Dailt Thought....

DAILY THOUGHT:

SOME PEOPLE ARE LIKE SLINKIES - NOT REALLY GOOD FOR ANYTHING BUT THEY
BRING A SMILE TO YOUR FACE WHEN PUSHED DOWN THE STAIRS.

Sorry...just got this via email and it made me laugh soooooooo hard!

More Lego fun.....

Daddy's creation of a helicopter!


Brailey decided to get in on the action!!!

Pottying PRAISE....

Thank you for the comment (would like to know who you are though!)...things are going VERY well - actually after I wrote that blog - it seemed to start going uphill!!! I had to work tonight and I decided to let Braden wear underwear there (originally I was going to do diapers when we went out) and he peed in his pants 2 times....although both times we went straight to the bathroom and he peed more - so I think he's getting the hang of holding it once it starts! I told him that he was running out of the clothes and underwear I had brought him. Then we were playing and all of a sudden he runs to the bathroom saying "I have to go pee!!!" - I mean he TOOK OFF - I was thinking - 'wait - you can't get your pants down by yourself (button and zipper) and I need to help you up on the potty here!' He barely looked back - he was on a mission! We got there and sure enough he peed...although some got on his clothes instead of in the potty. He looked at me and said, "did I run out of clothes?" I told him "no". But then it hit me - he DOES NOT like to go naked and at home when he had accidents on all the underwear that we have I told him he would have to go naked - so I think he thought he was going to go naked and he'd better get to the potty on time! Neat how their little minds work!! Anyway - HUGE improvement from 2 days ago. Oh - I also put his potty chair in the van in case he needed it from the house to work - and he did use it before we went in to work! I'm so very happy for him! It's a huge accomplishment in such a short time!
WAY TO GO BRADEN!!!

POTTYING WOES.....HELP!!!

Braden is 3 now and it is time (for us) to start pushing pottying in the potty!!! Many feel it should have started before now...but I was told by many moms of boys that it will just happen when they're ready - not to push it...so I didn't. Then when I was pregnant with Brailey I was told not to do it because he might regress when she came and had diapers on - he would want diapers on too! So - I didn't even try for those 9 months! Now school is starting back next week and Braden will not be moving up with the other 3 yr. olds because he is not potty-trained. I'm fine with that for the fact that I don't want to push - but I feel he is old enough to start trying! Monday we had a good day - he went 2 times on the potty and the rest on the floor!!! I was so excited when he went in the potty and he was too - when he was done he was mad and said he wanted to do more. I explained he would have to wait until he had more pee! Well the next day he wouldn't go on the potty at all. I would have him sitting there for nearly 20 min. and then I would finally let him off only to find him pee on the floor in the next 5 minutes! I was so mad! I'm sure I didn't react properly many of the times and had to later go and talk to him that it was ok and he would get it! I was just upset because I had asked him many times if he had to go and he said "no" and then went on the floor!! Today he upset and saying he does not WANT to pee in the potty. As I'm writing this he called me in to show me he had peed a little in the potty. We were both so excited!!! We shall see how the rest of the day goes. ANY advice would be helpful! I've NEVER potty-trained before - so POOR BRADEN...and poor me!!!

We've figured it out....

Michael is very busy in the summer...usually gone the whole summer! Well we usually go with him to all the camps and anything else. This summer we did go with him to everything except the Bahamas Missions Trip....it was a long week for Braden who asked where Daddy was nearly everyday! So when Daddy got home - we found a way to take the kids next time - now if there was only a suitcase big enough for me!!!



Now where will Michael put his clothes??? Guess he won't be talking very many!

Daddy time....

Braden and Daddy got out the legos and created some fun things...

The Arch in St. Louis (can't you tell!!!). It was fun to tell Braden how he went up in the Arch when he was just 4 months old!


This was daddy's creation!

5 MONTHS

Brailey is now 5 MONTHS old!!!

Braden's Party

Ok so I looked and I did have pictures of Braden's birth"DAY" but not his party DAY! So sit back and enjoy!


Spiderman....the theme!





Thought he was going off for some peace and quiet.....


Turned around armed.....


....and dangerous!


although somehow the girls outsmarted him and he ended up monkey in the middle!!


Then they team up and get daddy!!


Michael's grandma and niece Jessica were able to come!


Michael with Granny, mom, Jessie, Braden and Brailey


Nanny Christine with kids!



Braden's b-day gift from us and Christine!

It was a great day!!

AWESOME!!!

Sr. High Camp

More Dollywood (different week).....








Finally gave in!!!

Middle High Youth Camp

During Middle High and Senior High we go to Dollywood so here are some camp and some Dollywood pictures....




This was Braden's favorite ride!


He looks sooooooooo serious!!


I got Brailey out and we stood in the water. I wanted to see what she would do - she didn't seem to care at all - seemed she liked it! Braden screams bloody murder when we go under a mist of water!!! Now Brailey may end up that way because if memory serves me correctly Braden liked the water when he was this little too....we shall see!!!



...well I guess these were all of dollywood!!!

Brailey 4 MONTHS

Goodness we've been gone and I just realized I never posted Brailey's 4 month picture and she is almost 5 months!!! I'm such a bad blogger!! HA!

Back.....sorta!!!!

Well we've been gone for a whole month and it has flown by!!! I will have to post pictures of all our camps - but I might start backwards since that is fresh on my mind. The first 3 weeks were our district Church Camps - but the last week was a good ol'e fashion camp meeting in North Carolina. A friend of ours is the President of this camp and he asked Michael to work with the teens during the week. There aren't many camps like this anymore - it was wonderful! It truly reminded me of a camp the Mershimer's took us to when we were teenagers. Just a good holiness campground with good holiness preaching! It was wonderful to not have any responsibilites during the services so we could just relax and let God speak to us! Of course we had our children with us and that gives a whole new meaning to relax - but it was still good!!!

Anyway - here are some pictures of last week in Hendersonville, North Carolina!!


Braden doesn't usually climb on things like this...he's very cautious about everything - doesn't even like many slides...so I had to take this because he thought about it - mostly because his little girlfriend that he met there was all over it so he thought he could do - but only made it this far and climbed back down! I guess that's a start!!!



Braden spent a lot of time on this merry-go-round! Loved it! There was a little boy pushing him and was trying not to push too fast and Braden started yelling "faster!!!"...not so nicely!


This was a HUGE bug the kids found on the playground. They were flipping out so I had to go check it out and I must say - I'm glad it was on the playground and not in our dorms!!!


This is Braden in our rustic dorms! We had a "family wing" so we had a refrigerator, table, 4 showers, 3 bathrooms and 6 bunkbeds all to ourselves! Of course it was a dorm I think I mentioned!!! We pushed 3 bunkbeds together so we could all sleep together which made it cozy. Well despite the conditions we still found a way to bring technology to us...here's Braden watching a movie during afternoon free time while Brailey was still asleep!




Here's the little sunshine girl herself! She is usually smiling! She turned over on the 4th of July while we were at this camp!!!


Napping in our over-kingsized bed!!!


Having fun with Brailey rolling over!! Proud big brother!


Ok - we had just watched National Treasure 2 and the part where they are balancing themselves on the square reminded me of these squares. As we would walk on them it would rock back and forth so I said "this is like National Treasure" so Braden called them that all week. He would sometimes say "I don't want to walk on National Treasure!" It was funny!