What do these pictures have in common?

What is the relationship between these two pictures?

If you haven't already figured out last night we took Brayden to his first show at the Civic Center.  We found out that Madagascar Live was going to be performing at the Civic Center and we debated about taking Brayden.  Was he too young? Would he be scared?  Would he love it?  We went back and forth.  Andrew called the Civic Center to inquire about tickets and found out they had awesome seats still left so we decided to bite the bullet and order tickets.  We figured we would never know if he liked it or not if we didn't try.

So Andrew came home from work with a flier for the show and the tickets.  He asked Brayden if he wanted to go see this show and of course he said, yes! We talked to him about it in preparation but weren't really sure what kind of reaction we would get. 

Andrew dropped B and I off at the doors while he went to get a parking spot.  We were knew we were taking a chance going on a Friday night but we were going to try anyways.  When we went in Brayden held his ticket tight and handed it to the "worker" as he called her.  She scanned our tickets and Brayden looked around wide eyed trying to take it in.  When Andrew got in we quickly went in to find our seats.  We were in the 7th row dead center!  When we sat down Brayden seemed really excited that was until the lights went down and the loud music began.  He was sitting in Andrew's lap and soon jumped into mine.  When the animals came out he smiled but he was still trying to take it all in.  He didn't want to sit in his own seat but he did relax and start to enjoy it.

At intermission he stood for a bit and you could tell he was starting to enjoy it.  The second act started and that is when the true Brayden came out.  He started talking a bit more and really seemed to enjoy the show.  At one point King Julian threw one of the animals and Brayden perked up and said, "No no, why that guy throw him?".  When all of the animals would break into dance Brayden was pointing and smiling at them. 

When the show was done Andrew and I were so glad we took the chance and got tickets.   Brayden seemed to really enjoy himself.  We enjoyed Brayden's reaction to the show just as much as the show itself.  We couldn't take pictures inside the theatre so we stopped for a few pictures outside the theatre.

Of course we couldn't end the night of firsts without a trip through the sky walk.  Brayden stayed up past his bedtime but did great.   We had such a fun Friday night. 

Posing with Daddy

Had to adjust camera settings since the flash was too bright.

Look at that big boy!

Walking up the stairs to check out the sky-walk.

Brayden was amazed looking out the windows of the skywalk at the cars that were driving under us.  I love how this picture turned out!

Funny story

For all of our faithful blog readers I must apologize for the lack of posts lately.  I recently had my first long-term sub job and on top of working everyday we were also gearing up for our state swim meet which meant long nights at the pool too.  Thankfully I am now on a much deserve Spring Break and swim team is in its last few weeks before Regionals up in Minnesota.  I was a kindergarten teacher and I tell you every night I was in bed by 9 because they wore me out. 

Anyways, onto the more important matter of this post.  I love hanging out with our every changing 2 year old and here is a perfect example why.

After church this morning we needed a few groceries so we went to HyVee and Brayden insisted we all get doughnuts so once our shopping was done we went into the HyVee diner to enjoy our doughnuts.  While we were sitting at our table we saw a police car drive by and soon a police officer came in to get some breakfast. I know you are all probably wondering if he got doughnuts so I will tell you he did not. 
When he walked past Brayden started pointing and saying "That a police officer Daddy".  

Andrew playfully joked to Brayden, "You better be a good boy or he is going to come get you."

 Brayden quickly responded with," I sorry". 

I am not sure what he was sorry for but Andrew and I just started laughing.  Anyways, on the police officers way out he had to walk past our table and he must have seen the excitement/curiosity in Brayden's eyes so he stopped at our table to say hi.

He talked to Brayden about being safe in the car and reminded him that every time he got in the car he should wear his seat belt and that Mommy and Daddy should always wear theirs too.   He asked Brayden if he wore his seat belt and he told the officer Yes.   He didn't say a whole lot more just tried to take it all in.  After the police officer left we were talking about it and Andrew asked him what did the police officer tell you to do and Brayden said,  "Wear my seat belt for me".  Coming from a kindergarten teachers perspective I am so glad to see Brayden is able to summarize and recall details from past events!

Having a 2 year old you never quite know what to expect but that is the joy of it all. 

Be on the look out for many new blog posts as a lot has happened in the past few weeks!

Superbowl Party

We love a good football game so the Superbowl seems like a great time to get together.   We all had some friends come over, even for Brayden.  We had a great time hanging out all afternoon and then watching the game.   I am not sure how much game watching we did but it sure was fun to socialize with friends.  Here are some pictures from the day.

Brayden and his girlfriend Caitlin sharing his chair.  They play so nice with each other that we love to get them together for playdates.

Brayden hadn't seen baby Will since he was a few weeks old so he was excited when Hannah and Will came for a visit.  Hannah even asked if Brayden wanted to feed Will and Brayden thought that was a pretty fun job to hold the bottle for Will.

You gotta love the expression on everyones faces as they are carefully trying to stay on the track for an intense game of Mario Kart.

Brayden holding his friend Will.  Brayden did such a good job sitting still to hold Will.  Will is such a good baby.  He was so content and even gave us some of the cutest smiles.  

