Garden Center Trip

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On a gorgeous spring day, Jon and I took the kids to the garden center.  It is turning into one of our favorite places to explore.  Brayden knows his way around the garden center.  He likes to tell us which path he wants to take and what he wants to see first.


We have been working with Brayden on standing still for photos.   We have talked to him about how we want to take a picture, so that we can keep all the great memories.  All of our talking must be rubbing off on him , because every time he saw a bench he would tell us we should sit on the bench and take a picture.  It was wonderful getting to actually take pictures of our adorable little boy!


Brayden is so at ease when he is outside.  He isn't rushing around trying to figure out what to play with and where to go.  He takes it all in and observes everything that he sees.  Brayden also never tires of being outside and exploring nature.  He could stay at a park all day long just walking around checking out the critters and collecting sticks and rocks.
    

Taylor seemed to enjoy being outside as well.  She was smiley and happy as we walked around.


Taylor was happy to hop out of the stroller, during our visit, to sit on the benches with her big brother.



Taylor was very excited that she got to be part of Brayden's tea party using the giant teacups!

We walked all around the garden center.  We even took two new paths that we had never explored.  One to a log cabin and one path through the woods!  We stopped along the way for some snacks and a few games of hide and seek.  Both kids loved the whole day!

Taylor is 9 Months Old

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Our little girl turned nine months old! Taylor is growing so much and getting new skills every day!  We took her for her nine month doctor appointment and her measurements were: height 27.5 inches (50%), weight 21 pounds (75-90%), head circumference 46 cm (95%).  Luckily, her nine month appointment did not have any shots!  It was very funny to watch Taylor interact with the doctor.  She was very unsure of him.  She kept glaring at him and holding on to me.  She did not crack one smile the whole appointment!  When Brayden was her age, he had no fear of the doctor.  He would smile at him and play with the little koalas the doctor had attached to his stethoscope.  Taylor wouldn't even take the koala from the doctor!

It was very surprising watching her be so serious.  With people Taylor knows, especially family, she is smiling and laughing all the time!  But if she doesn't know you watch out, because she will give you the stare down!

Taylor finally stopped commando crawling and is officially crawling all over the house at high speeds!  We put her down and she just starts off for whatever she wants.  She is incredibly determined and will keep going back for things she wants no matter how many times we move her to the other side of the room.  At the moment, she doesn't really have a favorite toy.  She pretty much ignores most of her toys and only wants whatever is close to Brayden.  She really loves his Toy Story figures.


She still only has her two little bottom teeth.  Taylor continues to be a great eater.  She wants to do everything herself, but actually manages to do a pretty good job, if you don't notice the food smeared all over her face and hair.   Her favorite foods are any type of fruit, zucchini, and potatoes.  She also eats cheese and yogurt.


Taylor makes being a parent really really easy.  She has such an easy going carefree spirit.  It doesn't matter if we are in a grocery store or at a park she is still all smiles!

Truck Day 2012

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Each year we look forward to attending Truck Day!  Brayden loves getting to climb up in and test drive all the big trucks!  This year, we went to Truck Day with Brayden's buddies Kylee and Ryland and Taylor's buddy, Kenzie.


Brayden has grown so much since the last Truck Day.  Last year, he needed my help to climb in and out of most of the trucks.  This year, he just climbed right up to the driver's seat without looking back at me once.  When he was up in the driver's seat, he loved pulling all the levers and pushing all the buttons.  He was very excited when he located the horn buttons!

When Brayden's buddies were in the front seat of the vehicles, he would climb in the back to be the passenger.  He would even buckle his seatbelt.



Taylor and Kenzie kicked back in the strollers while the big kids explored the trucks.  It was very hot out, but Taylor didn't seem to mind!


One of my favorite moments of the day, was watching Brayden sit inside the truck wheel!  


The kids all did a great job taking turns in the trucks.  Luckily, because all the kids are so tiny we could fit all three of them inside the truck at the same time.


