Landen playing t-ball

Landen's 1st year playing t-ball! He seems to be having a great time! He is on a team with several of his friends and he has a fantastic coach who is SO patient with the kids!

Landen turned his hat sideways cause "he can't see to get the ball if it is on straight!" This is serious business!

Landen is in the middle of this hussle for the ball. Everyone wants to be the guy to get it! So much so that while Landen was a runner on 1st base he had a little misunderstanding of what he was supposed to be doing. He intently watched his teammate hit the ball and instead of running to 2nd base he ran after the ball, wrestled the other team's player to the ground and it took a grown man to peel him off of the kid and to peel the ball out of Landen's hand. He was SOOO excited that he got the ball!!! ...Then he had to run to 2nd base. I was on the ground rolling! (and was no help to the situation) Luckily in all if it-- nobody was hurt.

Landen- keeping his eye on the ball.

A big swing and he is off!

T-Ball at home

After a fun Saturday playing in the little kiddie pool with neighbor friends, Landen and Mason played a little bit of t-ball. Landen was so sweet to help Mason and the two of them were getting along fabulously!!!

Thanks to my great friend, Stephanie, for taking these fantastic shots! I took some pictures but they didn't turn out nearly as good as hers.

I love Landen's tongue sticking out in concentration! It was fun to see them laughing and having a great time together. I hope it will continue on later in life!

My little men in their ties

I think that taking this picture made us a minute or two late for church... but what was I to do? They were all wearing the ties that I made them on the same day! :)

Pretty handsome aren't they!!! For sure keepers.

Kids do and say the funniest things...

I only have a minute and am WAY behind on my blogging but I wanted to jot down a few things that have been cracking me up... and this week I need a good laugh! (Bryce is out of town and of course the kids are sick! He times this so well.) :)

The other day we were out doing errands and I was asking the kids what their Christmas wish from Santa was. (They are only allowed to ask for one thing from Santa and Braxton has been having a HORRIBLE time trying to decide on that ONE thing.) Anyway, he told me that he wanted a Nintendo DS. I asked him what the difference was between his gameboy that he has now and a DS. (Partly cause I wanted to know if he even had a clue what a DS is AND I really have no idea the differences between them.) Braxton told me that a DS has two screens and comes with a pen. Landen instantly piped up from the back of the car and told Braxton that he doesn't need a DS cause he already has a gameboy and we already have lots and lots of pens at home! I couldn't stop laughing.

Today (around 10:30 am) Landen was asking me when Braxton was going to be home from school. I told him that he had another hour before he was home. We then started talking about how long each person has to go to school... Landen, Braxton & Abbey. Landen got all quiet for a minute and then said... "I can't go to too much school cause it would give me a headache." And he said it with the most adorable concerned voice and wrinkled up forehead. The things that this kid thinks about!

One last thing that I think is cute. When Mason is done eating in his high chair we have been saying,"All done!" and then we clap and smile. Now when I ever say, "All done!" Mason instantly claps for himself and grins from ear to ear while his whole body wiggles with excitement.

The world is his canvas...

...or at least he thinks the bathroom is! Landen was supposed to be upstairs brushing his teeth but of course that wasn't happening. He can't seem to follow through on stuff very often and complete a task without getting distracted. I am not sure if it is just his age, personality or a combination of both. I wasn't too surprised when I came up from changing laundry and found him goofing off. I was a bit surprised though to find crayon artwork in the sink and on the toilet seat. I tried to take pictures but the camera couldn't focus in on it. GRRRR!!!! It could have been worse. I am glad it wasn't permanent marker or something. I had to come and blog for a minute while I take a breather and go back to calmly get him out of time out and have him scrub it off. I am working hard on not losing my temper. I have to work extra hard on a Monday morning. Abbey and Braxton didn't really ever color on stuff that wasn't paper.. but LANDEN... different story. I still know he could be WAY worse about it.

My time-out is over and it is back to business.

Whirlwind of events

So much has been happening and I am very behind on my journaling of it all so I am jumping in to catch up with a condensed version of the activities.

Abbey's 1st day of 3rd grade. Braxton's 1st day of Kindergarten. Landen's 1st day of preschool! And my 1st day of peace after a jam packed summer!!! :)

Braxton had a BLAST playing soccer this season! He scored multiple goals each game and it was so much fun cheering him on.

He also had two cute friends on the team with him, Lexi (left) and Jill (right).

Here is Mason chillin out at home. The house was SO quiet. Landen was at work w/ Bryce, Abbey was at school and Braxton LOVED having Mason ALL to himself! These pics were taken mid August. He is 5 1/2 months old. So sweet!

Fun FHE activity. The kids enjoyed playing four square. We usually had several extra neighbor kids join in on the fun as well. Good times to be had by all!... Even though somebody usually ended up crying before it was all over with. What would Family Home Evening be without a meltdown from somebody???

More pictures of Mason.

Mason sits up so straight and tall!

