Lauren: "Happy Birthday to Kylen" Braxton: "No, Braxton!"

Braxton is sure a crack up these days, he was so excited to go to Kylen's house today for his party, but he wanted it to be " Braxton's" party...not Kylen's. Bubba didn't care a whole lot about his second b-day party, but now he want's every party AND present to be his. What a rough life our little guy has:) Either way, we headed to Kylen's house today for a 'Climb the Rock Wall" birthday bash. The party was from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Normally I wouldn't blog the time of our adventures, but this is the EXACT time of our daily nap. So needless to say, Bubs is running on empty:) Mitrianne had a great sport themed party and Braxton had a ton of fun while wearing Bj and me out...I think we needed the naps! Here is a quick snap shot of their dog Tequila. She at one time belonged to Bj, but he had too many dogs and gave her to Dan and Mitrianne's family for Christmas! She is a very small toy pom, very well taken care of, sensitive, and spoiled!

This is the rock wall that has been driving around Billings lately making lots of money for doing kid parties...well let me correct myself...the operator said the weight limit is 360 so adults can rent it too! I told Bj he has to wait till his next birthday:) The kids spent the afternoon climbing up and repelling down...even the little ones caught on!

Thumbs up! (That's what he is trying to do)

Braxton enjoyed climbing the wall too...but it takes a lot of energy for the young ones!

Braxton giving Kylen his gift so we could leave and get some sleep:) We had some fun with glitter, glue, decorative scissors, tape, and markers on the wrapping paper. We even had all three of our dogs put their name's (paw prints) on the card.

What a great party! Now I need some sleep after posting all these new blogs! I have been holding off since we had so many fun things going on this past week. Take care!

Family Pictures

Sunday morning we all ventured off for family pictures with Bj's parents, his brother, and his sister's family. It was a great time and the weather was cool crisp fall weather that felt great! I brought my camera along to snap some pictures during our walk across the park. We won't get our family pictures back for a little while so here are some I took of just our family.

I love love love love this picture...I had to snap it in bad sun but Braxton's face is still worth a million bucks! Bj was running all over this hill and Braxton looked like a bull rider flying around on his shoulders. I was convinced at the time that Bj was going to slip on the wet grass in his dress shoes, but I seemed to be the only one all morning who came across a pothole:)

Here is Bubba going down the slide face first...what a great time for me to be standing there!

This was the end of our picture day. It was a great thing to do before saying goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks for coming to see us! We miss you already! ( I especially miss the laundry being folded by Grandma and all the help with Braxton during my healing of this torn chest muscle I have!)

Babysitting

On Saturday night, Bj's sister and her husband as well as Bj's parents went out of town for a friend's wedding. We took on his sister's boys and their new puppy. This means Bj and I had three boys under the age of 4, two adult dogs, and two puppies who were all ready to party! We didn't think this would be that difficult, except it was! The boys were crazy and a lot of work, but after dinner and playing, we put all three in the tub and got ready for a movie. We made popcorn and juice cups and made the treck down to the basement to watch 'The Incredibles.' They actually all went to bed quite well, two during the movie and one after:) This is Braxton and their youngest son david. He will be two after Christmas.Here are the bean bag boys! They sat here and literally ate a whole entire bowl of popcorn. I was amazed...so cute:)

I had to try very hard to get this picture of Bj...he doesn't like all my picture taking I have been doing lately...

Here is little David running through the sand at Pioneer park. We had family photos Sunday morning and the adventure ended at the playground for the boys to unwind.

Here is silly Simon...he goes by Slymot. Last year when we went to visit them in Hamilton, Bj asked Simon to spell his name with the alphabet letters on the fridge...it came out 'Slymota', we shortened it to Slymot!

We can all be happy that Bj's sister is planning on having another baby or babies, because as you can tell we are all surrounded by boys!! This involves dirt, sand, rocks, dinosaurs, trucks, balls, guns, and swords. We are ready for the color pink and bows!

