Happy Birthday Mommy!

After a couple takes and a little editing...

Hi Santa Claus

We took Brayden to go see Santa Claus and all the way Brayden was talking about going to see him.  When we got there they said he was on his cookie break so we had to wait 45 minutes.  Fortunately we were at Bass Pro Shops so we went and explored the store.  Brayden enjoyed the large fresh water fish tank although when the fish came closer he usually moved back from the tank.  They also had some fun activities set up like a big monster truck with a remote control and a train.  We played until it was time to get in line.  While we were waiting we saw Santa sneak out from his workshop and Brayden exclaimed " I see Santa Claus.  There he is right there."  His excitement was cute but it quickly wore off as we were standing in line.  He told us he wanted to go play with the train.  We had to tell Brayden that we would go play with the train after we saw Santa.  We watched as the kids in front of us took their turns and then it was our turn.  Andrew put Brayden down curious as to what he would do.  He walked right over to Santa Claus climbed up on his little foot stool and said "Hi Santa Claus".  It was so cute.  Santa asked if Brayden had been a good boy and his response was "yeah".  We were then able to get a couple of cute pictures of Brayden with Santa.  Santa talked to Brayden for a couple of minutes and told him to be a good helper and pick up his toys when he was done playing with them, listen to his mommy and daddy, and to also give mommy and daddy lots of big hugs.  Here are a couple of pictures of our visit.

 Ready for my picture!

 Yes Santa I have been a good boy this year!

Singing ABCD's

I can sing my ABC's, or as I like to call them ABCD's, all by myself now! 

Night Eyes

At the zoo every year they have an event called Night Eyes and since Brayden was a little older this year we decided we would go.  We went with our friends Steph, Kenzie and Caitlin.  Businesses around town have set up booths and you walk through and collect candy.  Brayden was funny because he didn't really care about the animals but he was excited to see the lions and the monkeys.  There were a lot of new people there so he got a little shy.  One of his favorite activities were the jugglers outside of the zoo.  Brayden informed me "I juggle.  Daddy juggle." and that was followed by him moving his hands as if he were juggling something.  He is right as Andrew is a pretty good juggler.  Brayden wore his race car driver costume and I went as a football player.

Brayden and Mommy ready to go to Night Eyes.

We were trying to show off the back of our costumes.  Brayden decided to turn all the way around.

At the Zoo with Caitlin and Steph.  Caitlin was a very cute Ladybug.

This is one of Brayden and Caitlin's favorite poses, or maybe you could say Steph and I enjoy putting their heads in these picture cut-outs :) Thanks Kenzie for taking the picture!

See the lion over there Caitlin.

So cute.

Grandma Becky gave Brayden a Clifford Halloween book and it has become one of Brayden's favorite books so when we saw Clifford Brayden was so excited.  He liked Clifford until we got up close.

On a funny side note, the last time we posed with Clifford was at the State Fair when I lost my camera.  Thank goodness we got our picture and I still left with my camera!

Halloween

Happy Halloween!  As Brayden would say "trick treat".   We had gorgeous weather for Beggars night so we were very excited to take Brayden trick or treating around our neighborhood.  I knew we had lots of kids in our neighborhood but I didn't realize how many.   I had bought 6 bags of candy and we almost ran out.  Andrew took Brayden and did one side of our street and then they came home and warmed up for a bit and Brayden and I went and did the other side of the street.  Brayden was so cute in his "race driver" costume.  He loves cars so this was a great costume for him. 

When we went up to our neighbors doors Brayden was very excited to ring the bell but then when the people would answer the door he would sometimes get shy.  At almost every house though Brayden did say "trick treat".  When people gave him the option to pick one he would usually just look at the bowl as he was trying to decide what his best choice would be.  He was also very good about using his manners and saying thank you.  One of the best parts of our experience was the animals we saw.  One of our neighbors had a cat that came right up to the door and Brayden was most excited about petting the cat.  Another neighbor had a dog that Brayden got to pet.  As we were leaving Brayden said "Where's Zoey?"  Zoey would be our daycare providers dog.  So when I asked Brayden where Zoe was he said "At Jodi's house". 

Here are some pictures of Brayden dressed up in his costume.

