Braden's friends

Anthony is flying, so me and Braden are getting some quality time this weekend. So much fun!

Since Anthony found out about his flight at like 8pm on Thursday night, I had a nice, short day at work on Friday. My friend and old roommate Robyn came to visit and we got to meet 9-week old Henrik in the afternoon. So cute and sweet. It's amazing how quickly you forget what babies are like at that age!

Saturday we headed to the Science Center with Kyndal, Cole and their mommies. It's a little over their heads still, but they had a great time and did great with everything going on. My company had a free day because we sponsored an exhibit. It's called Forces of Nature and you stand through this show that talks about the different climate things like earthquakes, hurricanes, monsoons, volcanoes. The best part is they simulate each by blowing wind and spitting water, using heat lamps, making the floor shake... The kids liked it but Braden didn't really like the rain. This is not a good sign since we are leaving for Maine on Thursday and I think it's rained there everyday this summer! I'm sure it will be much different there though than standing in a small areas with a bunch of people having to experience every different climatic event in the course of 5-minutes!

After naps (for the kids anyway... we hit the pool!), we headed to Sauce for dinner and then went to the mall. The kids had a great time in the kid shoe section at Nordstrom! Braden's new shoes are 6 1/2 wides! He takes after his Poppa (and Mommy!). It was a fun day!


Braden was good with Henrik. He's checking out his little feet here.



Traveling together...

Notice that Braden does have his own snacks in his stroller. Guess he prefers Kyndal's.

The little princess and princes.

Add in the mommies!

Nic, K and a cool dragon made of Lego's. They were having a special Lego exhibit.

Going down the Lego castle slide!

At the mall play area.

Climbing up!

It's Crocs heaven.

Far Away

Both Anthony and I are far away from our families. There are certain times when the distance is more pronounced than others. When Anthony's brother brought his daughter home from India for example. This past weekend we missed our niece's graduation from preschool and our nephew's second birthday. My Mom sent me some pictures and they are so cute I just had to share. Can't wait for Braden to get to hang out with all his cousins!

My Mom said that on the way home Addison said, "Wow, I can't believe I graduated." The joy of being almost 5!

Proud Mommy and Daddy! It will be high school before you know it!

Can't believe she's starting kindergarten in a few months!

Happy Birthday Devin! We love you!

He can't wait for that cake!

Peas.

Well, maybe we have an end to the veggie strike. As you can see, he can't seem to get these peas in his mouth fast enough! I think being able to eat them out of a bowl makes them seem cool to him. Guess we'll have to start using plastic!

Peak a boo...

in a Speedo! Oh my!

Animals, vegetables and the nursery.

We went to Luke Bastian's 5-year birthday party yesterday. So hard to believe he's 5 already! My sweet niece Addison will be 5 in August and I can't believe that she'll be heading to kindergarten in the fall! Crazy.

Braden had fun checking out Luke's pet hamster. He was very intrigued. He loves dogs and now it seems he loves rodents, too! It's funny because Anthony and I are not pet people. We often discuss how it seems like everyone in our neighborhood seems to have a dog (generally when they are barking and waking us up!). Anyway, it will be interesting to see how this plays out as Braden grows up and wants his first pet. We'll have to figure out one close that can be his "special" pet that he can go visit!






Braden has decided to go on a vegetable strike. I told Anthony while we were at Sweet Tomatoes tonight for dinner that I think it is ever since we gave him some of those dreaded veggie sticks (the chip kind)! I realize that it is a phase and I don't have to worry if he only gets his veggies from a plastic bag, but I can only handle so many veggies thrown on the floor!

After every meal Braden climbs onto the bottom rung of his high chair to find out what food he stored for himself in his seat for a post-meal snack. This time he's checking out what Kyndal left for him! As you can see, she's not that impressed! I have tried sneaking some veggies into his seat thinking he might be fooled, but no, not this child!



