Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Family Pictures 2014

Over winter (Christmas/ New Year's break) Scott and Kelli were in town and Kelli agreed to take some family pictures for us. She did a great job, especially considering that we had some grumpy kids and fog (you gotta work with what you have weather-wise in the PNW... better than rain, right?) We are happy that they will be living close by in a couple of months and maybe we can take some more family pictures when it's sunny and warm.
 I'm happy to say that I already have these printed and hung in our home and I couldn't be happier! 
Please enjoy these as much as we did. 






























Snow snow snow... annd freezing rain!

On Friday the 7th we had a lovely dumping of 8 inches of the most beautiful powdery white snow. Quincy's school was of course canceled and so we did what any eager PNWesterner does. We bundled up and went out to play in it. We invited some friends over to play and the kids played to their hearts' content for a good 3 hours. It was glorious. The only thing which could have made it better was if Tyler had the day off from work. He did get off early in the afternoon, but by that time the nasty snow and rain was coming down, so we couldn't really enjoy it like we had in the sunny blue sky morning that we had. 







My Braxton is 4!

Braxton had a quiet birthday this year with us. 
His birthday fell on a Monday and it just so happened that we had a a freak snow and freezing rainstorm that weekend. Scott and Kelli were visiting on Saturday while they were in town for Scott's interview at Pacific (which he nailed and was accepted a week later- way to go!)

Anyhow... a little bit about our new 4 year old:

He has been doing very well in his school work. He can now write his name. He can read some simple 3 letter words. He is very sensitive-- out of all our kids he has had the most nightmares. He's very physical-- he loves to tackle and wrestle with his brothers, they also "box" which is just code for punching each other.
On the flip side he's also a great little lover- he will always tell me 'I love you mom' when I least expect it and he gives great hugs and kisses to Zayden when he's hurt. Sometimes I'll find the two snuggled up in bed at night when I go to check on them.

Braxton is now a sunbeam and is loving being able to be with the "big kids" in primary. He has 8 kids in his class and brought them all Valentines this past Sunday, which says a little more about his personality that he's thoughtful about others. He is our biggest goofball. He really likes to make other laugh and is frequently trying to be silly. We have had talks about how there are times to be silly and times to act normal. He is still a good eater... though it seems some days his appetite is unquenchable and others he hardly wants to eat at all. I guess he's going through some growth spurts of his own.


He really has taken a liking to reading. He can sit and read 10 books with me-- speaking of reading he got some phonics easy reading Cars books for Christmas and can now read 2 of them to me. I know part of him has memorized them, but we try to practice following the words and he feels extra special knowing that he can "read" books by himself.


 Braxton is really into super heroes! All he wanted for his birthday were super hero figurines. We took him to Target and he picked out a Batman, Superman, and Joker figurine. Later he got an Ironman with some of his birthday money from Grandma Rena. They love talking about "good guys" and "bad guys". His request for a cake this year was that he wanted a batman one. I did my best, but I think it could have been better. He was content enough with it. Braxton ate blueberry pancakes for breakfast and again for dinner (against my better judgement, though I allowed it since it was HIS birthday and that's what he insisted on). Later that night he threw everything up.... it was lovely.


I'm proud of the son Braxton has grown up to be. He is silly, and loving, and smart. He is a good big brother to Zayden, though they have their moments of disagreement.


Happy birthday Braxton.
We love you so much!