No Mommy I am not going to eat these.  I will help pass them out to other trick-or-treaters of course.

 I got my bag and I am all ready to go!

 Taking a break after doing a few of our neighbors.  We have a big hill to walk and that is a long ways for such little legs!

 Dumping out what is left of the candy.

Being silly with Daddy.  Brayden and Daddy had the same hat.

Orchard Part 2

With the beautiful October weather we had it was a must that we take advantage of all the time we had.  We had gone to one of the orchards near our house and Brayden had a blast.  One day I was talking to Grandma Becky and I told her how much fun we had and she said maybe her and Papa could meet us there and we could all go together.  I was excited and knew Brayden would be too.  Since the orchard is north of our house we decided to meet them there.  Papa and Grandma graciously got up early to meet us at the orchard by 9:00!  Thanks!  Brayden had so much fun with Grandma Becky and Papa.  The whole car ride to the orchard Brayden kept saying where Papa.  He was so excited to see them once we got there.   Here are some pictures throughout the day.

Grandma Becky and Brayden petting the horse.  Brayden loved the horse until he moved his head and came into Brayden's personal space. 

The Apple Sling Shot is always a great activity.  Brayden is a big help.  Brayden and Papa were able to sling it a long way and they almost hit one of the targets.

One of Brayden's favorite activities was the "big slide".  I love to listen to Brayden talk because lately anything that is bigger than him comes with big.  Big tractor, big slide, big truck, well you get the idea.  Anyways we decided to go down the slide and when Brayden, Mommy, and Papa got to the top we asked Brayden who he wanted to ride with and his answer was "Papa".  Papa and Brayden had a quick start but every time Mommy was able to catch them at the bottom and pass them.  Brayden would give a funny look like why is she passing us.

Since we got there early we were able to try out the jumping pillow.  It is a huge trampoline and Brayden loved it.  He was so brave and would try jumping even though there were other bigger kids already jumping. 

Brayden and Daddy had a lot of fun and it was hard to convince him to move onto another activity.

Of course a visit to the pumpkin patch isn't complete without a ride on a tractor.  Brayden's legs aren't quite long enough to peddle himself but he sure enjoyed pretending and watching the other kids ride.

Me and Papa posing in front of an old John Deere tractor.

Orchard

Along with fall comes cooler temps, leaves falling off the trees, and of course pumpkin patches!  We took Brayden to Center Grove Orchard and had a great time.   They have so many fun activities for kids that Brayden stayed up past his usual nap time because he was having so much fun.  We started our afternoon by going for a swim in the corn pool.  A huge barn that has hay bales as the perimeter and is filled with you guessed it, corn!  They had slides that you could slide down into the corn pool.  That was Brayden's favorite part.  He wanted to do "more slide". 

Literally swimming in a pool of corn

 Brayden wanted help because it was hard to walk in.

 Hi Mommy!

 This face explains just how much fun Brayden was having driving the tractors.  Brayden didn't even need to make the tractor go he was just as excited to sit on it and watch the older kids ride it.

 Daddy teaching Brayden how to drive.  He even gave Brayden a hand so he didn't run into the bumpers.

 Brayden loved the goats and would walk right up to them and say "Here a go"  I just love his little voice.   We are still working on having him hold his hand flat because the goats had to actually work to get the food out of his fingers but he didn't mind as he would reach out to get "more snack" to feed the goats.

 Brayden learned something new at the Orchard today and it was how to do a sling shot with apples.  Brayden got the hang of it pretty quickly.

Brayden showing us the way in the 4 acre corn maze.  Don't worry we didn't get lost and Brayden even helped find the way out.

Center Grove Orchard has so many activities that Brayden had a blast.  I will be making a second post with a few more of the activities we did while we were there.  By the way, check out the beautiful weather since we were in short sleeves!  I love when the weather is nice like this. 

