Friday was a BUSY day for us. In the morning, we headed over to my friend Cari's house. Her little boy Jack is only a month older than Brayden, and one of the few boy friends that Brayden has, so it's always a fun time when we get together. Cari had a little Halloween party for the kids, complete with cupcake decorating, hot dog "mummies" (hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls) and mini English Muffin pizzas. Brayden was most interested in the cupcakes... of course! We basically spent our entire morning over there, and when it was naptime headed home. When B woke up, we packed up and headed to Drew's office where they do trick or treating for the kids. Last year when we brought B he basically just sat there. This year he was all over. Running from cubical to cubical, grabbing HANDFULS of candy, and trying to eat it with the wrappers on. Much more tiring for momma and daddy!He had a blast though, and I have to say that watching my kid(s) enjoy things for the first time and seeing the little light go off about what the hoopla is all about is one of my favorite parenting moments.
This was the best we could do as a group photo on Friday with all of the kids.
Brayden was pretty serious about taking the phone call, but Hannah and Ava wanted to talk to him in real life :)
I'm not even sure why I try... he just wants to move. Also, please notice that I am wearing his hat. He really didn't want to wear a costume at all, but I was able to convince him to at least wear the uniform. The hat... well... it was thrown on the floor mostly.
I guess the new mode of transportation for firemen is tricycles :)
Brayden didn't really care to decorate the cupcake... he just wanted to eat it!
Sweet Jack!
"decorating" his cupcake
This is just one of the cubicals we went through to trick or treat at Drew's work. When I say the go all out, I really mean it!
When Brayden saw this set up, he sat down to take a picture... silly boy!
Ok, this was hilarious. Do you see the spider? There is an office right behind it, and the guy who was in there was operating this spider by a string so that when people passed it would drop from the ceiling. Brayden was really freaked out by it... we thought it was hilarious!
Friday evening Drew put together the changing table (we had to change out the knobs since the original ones were porcelein with roses-- not quite masculine enough for us, haha!), hung the letters over Connor's crib, and helped me get the bedding on the crib. While there are a few things I need to clean up in the nursery, I am proud to say that it is pretty much done! Hooray! Once I clean up the last of the odds and ends, I'll post some pictures. We don't deck out the nursery like a lot of people; I add some letters over the crib and a canvas over the changing table, and that's pretty much it. I just figure a baby doesn't really care if the walls are taupe or blue, and I'd rather spend my money on a room when they are a bit older to really care. But that's just me. I tend to be simple and plain like that :)
Saturday morning we woke up and ate cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs as a family. After breakfast Drew finished hanging a few things in Brayden's room. Brayden is REALLY into doing EVERYTHING that Drew does. So we grabbed his tools so he could help out daddy.
comparing drills with daddy
notice he's saying "ohhhhh".
Saturday the weather was absolutely perfect, so we decided to head to a local pond to feed the ducks and play at the park. I had taken Brayden a few weeks ago to see the ducks and surprisingly he LOVED it. I had wanted Drew to experience it too, so it just made sense. We stopped by the discount bakery for some cheap bread, and then headed out. I just have to say, that our local pond has a bit of a duck population problem, and all of the ducks do not seem to be scared of people. Seriously, the minute we pulled out the bread, they all came running. It truly was the most hilarious experience. Drew and I were cracking up. Brayden seemed a bit dumbfounded as to why the ducks wanted to swarm around him like they did. He was even more concerned when the ducks ran up to him and stole the bread out of his hands. So what's a boy to do, but shove the bread straight in his mouth. I think he ate about a 1/4 of the loaf of white bread (and he probably loved the way it tasted-- we eat whole wheat bread around here!).
"Why are we feeding this stuff to the ducks?!?! It's GOOD!"
They are starting to come...
"Quick... eat this stuff before they snatch it from you!"
This goose had a few words for Brayden. B was not a fan (it tried to steal the bread out of his hands).
