Brayden is five...

My little Brayden is five. Yes, five. Wow. I can't believe 5 years ago, on a Sunday afternoon, that sweet angel arrived and changed our lives forever. I remember it so clearly. Jer and I were balling our eyes out. The heavenly, peaceful feeling in the air... there is absolutely nothing more blissful & surreal than the birth of your first child. I remember right after I had him, I said I would gladly have 10 more babies, I was so elated. (some still use this quote against me!) I know I have already told so many of his admirable qualities, but I could go on forever. This boy never ceases to amaze me. I am MOST grateful that he is my oldest & he will be an example to the rest of our children... (ah-hem Kosty!)

I love your eyes. Big and blue, the most beautiful shape. I LOVE how they sparkle. You have the longest, dark, curly, thick eyelashes. Everyone comments on them. (I wish I could say you got them from me, but no!)

I love when you wake up, the first thing you do is come snuggle up with us in bed.

You love to play with my hair. You are always twirling it or running your fingers through. It is SO cute.

Your little brain. You are always thinking. Always thinking ahead, and always have thoughts & questions running through your head. Nothing gets past you.

I love how excited you get over the small things. You love to mark your calender off every night, decorate for holidays, go to the grocery store, library, a new placemat, a new book.

You are so healthy. Sometimes you will ask if cookies, or brownies are healthy, & I have to convince you that its ok to have desserts sometimes! You ask me almost daily if the things you are eating are "healfy."

You are a sweet brother to Kosty. He watches every move you make. He thinks you are the coolest thing in the world. I love to watch how he stares at you & mimics you.

You are so responsible & independent. You HATE being late anywhere. (I am working on it!) The first thing you ask me every morning is if you will be late for school. You are so proud to get dressed on your own, pour your own milk, make your bed, and clean your room.

Speaking of clean. Your wife is going to really LOVE me someday! You keep your room spic & span, and nothing can be out of place. (it hasn't always been this way, he is trying to show me he is responsible enough for a pet.)

Your all time favorite breakfast is Cheerios. Not Honey-Nut, not frosted, not apple-cinnamon. You LOVE the good ol' plain yellow box. Classic. You won't even let me put sugar or honey on top!

Your favorite place to eat is Subway. Hands down. Turkey with provolone, mayo & olives on wheat. You would pick Subway over McDonalds, Chick Fila, Wendy's, ANYWHERE. And if I do take you to one of those, you always ask for the fruit cup or yogurt instead of french fries! (quite the shock for your ol Dad.)

You are so detail-oriented & a pure perfectionist. You hate making mistakes. You are really hard on yourself. But you try so hard.

You are so witty and clever. You love telling stories and jokes.

You are so photogenic. I seriously don't think you can take a bad picture!

You are a true Momma's Boy, through and through. Of course you love your Dada, but you defininetly have a soft spot in your heart for your momma. :)

I love your dimple, and your cute forehead, and the blond baby hairs around it!

I love that you love to help me cook, pretty much anytime I am cooking, you can be found sitting on the counter right next to me.

I love how you say prayers, and more often than not, your short simple prayer mentions something about, "please help Kosty to not ___"

I love that everytime we leave church, you ask me what I learned.

Obviously Brayden has me wrapped around his little finger. I have enjoyed him & loved him to pieces for the last five years. I am truly grateful for his special spirit, and that I know we have been blessed to have such a son. He is a one of a kind, and we learn so much from him. We love you Bray! Happy Birthday! (I will have to post the pics of his party later, after we recooperate!)

uh-oh

I was just going through old pictures and suddenly it hit me, I think there is a pattern going on here....

I guess we do need a girl!

(p.s. I plead not guilty to all, the exception being the little barrette in his hair)

