Our new house

Now this is what we moved to MO for, and family of course!
Everyone has been asking for pix, but remember we just moved in a week 1/2 ago and it is not put together yet.































Here are my hedges I shaped for 2 hours the other day! Welcome to homeownership. You should see the lawn Ben has to mow. We desperately need a riding mower.










When you enter the house, look up and this is what you will see.















Top of the stair you walk into Brayden's room. He has been sleeping in his own room for a week and a half now and loves it. He is such a big boy.












We got these bins for $10 at a yard sale of course. They were in perfect condition. I was so excited. We are really trying to get organized as we move in. Every closet is filled with labeled clear bins.


























Brayden's room is the only room in the house completely decorated as of yet. He has kept our little bit of CO in his decor.











Our room is huge and at the end of the hall. Our ceiling glows.













Brynn has a dusty blue room.


























The kids bath. Exciting, I know. 2 1/2 baths!

















This is our view off the stairs our the front.















Our master bath. The kids have fun bathing in the wirlpool.












The 3 car garage with a utility sink.












Master walk in closet with a built in ironing board and laundry shoot.



























Mast bath shower and toilet.






Looking in to the master from the double doors in the master bath.












The staircase up from the kitchen. You can see a bit where it meets from the entry also.
















Looking down from the top of stairs. You can see a bit of the dinning room/play room for us at the bottom.











Laundry room off the kitchen and door to the garage.

















View from the kitchen into the eating area and living room and can see stairway off to the side.












Garage doors.













View of staircase from entry.

















View out living room windows.













View from entry to the right.
















From entry looking left. Our play room!














Half bath by entry.

















Unfinished basement.

















Office with double doors. It is right off the entry and then the 1/2 bath is next to it.











Liveing room with beautiful built-ins. I can make the TV go away in seconds.





Can you see Brynnie sitting up?






View from the living room into the kitchen.
Got our living room set, table, frigde, and washer/dryer on craigslist.












You can see the kids little table and brag board off to the side. This house rocks for the kids and having room for their things.














Another view from living room and out to the entry.








Hope you enjoyed the tour of our beautiful home. We are so excited and settling right in. We are already very involved with library, swimming, play dates, church and family. We have a very friendly neighborhood and have meet everyone in our coldisac. We are feeling very at peace with life and where we are right now. We just ask for prayers that Ben finds a job that he will enjoy, soon. The weather has been surprisingly enjoyable, although we still have August to get through, and the thunderstorms do not seem to bother the kids. The skys and clouds are just amazing to watch throughout a day. Between vacation bible school last week and staying up late enough to catch fireflies, Brayden is really becoming a night owl. Brynn is pulling up on things, trying so hard to get moving and screetching up a storm. She is a noisy little bug. I'll get new pix up of the kids soon. Brynnie's two teeth are really showing up and Brayden's "bad guy face" is a hoot.

More on Brynnie!

I forgot to tell a bit more about Brynn and her accomplishments. She gurgles constantly, unless she is complaining about her teeth, because she did get another tooth on the 15th. Now she has two bottom teeth. She sure enjoyed that as she gnawed on a piece of flat bread today.

She has grown so attached to her paci that even though she is nursing to sleep, she has to have it in her hand safe and secure. Unfortunately, she often tosses it so then the fussies start and I have to retrieve it before she will calm and so back down to rest.

She is pulling up on things if she can get her legs under her just right. She is also attempting going from a sit to a crawl stance. She can be on her tummy and get into a crawl stance if she has something to brace her feet against. She is moving right along. It will be no time and she will be off. Help me, I have to get moved in yet!

She loves to get a hold of hard things and bang them on the table.

Now on to Brayden:

I am so sad we have not kept on this more. He has said and done so many funny and amazing things and they are lost in the past now because I failed to jot them down, but here is what we do remember.

He has been eating up a storm the last few days. I wonder if he is having a growing spirt.

He seems to really love living in Missouri. Although, just in the last few days he has been saying he misses Glenwood Springs and wants to go home. I think the new house will take him mind off of it. He is really excited about his green room and all the hiding spots (closets). He loves hiding right now and hide-n-seek.