I even got some video of the chaos of ducks. When Drew was saying "run run run" it was because some of the geese were fighting over bread, spreading their wings, and then running after each other. Also, please notice Brayden SHOVING the bread in his mouth.
After we fed the ducks we headed over to the park area. Last time I went with B he was hesitant to climb on anything. Saturday was a different story. The kid was everywhere. And he has no qualms going down any of the big slides. He even says "WEEEEEEE" when he slides down... SO cute. We stayed there for about 1.5 hours, and headed home to eat lunch and take naps.
Do you think he was happy?!? :)
contemplating what to do next...
playing with a friend he met at the park
climbing instructions from daddy
After naptime we decided we'd go to a local restaurant to catch some of the game. We don't have cable, so it's basically the only way for us to watch the Hogs if they are not on a local network channel. We were a little concerned how Brayden would do, but we had a great waitress who brought his food out early. He was captivated by dipping his chicken nuggets and fries in the ketchup. He also liked all of the tv's, and even did a few hand clappings and hog callings during the game. He was also introduced to Sprite. He's actually had sips of our cokes or icees, but never had his very own soda. He was in love. I'm pretty sure between the soda and the candy from all of the halloween festivities that the kid is destined to get a cavity (and yes, we have brushed extra well this weekend for that very reason!). After we finished eating we headed out to stop by at a halloween party one of Drew's coworkers was throwing. We only stayed for a few minutes because Brayden was imploding rather quickly.
Sunday was our last day to serve in the nursery before Connor is born. Talk about surreal! Soon we'll be bringing out own infant again. I seriously can't believe it's almost time! After Brayden woke up from his afternoon nap, we headed out to a local fall festival with some of our friends. It was fun, but honestly was a bit over Brayden's age. He did a few of the games, but didn't want to wait in line, so we spent a majority of our time chasing him around as he stared at people dressed funny :) He did get to enjoy the ponies before it got super crowded, which is a special treat since normally this pony vendor costs $5 per ride at most of the local festivals in the area (the fall festival was put on by a local church and everything there was free). I even won a door prize-- a reusable grocery bag stuffed with all kinds of cleaning supplies (which is ironic since my home is due a DEEP clean before this baby arrives!).
tossing the bean bags into Jonah's whale
in love with the 'baball' (football).
(I just have to add, that baby blue is DEFINITELY my husband's color!)
After he rode the pony, he wanted to go back in, but there were other kids waiting. So he ran around the side, grabbed hold of the rope, and started pointing and babbling at the pony. If only I knew what he was saying!
next up was the bounce house.
B and his buddy Jack (dressed as a dog) trying to gain their coordination in the bounce house :)
this was at the beginning of the bag of cheetos. Let's just say we had quite the mess on our hands (or should I say Drew had quite the mess since he fed him) after cheetos, a hot dog and sprite.
After the festival was over we went trick or treating in our friend's neighborhood. It was so much fun since all of us have kids around the same age, and for most of them it was the first time they were trick or treating. Brayden was hesitant about the entire situation at first, but then he realized that the people at the doors were giving away CANDY, and he went with the flo. The thing that frustrated him the most is that he wanted to go INTO people's houses. He is truly my social butterfly!
walking along side all of the big people.
This is his new smile for the camera face... cracks me up!
who could NOT smile if you get to go trick or treating AND ride in a car?!
I had to carry him a few times to make sure he didn't dart into people's houses
After about a block Brayden started imploding so we headed back to the car and packed up to come home. On the way back I looked back and asked Brayden if he had fun and he shook his head yes. Then I asked him if he'd take a picture for me and to smile for the camera... this is what I got:
I LOVE this silly boy!
We have another busy week ahead of us. I still have a few things that need to be completed before Connor arrives, my house needs to be CLEANED, and we have baby showers and birthday parties to attend. I do feel a bit more on my game, so I am hoping that I'll be able to start regularly posting again this week. Hope everyone has a great week!
