Beginning the indoor stuff

Our little construction guy...

Playing and singing incognito

Practicing balancing the truck on his head...

Its been some time again...

I have let this slide long enough. Altho I do have to admit that I haven't had any screaming emails lately either, so I was more able to let it slide. Things around our household continue to move along and grow up and go through stages. We are currently reverted back to the "I don't want to eat" stage. That one seems to come and go. I try not to let it be an issue, but its one of those things that he is learning to use to his advantage. To avoid his advantage, he has to stay in his chair and wait until we are done eating now. That usually dissuades him from thinking he doesn't want to eat. Oh the things we parents have to figure out in order to stay somewhat sane. Brayden is also in the stage where we wait and wait and wait to see if Mama was serious when she asked him to do something. Just wait to see if she will do anything about it if I don't do it...yeah that stage. We all did it, probably several times in life to our parents. Well the receiving end isn't so great is it. If only we knew then what we know now...we might have done it differently. But then again, maybe not. :-)
The other night Roger and I were sitting upstairs and Brayden comes up from the frig with a roll of cookie dough in his hands. He says "cookies mama". Translation, I think I am hungry for cookies. We got such a laugh out of that. He usually just gets his yogurt and spoon and comes to me with that for his nighttime snack. But the cookie dough was new and I guess he thought it looked good. Just so you know though, after baking the cookies, he only ate a 1/2 of one. He isn't real fond of them yet, give him time, he will come around.

Here are some pics of various moments in our life lately. We have been battling a cold now for almost two weeks. Guess its going around. I thought we were going to get over it last weekend, but NO, it morphed on Sunday night and here we are still sick. Hopefully by Thanksgiving we will be in better shape.

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Another dalmation video

Thanks Aunt Dar for this cute costume that you gave us last year!! We had to pin the legs up a bit cuz they were toooo long, so it will probably work for next year too. Especially with this mama that isn't really INTO Halloween so much.

Some other fun...

Here are Brian (skeleton) and Timmy, the kids next door. Brayden plays with Brian real regular. They have had an awesome summer outside in the yards. These two went up to the school Halloween carnival last night and then stopped by Darrell and Bonnie's last night to see Brayden. We wanted this picture in their costumes.

Find the ghost...

In the pics below, can you find Brayden in the two toward the bottom of the page?? He was my little ghost while taking these pics. I had the camera set on manual so I could determine the shutter speed for dark pics. Anyway, he is in those two pics, let us know if you find him.

See our Ghost??

In the BLURRY pic can you see Brayden?? In the other really dark pic can you see Brayden??

Halloween

a few more

Pumpkin Fun...

Order of carvers- Eldon, Dustin, and Roger's (left to right)

It took me a few days to get some of this posted, sorry for the delay. We have had revolving doors of company since the big birthday bash and so its been alittle busy for posting. Here are a few pics to show how it went. The changes from last year's party are amazing. Brayden really enjoyed everyone being here this year and he loved to unwrap the packages and give thank you hugs. He could say thank you this year, last year that was a tall order. I think everyone had a nice time, we sure did. A huge thanks to all the family that could come and be with us, for being here and for the gifts. :-) Brayden has adjusted to his own room amazingly well. I was prepared for a regression of potty training etc, but none of that has happened. He goes to sleep by himself now and wakes up about 7:15 or so and comes up the stairs to crawl in our bed for some tickle time. Its great to have that transition accomplished and have our room back. I am in the process of taking the crib down and getting it all put away. Have to move the clothes down to his room yet, but that will come this week too. Sleeping in his truck has not been a problem, he seems to understand that driving while sleeping isn't a good idea!!

We had Dustin and Eldon with us the last couple of days and had a pumpkin carving party last night. Brayden hadn't done a pumpkin yet, skipped it last year, so this year it was time to bring that into his realm of experiences. The video says what he thought of the pumpkin guts, but he thought they looked cool lit up. Enjoy the pics and don't forget to comment, we love to hear from everyone. Have a good fall, what is left of it. We will have to rake leaves here in the real near future. The big cottonwoods haven't dropped them all yet, but they are coming down. We have had some beautiful fall days.

late b-day pics

Pumpkin time...

Nap accomplished...

