Galveston Trip

Okay so it has been forever since I updated our family blog. There have been some major changes in my life the past couple months so blogging has been put on the back burner, but tonight I wanted to sit down and start updating. Back in August my mom came down for the weekend so we decided to take the kids to Galveston. We had so much fun, like always. The kids love going to Galveston and just relaxing and playing on the beach. They love to play in the water, look for sea shells, lay in the sand and get all dirty and this time we had a special visitor....the ice cream man! I never buy the kids ice cream from the ice cream truck because A it is too expensive and B we always have ice cream in our freezer, but Meme of course loves to spoil the kids so they got to get an ice cream this time. They were so excited about it! I love the pictures of Payten when she was playing in the water. She is so happy and her smile brings so much joy to my life. Brayden loves the water too and he thought it was so funny when a big wave would come and splash his face. I love living in Texas because there are so many fun things to do down here that we couldn't do if we lived in Oklahoma and one of the things we love to do is go to Galveston. We actually went last weekend again so I will be posting more pics soon. Unfortunately this time the weather was significantly colder so we couldn't swim, but we did bring home a big huge bag of sea shells! Enjoy the pics!

First Day of School

August 31st was the first day of preschool for Brayden and Miss Payten's first day for the Transition class. It was also the first day for my new job. I am a toddler preschool teacher this year. And yes, Brayden is in my class. It has been a great two weeks for everyone. We are so blessed to be apart of this AWESOME preschool. I absolutely LOVE everyone and I am enjoying everyday there. The toddler class has been so fun. There are a few that still need a little more time to adjust but I think they will get it. Brayden is doing awesome. He is a little trooper and it really doesn't seem to bother him at all that I hold the other kids. He just looks at me and goes on. The other day I was sitting on the floor and had one girl on each side of my lap and he came over and just sat right on top of them. I thought it was pretty funny. Of course the girls starting screaming, so I felt bad making him get up and not being able to hold him too. Payten is LOVING school and told me the other day that she wished that school could be all day and all night. She does really well in structured environments and has already made a BFF. Blayre is her new best friend. Alison told me that they are together all the time. The other day Payten got a yellow ticket for talking too much during nap time to Blayre. Needless to say I don't think Payten will ever get a yellow ticket again. :) It's going to be a great year and I have more pictures to upload from this past week but will do that at a later time. The kids are begging me to go to Wal-Mart to get more "Cars" cars. :) Have a great weekend!

Payten is walking into school for the very first time this year. She was SOO excited about the first day. And you can tell from this pic that she was happy!

Payten's teachers for this year are Miss Alison and Miss Misty. They are amazing and Payten adores them both. And I'm pretty sure they love her too. Miss Alison is always telling me how sweet Payten is and how hard she works on everything. :) Matt and I are so happy that we decided to put her into the transition class. She is going to learn so much and have a great year.

Payten's classroom. This is the reading center.

Brayden loves riding on the "bye bye buggie". He likes to pick which seat he wants to sit in and then he will look at me and say, "sit". It's pretty cute. 

Brayden is making his very first preschool craft....the glittler apple. He LOVED glittering it and also glittered the floor and counters too. :)

A little out of order but here is Brayden during nap time. It was a struggle for him but he finally gave up the fight and mommy won the battle. He did so good though. I was so proud of him.

This is snack time right after playground time. I think Brayden was trying to feed Mackenzie some food. haha

Here is my Monday/Tuesday toddler class minus one. We were taking them on an outside walk to get some fresh air. This was the first day of preschool for them so a couple of kiddos were pretty upset and needed a change of scenery.

Here is Brayden running and playing during playground time. This is his favorite time of the day! :)

Brayden having a blast playing on the playground. :)

Payten loves her teddy!

