Awwww

Today was the annual Hayrack Ride/Pot Luck for the Mom's group that I belong to. As usual, it was a wonderful time- food, friends, riding on the tractor. Although, this year I would say that it was the most fun to see all of the new babies. We have had a surge of little ones lately, and they were all there today. We lined them all up on a blanket for pictures, in order of birth:

From left to right, Rhylan (June 29th), Oscar (July 7th), Evan (July 17th), Olivia (Aug 7th), Garren (Sept. 17th), and Sebastien (Sept. 23)

And this was just too cute- here is Mr. Rhylan in his sling (I don't know why the picture is so small, sorry!)

Shake Your Money Maker

Our conversation at dinner tonight:

Brayden: "Mommy, did you have a good day at work?"
Me: "Yes I did"
Brayden: "Did you make lots of glasses for people?"
Me: "Yes, I did"
Brayden: "And how about you Daddy? Did you make money at your work?"
Jason: "Mommy makes money at work too."
Brayden: "No, Mommy makes glasses."

It took me a second, and then I put it together....

Me: "Brayden, do you think that Daddy goes to work and actually makes money?"
Brayden: "Well, yeah, that's what Daddy does, he goes to work and makes money all day."

We both got a good laugh out of it. I think we got him straightened out on the difference between earning money and making money- and that Daddy is actually an engineer the designs buildings, and that he gets paid money to do that.

Makes you realize how literally kids can interpret things! To think that all this time Brayden thought his Daddy worked for the U.S. Mint- or was a professional counterfeiter! (He was kind of surprised to find out what his Daddy really does.)

Budding Artist

Brayden has never been much of an "artist". He seems to not care about what he is doing, and basically just scribbles on a piece of paper. I have talked to some other moms of boys the same age about this, and it seems that many of us have noticed the same thing.

Today when I picked Brayden up from school, he excitedly told me not to forget his picture. I was not nearly as enthusiastic, thinking it would just be more scribbles to put on the fridge. Then, from his cubby, he pulled out this:

He was so proud of himself, and explained to me that it is our family. I am on the left, Jason next to me (notice that he is even wearing glasses), then Rhylan, and Brayden on the right. This is the first time that he has drawn anything recognizable- it brought tears to my eyes!! And look- what is that under it?!!? That is him writing his name all by himself. It says "Brayden A"!! I am so proud of him!

Our First Date

Jason and I had a wedding to attend in his hometown this weekend--- without kids! This was our first date without either of them since Rhylan was born. We also had a chance to enjoy a dinner at a Japanese Steakhouse together this weekend too while Grandma and Grandpa watched the kiddos. It was nice to get a little time to ourselves and have adult conversations without the occassional diaper change, feeding, or round of Candyland (or any other various games, toys, etc.)!

Brothers

Just had to share this adorable shot that Daddy captured tonight.

The Power of Marketing

Lately Brayden has been rather influenced when it comes to TV commercial he sees. Any toy that is advertised he instantly wants. (I am so sick of hearing about how he wants Moon Sand because it "doesn't dry out"-- I don't even know what Moon Sand is!) Tonight he and I were making dinner together and the following conversation took place:

Me: Brayden, go take off your shirt and shorts
Brayden: Why Mommy?
Me: Because I don't want you spilling tomatoe sauce on them and staining them.
Brayden: Oh, that's ok Mommy. You can just get Oxy Clean--- Oxy Clean Spray, it gets out even the toughest stains!

I think it might be time to turn off the TV!!

Sitting Already?!?!

No, we aren't the proud parent's of the most advanced 2 and a half month old on the planet! Rhylan is sitting in his Bumbo seat (a seat designed for babies to sit in once they have control of their head). I put him in it for the first time today, and he loves it. It is too cute to see such a little guy sitting "on his own"- just had to share. Sorry for the picture quality, I snapped this with my phone rather than running to get the camera since I didn't know how long he would let me keep him in there. Turns out that I would have had plenty of time to grab the camera and have one hour prints made :)!

Say Cheese!

No matter how many of those big, toothless grins that we get around here these days, I never seem to catch it on the camera. By the time the shutter clicks Rhylan's expression has changed. Last night, while we were "talking" when I got home from work, he was full of smiles and I actually captured a few. Maybe he was happy to see his Mommy? With going back to work this week, it is the most I have been away from him. Yeah, that is what I am going to tell myself- that he was just that happy to see me! (Then again, who wouldn't be.... right?)