*Schnowflake*

What a fun weekend we had! We went up to Snowflake to visit my Mom and it was the best weekend I have had in a while! We were so spoiled & pampered all weekend, now its back to reality! Good thing the rest of the weekend made up for the INSANELY MISERABLE drive up. I almost pulled my hair out. My kids were better behaved on the SIX hour drive to Cali this summer, than this measly 2.5 hour drive. I was unjustly tortured in between Thing 1 and Thing 2, or "Overactive Bladder/are-we-there-yet-kid" and "Crazy-screaming-for-no-reason -kid" who repeated "Snowflake... cold... Snowflake...cold..." the entire way there. Then he demanded to wear his jacket in the warm car. Telling him NO backfired, so somehow I managed to get the DANG jacket on without undoing his car seat straps! It took some major finagling, but somehow I accomplished the task! DON'T be fooled by his smile in that picture, he is such a FAKER! I made Brayden go pee RIGHT before we left, and he had to pee again before we were even out of Mesa, & then again just outside of Payson!!! Grrr! We FINALLY got there Friday night & my mom had warm chili & cornbread for us, we were FREEZING, STARVING & GRUMPY, so it hit the spot. We let the kids play for a while & finally crashed late that night. The next morning, we got lucky again & had waffles & my FAVORITE comfort food, Cream of Wheat with extra sugar & "lumpies." Then we went to a real Pumpkin Patch, it was cold & windy, but the kids loved picking pumpkins, and I was AMAZED by these ginormous sunflowers everywhere, they were like 6 ft tall--and COVERED in sunflower seeds, imagine that! I am such a deprived city girl, I didn't even know that's how sunflower seeds grow. Am I the only idiot?? I guess I never really thought about it, but I found it rather fascinating, and they were really tasty too!



Then we went back to the house for the arrival of my sisters, niece, & brother. It was "the original 4" (meaning my siblings before my parents got remarried) it was like old times again & we had fun catching up. The boys played basketball & my mom made us turkey/avocado/bacon sandwiches for lunch. Then we all chatted and then took naps. Jer woke up & looked out the window to see my Mom & my brother (with a ponytail in his hair) racing quads up the mountain, he was cracking up, I wish I coulda saw that one! So then we all went quad riding, SO MUCH FUN!! My mom lives in the middle of nowhere, so you are free to just roam wherever you want. That night we went out to dinner, then came back & carved pumpkins, baked sugar cookies, and got ready for a "brain beatin" as my Mom called it, and played 'Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader?' in which case some of us found out we were not!





On Sunday, we all went to church in the morning, my little brother Chase was in the primary program, so we got to watch him. Then, we came back & my Mom treated us to brunch with baked french toast, sausage, & fruit salad. Lucky us, and what better way to end a delicious meal than with another afternoon NAP! YAY! :) the boys played the Wii and we just hung out and tried to digest before we were served yet another meal before our departure. This time Mom made roasted chicken, fresh green beans, rolls, and then we had an early celebration for Braydens b-day (since they wont be down next weekend for his real one) and she made homemade flourless chocolate cake & whipped cream. MMMM. I'm tellin ya, we were SPOILED ROTTEN. Then we said our goodbyes :( & drove home. It was a much needed relaxing, delicious, and fun weekend. Did I mention that her guest bed is the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in? huge fluffy pillows, warm down comforter & the softest sheets ever. I am really gonna miss it! I LOVE MY FAM. Thanks SO much Mom!!!

down on the farm...

Does anyone even know how to spell Schnef Farms, anyways?? HA! I've seen it spelled a thousand different ways on every one's blogs, and now here is my inaccurate version! Thursday night Becky & Casey invited us along to Schenf's. The kids LOVED it! We rode the carousel & then went to this cute little maze with little tractor looking trikes, that was a hit. Then we went to the stinky petting zoo, and Brayden was very aggravated! He did not enjoy the aroma! He made that face the entire time! They had the HUGEST cow EVER & cute baby pigs. I thought the pregnant goats were the strangest looking things ever, it looked like they had 2 large triangles poking out on each side...weird. Then we rode the bumble bee ride & the tractor hay ride. (Kosty was silent & glued on to me!!) The boys went to the mini golf course & Becky & I waited for them over at the Hoe-down concert & food area. After we all chowed down it was time to go. Thanks so much Becky!! We had so much fun!

the energizer skater...

he keeps going & going & going... we got Kosty this mini skateboard for his birthday & ever since he hasn't let it out of his sight! Obsessed is an understatement. Trying to explain just doesn't do it justice. He acts like he is a pro- he pops it up with his foot & then carries it under his arm, sometimes pulling up his sagging drawers with the other hand. A riot! and he pretends he is bustin hardcore tricks all day. At least he will appreciate how we got his name someday!

He takes naps with it, takes it in the car, goes to bed with it, oh we went to Subway (& yes, bringing it was not an option) even while we were in line, he was doing his "tricks," and this one is the FUNNIEST... last night we were saying prayers, he came over & stood on it, then folded his arms & closed his eyes, I bolted for the camera, wouldn't you??