Play Date

While Grandma and Grandpa were here, we had our friends Patrick and Matthew over to play. They are our friend's Audrey and Roger's little boys. Bob and Carol, Bj's parents, stayed a little longer before they ran errands to see the boys. Bj, Audrey, and Roger all went to school together so it's fun for Bj's parents to see their children. This is their youngest son Matthew, he is 9 months old. He has the best chubby pinch me cheeks! This is Braxton and their oldest son Patrick. He is about 41/2 months younger than Braxton. They have been great buddies since Patrick was born and they been through quite a few learning experiences together, such as beating eachother with child size golf clubs on the landing of a stair case, Braxton biting Patrick's nose and drawing blood, watching each other get time outs, etc. But they do play well together, honestly!

This is Braxton searching through the rolls for Matthew's belly button...jk!

I have a feeling these play dates will get better and better, as far as the boys being able to play without constant supervision!!

The Persistant 2 year old

This past week Bj's parents visited from Colombia Falls, they spent Tuesday through Sunday with us. Braxton loves his Grandma and Grandpa and needless to say he can convince them of almost anything. Braxton has been going through quite a few phases lately...things are now 'mine', he shouts to TRY and get what he wants, he has an opinion which is too often 'NO', and he repeats things he wants us to do over and over and over and over and over. So Grandpa got caught in one of these situations. 'Sit Grandpa, sit down, sit grandpa, sit, sit, sit, sit!! Grandpa tried to tell Braxton that he couldn't fit, but eventually he sat down. I was literally dying laughing and soon so was Bob(Bj's Dad.) At first, the jeep wouldn't drive, Bob thought he was too heavy. So Braxton tried to get the gears going, he was struggling a bit, but they soon went flying down the driveway! Here is the chain of events.

Oh Grandpa, never a dull moment:)

Couch Potatos

I love when my little crew settles down like this in the morning. They might be 4 small beings but let me tell you, I only rest my feet when my day is done! The first problem with this picture is the one big missing crew member. Apparently when Dad gets home from work and I go off to work, they like to do this as well. That would be problem #2. Lately we have been working on picking up our toys before bed and when we go back to mom's, and as you will tell by the pics below, it must have completely slipped their minds! :) Must be nice crew, must be nice. And I thought babies made messes, HA. I think Thumper actually enjoyed my half hour cleaning session, she thought it was chew toy land and could pick anyone she wanted! It's hard to make out this pic, but she's right in the middle of the mess. It's always fun chasing a puppy with a train in her mouth out of the room every 15 seconds!

I think it's time for me to cut back on working 5-6 nights a week to 2 again. :)

A little sunscreen and off we go!

I must say that I didn't think the annual summer fair would become a part of my life again for quite some time. I started feeling to old for it a few years ago when just WATCHING the rides go around and around started making me sick! But now that Braxton is 2, he is all about doing fun activities, so this past Sunday we headed down to the fair. It ended up being a great day, only 80 degrees, and the kiddie ride area was partially shaded. Of course after leaving the house with the many things it takes to even leave the house, I forgot the camera bag. So my lovely phone had to do the trick! Here are a few Fun House pictures, I went with them the first time and then stayed with the stroller on the next trips.

This ride was cracking me up! They won't let Braxton on a lot of rides until he is 36'' tall, but they will let Bj on all the kiddie rides...a 6'4''-5'' man! He could barely fit his knees in the car, or should I say caterpillar:)

Here are my Marines, another ride all the Fair daddy's were shoved into! Braxton was really excited to fly in this one! He had all the gadgets moving like a mad man.

And last but not least, it was time for a few games. The guys working these stations were so nice, they kept giving Braxton stuffed animals even though he couldn't quite understand or win the game!

Overall, it was nice outing for the day... and I was able to eat an elephant ear without caring! We did end up going right in the middle of our daily nap time, but occasional exceptions are becoming easier...even though that afternoon 3-4 hour nap can be very crucial somedays! I have a feeling this is another start to my yearly fair adventures. It's so fun to watch Braxton scream at the sight of a Ferris Wheel...makes me remember when I couldn't wait to go to the fair...or get my parents to give me enough money! Hope everyone is having a great summer too!