Here are a couple of pictures of our happy little guy!

Back to Reality

Warning.... this is very picture heavy! I haven't updated in quite some time, and we have been pretty busy since the last post!

We just got home late last night after a wonderful vacation to California. We had planned on taking my grandma and grandpa out there to visit family, however Grandpa decided that he would rather not deal with the travel, so he stayed home. We really missed having him there, but it was so nice to have everyone else together. Jason got to meet several members of my family that he had never had a chance to meet before, some of which I had never met and others that I hadn't seen in over 15 years. Brayden loved playing with all of his cousins that he had never met, and we all got to meet Ava, the other new addition to our family. (born about a month before Rhylan- also a preemie, so they were exactly the same size! Too cute!) Brayden with Dakota

Brayden and Rhylan with Madison

Cambria with Rhylan

Makayla holding Rhylan

Rhylan "kissing" Ava


Grandma Olson and Aunt Bonnie with the babies, Rhylan and Ava

Aunt Bonnie, Kylla, Grandma Olson with Rhylan and Brayden

Brayden enjoyed spending time at the beach. At first he was afraid of the water, but quickly warmed up to the idea... only to get caught in an small riptide that knocked him off his feet and face first into the sand underwater. He was a bit shaken, but is telling everyone all about it, and how his cousin, Dakota, "was right there to save him". It didn't stop him from wanting to go back in the water just a few minutes later!

While out there, our family went to Disneyland as well. We had a blast, and both boys were so good. Brayden really enjoyed it. It was neat to see the difference between now and a year and a half ago when we took him to DisneyWorld. He was quite the dare devil- he had been saying for the last year that he wants to ride Space Mountain, and he did that first thing.... and five more times after that. He would put his hands up in the air on every ride, I think because he had seen older kids do it, and scream "WooooHoooo!" the whole time. He kept begging to go on Tower of Terror (a ride that drops you down an elevator shaft of what is supposed to be an abandoned hotel. It is all in the dark, except for when the elevator doors open every now and then.). I finally told him that I would take him on it, but that I didn't want to hear about it afterward if it scared him. I figured that he would bail out just going through the line- you have to wait in the "lobby" of this supposed hotel, which is quite creepy, and then watch a video that gives the background of what the ride is about. The video is done like a Twilight Zone episode. Well, he made it through the wait and the video, went on the ride, and as soon as it stopped he screamed "I wanna go again Momma!!". Crazy kid!

As many of you know, Brayden is currently very obsessed with Star Wars. I think he may have very well been the happiest child on the planet when he got chosen out of the crowd to participate in the Jedi Training Academy. He got to wear a Jedi cloak, was given a Light Saber, and instructed by a Jedi Master as to how to fight against the Dark Side. During the training a platform lifted up from the ground, and there were Darth Vader and Darth Maul. Brayden's eyes got as big as saucers! He was able to fight Darth Vader--- and he must have had the force with him, because he beat him!

The timing of our trip was great, schools had already started back, and we hit the week after the holiday weekend, so the crowds were minimal, at best. We were able to walk right on all of the rides with no wait at all, and ride things multiple times. Brayden was able to meet numerous characters, also with no wait time. Rhylan was such a good baby, he would ride in the stroller much of the time, but was also to go on many of the rides with us. I would just throw him in his sling, and we would all ride together.

We started off our Disney adventure at Downtown Disney- ate dinner at Rainforest Cafe, and perused different shops, including the Lego Store (big hit with Brayden!)









Our Family at Disneyland





Brayden fighting "the dark side"






Our tired boys

No trip to Southern California would be complete without at least one celebrity sighting. We didn't get ours until the last minute, when we were going through security at LAX. I was waiting for Jason to finish helping Grandma get through the security check, and I noticed this woman standing about two feet away from me. I didn't even look at the face, just the outfit- it was very bright purple and pink, not much of it there, and I was admiring the shoes. I could tell that the person wearing it was about my age and thinking to myself "wow! I wish I could pull something like that off", but at the same time thinking "wow! who does this person think she is? someone special or something?!" Just then Jason got Grandma through security and said: "Hey babe, do you realize that you are standing next to Posh Spice (aka Victoria Beckham)?". At that point she grabbed her carry on bag and security guards surrounded her to walk her to her gate.






All in all it was a perfect trip. I am hoping that Grandma continues to be in good health and that we can all do it again (she is 90).