Once upon a time…

There was a pink marshmallow peep.

Even though you couldn’t really see her face, she was a pretty cute little peep.  Today was her first day sledding in the snow!

She took those hills like a champ!  Obviously sledding is NBD…

I think by falling asleep during the sledding she was telling us that next time she wants to go over some jumps.

Meanwhile, there was another little snow bunny who tackled his first day on the hill.

Someone thought they were the king of the hill and required his own towing service.

See all those other little kids walking?  See Mr. B being towed by me?  I pulled him up that hill so many times I lost count.  He’s lucky I am always up for a challenge or else I would have made him walk his booty up that hill like everyone else!  He sure had a blast but I think he is going to be very disappointed when he finds out that usually you have to walk yourself up the hill.

Lunch break!  Sledding must work up an appetite.

Followed by a couple more trips down the hill, and back up, until I finally bribed him with a cake pop from Starbucks.

After the cake pop was devoured in one bite, the trip concluded with a nice nap on the way home.

Lookin all big and cool….with his teddy.

Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas everyone!!  I hope you all enjoyed your holiday.  We sure did!  This year we were able to spend some time with both sides of the family, which was nice.  Last Thursday we left our house and spent a few days in Richland/Kennewick to visit Derek’s side of the family.  Braedon had a blast with his cousins, as always.
The iPad makes a great babysitter.  Just kidding.  Kind of.

Meanwhile, these two tots were looking for trouble.

Piper had to lead the way since Adi couldn’t see through her hair.

The kids decorated gingerbread houses one afternoon.  Here they are waiting patiently to start in front of all the tempting candy.

After gingerbread house making, it was gingerbread house eating.  Now, they took THAT seriously.

We left Richland Sunday evening and then headed to my parents house around noon on Christmas Eve.  Baeo and Adi opened their presents from grandma and grandpa, who spoiled them rotten, and then we hung out and ate a delicious Christmas dinner with all the fixings.
Here is some pre dinner building.  This put together airplane was a huge hit with the B man.

He needed a little help from Grandpa.

Play time on the floor followed.

Story time concluded the fun before it was time to eat.

We ended the evening with a stare down and some facial hair grabbing.

We got back home to our house with time to put out oats for the reindeer and cookies for Santa.  We read a couple of stories and then put the kiddos to bed.  After they were tucked in all cozy, Derek and I watched one of my favorite Christmas movies, A Christmas Story.  That movie never gets old!  The next morning we came into the living room to find a few crumbs on the cookie plate and presents!!!
Yesterday was absolutely perfect!  I grabbed my cup of coffee, sat back and watched the joy of Christmas morning through my children’s eyes.  After they opened all their presents, I made pancakes and then we went back to more play time.  My friend Jenny came over for a few hours to hang with us and the whole day was spent lounging, watching Christmas movies, playing with new toys, and having tea parties.

Toys that were a hit with Braedon at age 3 1/2:
1. Put together and take apart airplane and Lightening McQueen
2. Cranky the crane and Gordon
3.  Hex bugs or nano bugs

Toys that were a hit with Adilyn at age 16 months:
1.  Tea set and fake, pull apart food from Melissa and Doug
2.  Braedon’s Hex bugs
3.  Play phone
Be back soon!

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

I can’t believe Christmas in only a week a way!  This season goes by faster and faster each year.  This year, to make it a little fun, I made a 25 Days of Christmas list that provided us with a Christmas related task each day.  We have had a lot of fun crossing things off our list!  It has been even more fun since Derek has been home lately to do them with us.  About a month ago he got a little surprise from work.  Basically the team he signed on for got blown up and he had to find a new role.  He found a new role that he is very excited about, but doesn’t really start until after the new year.  Which means, a surprise holiday vacation!  Here are a few things we have been enjoying lately…

The “gingerbread trail.”  That is what we call it anyway.  It is actually the Microsoft trail and wraps all through the campus and is used quite often for running.  There are little running man markers throughout the trail to tell you your distance, but Braedon calls them gingerbread men, so the name has stuck.  Derek took the kids for walk on the “gingerbread trail” one morning while I worked out.  This is one of Baeo’s favorite trails to walk and we are so lucky that it is steps away from our apartment.

Usually after a trail walk, a bath is needed.  Good thing Braedon loves baths!  Yesterday after I got Braedon’s bath started for him I went into the kitchen to do something. I then heard  from him that he was, “using the towel for a blanket.”  This is what I found when I went in the bathroom.  Yes, that would be a big bath towel.