We volunteered in the nursery tonight at church. We figured that if we get to use the services it is the least that we can do to volunteer. Braden does not like being left in the nursery at all. So we thought this would be a good experience for him to see that it's fun and that Mommy and Daddy would stay and play with him and his friend. Well, we weren't so lucky. He's going through a bit of a Mommy-phase and basically wanted me to hold him or to sit on my lap the whole time in the nursery unless he was eating cheerio's or veggie sticks. As you can see from the picture at the bottom, sometimes the veggie sticks weren't even enough! At least he doesn't seem to be bothering Cole and Bella as they eat their cheerio's. Isn't that table awesome! I think it can hold up to 10 kids!

And to close, I just want to recognize Anthony on this Father's Day for being the best father Braden could ever ask for. And to thank my Dad for being such a great father to me.

Better late than never.

I figured it is better late than never to get some pics from Braden's actual birth day up. So, 20-days later, here's what he did to celebrate his arrival on this planet!


Mommy put some cool streamers on my fan, so I knew it was a special day the moment I woke up!

Then I played with some fun ribbons...

and you can see I liked that a lot!

Now that I'm 1, I guess I'm cool enough to sit on the ottoman.

I had fun playing with the duck at the mall playland.

Then I had fun eating a duck!

I'm glad my Mimi was here for my birthday. Too bad Daddy was away.

Of course Mommy was giving me kisses.

And I loved the ice cream I got to try for the first time... yum!

My friend Evan came over, had some ice cream, brought me a present and played!

I was pretty tired after that and went to bed, but it was a fun day!

A fun visit.

We had a great visit with Mimi and Poppa and are sad that it is over. They did get to extend their visit by a day because the weather was so bad in Denver their flight couldn't get out on time to make their connection. Fun for us! Braden will miss them very much and so will I.

Trying some corn on the cob!

A visitor in the pool...

Anthony called me outside this morning when he was working in the backyard. We have a resident lizard in our backyard this summer who, in my opinion, is bigger than the normal salamanders and geckos that we see. Well, he decided to take a swim and Anthony called me out to watch him get him out of the pool! I'm not a fan of lizards, or anything similar for that matter, but do like the fact that they eat the bugs around and I also realize that they were here before we decided to make this our home. So here's footage of how Anthony decided to save the lizards life... they are fast, little suckers!

A second lizard decided to take a dive a little later in the morning and happened to be in the pool when my Mom got in there! Anthony saved that one too. Not sure why today was the day for lizard bathing, but I'm glad that we didn't find them dead.

Once the pool was lizard free, Braden and the rest of us got in and enjoyed it. I do have to say that since it's been cool here lately, especially in the evenings, our pool is COLD (80 degrees)! It's hard to believe since it's the middle of June, but it even took my Dad some time to get in today! We got Braden a little pool that he can splash around in in the grass and he tried that out today. I think he was looking at it longingly from the big, cold pool! Poppa also gave him a haircut today and it makes him look like such a little boy... my baby is growing up!

The warm pool.

Swimming with Poppa.

Warming up!

Braden LOVES raspberries!

Nice barber chair! (He does have on a diaper because I have a commitment not to put naked pics of my baby on-line!)

A fun-filled day!

Yesterday we went to the Children's Museum in the afternoon and then the Diamondbacks game at night. Braden's been to both before, but now that he's getting older it's a lot more fun! He generally doesn't miss a thing!

First - the Museum!


A cool little "bike" that he could drive by turning the handle.

Finding Mommy.

Playing with the hanging balls and Mimi! He really liked these and Poppa's next job is drilling holes in ping-pong balls!

Sweet.

Up and down, up and down.

What a cool sink!

Now entering... THE NOODLE FOREST!

They made it!

As you can see, there is a lot of color at the Museum! Braden has had a great time with Mimi and Poppa.

Our daring little boy decided that his first attempt going down steps would be head first. I'm glad we don't have any steps in our house!

I believe a drum set is in his future!

Then the Diamondbacks game!

Checking out the sites!

The program kept him occupied.

Braden's first taste of popcorn.

The weather has been great. It was a beautiful evening and who would believe they could have the roof open for a game in June!! We even got hit by one or 2 raindrops!

A nice way to finish the day!