When we first got here, he was obsessed with being outside. That has calmed down a bit. He loves mowing the lawn with Papa’s riding mower. He got a free push mower at a yard sale last weekend that blows bubbles. He was all over that for 3 days straight.

He loves any thing with bubbles, water balloons, water squirters and sprinklers. He loves play fishing. Louis got him a kiddie pole for his b-day and Bray seemed to cast even in his sleep for days on end. He is really good at casting and reeling it in now, but real fishing was just too slow.

He loves swards, super heroes, dinosaurs, cutting with scissors, listening to stories about when Mommy and Daddy were little. He still prefers his socks on, even in the terrible Missouri heat. He loves Mommy to twirl him around in the grass (we call the swirly whirlies). We act all silly and dizzy after a twirl.

He just talk, talk, talks and loves to roll play and tell stories. When he gets excited he talk so much and repeats everything everyone is saying in a conversation. He really likes for feel a part of it all and included.

He still loves cars and trains and the ice/water maker on the front of the fridge.

He has been trying some new foods. He now loves corn on the cob and fruit salad.

When he settles into sleep he lays on his tummy and snuggles his hands under his pillow.

Potty training has been hit and miss. We will buckle down more after we are settled in. It is interesting how we often have to go a bed times though. I ploy to stay up or what!

He loves to use Noni’s little shark vacuum. One day he said, “I’m going to vacuum up Non.

Some of Brayden’s fun saying:

He told Noni, “A Grandmother is a mother who likes me best!”

Ben and I were arguing in the car one day about directions and Brayden yelled out from the back seat, “Oh Mom stop...stop...stop teasing Dad.” I said, “What about Dad?” He responded, “Dad, you can tease Mom.”

“I love you baby Brynn and God loves you too!”

We were making a to-do about one of Brynns outfits and Bray adds, “B...you’re the prettiest I ever did saw!”

The other day I was ready starting to count to three because Bray was not following directions and he yelled, “Don’t count on me, Mom!”

When we tell Brayden he is handsome or cute he says, “No, I’m so cool!” or sometime he will agree and say, “Yes I am!”

He asked Noni the other day, “How was your breakfast (at Ihop)? Noni said it was very nice and that she enjoyed it. Brayden replied with a matter of fact “Why don’t you enjoy me now?”

Brayden loves being a naked boy and running around the house yelling, “Naked Boy!” The other day I caught him jumping on the sofa yelling “Naked Boy, Naked Boy!” He told Noni, “Take off your clothes Noni and run naked!” I don’t think Noni would like that activity as much as Brayden does.

Every once in a while Brayden calls Auntie Jen “jenny.” He said to her once, “Is it okay if I call you Jenny? We don’t know where that came from. He called her “Auntie Jen-O” also. Ben tends to call her Jen-O so he must have picked it up from him.

We were driving in the car and Brayden called out, “Dad, Follow the highlighted route!” (Our GPS says that) We laughed and laughed.

Brynn upade...

June 13, 2008

Brynn had her first tooth come in today. I thought I had noticed it a few days ago, but then it seemed to go away. It is her front bottom right hand tooth. She has been a bit whinny and grinding her jaw the last few weeks. She has had a runny noise and cough from al the saliva drainage. I’ve been telling her she needs to get those teeth in for she has been dyeing to eat like we do.

She loves to grab her feet and play with them, especially while nursing and is sucking on her toes every so often.

She wants to get moving. She has been rolling for 2 months now. She sits up without support for about 5 minutes before falling over. She can hold the crawl stance and is starting to rock a bit. When on her tummy she pushes off things and scoots around in a circle. She moves one foot at a time when you hold her hands to walk forward. There is no holding her back.

Mommy calls her “a mover and a shaker.” She does not like to sit still. She always wants to be doing something. He favorite game is to have a bucket of toys in front of her and work away at pulling everything out. Some items get placed to the side, others get chewed on, and others get chucked across the room.

She is also our “little escape artist.” She arches her back in protest when having to sit in a swing, bouncy seat, or the bumbo seat. She will even do it in your arms if she wants to get moving on to something else. Watch out!