We were getting Brayden ready for bed and we forgot we didn't take a family picture.  Brayden put his jersey on over his pjs.   I love my cameras remote setting!

Guess Who Is On The Pole For The Daytona 500?!

None other than the clean-cut Dale Earnhardt, Jr...great photo op Dale! Hopefully we will see you a lot of you throughout the season.  Now go get'em next Sunday!

Iowa Energy Game

A couple of weeks ago Daddy got some tickets to the Iowa Energy game so we invited Steph, Kenzie, Caitlin, and Uncle Dustin to come with us.    Brayden and Caitlin had a great time clapping and cheering on the Energy during the game.  It was 70's night at the game and Caitlin really liked some guy dressed in bell bottoms and crazy hair.   Every time she would see him walk by she would point and start talking.  It was so funny.  You know how you always remember the 1st time things happen.  I remember the first time we took Brayden to an Iowa Energy game because we had court side seats right behind the bench and every time the buzzer went off, Brayden would cry.  Well we had another first in Brayden's life this year at the game.   Brayden was having a blast with Caitlin and all of a sudden within a few minutes he started to get red in the cheeks like he was getting hot.  Andrew decided to have him sit on his lap for a bit and we took his top shirt off.  The next thing we know Brayden threw up all over Andrew and the seat.  Not only was the 1st time Brayden had got the flu, but he also got it in a public place.  Poor guy.  We tried to quickly clean up and get home.  So even though our game was cut short we still had a great time.  Here are some pictures to prove it. 

Kenzie, Steph, and Caitlin.   Caitlin is at that age where she is not always interested in pictures just like Brayden.

Group picture, well sorta.   We will take what we can get.  I think Caitlin is looking for her boyfriend with the bell bottoms!

Good shot!

Brayden loves hanging out with Kenzie.  He sat on her lap for part of the game.   She is a teacher so she is  a natural.

Brayden had so much fun.

Some of those basketball players are tall!

Today is Oma's birthday!

Happy Birthday Oma!  Since Oma's birthday is today we all meet in Des Moines on Saturday to celebrate.  We met at the mall because Oma and Papa were going to buy new tv.  Cousins Grace, Brady, and Ashleigh all came out to celebrate.  We met for supper at The Cheesecake Factory.  We had a lot of fun.  After The Cheesecake Factory we all went back to our house for cake and ice cream.  I was excited to have Ashleigh and Brady come over to play.  We enjoyed the chocolate cake my Daddy made.   Here are a few pictures from our day. 

 Happy Birthday Oma from the grandkids!

 Oma had to sit at the kids table.

Oma had 3 candles on her birthday cake.   She was so nice to let us blow them out with her.

Sadly I didn't get a picture of just Oma and Brayden so instead here is one of me and Mommy while we were waiting for everyone else to finish eating.

I love to paint

Santa and Cousin Caroline must have talked this Christmas because Brayden received two awesome presents and they go perfect together.  When we woke up Christmas morning we found that Santa had brought Brayden an easel.  It has a handy tray to put his crayons or paints on.  He immediately wanted to put paper on there to color.  So we did and he loved it.  Well when Brayden opened a gift from Cousin Caroline he got even more excited because his easel had more then one purpose.  Cousin Caroline got Brayden paint supplies.  He was beyond thrilled when we said it was paint.  He has finger painted before so he knew what we were talking about but he had never painted at an easel before. 

One day when I was home with Brayden we decided to set up the easel with the paint.   I made sure to protect the floor because I can only imagine what could happen with a 2 year old painting.  While I was getting things ready Brayden was busy getting the paint out and then proceeding to put them in order on the floor and try to count them...one, two, tree, one, two... Some days he counts to ten perfectly and the next day he says one through three and back again.  The joys of living with  2 year old!

We got everything ready and Brayden decided what color he wanted to paint with.  Cousin Caroline got Brayden a paint smock for Christmas so I told Brayden he needed to put it on before we started to paint and he said, " No, I don't want it".  I told him if he was going to paint he needed to wear a paint smock.  After giving him a logical explanation he agreed to wear it. 

Once we got everything set up we painted for almost an hour the first day.  I was able to paint with Brayden, put his clothes away, clean up the toys in his room, and snap pictures/videos while he painted.  It was a productive hour to say the least.   Here are some of the pictures I took.

 Waiting is always the hardest part.  I told him we needed to shake the paint so here he is with his first color selection of blue.  He got to pick the colors he uses to paint and what a great way to reinforce colors!

 I didn't put very much paint in the containers because I didn't want to waste any so I told Brayden he had to put the paint brush all the way down to the bottom of the container to get more paint on his brush. 

So impressed with his painting for the first time.  Don't worry the first time mommy in me made sure to keep his first pieces of artwork! Or maybe even 2nd and 3rd time Mommys do that too?

 I love this picture of Brayden painting.  That smile on his face is unforgettable.  I am pretty sure he had that look most of the time he was painting.   Well that face and his look of determination as he was so focused during his painting.

Look at that masterpiece!