Kosty's Little Party

When I got Kosty out of his crib on his birthday morning, the first thing he said was, "CAKE!!" We compromised with a honey bran muffin and a candle! Later on, we had a very small get together, (since he really doesn't even know what all the fuss is about yet!) I wish I got a pic of everyone! We had Kosty's all-time favorite for dinner: pizza with olives, then we opened presents. My brother Justin gave him an afro wig with a pick, he wasn't a fan, but it was hilarious trying it on everyone else! When we were singing Happy Birthday, Kosty wasn't too fond of the fact that everyone was staring at him, so he protested by a major GROWL, followed by, "MAAAMMA!!!" Meaning just I was allowed to sing. Stinker. Thanks everyone for coming, Kosty got some awesome gifts & he LOVES them all!

ramblings

*WARNING!* I am hesitant to post this because it is so personal, but since this is my "journal" here goes. I am feeling rarely super emotional right now, but feeling the need to record some of the things Brayden has said to me lately.

I SURELY would never want to forget any of it.

I took him on a date on Saturday. We went to Walmart & a few other places. While in one store, he looked around & noticed we were its only customers. He said, "this place is kind of spooky, cause no one is even here." He sure speaks the truth. At the start of the date I reminded him to be a gentleman & hold my hand & open doors for me. He did. It was so wonderful. As I buckled him in, he told me that he wanted to tell me something when I got in the car. So I went around to the driver's side & as I was getting in, he said, "Mama, watch your step." Then he asked if that was a "gentleman". On the date we went to a pond & he had a great idea of throwing rocks into the water & making wishes. I loved hearing all of the things he wished for. Some of the ones that stick out in my mind are, "I wish that I could be the coolest kid." "I wish that I wasn't afraid of dogs anymore." "I wish that Chase could move back to Arizona so I could play with him." "I wish that me & mama could go on more dates." Oh I almost forgot, "I wish I could be 8 so I could get baptized." It was a really special moment. Just him & I together, making wishes.

One thing we did was get the party favors to make his birthday party bags. I explained to him that the Bowling Alley wanted to charge us $50 extra for party bags. So I told him we could make them ourselves & save some money. When we were done I looked at the receipt & told him that they wanted $50 but that we did it ourselves for around $10. He said, "Why don't you use the $50 to go to your ballet class." Ok, balling like a baby now. Because a few weeks ago he asked me when he could come to watch my ballet class. I told him that I hadn't been doing it because my favorite teacher is not there anymore plus I am trying to save money right now (since Jer is starting a new business) I cannot believe that he thought of me right at that moment. And that he would remember about the ballet converation that we had weeks ago & that he was concerned for me to use the money that we saved for my class.

Oh yes, and we ran into this crazy cashier lady, that has now turned into our family joke. Sweet lady, really. Just hilariously-odd. A true one-of-a-kind. She repeatedly says, "Heck ya! By golly! Now we're cookin' with gas!" to every customer, over & over. I swear. Those same 3 phrases. It is so hard to keep a straight face. Anyways, on our way home from our very first encounter with her, we were laughing so hard & after lots of practice, Brayden had it down perfect. So when I spotted her this time, I could only imagine Brayden saying something like "You're the one!" or whatever. So I whispered in his ear to not say anything about it to her, because it might hurt her feelings, & to just listen for it! Sure enough she said it to us, and everyone else too.

Later that night as I was tucking him in, I was telling him what a fun time I had with him & we were recapping our adventures. We talked about the desolate store, and then I mentioned that it was sad that there was no one in there because that meant nobody was buying anything. He said, "Yeah... and that means the workers won't get any money." Then his sweet eyes lit up as he said, "I KNOW! we could have a Lemonade stand & give all the money to the workers." Again I am tearing up. Then we talked about the funny "heck ya -by golly-now we're cookin' with gas" lady again. He said, "Mama, I don't want to make fun of her. Even though she isn't even here & she can't hear us." Tears again. Sorry, I am a blubbering fool right now, but Brayden is truly a special spirit. He is so incredibly insightful, intellectual, compassionate, and loving. It is amazing what an example he is to me, and I know it should be the other way around. He certainly can put me in my place & if I could only be more like him, I would be a better person. I am so blessed to have him in my life and that he is my son.