It took some persuasion...but we got the nap thing accomplished. Don't know how it will go at night, but if we can get him to quit driving and JUMPING on the bed, we will be doing good.

Happy 3rd Birthday Brayden

Now the trick will be...
To get him to SLEEP here...

getting put together

Here it is part way through, still more to be done...

Guess who is here

Uncle Bobby came for the b-day weekend again this year, thats cause for lots of FUN!!

New use for arm chair covers

Brayden and Papa

cute hat

This hat we found in a drawer somewhere and he thought it was cool, not really the season for it, but whatever he is into I guess

Weekend at Papa & Granny's

Brayden and Mama made the trip to Papa and Granny's for the weekend almost a week ago now. We had a nice time with them, but this is the face of my son when he isn't getting his way!! Wow what a face. Just thought you all should see that he isn't always happy!! :-) I have to laugh at the many faces this little guy has when he isn't happy. They are cute, unless I am equally frustrated with him as he is with me, then they aren't funny at all. I feel the terrible twos coming to an end after not being all that terrible which leaves me with incredible trepidation about the threes...I have heard they can be WORSE. We hope to escape with our good humor in tact.

Big Day coming up...

We are preparing for a big day in this household...Sunday is Brayden's birthday. Its been a crazy couple of weeks getting his "gift" ready, but its done and ready to be moved into the house. Here are a couple of pics of it in the process. Just a quick note, WE ARE NOT SPOILING HIM!! Just had to throw that in here in case anyone had that idea. :-) This will be his new bed, in his new room. Had to make it a real big deal so he won't feel KICKED OUT. :-)

more horsing around

Horsing around...

and on the blog...

We hope they don't mind

finding themselves on our blog!!

Grandpa and Grandma Great

Sunday pics

5 min after we arrived

more trip

Cathy with Brayden, Jacob and Robby at the Wild Cat Hills history center that wasn't open on Saturday!!

looking around

A couple of pics off the monument

Weekend trip

We had a fabulous weekend trip to Scottsbluff. I grew up there and moved when Roger and I got married, for those of you who didn't know me years ago...anyway, it was good to be back in my old stomping grounds for a couple of days. We spent some time with two of my high school friends and their families. They both are raising some wonderful kids with help from two great husbands. It was wonderful to see that for both of them. We also had a great time with great grandpa and great grandma and some other dear friends that visit this blog real regular. :-) Brayden didn't take long to remember grandpa great...within 5 min he was up on his lap. Grandpa great thought that was great I am sure!! It took just a bit longer to warm up to grandma great, but that came with time too. By Sunday lunch he was roaming around their house pretty comfortably. Especially for never being there before. Grandpa and Grandma great have been wonderful about traveling to meet us in the middle. Its a good thing too, because by the time we reached Casper (2 hrs from home) Brayden was OVER the car seat and over being in the car all together. His nap that was supposed to last a while only lasted an hour and 15 min. Not long enough for sure. He did pretty good though despite the shortage of rest. We stopped in Mitchell to see Jen, Matt, and Megan, went out to eat at a neat little hole in the wall that brought a bucket of toys to the table. A whole bucket!!! Brayden thought that was pretty neat since he usually just gets the same old toys from mama's purse in every restaurant we visit. He and Megan had a wonderful time playing with all the toys. When the meal was served Brayden did real good to eat off my plate, but when Matt started sharing his crab with Megan...well lets just say Brayden was right there saying "me me me". :-) He loves crab and it doesn't matter where it comes from. It was cute and we enjoyed it. After supper we returned to the house and let Megan and Brayden have an hour to play while Jen and I caught up, Matt and Roger went across the way to the football game. It was great to see that our husbands could connect and chat the way we do. We left there about 8:30 or so and headed for Cathy and Brian's. They have three boys that were looking forward to being big brothers for the weekend. The boys had alittle time to play around before it was time to hit the beds. Saturday we went up on the monument, don't know how long its been since I had been up there, but its been several years. We also went up to the Wild Cat hills. It amazes me everytime how many houses have cropped up around there. We had lunch at a fabulous little mexican food restaurant, quite an experience with the little boy that belongs to the owners. He wanted Brayden's toys, he kept trying to trade them out with some of his. Just didn't understand why it wasn't allowed. Finally his daddy (the cook) had to come out and remove him from the dining room as his mothers best efforts weren't working out. :-) When we left we saw daddy out back with him pounding on the window to be let back in. After that we headed for Grandpa and Grandma great's house. He learned to say Grandpa and Grandma great pretty good by the end of the weekend. It actually ended up being papa great. We made it out to our old farm where we grew up. It sure looks different with houses built in the pasture and fields. With the area growing so much they all have to go somewhere. Sunday we had lunch with them and some good friends. It was wonderful to see so many again even though the trip was short. We left Sunday after lunch to head home, stopped at my two grandmother's graves first. It was quick though as normal Nebraska wind was blowing and it was chilly. Brayden sacked out not tooo far out of town and slept all the way to Casper (3 hrs). We stayed the night in Casper and shopped a bit on Monday, then came on home. Sunday night was the big Elton John concert in Casper, we didn't know about it until we were in the mall and commented to some friends we met up with how busy it was around there. The restaurants were crammed to the gills, we didn't get to eat until 7:30 cuz the concert wasn't until 8. Anyway, we ate and went back to the hotel for a swim and hot tub and then bed, boy did we sleep good. Brayden came down with a cold late friday and his eye started watering profusely saturday. He wasn't feeling the best, but he wasn't terribly crabby either. I took him to the eye dr on Tues as it wasn't getting better instead the other eye was involved too. They gave me some antibiotic cream for his eyes and said to hot pack them twice a day as his pores in the lids were clogging and not allowing proper evaporation of this eyes. Seems to be working, they are looking better now. Oh, he slept all the way home on Monday afternoon too, unusual for him to sleep in the car for that length of time, but he had to catch up somehow. :-)