Landen was enjoying one-on-one time with Mason and the peace to play ALL BY HIMSELF WITHOUT ANYONE DISTURBING HIM!!! I almost forgot he was home cause he would go down to the play room and play for an entire hour or more without a single peep. It is cute to listen to him playing with his "super hero guys." Landen is quite the character.

Landen is a full fledge 2-wheeler riding fool! He will zip all over the place. He has learned his lesson to wear his helmet in the process. He was showing off for me one evening in the driveway (wearing his bike helmet) and took a sharp corner. The bike tire slid out from under him and whiplashed him to the concrete in nothing flat. His head his the cement SO hard and my heart just stopped. He quickly hopped up, rubbed his helmet and said, "WOW! Glad I had my helmet on!" It would have been an ER visit for sure if he hadn't been wearing that helmet.

I was out taking pictures of Landen and Braxton also wanted a piece of the show-off action. He also likes to zip around like a maniac and go over his jump to catch some air. Of course it all ends with a big black tire skid mark on the ground. He wore through a tire in less than a year.

I thought this was cute. Landen made a picture of himself at preschool. Notice the curly pasta for the hair! I was cracking up! Landen LOVES preschool and Miss Heidi is the BEST!!!

Now on to KARATE! Braxton couldn't get enough of it. He has begged and pleaded to do karate for more than a year now. Luckily this place was doing an after school program for a month so we allowed him to go. With all of his extra energy bottled up... he had plenty of power to give it all he had!

Braxton doing his white belt test. He passed and could hardly wait to break his board. WAY TO GO BRAXTON!!!

I wish it wouldn't have been so darn expensive to continue on. His instructor was fantastic and like I mentioned earlier, Braxton couldn't get enough.




















Fall Break 2010. We spent an afternoon doing the Witches Scavenger Hunt at Gardner Village. The place was PACKED but we had a blast anyway. It cracks me up that my kids love going into these shops so much. I know that they like "Sweet Aftons" the best... but also enjoy all the other shops too. Many times it is ME pulling THEM out of the stores! Who would have figured that???

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY BRAXTON!!!

Braxton turned 6 on October 22nd. Braxton asked for bike pegs, a pillow pet and "glow" bendaroos and a Spongebob cake. He got his wishes!

Abbey made him a "prayer rock" and some sort of bendaroo thing.

Showing off the bike pegs.

At Arctic Circle for his birthday lunch with is best friend, Matthew Fish. Braxton could pick one friend to come hang out with him that afternoon and he picked Matthew. I am so excited that he has made this good little friend at school. I have been so worried about him. Braxton seems to have a hard time getting along with the kids for very long. Braxton is a tender hearted boy that gets phycially wild, has a temper and doesn't know how to keep his emotions undercontrol sometimes. He and this little boy, Matthew seem to click really well and they had fun together.

Braxton showing off some moves w/ his new bike pegs at the AF skate park.

Blowing out his candles. We had an extended family party that night and enjoyed everyone coming over for dinner and birthday treats. To the left of Braxton is Porter, his other best friend and favorite cousin!

Some things that Braxton loves:

*Watching tv
*Riding his bike
*Karate
*Gymnastics
*Jumping on the trampoline
*Dirtbiking with his dad
*Being loud and crazy
*Talking "crazy talk" or aka "gibberish" --this drive Bryce and I nuts!
*GUM And CANDY!
*Playing with friends
*School
*Doing whatever Abbey is doing

Things Braxton isn't so fond of:
*Abbey stealing his attention from the babysitter
*Band-aids

Unique things about Braxton:
*He doesn't like you to give him a hug when he is hurt
*VERY tender hearted!
*Is usually willing to try about any type of food.
*He still needs naps most days -- gets that from me. We need our sleep!
*Doesn't mind shopping if we are one-on-one!
*He is a good helper when he puts his mind to it!

WE LOVE YOU BRAXTON!!!



The night of Braxton's birthday Mason decided he was tired of going around in circles on the floor and was going to get over to the other side of the family room to get Braxton's new stuff. He grabbed a hold of the carpet with his fists and pulled himself clear across the family room! He of course couldn't have Braxton's tiny lego pieces so we put out a magazine on the other side of the room and he went straight for it! He had a blast tearing it apart as his reward for all of that hard work. He LOVES paper!!! Just today (10/26/2010) he was sitting on the floor, twisted over to his knees and pulled himself to a standing position with the help of the tall footstool. I couldn't believe it!!! He quickly crashed (which he didn't appreciate) but he did it! He is all over the place now and ironing is scary now cause he goes straight for the cord to pull on the iron. A few days shy of 7 months... my life is going to turn upside down now. :)




We made it! I know that there is even more stuff I didn't journal about but it is time for bed. I have survived my 2nd day of P90X and it is kicking my trash! I knew I was out of shape but I didn't expect to faceplant it on the carpet mid pushup yesterday. I can't even come close to keeping up on the upper body workouts but I gave it a good try with the workout today. Bryce and I are doing it together and I am excited. Having my stomach hang over my pants has been driving me nuts! Not enough to stop me from eating tons of junk food though. Even now I wish I had a dozen sugar cookies to munch down on. Good thing I don't!