Santa Fun

The kids got to see Santa twice this year.  First time was our annual neighborhood Cookies with Santa, and the second was hosted by this Greek restaurant off South Blvd.  We discovered it by coincidence.  We ate dinner at the restaurant the week before and the hostess mentioned that every year the owner throws a Christmas party for the community with free food and Santa arrives by red helicopter.  So we decided to check it out.  It was awesome!  Free burgers, fries and drinks for everyone, and then we all got to watch as Santa's helicopter flew towards us and landed.  I've never been so close to a helicopter landing before.  It is really powerful!  Brayden got scared, food boxes, dust and debris started flying everywhere!  But it was cool, after the helicopter turned off Brayden was fine and the kids got to go hug Santa.We'll probably try and do this every year!

And here is our annual neighborhood picture with Santa:

Stitches for Brayden

Back in early December Brayden fell and had to get stitches in his forehead.  It was Sunday morning.  We were about 10 min late for church, so we had sat out in the foyer by the entry doors.  Brayden is a pretty uncoordinated child.  I'm not even exaggerating when I say I think Kaitlyn had better balance and coordination than him when she was 12 months old than he does at 2!  He still can't jump and falls a lot.  Anyway, he was over by the front doors of our church and tripped and fell right into the metal surrounds of the doors.  I could tell immediately from his cry that it was not just a normal fall.  I looked at his face to find anything wrong and thats when I saw the cut.  I immediately knew this needed medical attention.  So I frantically try and grab all our stuff that's strewn everywhere and pack up so we can all go to the hospital.  Luckily our friend Shannon offered to watch Kaitlyn and Allie while we took Brayden which was a lifesaver.  All 3 kids and Brayden getting stitches would not have been fun! 

Brayden did EXTREMELY well getting stitches.  He stopped crying as soon as we got to our car.  At the hospital he was very sweet and calm and didn't cry.  They put numbing medicine on his wound and he cried a teeny bit for that saying "hurt" "hurt".  After that set for about an hour, they sent a PA and nurse in to wrap him up like a burrito so that he can't move for the stitches.  He did soooo good.  They held him down and he started crying a bit, but we started singing Old Macdonald had a farm and he stopped for a bit.  But overall he did great.  I was so proud of him.  He got his stitches out the following Friday and he did awesome.  He didn't even cry at all.  Just a little whimper as our doctor pulled them out!  Love my sweet boy!

Brayden's 2nd Birthday!

Back in October we celebrated Brayden's 2nd Birthday.  He didn't have a party, but we just celebrated with family.  Unfortunately our camera was really acting up that day too, so we don't even really have many good pictures to share.  But we got a new camera for Christmas so hopefully we will be able to capture many more shots of the family now!  For his birthday I made one of his favorite meals: Swiss Chicken Bake, Corn Casserole and Sauteed Okra.  We took him to the playground which he loved.  Then we came home and ate the family favorite dessert: Cici's cinnamon rolls! haha!   Then he opened his presents.  Low key, but he enjoyed it.

Halloween 2013

We did a lot of Halloween festivities this year.  I already posted some pictures from the Disney store party.  Brayden happened to have 3 different costumes this year.  I always pick them up at a yard sale or buy them after Halloween when they are really cheap and so he had a stash! haha.  So it was cute to see him in all of them.  Justin and I also dressed up as George Michael and Maeby from Arrested Development.  Unfortunately very few people knew who we were at our church Halloween party.  Here are a lot of pictures:

Brayden's 2 year stats and Allie's 6 month stats

I am so behind on my blogging!  Back in November we went to the doctor for Brayden's 2 year check up and Allie's 6 month check up.

Allie's
Weight: 15 lb 7 oz (25-50%)
Length: 25 3/4" (50%)
Head Circumference 42 cm (25-50%)

Brayden's
Weight: 27 lb 2 oz (25-50%)
Length: 33 1/2" (10-25%)
Head: 49 cm (50-75%)

Back at this time, they were both doing well.  Brayden had just turned 2 and was starting to talk a good amount.  Much better and clearer than Kaitlyn at that age.  He also has a much larger vocabulary than she did at this time as well.  Also he is pretty smart considering I do not work with him the same amount as I did Kaitlyn.  It's much easier to focus on all that when you only have one child!  But he knows almost all his letters by name and can pretty much count to 10 and we never even taught him!  He just picked it up from TV shows, or other stuff.

Allie started solid foods.  Her first food was oatmeal cereal and she liked it.  She was by far the best baby we've had for starting solids.   She picked it up quickly and isn't super messy!  Here is a picture of her first time:

Also here is Allie's 6 month photo shoot...she wasn't very cooperative! haha: