Brayden is 4!

My little angel! Yes, Brayden turned four in December, and I can't believe I'm old enough to have a 4 yr old. Every year around his birthday we have pictures taken and the last couple years it has been quite the chore for everyone involved. So this year I planned it better with his nap and then bribed Brayden with one of his Christmas presents. I know bribing is bad but it worked like a charm. Brayden did an awesome job and everything went very smoothly. Yeah, good pictures for my scrapbook!!!Brayden had some significant difficulty holding some of the positions the photographer placed him in. Apparently, he inherited his parents flexibility or rather inflexibility.

Oh yes, good attitude and good pictures but the bandaid had to stay. Oh well, it was green so it matched the shirt.Our little family picture.

Boy, being good for pictures is exhausting. Brayden decided he'd show the photographer his own poses. Now, that is Brayden.

Vroom Vroom!

For Brayden's birthday (I know it's not until December) Gary and I got him an ATV. It came in on 10-24 and Gary had it all put together by the time we made it home from work. We decided to give it to him early because there is not a lot of good 4 wheeling going on in the middle of December. So we walked into the garage and Brayden was ecstatic when he saw it. It had some battery issues to begin with but once we got it going, he had a blast. It has a lot of neat gadgets like a remote control kill switch and speed regulator. Here is Brayden zooming at a max of 4MPH.Stunt Boy Evil Brayden

Happy Halloween

Arg Matie!!! That was Brayden's favorite pirate saying until Uncle Justin taught him Hallo Poppit. Now he just cracks up when he hears anyone say it. Trick or treating with our friends Emilia and Isaiah at White River Campgrounds. The kids had a great time going camper to camper and loved the decorations and Scooby Doo guy. However, they were a little freaked out at the campers that won the decorating contest. They had coffins and a guy getting his leg cut off by a crazed doctor. That should give them nightmares for a little while.

Isn't he such an adorable little pirate? I think he blows Johnny Depp out of the water.

Let Go Little Shishy

We went to Lancaster last weekend to hang out with Tricia and Justin for a couple days over my birthday, and we had a blast. It was beautiful weather so we were able to have a lot of outdoor fun. We decided to start with some fishing because Brayden has been begging to go to Uncle Justin's to go "shishing". Of course first you have to find some worms. So the boys went out lifting rocks, searching for worms. (After several minutes of just one worm, Tricia and I thought buying bait at the store sounded like a great idea.)

But finally, they struck gold and found quite a few worms down by their pond.

Then we headed to the neighbors' where Brayden (aka Justin) caught a good number of fish. Some sun fish, blue gill, trout? Okay we'll have to check on the type of fish with Justin.Brayden could cast the line but had the most success reeling in Justin's line when Uncle Justin got "tired." Then Justin would take the fish off the line but Brayden had to pucker his lips and say "Let go little fishy" for the fish to let go.Then Brayden sent the fish back home.

After a great time fishing, we headed back to Tricia and Justin's where Justin had hung a huge rope from one of their trees.On the way however, the boys had to stop and pick a snack from the apple tree.

Then on to the rope swing. After some successes and a lot of urging to go higher and higher Brayden was swinging quite a bit over our heads and laughing the entire time.

It was an awesome birthday and I feel very blessed to have my sister just a few hours away. I can already tell that Aunt Tricia's and Uncle Justin's is going to be the "fun" place to visit. So get ready Justin. Brayden is already talking about his next fishing trip and how Uncle Justin is going to take him hunting on his ranger.

The Perfect Pumpkin

We made it back to Stony Creek Farms for our now annual pumpkin search. We went after the colts game so we didn't have a whole lot of time but enough for some fun games and pumpkin searching. Brayden rode the pumpkin tractor, shot some pumpkins out of a cannon and catapulted some pumpkins into a lake using a sling shot.
Then we hurried to catch the last hay ride to the pumpkin patch. Brayden tried to sit by himself in the hay but just couldn't stand it sticking to him and ended up in Mommy's lap.
Then after just a few minutes of searching, we found the perfect pumpkin. A little big but Brayden has been lifting weights with Mommy so he was able to tackle it on his own.Then when we got home, we couldn't wait to decorate our new pumpkin so out came the paintsand the correct painting techniques from Mamaw. Finally, the perfect pumpkin with the perfect painting.

