub, there was cake everywhere!


SUCH a wonderful day celebrating our Brayden and his third birthday.  We sure are blessed to be his mom and dad and look forward to another year of watching him grow.  



Friday, April 18, 2014

Happiest Birthday Brayden! Our baby is 3 years old!!!


My goodness, these kiddos birthday's are just bittersweet for me!  Today my best buddy and sweetest boy celebrates his third birthday.  Here is what Brayden is up to as a great big three year old!

*Lucky for me, he is still unbelievably sweet.  Brayden loves to cuddle, gives great big hugs and kisses and is very loving.
*This guy is just a great big ball of energy, he goes nonstop all. day. long...
*He is silly and makes us laugh every day :)
*He loves to play outside, he is a climber, a jumper, a runner, swinger, kicker, thrower, digger, explorer, loves to ride his scooter and other riding toys, and going for walks.  He is usually always happy when we are spending time outside.
*Brayden is still such a good sleeper.  He usually sleeps from about 7:30-7:30/8:00 at night and continues to take a good long nap in the afternoon, about three hours on most days. He is still not taking naps at school which usually results in a pretty cranky kid after school on Tuesday's and Thursday's.
*Brayden is just good, he is such a good boy.  He is a good listener and if he doesn't listen the first time he usually responds to a simple count to five, by five he is almost always doing what we ask.  Don't get me wrong, he isn't always perfect!!!  When he is misses his nap, is sick, or hungry he will throw a fit or has a tantrum but usually responds well when we take away all stimulation and have some quiet time.  Lately he has been a really good helper and has helped clean up his toys when we ask, sometimes doing it all on his own without having to be asked.
*I know we are biased but he is smart!  He just picks up on things quickly and seems to remember everything!
*He has a small obsession with bandaids, currently Batman bandaids are his favorite
*Loves reading books and learning new things
*Brayden still loves playing with cars, tractors, trucks, monster trucks, trains, basically anything with wheels
*He loves throwing, catching, hitting, kicking, rolling, and playing with balls
*Brayden is still using his nebulizer "penguin machine" every night before bed to help control him from getting croup.  We let him sit and wind down while watching Dora and then it's off to bed for stories, prayers, and we are currently singing 6 requested songs before he goes to sleep!
*He is a creature of routine (hmmm I wonder where he gets that from?!) and does great on a predictable schedule.  At bedtime he has us sing the same six songs every night before he goes to sleep...totally random but:  night night song, abc's, number song (a song that Brian made up) Ball game song, Away in a Manger, and finally Silent Night.  If we miss or forget a song Brayden will definitely make sure we know it!!!
*Buddy loves to dance!  We crack up every night watching him dance around to the Dora or Micky Mouse theme song when he is finished with his nebulizer.  It is even more fun to watch him bob his head, dance, and play the air drums in the backseat of the car
*Brayden is becoming much more independent and is finally showing some interest in doing things for himself like getting dressed and taking off and putting on his pants himself when using the restroom.  He is also becoming more opinionated when it comes to clothes and lately has been obsessed with a neon orange shirt that is a hand me down from one of his favorite friends that is still too big on him!  I had to hide the shorts that go with it because they are MUCH too big and hang down to his ankles but he still wants to wear them!

Here is a little flashback of Brayden, wow how he has grown!

Birth

First Birthday and first taste of cake

Two Years Old

Our big three year old
So looking forward to celebrating our favorite boy today!
Happy Birthday our sweet Brayden!!!
xoxo,

Thursday, April 17, 2014

First Port Aransas Trip of the Season/Sterling's first beach trip

At the beginning of March we loaded up the kids and took them down to Port A for a long weekend.  We had the best most relaxing weekend with our friends and kiddos and the kids had the time of their lives!

We spent Saturday morning at the beach and honestly it was pretty chilly!  Dena and I wore pants but the kids had no problem running in and out of the water in their bathing suits.  Brayden and Dylan ran in and out and in and out just laughing, squealing, and splashing.  It was so cute to watch them have such a fun time.  Sweet Sterling liked the sand (mostly eating it...) and was not a big fan of the cold gulf water, and I don't blame her!  







I apologize for the massive amount of pictures of my son playing but he was just having so much fun we didn't want to miss it!  Love all of the action shots and expressions on his face!














After the beach we headed over to the pool for some swimming and a picnic lunch.




And just a few more randoms from the weekend:

 Brayden LOVES all of the sharks at the gift shops in town


Good napping always down at the coast
Checking out the ships
still nebulizing!

On the way home...
Success!!!
Looking forward to more fun weekends down in Port A this summer!