Our Little Picaso

Brayden got this easel for Christmas but we didn't put it together until last week. We've been using the white board and chalk board on the floor to draw. Brayden loved to draw on the floor, but has loved drawing on the easel a lot more. His favorite is to draw with the markers, but only b/c I keep those out of his reach. It's fun to draw with him and he loves learning. He can count to 10 in Spanish and English, so now we are teaching him what the numbers look like. He learned the shapes easily, but is having a hard time remembering letters. I know, I know. He's only 2, but there's no harm in trying, right?!

First Violin Lesson

Last Wednesday night Josh had some meetings after work so I took the kids to my parents house to hang out. My dad had his violin out and Brayden was enthralled when my dad started playing. So my dad let Brayden hold the bow and play the violin a little bit. I was cringing the whole time hoping that Brayden wouldn't all of a sudden try and use the bow as a bat and hit something. But he did great and loved it. Between the piano, violin, and the Rockband drums and guitar, he'll have plenty to choose from when he decides which he wants to learn.

Smile!

Brooklyn keeps getting cuter and cuter. She smiles at everything, loves getting her picture taken, and laughs everytime she sneezes. She's our little baby doll!

Weee!

Here are some pictures of Brayden playing with Brooklyn while she is in the jumper. She just loves it! She smiles, laughs, and has the cutest giggle. It's fun to see the two of them play together eventhough she still is pretty little.

5 Months!

I can't believe Brooklyn is already 5 months old. She is such a joy in our home and we love seeing her grow and develop daily. She sleeps well, is always happy and laughing, and loves to play. She also has started sitting by herself! She's still a little wobbly, but doing great. She is getting close to crawling, so hopefully in another week or two she can start chasing her big brother. We love you Brooklyn!

Sleeping Beauties

Sunday was Josh's cousin's farewell. She is going to Bangkok! Afterwards, Josh's dad and brother came over and waited for his other brother to get off work so they could pick him up on their way home. Within 20 minutes of getting to our house, all three of them were asleep. Can you tell they're all family?! The picture of Brayden was taken Saturday night. I couldn't help myself sneaking a picture of him just chillin' in his crib. You can definitely tell they're all Ericsons!

Cute, Cute, Cute!

Brooklyn is at such a fun age. She smiles at everything, laughs at everyone, and is enjoying exploring new things. I am so glad we have advanced to taking tubs without the little hammock attachment. Brooklyn loves sitting in the tub and splashing.

She also LOVES her jumper. She sits in it and jumps away for as long as I'll let her. (I read once that these jumpers can harm the little growing legs of babies by putting too much stress on them, so I try not to let her jump for too long b/c I'm paranoid.)

And of course I have to put in the cute picture of the kids. Brayden still loves to hold Brooklyn, eventhough she is getting pretty big for him. He also loves to push her when she is the jumper and she'll swing and laugh as he does it.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Jan 9 was Kay's birthday. Her friends took her out that night, so we celebrated with the family on Saturday night. We went to Zupas for dinner and loved it. Neither Josh nor I had ever been there before, so it was fun to try something different. After dinner we went to the Ericson's and hung out and played games all night. We are so grateful for Kay and all that she does for us. We feel blessed for the relationship that she has with our kids. She truly is a very special person and we love her so much. Thanks for being such a great grandma, mom, mother-in-law, and such a special friend. We love you!!!

Let The Creativity Begin!

I have never thought of myself as a creative person, but on occassion I surprise myself. For Brayden's b-day we bought him a bike, but unfortunately it is too big for him. I have tried many times to create a way for him to reach the pedals, but have failed every time. The other day I realized that Brayden can reach the pedals if he sits as far forward as is possible. So I tied a pillow to the seat so he wouldn't slide back down. I then put a diaper over the uncomfortable key that doesn't come out of the bike. Now if Brayden wears his big shoes he can reach the pedals!!! Yeah!!! (To my dismay, he likes it better without my contraption. He can go much faster by just sitting normal and running with it.)