Day out with Thomas

Just like many young boys Brayden is really into trains lately.  When we found out Thomas the train was going to be in Boone we thought it would be the perfect Saturday morning activity.  We bought tickets and talked to Brayden about going.  When we woke up Saturday morning it was a cloudy cold morning.  We thought maybe that meant there wouldn't be as many people there but boy were we wrong.  We bought tickets for the 9 AM train ride.  We got in the car and were on our way.  We arrived about 20 minutes prior to departure and by the time we got on the train we were near the back.  I could not believe the amount of people who came out to Day Out With Thomas.   We were thankful that we weren't waiting on the train very long because Brayden was quite antsy but once it got going he could not stop looking out the window.  We saw kids of all ages but really Brayden's age was fun.  He was pointing out things we saw along the train ride such as other trains on the tracks, trees, birds, ect.  When we got back from the train ride there were stations set up and unfortunately this is when the rain started.  We thought we may just dodge the rain but thankfully the stations were set up in tents so you could stay dry for a while.  They had a creating station where you could color or use stamps.  They also had tattoos and of course they had a train area set up with a dozen different train tables.  This area was a bit chaotic but Brayden was so excited that he didn't even notice all the extra people around.  He was busy pushing him train through the "tunnel".  They also had a story telling station that was inside a train car and a music station. Brayden really loved the 'rail music'.  They had instruments set up so Brayden was playing along. 

 Daddy and Brayden posing in front of Thomas!

 Got our seats in the train, we were just waiting for departure.

 Brayden's eyes were glued to the window checking out the exciting scenery of Boone!

 See what I mean!  I couldn't even get him to look at me for a quick picture!

 Running down the long isle of our train car.

 All Aboard!

 Posing with Sir Topham Hatt

 Reading some books at the story telling station.

There's Thomas

Brayden's Birthday Party

Choo! Choo! Brayden's turned two last week so we had a party to celebrate.   One of the things Brayden loves to play with are trains so we decided on a train theme for his party.  We took Brayden's play room and turned it into a big train station with all of Brayden's geo trax trains.  We told Brayden Saturday morning it was the day of his party and that he was going to need a nap and he knew we meant business because he went down for nap early and woke up at 1:45.  His party started at 2:00 so he was right on time.

Brayden didn't really want to open his presents he just wanted to play with his friends instead. Andrew made a video of pictures and videos of the last year and it was so fun to watch and see how much Brayden has changed in the last year.  On his birthday last year Brayden took his first (17) steps on his own.  It was so cute to see all of the kids in the playroom playing with the trains.  He had so much fun playing.  This year we got an ice cream cake for Brayden and it was a big hit.  Brayden tried to blow out his candles and then was ready to have some of that cake.  He kept trying to put his fingers in the frosting.  Nan was nice enough to share her cake with Brayden and before he could even swallow his bite he was already asking for more.  I don't think she was able to get very much cake.  Brayden was so tired at the end of the day he even said I'm tired before we went to sleep for the night.

Thank you to all of those who came over to celebrate with us.  We are so thankful for great family and friends.  Brayden also says "Thank you"!  I wish I would have gotten some more pictures but I guess I will just be thankful that I was able to get a few of Brayden and some of his birthday guests.

I'm Two!

Now those of you who have seen Brayden lately realize his vocabulary can be quite entertaining.  We had talked about how it was Papa Marc's birthday and on Tuesday it was Brayden's birthday.  When Brayden woke up we wished him a happy birthday and asked how old he was and he proudly declared "I'm two!"  Mommy and Brayden had a fun day playing at home.  Brayden's favorite part of the day was playing with Thomas.  After Daddy got off work we went out to eat to celebrate.  We went to a special place called Texas Roadhouse.  Brayden even got special treatment when they brought the saddle out and had some of the waitresses come out to give Brayden a big Texas Roadhouse YeeHaw.  Brayden wasn't sure what to think of the saddle but he did keep a close eye on all of those waitresses.  He was so excited to have some "more ice cream".  I think we heard that after every bite.  He was nice enough to share his ice cream with Mommy and Daddy though.  After dinner we headed home to play together before bed.  We let Brayden stay up since it was his birthday.  We are looking forward to celebrating his birthday again with family and friends this weekend.

 The birthday boy and Mommy!

 We were seated right around the corner from where the servers came to place their orders so Brayden enjoyed flirting with the ladies.

 This saddle deal isn't so bad after all.  What a big boy!

 Look at that yummy sundae.

 The birthday boy and Daddy.