Last week we ran a few errands and went to the Redmond Town Center to walk around for a bit.  This is what happens when Derek tells Peyton to sit.  Good boy Braedon.  You deserve a treat.

Today after I picked up Baeo from preschool we went and had lunch with Derek at work since he had a couple of meetings.  Braedon got to stay and hang out with dad at work, so Adi and I hung out by ourselves this afternoon.  It was nice to have a little one on one time.

I spent most of the time trying to keep my phone from her.  She has figured out how to unlock my phone and turn on Pandora.  It’s pretty cute watching her walk around the house with her “boom box,” but she also tries to delete all my apps.  Not cool Adi.

We also tried to read some books, which she still isn’t really in to.

Mostly she just walked around chugging milk.  Then I fed her dinner and gave her a bath.  I know, pretty exciting.  Maybe a little too exciting…

Who peed on the bathroom floor?

Yeah Adi, I know it was you.

Light a candle…

get on your knees.  and pray.

Pray for those innocent children.  Pray for their mommies and daddies and families.  Pray for the heroic teachers and their families.

There are a couple of reasons I keep a blog.  The main one is to document the life of my children so that I have something to look back on as they get older.  It is fun to go back a few years to when Braedon was only a few months old and read about what he was doing and see how much he has changed.  I sometimes use it as a reference to compare Braedon and Adilyn at the same age, just for fun.   My long term plan is to keep it up until they turn 18 and then give it to them.  Think of it as an electronic journal or scrapbook.  The other reason why I like to keep a blog is because I like to write.  I am one of those people who find it therapeutic and would rather write my thoughts down on paper then express them through words.  

With that said, the tragedy in Connecticut has hit me very hard, and I know I am not the only one.  Hearing about the tragic murders of innocent children who didn’t even know what evil was and probably didn’t have a worry in the world, felt like a complete blow to my chest.  My heart goes out to all those families who lost their babies and to everyone else who is struggling to understand why this happened and how anyone could commit such a brutal crime.  I can’t even imagine what it would feel like to lose a child, let alone in such a violent way.  I find myself constantly thinking about those children in that building and how scared they probably were.  I can imagine them asking for their mommy or daddy and just wanting to be held and comforted.  I can imagine seeing the terror in their tiny faces and the tears rolling down their cheeks as they watched close friends get their lives taken from them, or their own lives for that matter.

I know why this tragedy feels so close to me, even though I didn’t lose a child, and I’m sure it is the same reason why it sits so close with so many others as well.  I am a parent.  Yesterday my whole facebook stream was filled with people expressing their sorrow and praying for those affected. All day yesterday I couldn’t take my eyes off my sweet little Baeo, who is completely oblivious to this horrible tragedy, as he played, ate, watched tv, and went along with his day as naively as those little kids who had their lives taken from them once did.  So much joy, excitement, love, and innocents completely fills his little body.  As I sat and watched him, my heart just ached as I thought about losing my little boy.  I imagined what it would be like if he weren’t here.  The house would be way too quiet and too clean. I wouldn’t laugh as often.   As I tucked him in bed last night with a big kiss and an I love you, I thought about all the parents who weren’t getting to do the same thing. 

When you become a parent, your whole world changes and your life becomes your kids.  Your worst nightmare is losing that precious little gift from God.  Whenever a tragedy like this happens I always think, why?  I believe that God has a plan for everyone.  I always hope that his plan for those are to live a life full of love, happiness, and success, however one might define it.  I just can’t wrap my head around why this had to happen to such sweet little gifts from God.  Then again, I think back to my own little ones.  As a parent you want the best for your kids.  You want to see them grow, learn, laugh, love, and live.  You want to see them successful.  You never want to see them hurt, let alone have to bury one.  I want to believe that my kids were put here on this earth to move mountains, and I pray to God everyday that they are given that opportunity.  That opportunity to live. 

My heart and prayers go out to those families and this incident has reminded me yet again to hug, kiss, enjoy and love my kids unconditionally.  Never take them for granted and cherish every second spent with them because in a world like today, you never know when it will be your last.

Leavenworth 2012

Yesterday we drove up to Leavenworth for the Christmas lights and so Braedon could play in the snow.  Going to Leavenworth has been a tradition that Derek and I have kept up since we first started dating 6 years ago.  However, I swear it gets more and more crowded each year, and now with kids, it is a little too crowded for me.  We still had fun, and Baeo had a blast playing in the snow.  However, this will probably be our last year going to Leavenworth for the Christmas lights as next year we will start a new family tradition.