Now we are getting ready for the big BIRTHDAY PARTY. Brayden will be 3 on the 21st. Uncle Bobby is coming again as his birthday is the day before, so they will have a grand time again I am sure. Daddy is working on his new bed and mama has to GET STARTED on decorating his new room. We have grand plans, it may take some extra time to get them all accomplished, but it will be worth it.

Will let this be all for now, except of course some pics. I would never be forgiven if I didn't post some pics...enjoy them and be sure to comment!!

Before and After...

Fox got a haircut today, wow what a difference...she is bouncing around like a new pup. Guess its true what they say about a new dooo, it breaths new life into a creature. Wow doesn't she look different. Brayden thinks its neat to pet her now, she is sooo soft to touch. Of course we think she feels nice too, but apparently not as nice as SHE thinks she feels!!

Ready Set GO!!!

The famous football pose, this is where he says "one, two three go", and comes to tackle us!!

Been busy again...

Here we are, been busy again with work and such. Seems that its just that way for everyone, but wanted to put a few pics on tonight. We have been enjoying going to Lex's games lately, but Brayden has noticed a lot!!! We now play a lot of football at our house. He loves to tackle!! The bigger they are the harder they fall being very true here. :-) We are getting the last few nice days, hope there are still some around the corner, but we are getting cooler here. Won't be long and the garden will be done even if I am not done with it, the summer definitly is. I will soon be tired of covering it up every night!! The squash is history now and the rest of it only made it because I had it covered with comforters. I was in Big Piney this week on the coldest days and nights, it snowed over there and rained a bit too. I woke up to a car that was covered in ice on Tues morning. Made for some REAL ice scraping before I could leave. Anyway, good to be back home. We go to see Great Grandpa and Great Grandma this weekend. Should be a nice time. Enjoy the pics.

Fishing on Labor Day wknd

This was one trip fishing to Sunshine Basin up by Meteetsee. We didn't have a lot of luck there, but did catch a few up around the 19 inch mark. They were big enough that Brayden didn't get to reel any in, but he did get to cast and reel his own pole with just a casting plug on it. That went pretty good for a while till he got bored with that and decided that papa's net looked fun.

Labor Day Weekend

Just us two

Since Roger doesn't know how to work the camera we bought...I never appear on this blog. Thought maybe mama deserved a little face time on my son's blog, so here we are for pics a week ago. I won't spoil the x-mas card fam pic by posting it here, you will have to wait for it to arrive in your mailbox!! :-) I don't think I am going grey, I think its just incredibly BLOND streaks. Summer has been hot here, perhaps with a little cold this winter it will go back to dark brown. :-) Dad mentioned it to me this last weekend, so I know it shows...oh well.

