An Evening at the Park

We have been loving this Spring weather! Braden wants to be outside nonstop. I'm glad he enjoys it and I'm really glad our backyard is fenced in! Sunday evening Ben was going for a jog so Braden and I drove down to the park and met him. I packed us a picnic and we played and ate and had so much fun. I think it was the perfect Sunday evening.

I love how Braden is looking at Ben in this picture. He is crazy about his Daddy! I am too!

Cheese!

Crazy hair!

Pizza and the park...doesn't get any better than this!

Our little monkey!

Party Time

We had Braden's birthday party on Saturday night. It was really laid back and fun. We just ordered pizza and hung out outside and then had cake and homemade ice cream. It was the most perfect weather. I'm so thankful to our friends who love our son. We really are blessed!

Libby and Lucy

Matt and Ryan playing Cornhole

Guitar cake courtesy of Super Target

The sweet birthday boy! I love the face he's making here. He loved being sang to. Why didn't someone remind me to video? I could just kick myself!

Digging in!

Ben, Braden, Uncle Caleb and Aunt Katie

Hunter, Juddson and Aiden enjoying their dessert.

Yummmm!

The Birthday Boy

My baby boy turned two yesterday! Thankfully the day was very full and busy so I didn't have time to be nostalgic. We took Braden to Dollywood for his birthday. The day started out rough, he didn't want to ride anything and was crying and had a tummy ache. I was so thankful that only lasted an hour or so and we enjoyed the rest of the day. We really had a fun time and were glad my parents were able to come up and spend the day with us too.

I wish this picture wasn't blurry! Braden had so much fun in the little kids play area. He would have stayed there all day if we let him. I love the look on his face here.

Hanging out with Papa! I wonder what they are talking about here.

Very first train ride! He was excited. Grand Jan did a great job entertaining him while we waited.

Our cute little family. I still can't believe I went to Dollywood this pregnant (nearly 37 weeks)! I must love my boy!

Our cute little butterfly!

Being two is hard work! He slept from the Dollywood parking lot to our driveway.

After Dollywood we played outside some and got take out. Then it was cake time. He has gotten really good at saying "I'm TWO!"

Not nearly as messy as last year!

Cake's all gone...guess I'll eat the candle! Silly guy!

All in all it was a great day! Most certainly worth the exhaustion I felt last night. I could not love this boy more than I do. I cannot believe it's been two years since we welcomed Braden into the world, yet I can barely remember life without him. I am so blessed to be his mother!

Easter

Up from his nap and ready to go hang out with our friends!

Easter Egg Hunt

Check out all my eggs!

Braden and Juddson found the cookies!

My Boy!

We have been thoroughly enjoying Braden lately. He is most certainly all boy and I love it. It is making it hard to imagine having a little girl around here in just a few weeks. I don't even know what to say, I'm just crazy about my baby boy! He will be two on Wednesday, so not really a baby. I'm sure this is normal, but I'm starting to almost feel guilty that it won't just be me and him around here during the days anymore. He has no idea how much his world is about to change. So in the meantime I've just been trying to love on him and play with him as much as possible.

The other day Ben was putting together our new double stroller. Any time Ben has out a tool or seems to be fixing anything, Braden is right up beside him "helping." He was handing Ben the pieces and then pretended he was lifting weights. I don't even know how he knew to do this, but it was hilarious. I love his straining face!

Imitating Daddy using the laser level. This is his current favorite tool.

We have been spending lots of time in the baby's room trying to get it all ready for our little girl's arrival. Braden likes to test out all her toys and climb in her bed, etc. I was showing him how much smaller her diapers are than his and he decided he wanted George to wear one. So George is now our pretend baby. We have been practicing being gentle and such. Here is Braden showing George how to sit in the bouncy seat.

Practicing holding a baby. I told him to be gentle and he got this really serious look on his face like he was really trying hard to be careful.

Then I said "and we'll give her kisses" and he smiled real big and then kissed George. So sweet!

He wanted me to take a picture of his "boo boos" and I thought I would share just because I cannot believe how much this boy gets injured. I mean we have been wearing shorts for what, one week? Every 20 minutes he has a new scrape. His legs definitely look like little boy legs!

Sitting by the crib entertaining himself while I relaxed in the rocker.

This was taken about two minutes after Braden picked up Ben's beer and took a huge sip and said "Mmmm, good!" He tried for more but obviously we took it away. He was smiling so big and had beer dripping from his face. Then we hear a rustling in the kitchen and found him like this. He sure keeps us on our toes!

Eight Months

Braden has been under the weather the past several days. He hasn't eaten much and has had very little energy. On Sunday while I was at church Ben fed him lunch and this is what happened. I have never seen him do this so I'm so glad Ben took a picture. Sleeping kids are just too sweet!

Braden and his buddy, George, cheering for the Vols in the Elite Eight. Evidently they didn't cheer hard enough, but that's okay! We were still proud of them.

Eight months pregnant! Just about four short weeks until our little girl arrives. We can hardly wait. Despite his face in this picture, Braden is excited too!

This Much!

This is one of my new favorite things that Braden says. We ask "how much do you love me?" and before you can finish he spreads his arms as wide as he can and says "this mursh!" It is so sweet. Of course he is being silly for the camera here but I had to share. I will try to capture it again later.