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!

Living Separately

Since the beginning of the school year when Quincy moved into his own room Braxton and Zayden have been forced to be buddies. For the most part they do pretty well playing together, though they do have their moments of blood curdling screams and throwing cars at one another. 

When Zayden was finally old enough to go to nursery we hoped the transition would be made easier because Braxton would be with him for 6 months. Now starting the new year B has moved up Primary, where he's being challenged in the skills of sitting still and learning to sing songs. He has a fairly small class of 6 kids and told us last week about Samuel and the Lion's Den. We tried to convince him his name was Daniel, he wasn't buying it. It's been an interesting phase of having them separated during the last hours of church. B is learning much more and Zayden has developed a sense of independence playing on his own in nursery. He has really become involved in the nursery singing time and is doing very well. 

Despite being separated during the last two hours of church these two are still pretty good buddies at home. 

This makes me happy. 

Everyday Life

Post holidays our schedules have been pretty chill. 

We haven't done anything extremely exciting and  nobody's been sick. It's been a rather uneventful month, but we have managed to have some fun together, even doing the most boring (for my boys) of activities..... like shopping. The boys tolerated us doing some furniture shopping. 

One store gave out suckers and they were quite thrilled about that. I still haven't found the dining set I love, so it might have to wait longer. One of the last stores we wandered through to look at furniture was Fred Meyer, don't you love how Zayden wouldn't get near Braxton? 

Unless they are helping each other with cars.... 

Oh and I guess our biggest news is that Tyler was released out of YM and they called me to be the Beehives adviser. I like it so far, though I totally feel out of my element with all those girls, in a good way though. 

That's pretty much the happenings around here lately. 

Zayden Lately

Zayden is approaching to the two year mark in the not so far distance and I wanted to make sure that I took some time to record what he's up to lately.

His personality is definitely developing. Although he is often to referred to as the littles shadow- copying everything his older brothers are doing, of course, as not to be outdone by them- he still is his own little person.

He loves to dance. This is something that separates him from his brothers. He's had this love of music since he was young. Always shaking his bum to the beat of the song. I thought perhaps it would fade away as he got older, but I'm so glad it hasn't. I'm interested in seeing where it goes. Recently he enjoys singing the 'Do as I'm Doing' song-- which is adorable when he tries to do the arm motions. He also likes the 'Ducks' song and to sing 'Jesus wants Me for a Sunbeam' --during which he says 'beeem'.

He has added some new words to his vocabulary. He can now say: mom, dad, bupah- grandpa, bum, go, uh oh, dink- drink, firetruck is responded with 'wee ooo wee ooo, onk onk', wha dah- what's that,oooup- poop, doosh- juice, peese- please, trah- truck, eeth- teeth, bup- burp,bee bee-- baby, and the list goes on and on.... each day he adds something new, which pleases me since it seemed for a while he could have cared less about talking. He also likes to "sing", which is usually jibberish in tune with a song in his head. It's cute. He has also taken up yelling, mostly this occurs when all the boys are yelling and he just joins in, not to be left out, of course.

He might have a love for singing and music, but he still wants to rough house and play sports with his brothers. Most recently the boys are into tackling and playing "football". Zayden is NOT about to be left out of these games, regardless that he's the smallest of the group. He gets right in on the action, usually resulting in minor injuries, but he gets right  back in the game after a magical healing kiss from mom. He's a tough kid though and can mostly handle all the rough and tumble stuff pretty well.

He's a stomach sleeper. Every night I go in to check on his he's laying on his stomach, it doesn't matter if I turn him on his back he rolls over. He's a good sleeper and has adjusted well into sharing a room with Braxton.

He knows most all his body parts now: eyes, ears, mouth, cheeks, nose, tongue, teeth, hair, neck, chin, hands, elbows, legs, feet, bum, peanut, and belly. I'm trying to start on colors next. Part of me feels ashamed that he's almost two and doesn't really know colors yet, as Quincy knew all by the time he was 18 months, however I pushed it with Q and of course didn't have 2 other children to teach. This time around I'm trying to let his learning progress naturally.

He is starting to show signs of interest in potty stuff. He's fascinated when anyone's going to the bathroom. He points to things going into the toilet, to the toilet paper, and gets happy when we flush things 'bye bye'. I don't think he's quite ready for potty training yet, but he loves to wear underwear and I look forward to the day we don't have to buy diapers!! Oh that will be a glorious day!!

He is a total mama's boy. When he's hurt he will gladly bypass daddy to run straight to me for comfort. He's frequently mauling me throughout the day. He also gets jealous when B is sitting close to me or on my lap. He will yell at Braxton and push him away from me. He'll almost always give me kisses when I ask for them, however, if Tyler asks for a kiss he'll give me one instead... I'm pretty sure he enjoys seeing his dad gravel for a smooch. I'm also quite positive that he'll grow out of the phase, so for the time being I'm trying to enjoy all this.

He has started getting his two yer molars. He recently cut his first one a couple of weeks ago. The rest have yet to follow suit. He loves brushing his teeth and yells at us until we get his toothbrush and the toothpaste for him. We are trying to completely break the thumb sucking habit, which we are making progress in, however when he's trapped in a car and tired it's a lost because. He sucked his thumb a lot when we drove to Idaho. Although he was cutting that molar too, which I didn't discover until after the fact.

He has lots of energy and likes to laugh about things when he thinks something's funny. He also has no fear. He frequently jumps off beds and couches and makes me want to have a heart attack. He loves baths and HATES showers.

It's so great getting to experience his personality developing as he gets older and I can't wait to see who he becomes when he's older.