Here is the final project:

Brayden has finally started to use his imagination and now will play by himself on occassion. While on the computer I noticed him trying to put on a random hat he found. So I watched him get it on, talk to himself, find a screwdriver, sit in the exersaucer and "fix" it. I know I lose any chance at the "mother of the year" award for letting him play with a real screwdriver, but he refuses to play with the toy one we got him. So if it keeps him busy for 20 minutes and he's not trying to poke Brooklyn's eye out, enjoy!

"Mom, don't bother me. I'm busy."

A Fun Day At Cindy's

Before Brayden was born I would scrapbook all day at my aunt Cindy's. After Brayden was born I would go over and scrapbook during his nap. Now that Brooklyn is here, I have packed away all my scrapbooking stuff until we move. (Brayden is big enough to get into it and loves to dump out all my buttons, ribbons, etc. I got tired of cleaning it up so I packed it away.) So when we go over to Cindy's we just play and talk, which is exactly what we did 2 weeks ago (Jan. 7). Brayden slept for 2 hours and Brooklyn slept for 4, so we had plenty of time to hang out and catch up.

Brooklyn fell asleep in the car, but I didn't want her to continue sleeping so that she would take a big nap in the afternoon. So I was more than happy to let Baby, Cindy's dog, sniff and kiss her all she wanted. Here she is still sleeping...

Her she is with her surprise wake-up call. I can't believe I took the picture at the right moment.
So cute!

This is the ramp for Baby to run up to the couch. Brayden loves rolling down it, climbing up it, and rolling balls down it.

Here is Baby's perch. Brayden absoluetly loves and adores Baby.

Finally!

We got Brayden this little motorized truck for Christmas knowing that it was going to be pretty loud. As soon as Brayden saw it and realized it had a "buzzer" he was not a fan. He didn't go near it for over a week. I knew he would never be willing to try it, so I took it down to the garage, forced him on it while he was screaming, and pushed his foot on the pedal to make it go. After realizing it wasn't going to eat him up, he decided that it was fun! We make laps in the huge underground garage of our complex. He now is always asking if he can go drive in the garage.

***Sidenote - A couple of days after this, Brayden got on his truck in our family room. I think he forgot how loud the noise was b/c he pushed the pedal and about had a heart attack. He jumped off and dropped to the floor on his knees with his head in his hands on the floor. Josh and I couldn't stop laughing. We finally composed ourselves and consoled our little freaked out boy. It still makes me laugh thinking about it.

Cabin Trip Day 2

On Sunday we were able to relax, play games, and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Marcello and Rueben went snowmobiling, sledding, and played in the snow and loved it. Brayden wasn't a fan of the snowmobiles b/c they made so much noise, so he was very content staying inside.

Brayden loved putting on all his snow stuff.

Wz up?!
Our little cutie!

It always takes quite some time to haul all the stuff down to the car by the snowmobiles. We also had to clean the cabin, so we left a lot later than planned. The kids and I were the last ones shuttled to the car, but we still had to wait for Josh and Steve to make one final trip so we played in the car. Brayden found every item in my car and played with it. He found my sunglasses, which I was missing, so thanks bud!

Cabin Trip Day 1

We decided to take a quick trip to the cabin for the weekend of Jan 3-4. We left home about noon on Saturday. Luckily Josh's brother had been at the cabin during the week so it was already warm. We had a couple of friends come up for the afternoon, so after we hauled everything in on snowmobiles Josh and his buddies went out riding for a couple of hours. For the evening, Steve came up with Marcello and Rueben to spend the night. We had a lot of fun hanging out and playing games all night.

Brooklyn did great and had a fun time with the new surroundings.

Brayden LOVED playing the Wii with Josh. Baseball is his

favorite game b/c he is allowed to swing the "bat."

Josh enjoyed teaching Reuben how to play. It was
a little tricky for him, but he seemed to like it.
Marcello slept a lot of the weekend. He works so much
that it was a great time to relax and not to worry about anything.

Happy New Year!

We spent New Years Eve at the Ericson's house. Brooklyn and I were sick with a nasty cough, so we didn't want to go anywhere. We had a lot of fun playing with the kids, then playing games after they went to bed. We slept over and enjoyed a relaxing New Year's Day.



Obviously, I didn't take many pictures. I did manage, however, take a bunch while we were getting the kids ready for bed. I realized I don't have any pics with the two of them with no clothes on. Aren't they cute?