The Cutest Imperfections

So they say that dimples are imperfections in the underlying flesh or variations in the zygomaticus major muscle. Regardless, I think they are the cutest things in the world. I wish all imperfections were so adorable.

Splash Party

Brayden has been attending the same preschool since he was 1.5 years old and over the last year especially he has developed some really good friends. This summer Brayden was invited to one of his buddie's houses for an annual spash party. They had an awesome time throwing water balloons (mostly at parents). They went through about 200 balloons in less than five minutes.
They also had a ton of carnival games and prizes to win.
Look at that arm position. Ouch!? Let's just say the dad on the other side of the cans wasn't expecting that hard of a throw from a three year old.
And the party favorite, the jump house. The kids had a blast in the jump room, especially when a dad joined them and they could practice their tackling moves. Throwing balls at moms and dads was also a lot of fun.

Cookies

This past weekend, my brother and sister came into town (Osgood) to see Grandpa. I was singing at church so Brayden got to hang out with them for the weekend. I called Saturday night to see how everything was going and he informed my that he just finished playing baseball with Uncle Rob and he was getting to ready to make cookies with Aunt Tricia. I said "Oh are you making cookies for Mom?". He quickly replied "No silly they are for Great Grandpa." But after apparently hearing disappointment in my voice he said, "But I will bring some back for you to try." He is such an awesome little boy. Who said making cookies was easy work. Look at the face on that boy.
But everything is easier when you stick your tongue out.

Just testing the final product.

More Soccer!

Did I mention that a week doesn't go by that we don't have to play soccer? September 13th, we went down to Madison to watch JoJo play. While we watched JoJo score four goals, Brayden practiced his soccer skills with his Daddy.
Scored on Daddy!!! It was a bit toasty down there, to put it mildly.

August Whirlwind

We started off August in the beautiful Caribbean then spent a weekend in the great outdoors before hitting the IN State Fair. After the fair, we traveled down south to see Santa and then back to central IN to watch a colts game. Finally to finish the month we went back down south to spend some time with family.

Okay so I forgot the cove bit. We were invited to go to Caribbean cove with some good friends and had a great time. Brayden was a little disappointed when he found out that he was 2 in too short to ride the big slides but he had so much fun on the lazy river, shooting hoops and riding the smaller slides. And maybe the great outdoors was just my in-laws backyard but it was a fun family weekend with a lot of fun outdoor activities including a bonfire slip-n-slideAunt Carey's 30th birthday woofle ball, corn hole, fireman's parade, and of course great food. And after a weekend of relaxing outside activities and yummy food we decided to try something different and go to the fair.

After all, everybody should experience the IN state fair and all that it has to offer. Right??? Well that is what we thought about JoJo, an awesome 16y.o. exchange student from Germany. So...

we rode the ponieschecked out the fishand even tried out the petting zoo. All before finding out that JoJo really isn't comfortable around animals. So then we rode some rides and ate a lot of unhealthy food. He was a good sport but I don't think it will be one of his favorite memories from his time in IN.

And no we didn't make it to the North Pole but fortunately Santa frequents Holiday World. We went with our good friends, Tracey, Pat and Patrick and had the best time. The two boys play so well together, which makes it so much fun for everyone. What do boys like better than guns? physical contact monsters sticking their multi-colored tongues outdunking daddies

"shishing"
and the COLTS!For everyone's birthday, I thought it would be fun to go to a preseason game against the Bengals (my two favorite teams). We had a blast checking out the new stadium and eating $12 popcorn;). We had an awesome time even though the Colts lost. Check out the picture of the family. Brayden took it all by himself. I think he might have gotten Tricia's photography gene.

And finally to wrap up the month, we went down south (Osgood and Batesville) to spend some quality time with family. Most weekends that we go down, we try to catch Alex playing football and JoJo playing soccer. We have always loved football but are soccer newbies and really enjoying it. Brayden has become such a soccer fan that rarely does a week go by that he hasn't played. And he can talk anyone into playing with him.

Including Mamaw Jewelland Great Grandma Buxton

after helping Papaw trim her shrubs.Deep breath! Now on to September!!!