Daddy calls her “Brynnzilla” for she loves to grab Brayden’s thomas trains as they come around the track. She will even grab the whole track and break it to pieces. She also grabs the water tower from the water table and knocks it to the ground. She is miss grabby. She grabs and tosses everything she can get her hands on to. She is so good with her hands and her fine motor skills. She loves to play our grab the raisin game. She is even trying to use her pincher fingers and take it in one hand and then switches to the other hand. AMAZING!

Brynn lives for those moments Brayden will talk to her or make her laugh. He can just say her name and she giggle with excitement. It is so sweet!

We took Brynn and Brayden to see their Great Grandma Alice the other day. It was her 100.5 birthday. Brynn seems to just love her. She smiled and talked to her for a good 20 minutes. She was constantly reaching out for Grandmas arm. Of course, Grandma was smiling more than she had smiled all week.

She loves puppets and toys that make noises. She talks and coos to them. She also loves to ride the toy car and listen to the music it plays. She loves music. At library time they have music following the stories and she smiles and wants to be on her feet. She watches all the big kids dancing and has a look on her face like she is so proud that she is doing it right along with them. She likes to try new things and feel proud of herself. She also likes to be the center of attention. Tonight at dinner she said, “Nannas” as I was putting bananas on my plate. We were all amazed, even Brayden and we made a big to do about it. She was in heaven and laughing because everyone was talking to her and laughing at her. Too cute!

She uses the “L” and “F” sound a lot in her speech. She has played with “U-da” and M-ma” a bit. But, we have not heard it this week.

She is quite the protester. When she drops something she wants back we all hear about it. If Brayden takes her toys away, which happen a lot, we hear about it. When Mommy says we need to move on, we hear about it.

She is eating many solid foods. She loves applesauce, pears and sweet potatoes. She loves, loves, loves to drink from a cup and chew on a bottle top and spoon. She already blows bubbles in her drinks.

She sucks her thumb on and off. It really gets in the way when she wants to nurse.

She is taking some long naps. It is often a morning nap. Some can reach 2 hours, but they are generally and hour to hour 1/2.

Her cradle cap seems to be gone now.

She reaches for things and loves to touch faces and Brayden.

What a busy two months!

Here are a bunch of cute pictures from our last two months in Missouri. Yes, we moved back to Missouri to be with family. We move into our beautiful two story home this weekend and have worked hard finding furniture and items to fill in on Craigslist. Ben is still on the hunt for a riding lawn mower. We have so much yard, he will be mowing for hours.

Brayden had his 3 year birthday and Brynn in 6 months now. Amazing isn't it? Check out all our fun... (sorry the writing is off from the pictures, no time to fix it)








































Brayden birthday at McDonalds play land with Mommy's old college friends children, Addie and Emma.











Brays birthday at the park with the family. Here is cousin Will. Last time we had seen him Will said, "I don't want my friend Brayden to leave, Mom!" I told him we would have him for Brays birthday. He said, "Only if there is cake!"




















Photo shot...

























































































She is very attached to her pacy!













Brynn loves to eat the phone,


























And paper,













elephants, and more.













Brayden loves going to the base pro shop to drive all the boats. Uncle Luise got him a fishing poll. He loves to practice fishing with it.













Brayden loves superheros. Here he is as batman!














Brynn loves to drink from a cup. She blows bubbles and everything.

































Brayden helping with the big move to MO.














Here is the friends birthday party we had for Bray with mommy's old college friends with their children, Addie and Emma and cousin Carrie with her 6 month old, Emerson.



Brynn was all into helping with the present opening. She has to be a part of everything. She is already showing signs of crawling and walking.



























Picture perfect!















Oh MOM!



























Fun at the kids carnival, Jiggle Jam!



Brayden always uses his tongue to help his do things.






















Brynn lives for fun with her brother!



































































She loves to laugh, dance, toss things, loves music and exploring new things.






Cousin Will having fun at he park for Brayden's 3rd b-day.






Blowing out the candles!
























Birthday bubble fun!













Cousins Emily and Abby.












Playing softball!






And water balloons...


































































Brynnie feeling Papa's beard. Surprise Brayden!





















I have a HUGE write up on the kids and what they are up to and interested in to write up. I will get it in a few days. I will probably not be posting again for a while as we will be busy moving in.