We actually managed to get a group shot of all five kids in the digger bucket!


Ryland sat for about one picture and then was up trying to get to the next adventure.  Brayden and Kylee did a great job holding on to their little sisters while we took pictures!


Brayden's favorite part of the day wasn't actually any of the trucks!  He loved playing with the walk/stop sign they had on display.  Whenever the walk sign appeared he would run across the pretend street as fast as he could.


He thought it was so exciting and had a huge grin on his face as he ran back and forth racing the walk signal.


Brayden managed to go inside every single truck!  Truck Day was a big success and we will definitely return next year! 

Raspberry Picking

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While Jon was in California, my parents and I took the kids to the farm.  We picked cherries and black raspberries.  It was our first time picking cherries.  Brayden really enjoyed cherry picking, but needed a lift up to reach the cherries.



After we picked cherries, we walked over to the black raspberry field.  The first thing we noticed when we got to the raspberry field was that it was really hot outside!  The cherry trees provided a nice amount of shade, but the raspberry fields were in the direct sun.  Brayden was excited about picking for the first few minutes and then it went downhill fast.


Both of the kids were too hot and not happy.  We tried dumping a water bottle over Brayden's head, but even that didn't cheer him up!


Taylor wasn't doing much better than Brayden.  My little smiley girl had a very grouchy expression on her face.  We decided to pick a couple of containers really quickly and then go back to the main farm for some water and shade!

Papa swooped in and saved the day by buying Brayden a popsicle from the store.  After the popsicle and cold waters all around everybody was feeling much better and was ready to go play!


Luckily, a bunch of the fun farm areas were in the shade!  Brayden loved playing on all the big wooden trucks.

Taylor even took a turn driving the truck!


Taylor really wanted to play on the big kid playground, but she isn't quite ready for it!  She settled for sitting with Grandma and Papa.  Grandma found a cute hungry goat for Taylor to feed while Brayden played on the slides.


The farm has a whole bunch of animals to visit.  We saw ducks, chickens, peacocks, rabbits, donkeys, horses, pigs, and goats.


Brayden especially liked feeding the goats and the horse!



The highlight of the farm is always the giant corn bin!  Brayden's mission was to use the dump trucks to make a giant corn mountain!


My mom, being a very daring person, even let Taylor play in the corn!  Taylor loved it!!!  The only problem was that she wanted to eat the corn!  Taylor is extremely determined.  Once she gets it in her head to do something, she won't take no for an answer.  If you do say no, she gets upset and tried even harder to do it!  My mom tried to pick her back up, but Taylor was not having it.  So they spent the majority of the time with Taylor picking up the corn and my mom taking it out of her little closed fist.  It was very funny to watch!

Father's Day 2012

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For Father's Day, the kids and I took Jon to see the Nationals play the Yankees!  Although we were in Nationals gear, Jon was quietly rooting for the Yankees.  We had wonderful seats right near home plate.


Even better, our seats were in a special box that gave us access to an air conditioned viewing box.  Taylor loved all the excitement!  She didn't actually watch any of the game, but she loved people watching.  Everyone of course thought that she was adorable in her baseball jersey.  She wore Brayden's hat for part of the game, which added to her cuteness level.


Brayden was excited to be at the game.  He actually watched a bunch of the game and asked questions about what was happening.


It was incredibly hot out, but we all still had a great time.  We took the kids up to the inside box for 2 innings to cool down, but then we headed back down to our seats.


Brayden was a huge fan of the all inclusive food that came with our seats.  He had cracker jacks, a hot dog, a fruit cup, cotton candy, and a bunch of other little candy treats.


Both kids did super with the heat and the crowds.  Taylor stayed awake right up to the 8th inning when she finally fell asleep on me.  The game was great and Jon had fun seeing his Yankees win!


On the way home, we stopped at the Cheesecake factory for dinner and to keep up Jon's tradition of eating a piece of cheesecake on special occasions.