Halloween 2010

First came the photo shoot in the bathroom mirror...

 

 

Next came grocery shopping in costume (which gets you a free cookie!)...

 

And finally the annual "Trick or Treating" with Avery (the beautiful fairy)...

 

Autumn Sun

We played in the back yard today....fun but very cold!

 

Painting Pumpkins

Brock's sister De and her friend Maria visited us for the weekend.  On Saturday Avery and Lauren came over to see them and do a special project: Painting Pumpkins!  The kids had fun painting and getting messy.

 The finished pumpkins:  Braxton's is on the left and Avery's is on the right.

Oh Man!

Braxton is adding new phrases these days.  His latest is "oh, man!".  Here's how this phrase works:
      Braxton:  Go Outside?
      Mommy: No, we are not going to go outside right now, it is night time.
      Braxton:  Outside?
      Mommy:  No outside.
      Braxton:  Oh, Man!

Braxton now says "I'm sorry" on his own.  Last night he accidentally whacked me in the face and followed it with a "sowwy!" then a question, "hugs?" followed by a hug and a question, "kiss?" followed by a kiss.  It was REALLY cute.

Throughout the day you will hear him say the phrase "Braxton where are you?"  The phrase takes on various forms which usually include:  "Grover where are you?  Mommy/Daddy where are you? and "Ba-ba (sippy cup) where are you?" 

His first naughty word? ...well, that started a few weeks ago.  During times that my beloved husband is getting frustrated with Braxton he occasionally uses the phrase "numb-nuts" as in: "hurry up numb-nuts" or "I don't know where you hid your sippy cup numb-nuts".  So, Braxton now says it too.  The first time I heard him say it was a few weeks ago...Braxton was waving "goodbye" to Avery and said, "Bye-bye numb-nuts".  Yikes!  Luckily it is not a phrase that other people can understand.  Is it bad that hearing Braxton say numb-nuts makes me laugh?  Yes, it IS terrible...but still really funny!  

Pumpkins & Leaves

Sneak Peek

Here is a sneak peek of this year's Halloween Costume.  Can't wait to show you!

Jesus Loves Me

When Braxton was born he was given a ladybug nightlight that shines stars onto the ceiling (from the Torborgs!)  This past week we started a new night time ritual...just before bed we turn on the ladybug and look at the stars.  Then we pray, sing "Twinkle Twinkle" and "Jesus Loves Me", give goodnight kisses and put Braxton to sleep in his room.  After a week of this, Brax has now started to break out into a chorus of"Jesus Loves Me" during the day.  Here is a video from this morning:

Autumn Photos

Today Brax and I played in the back yard and took a few Autumn photos:

 

Daycare

Braxton is in daycare 2 days a week and he loves it.  When Brock picked him up yesterday this is what Brock saw...there were six kids sitting cross-legged on the floor in a circle while one teacher told a story.  The teacher was using hand motions and crazy voices to make the story very animated.  Most of the kids were not paying attention (looking at the ceiling, staring out the window, etc.) but Braxton was sitting in the very front row staring intently at the teacher & listening to every word of her story.  Once the story ended the teacher began singing a song.  When the song was over none of the kids moved except for Braxton who immediately stood up, started clapping, and yelled "Yay! Yay!"  That's our boy!  He is very good at giving a standing ovation and applause at the end of songs at home...but it was so cute that he does it at "school" too!

Aunt Denise Visit

Denise flew in from Missouri and hung out with us for the day.  We had a blast...and even though Braxton isn't smiling in these photos he had a ton of fun too (he just looks puzzled because he is mesmerized by the blinking light on the camera!!!) We love you Denise!

 

Pumpkin Fest

Today we met Lauren and Avery at the Edina Realty Pumpkin Fest. Our adventure started with each kid running around the pumpkin patch to pick out a free pumpkin. Next we tried to get Braxton and Avery to sit on a hay bale for a nice photo together.  After Braxton pushed down the metal pumpkin on the right we couldn't get either kid to focus.  Braxton then looks at the camera as if to say "am I going to get in trouble?"

                    

Next we went to the face painting station or as Brax called it "picture on face." Braxton got a black spider on his face and Avery got a pink flower.

And last but not least we drank apple cider and let the kids run up and down the grassy hill near the festival until they were exhausted. Happy Pumpkin Fest!

Ruby's Party

 This weekend Braxton went to his friend Ruby's 2 year birthday party.  It was a ton of fun with cool music, Elmo decorations, a bouncy room, and a swimming pool full of balls!  Ruby had many other friends at the party but I was able to catch a few moments of Braxton and Ruby together:  

Braxton's got his first tatoo at the party!  It's a tat of Curious George holding a bunch of balloons - or as Braxton calls it "a monkey with b-balls!"

And last but not least here's a short video of some of the kids jumping in the Bouncy room (don't miss the background scene of the boy on the right getting kicked in the face):

Twinkle Twinkle Duet

Cousin Avery came over to our house to play:

Here is a "Twinkle Twinkle" Duet (Avery starts the song off and Braxton sings at the end):

And here two videos of them playing in the play house:

Winkle Winkle

This week Braxton composed his first original song. This first video is titled "Winkle Winkle Diddle Star: Braxton Style". 

Next, Braxton took some time to play in the empty Huggies box.

Finally, Braxton hugged on his new best friend Grover (a gift from Grandma Debbie). 

This last video is titled "My Grover"