As far back as I can remember Payten has always carried a lovey or blanket with her. Well, this past year she finally lost all of her special blankets and we thought she was done carrying around security items, but for some reason she has latched on to this little teddy bear and she LOVES it so much. She carries it around the house, sleeps with it every night and always takes it with her wherever she goes. She started school this past week and every morning sticks Teddy in her nap mat so when she lays down for quiet time at school she will have him with her. Her favorite thing about Teddy is his smell. We've washed it maybe 3 or 4 times but lately she DOES NOT want us to wash him because she says she loves the way he smells. Really?? It smells like dirt and sweat. :) It does kinda have a Payten smell to it though. It's funny because you will see her every once in a while put Teddy to her nose and she will sit there for a few seconds and smell him. :)  She was playing in the living room one afternoon and I couldn't help but take some pictures of her with her most favorite thing in the whole world. Daddy and I tease her saying that she loves the bear more than her mommy and daddy. She says she loves us more, but we have our doubts. :)

My little Stinker

Here are more pics of Brayden at 20 months doing things he loves to do. In this picture he is reading a Veggie Tales book.   He is really getting to where he loves Veggie Tales. He calls them, "Beggie". If he wants to watch them he starts yelling, "beggie, beggie." Pretty cute. And then I've mentioned before that he loves to read and look at books. I am so glad that my kids love books. That is one of the things I love doing with them!!

Here are Payten and Brayden eating their bedtime snack.....cereal. Every night the kids want their cereal before bed time. In this picture they are eating Corn Flakes but usually it is Cheerios. Oh and sometimes Brayden uses his spoon and then other times he will just shove the food in with all  fingers. I think there is a pic below of him shoving his food in his mouth.  :)

Here is my little guy getting into Payten's play makeup. He was being really quiet and then he walked into the room with lipstick all over his face. He LOVES getting into anything he can get his hands on. We definitely have to put everything up out of his reach if we want to keep it in one piece or left alone. haha  And we definitely DON'T want little boys playing in makeup!!!!!

Brayden 20 months old

Today Brayden turns 20 months old. Wow....how time flies by! What a precious little boy that God has blessed us with. I love his dimples and his pretty blue eyes. I love his cute laugh,adorable smile and there is nothing that melts my heart more then his sweet kisses. He is so laid back but at the same time is in constant motion. He loves to read books, play in the dirt and loves to play with trucks, cars and balls. He loves to play at the park, especially loves any slide he can slide down and loves to bang on things. He especially loves mommy's bathroom cabinets and really likes to play and destroy everything that I have just organized. :) What I love most about Brayden is his sweet temper and loving heart. He is just so mellow and most the time obeys really well. He is the best sleeper and always wakes up happy and ready to play. One thing I don't like is his LOUD whine he does when he is upset. It is a screaching noise!!!! Some favorite names we call him are sugar bear, sugar bug, Mr. Bray, little dude and Bray Bray. His favorite word is "no" at the moment. Daddy taught him that word while mommy and Payten were away on a girls trip to Dallas. :) He is talking so much now and we love it! The words he is saying right now are: ball, dog, kitty, cheese, juice, ice, book, truck, car, sissy, mommy, daddy, bye bye, night night, shoe, no and duck. (Those are the words that I remember at the moment.) His favorite snacks are cereal and string cheese. When eating his cereal he will sometimes use a spoon and does pretty good and then other times I can hear him say, "what the heck" and he puts his spoon to the side and digs in with his fingers. It makes a pretty big mess but oh well....nothing mommy can't clean up. At his 19 month check up he weighed 24 lbs and is 34 1/2 inches long. He is still 95% in height and 25% in weight. (clothing he wears 18 mos right now) Well I think that's it for right now. I posted this earlier and thought of a lot more but somehow deleted it. Enjoy the pics!

These pics were taken one evening while daddy was mowing the lawn and the kids wanted to play outside for a while. Of course they hunted for frogs and got all dirty, but they had fun being kids.

I LOVE his little feet! They are just so precious to look at. I took this picture today after he decided he would rather play in the dirt than take pictures. Such a boy!