Counting!

Yesterday afternoon Braxton suprised both Brock and I by correctly counting to four. We were shocked--but thrilled!

Avery Sleepover

Cousin Avery slept over at our house last night. Braxton and Avery had a blast playing together, laughing, hugging, and chasing each other around (Braxton is nearly 18 months old and Avery will be 2 years old next month).

Listening to the songs from a musical book

Playing in the Playhouse

Sharing the big swing at the park

Swinging and giggling (if you listen closely you can hear Avery's little giggles and you can hear Braxton's occasional loud "ha!")

Hugs in the playhouse (Avery likes hugs constantly and Braxton likes hugs occasionally)

Bathtime splashing (if a little splashing is good, a lot of splashing must be great!)

We kicked the bottle!

It's been nearly a week now since Braxton has used a baby bottle. It's sippy cups from here on out!

We stopped by my friend Lisa's house last week. Braxton grabbed a glass of water off of her coffee table! Lisa didn't flinch at the spilled water (whoops!) and said, "I think I have a sippy cup, why don't I fill it with water for him." She let him keep the Gerber sippy cup and it was different (better!) than the Gerber sippy cup that we had at home (that Braxton would not drink out of). For some reason, he LOVED this sippy cup and drank everything out of it. We decided it was the perfect time to kick the bottle (Thanks to Lisa!!!)

How to Play Outside

by Braxton

1. Start out the morning with a good wagon ride. The longer the better (if you can throw a few rocks into the wagon ahead of time do it! You won't regret it.).
2. Next, find a stick to chew on. If you can't find a stick, chewing on rocks is also a good option (but they sometimes cut up your gums...I may know this from experience).
3. Play with whatever you can find. A slide is always a good time (make sure to give yourself a round of applause every single time you slide down!)

4. Pace yourself. After you excercise, take a break to ponder life.
5. Next, spread the joy! Tell everyone you meet, "hi! hi! hi!

6. Catch some air by swinging and bring your stick! (but don't spin around too much. Daddy twirled me in circles last week until I puked. It seemed really fun at the time, but now I wouldn't recommend it).

7. When someone tells you its time to go inside--do anything you can to stall. (The trick I tried today was sitting down by the flowers and looking cute. It seemed to work for a few moments).

8. Fight with all of your might to avoid going back inside.

8. At the end of the day always remember: If your face isn't dirty you didn't play hard enough!

Fun with cousin Avery

Yesterday Avery and her mom Lauren came over to visit. Braxton and Avery had a blast playing in the backyard.

Mommy & Braxton video

Two videos of Mommy and Braxton on Mother's Day 2010.

Mother's Day 2010

This week Braxton came home with a special Mother's Day magnet from daycare.  Cute eh? 

Then on Thursday night Brock surprised me with an early Mother's Day.  I came home to find a chocolate rose with two special cards (which I am not allowed to open until tonight) one from Brock and one from Braxton.  Then we went out to eat at our favorite Chinese Restaurant in celebration. It was really fun!

 

I am so blessed to have these two boys in my life.  Today I am feeling very blessed and very thankful!

Personality!

Braxton loves to eat paper.  Have I ever said that before?  He would probably eat an entire sheet of paper if you let him...our little billy goat.... 

Speaking of silly things, this week Braxton did something else that was really cute.  He and I were in the front yard and a bird swooped down and landed on the grass.  Braxton got really excited, started flapping his arms, pointed at the bird, yelled, "dog!" and took off running to catch the bird. It was cute.  And, even though it wasn't a "dog" at least he knew it was an animal, right?

And--Braxton has been talking all day long--so I thought we'd show off his talents! Here are two new videos.

Great Weekend

Here's a photo I took at 6am this morning. I love it.

And here is video of Braxton eating his first popsicle.

Free Shopping

Did you see these in your mailbox this week?

The small print on these coupons says "save $10 on your purchase of $10 or more." The trick is to take the coupon to the store and only spend $10.

Braxton and I went to Kohl's and found these two cute boy shirts on sale marked down from $12 to $5.20 each. I used the $10 off coupon and the total cost to buy both shirts was 40 cents! Here is a photo of the shirts (one says "I'm with the band" and the other says, "Beachbums--Coolest Dudes Ever").

Before you toss the junk mail--make sure you read the fine print. Maybe you will find this deal in your mailbox too!