 

This year laughs were had.

Cute hats were worn.

Snow angels were made.

Santa was seen.

Snow was eaten.

Memories were made.

A Braedon Update

Where do I even begin?  Braedon is 3 1/2 going on 16.  He is full of attitude, he’s funny, crazy, full of energy, but still gives the best cuddles.

Like most three year olds, Braedon is a sponge and absorbs everything around him.  He is very fast to pick up on things and will be the first to correct you if you misstate a fact.

Braedon still loves all things cars and trains.  He enjoys reading books even more now and has a at least a few memorized from us reading them over and over.  He loves to sing and has quite a few songs memorized as well.  If you ask him if he knows a song, be prepared for a 10 minute serenade of all the songs he knows strung together.  He loves doing crafts and coloring.  He can count and recognize numbers up to 100, knows his ABC’s, knows the medical terminology for a few bones in the body, knows he is a human (and will tell you that), and he will talk your ear off.  He is quite the wingman, so if any of you single ladies out there are looking for a guy, you can borrow Braedon.  He is great at starting conversations and will get the basics like age, name, and number for you, without you even asking.

Braedon goes to preschool a couple times a week and loves it.  He loves his teachers and all the friends that he has made.

Braedon is also all boy.  He won’t miss a mud puddle, he loves to go for trail walks, look for bugs, and is fascinated by spiders.  He likes to collect rocks and leaves, play at the park, and ride his bike.

One of the cutest things Braedon does right now is instead of saying, “right next to,” he will say, “banext to.”  He also has no concept of time whatsoever.  He will say, “oh, it is only 6 in the morning,” when it is actually noon.  He will say he has been awake for 10 hours when it is in fact only 8 am, or he will say he did something yesterday when it was 2 weeks or a month a go.  I think it is so cute and still reminds me he is only three.  Sometimes it is hard for me to remember due to a lot of our conversations being a little advanced.

All I know is this kid is a crack up!  He adds so much to our family and I love him so much!  I just wish he would stay little a bit longer (he has told us many times that he wants to stay 3 forever) because he is clearly growing up way too fast.

15 months!

I haven’t done an Adi update in awhile, so I thought maybe I should.  She turned 15 months old on the first and is clearly no longer my little baby

I mean, look at her!

Oh look, a picture of her bringing us her shoes.  She does this often…when she is out of jammies, she needs shoes.

So, what has Miss Adilyn Paige been up to lately?  A lot.  This girl is BUSY.  She is walking EVERYWHERE now, which just means she is faster and can get into more trouble.  By trouble, I mean the garbage, the toilet, the recycling, did I mention the garbage?

She loves anything electronic.  Phones, computers, remotes all tickle her fancy.  What is with toddlers and electronics and what did kids play with before those even existed?

She still isn’t talking a lot, but neither did Braedon at this age and now look at him.  Needless to say, I’m not worried.  The words Adi says include: Mom, Dad, dog, come, milk.  For everything else she will either grunt or scream because you took away something she wanted.  She has 3 teeth on the bottom and 4 teeth, plus her one year molars on top.  She loves to brush her teeth, but I have a feeling she does it just for the taste of the toothpaste

This girl has a thing for belly buttons.  I don’t know where it came from but beware.  She just might catch you off guard one of these days by coming up to you to pull up your shirt and look for your belly button. 

We are in a nap transition trying to go from 2 naps down to 1.  This has been very rough and we went through a stage a few weeks ago where she was refusing to go down at all sometimes or only sleeping for 45 minutes.  We still have made a smooth transition and her naps are very iffy.  Sometimes she take 2 short ones, sometimes she take one medium one, or sometimes she takes one 30 minute cat nap.  Now those days are rough.  SHe goes to bed at 6:30 and sleeps until 6:30 or 7.  She wakes up raring to go, that is after her morning cup of milk.

Adi is very persistent and stubborn, much like her big brother and daddy  She has a very outgoing but strong personality.  She knows what she wants, when she wants it.  She is also somewhat of a brute.  I joke around saying that she will probably end up playing football, wrestling, and softball in high school.

On the other hand, she is a complete sweet heart.  She gives hugs and kisses and cuddles (when she’s sleepy).  I’ll take what I can get.  She is so happy and adores her big brother.  I can’t imagine our family without her!

I sure do love my little girl.

The B man’s update is coming shortly.  I think he deserves one too!