Proud Mom

Braeden is now riding his bike without training wheels. I started teaching him a little over a week ago. We went to the park on Saturday night for him to practice. We could tell he almost had it. He was so close. We went to the park again tonight and he "got it". He can now ride without training wheels. I was so excited to see him do good. According to JP I looked like a little kid because I was so excited. It's just cool to see him accomplish something that he didn't think he could do. You can tell that he's really proud and excited that he can do this. A couple of days ago he wanted to give up on trying because he said it was taking too long for him to learn. I gave him a little pep talk and I guess it worked. When we said it was time to go home tonight, he asked if he could ride home from the park. It's two miles! Maybe in a few years. I'll post pictures later.

4 outta 11

We went to dinner last night with Jeff's two sister, Tana and Rhonda, and his brother Trevor (and his "friend", Kristina). On the way home, I was thinking about how funny it was that we were thinking it was just a few of Jeff's siblings we were with when most families would be thinking everyone was there. We went to one of my favorite restaurants! Tanner got to come too all the other kids were with babysitters. It was fun to get together. Rhonda lives in Georgia so we don't see her or her family as much as we would like. So, it was great to spend time with her.

Lots of new entries

I just finished updating this blog. You can always tell when I download pictures off my camera. Hopefully this catches you up on our life. Things have been going really good for us. All my new entries didn't fit on this screen, so you'll have to look on the right side and make sure you see them all.

Sweet babies

Here are the two babies missing from the cousin picture. Tanner with his little 3 month old cousin, Ammon. Tanner was trying to hold his hand. Sweet.

Four-Wheeler

Jeff's dad brought his four-wheeler to the cabin. Braeden and Carter loved it. I went for a ride with them too. There's something really fun about it. Someday I think I'd like four-wheelers. I've got to try to be a cool "boy mom" afterall. The whole ride, they are saying "Ka-Chow" like Lightning McQueen. Too fun!

Cabin Trip

There's Jeff and Carter with "Grandpa Scallywag" as they like to call him. Jeff's dad is always teasing the kids and calling them "scallywags". They have fun teasing him right back. He is now known to Braeden as "Grandpa Scallywag".

All the little kids were huddled around Tanner in his saucer. Too cute!

Here's all the kids (except two babies) that were at the cabin. To many that would seem like a lot of kids, but it's only a fraction of the cousins.

Braeden with his cousin Reed and Carter playing a made-up game called "Net Man". Braeden was proud to be given the title of "Net Man". He chased everyone around trying to catch them. The kids had a blast playing this little game.
I'm not a huge fan of video games, but there is an old Nintendo at the cabin. Braeden had fun playing video games. We'll see how long it is until he wants one at home. We'll definitely post-pone it as long as we can. But, it was fun to play at the cabin.


For Father's Day weekend, we went to Jeff's parents cabin in AZ. It's a long drive (about 11 hours), but we really wanted to be there. Jeff's sister, Rhonda, is here visiting from Georgia. So, it was a great opportunity to spend time with her and her kids. His brother, Ben, and his five kids were there too. It was good to see everyone and just get away.

Tanner in his party hat

Doesn't Tan Tan look cute in his party hat?

Welcome home Dad!

Jeff was gone for a week to West Virginia for a work trip. We missed him a lot. We really like having him around. Afterall, he's the best husband/dad ever (not to brag, but that's how we feel). Anyways, Braeden was kind of disappointed when he realized that Jeff was going to be gone for a week. So, I told him that when dad gets home we could have a little party. His face lit up. He loves parties (what kid doesn't?). So, Braeden decided that it needed to be a surprise party complete with party hats and party horns. We went to the dollar store and got supplies. The day before Jeff got home, Braeden realized that he had not planned for a cake or balloons. So, we made another trip to the store. We made cupcakes and got balloons. When we got home, we all went in the house while Jeff was getting his suitcases out of the car. We "hid" under the kitchen table. When Jeff came in, Braeden and Carter blew their party horns and yelled surprise. They got such a kick out of it and Jeff played it up good. We were sooooo glad to have him home. I'm really glad that he doesn't have to travel very much for work.

Play group at the fire station

Braeden was in a playgroup with four other little boys this year. He always looks forward to it. We don't do it in the summertime. So, we were in charge of the last playgroup. We decided to do something extra special. I think every little boy is fascinated with firetrucks and firemen. So, my friend DeAnn works at out local firestation. So, I arranged to do a little field trip. The boys had a great time.

Braeden and Carter "help" make banana bread

It's always interesting trying to cook with kids. We had some ripe bananas and decided to make banana bread. The boys had fun taking turns putting the ingredients in. It always takes twice as long and is at least twice as messy to cook with kids, but it's worth it. They are both raising their hands in the picture because I asked who likes to help mom make banana bread.

Tanner's getting so cute at 6 months old

Tanner turned 6 months at the end of May. He is such a fun little guy. I tried gettting him to cooperate to get his pictures taken. This is the best I could get. He is so ticklish under his chin. He loves to be held (hates not to be held). He likes to give us little hugs. His big brothers love him to peices.

Braeden's Pre-School Graduation

Braeden finished his first year of pre-school in May. They did a little graduation program. He had a speaking part which he did great at. He got up to the microphone and said "This year our theme is frogs, so let's hop into our program." He said it so cute and sweet. The rest of the program, he got a little stage fright/stubborn and refused to stand up and sing the songs. He had sooo much fun in pre-school. He thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait for summer break to be over so he can get back to school in the fall. I am so glad I put him in pre-school at the age of 3. I kind of debated, but he learned so much and got so good at following directions. I am so glad I did it. His teacher was great too. Teacher Natalie was so patient and good with the kids. She is also a friend of mine. So, I appreciate her a lot.

Go Celts!

I'm not much of an NBA fan anymore. But, when I was a kid, my family were huge Celtics fans. We lived about 45 minutes away from Boston. It was during the Larry Bird, Kevin McKale, Danny Ainge era. By default, any Celtics fan hates the Lakers. I still hate the Lakers even though I haven't followed the Celtics for a long time. Now that the Playoffs are between the Celtics and Lakers, I'm intrigued. Celtics are ahead by two games. I hope they pull it off. I still have my Celtics sweatshirt from the 6th grade.