Just practicing

Its almost school pic time again, so Alan was needing subjects to practice on, well this little boy cooperated for a little while. Of course we started it out with our annual fam pics then went to the shop to do these on the background. This one turned out especially good.

Yesterday we took Brayden in for an evaluation by child development services. He scored well in gross and fine motor skills but is a bit low on communication, problem solving and personal social skills. The question she asked was did he know he was a boy vs girl, well he didn't know that because I didn't know to teach him that. She also asked him to say his name, well he didn't know that either. Needless to say after we got in the pickup I was quizzing him on being a boy and saying his name!! Otherwise, she said that considering where he came from, he is doing very well!! I have some charts now to look at to know where he should be for age 3 and we are working on getting him to those points. All in all a good evaluation. Altho he had wax in his ear again, we had a long bath this morning to try to loosen it up, hope we are successful.

splashing Katie

Camping trip 07

Can you find Brayden???

Just walking around the backside

of camp...

just going in to come out again and again and again

Sitting on a rock at Tomahawk Lake eating lunch, his feet were crossed just like Daddy's but we commented on it and he was changing it as I took this pic.

Sleeping in comfort...

On our way back to Granny and Papa's last monday afternoon from Billings shopping trip. Obviously it had been a hard day!!

A Year has come and gone!

We have surpassed the year anniversary of our homecoming!! The actual date was Aug 25, we flew into Riverton on the 8:30 p.m. flight with our little boy. And wasn't he little. His first doctor appointment was Aug 28th and he was 31" tall and weighed 22 lbs. Now on Aug 28th today, he is 35" tall and weighs 29.6 lbs. Lots of change, but wanted to show you all the numbers as they are simply amazing to us.

This last weekend we went camping for Brayden's first time. He loved camp, really enjoyed running around outside and learned all about the campfire. He reached out once and touched a rock on the outside edge, it was just better than warm, but not hot enough to burn him. He learned though and never tried to touch one again. Daddy helped him roast his first marshmallow and he got to stick his first hotdog in the ashes. Happens to us all!! We washed it and started again. He rode in his backpack carrier to Thomahawk Lake, its a 3 mile hike that takes about 2 hrs. Its a long hike and lots of uphill going in, lots of down coming out. He did really well. We let him walk for part of it, but he likes to look around lots so its a constant tugging on the arm and shoulder of the one guiding him. We got to the lake and had lunch first then threw in the fishing lines. Brayden reeled in one fish before napping for an hour and then reeled in two more before we headed back out. We got back to camp about 5:30 and put supper on the fire. Ate about 6:30 and then had marshmallows and smores. He had two bites of a smore and decided that didn't call for s'more, so he ran around instead. The first night was FRIGID up there, he slept in two layers of pjs, in a sleeping bag with a quilt over that and then I made a comforter "tent" over his head part way through the night as his ears were COLD. The second night was way different, he rolled off the couch bed hit the floor but didn't wake up, I put him back in bed, but left him out of the sleeping bag. I got 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep from 2:30 to 6:30 a.m.. He was up and rearing to go at 6:30, when he is in that shape, there is no slowing him down so we can rest a bit longer!! Breakfast was about 8:30 and a much slower morning. We fished off the boat dock for a bit and walked in the water down on the beach end of the lake. It was cold water though. After lunch he was walking around camp with his eyes about shut so it was time for a rest. He slept for an hour and then we packed up and headed home. Arrived in Riverton in time for supper with Uncle Laurin and Aunt Cindy and got our first view of the new scrapbook that Vicki made. Wow a lot of work went into that project and we are soooo very pleased with the finished product. I still haven't had time to really sit down and study it, but perhaps later today. It covers the trips to Russia very well. That covers the weekend, summer is coming to an end here. It is much cooler today and reminds me that the garden won't be much longer and soon we will be back to long sleeves. Will let this do for now.

Officially Ours!!!

Its been a year ago tonight that we got final custody of Brayden. Seems like everything comes around to that point of a year ago, but now we have reached that point. Its all been so much fun and quite the experience. We wouldn't do anything different now, and we are sooo glad to have him. Here is the first pic of Brayden right after we got him back to the hotel. Not real happy, but definitely better than the day before at the orphanage. Can you believe the difference?? WOW.