First half of April...

Here is a quick update on the beginning of April...

Brayden had his 6 month check up and is doing soo well!  He is just over 17 pounds!  He is still in the 50% for weight, but jumped to 95% for height!  He is a growing boy!  He is eating solids every day now.  So far just pears, bananas and apples.  He is not a huge fan of cereal so I have been mixing it into his fruit and that seems to be working.  He is scooting all over the place now!  He LOVES watching Brandy too!

We had a good time celebrating Easter (and some birthdays) with the Bodine's at Uncle Steve and Aunt Terri's!  Papa and Grandma (Putnam) joined us too!

It was soo rainy on Easter that we had to have an indoor easter egg hunt.  So all the "kids" hid downstairs while the eggs were hidden...  (Yes, that is Brett, Julie and Jacob in the back waiting to go egg hunting)

Brayden with his Grandpa (Bebo), Great Grandpa and Daddy...  =)

Hanging out with two uncles and an auntie!

Grandpa Donn with his great grandson

Bray liked the eggs!

As always, finding the lotto tickets in the easter egg hunt is very exciting!

Brandy got to come with and play with Steve and Terri's golden, Rosie.  Although she was more interested in getting attention from all the people there...

Greg rode with us, typical college kid slept most of the way.  Both him and Brayden took turns napping in the car...

We love our neighborhood!  We can walk to Chambers Elementary and throw the ball around for Brandy or go down to the golf course and walk the loop.  Here are some shots of an evening walk with the family...  =)

Below, you can see Brandy in a HUGE mud puddle.  She seems to be attracted to the dirtiest places!

Our little boy, all bundled...  Wearing an APU sweatshirt that my college roommate sent to him when he was born!  Thanks Lizzy!

Brett's idea of multi-tasking below.  =)

Happy Birthday Greg!

Happy 21st Birthday Greg!

Our little brother turned 21 today!  Originally I had planned on putting pictures up from his birthday dinner at dad and mom's last week.  However, they were all on mom's camera, which was loaned to Julie who is honeymooning in Bora Bora...  They were really funny pictures too, Bray had his first taste of cupcakes!  Brett put him on the table and he scooted towards the cupcakes and we let him go at them!  He wasn't interested in eating them, mostly just wanted to make a mess with the frosting...  =)

Grammy watched Bray for us tonight and shot this video for Greg...  This will have to do for now!  =)

Happy Birthday Greg!  We love you and we are so proud to have you as a little bro!

A little update...

It has been a couple weeks since our last update...  

As most of you know we were soo excited to watch our little sister marry Jacob!  It was a picture perfect wedding!  Jacob and Julie are such a beautiful couple and have such a great foundation to their marriage.  We really couldn't have wished for anything better for her!  

I have so many updates, so many beautiful pictures from a family shower at my house, Easter with the Bodine's, celebrating Greg's 21st birthday, six month check up for Bray, the wedding rehearsal and of course the beautiful wedding!

However, it is such a gorgeous day and Bray and I are ready to go outside and play so here are some pictures from yesterday.  I will update some more pictures later...

We have been so busy with wedding activities that it was nice to spend Sunday afternoon and evening at home working outside together.  After going to six wedding showers and a few baby showers too, it has been a long time since Brett and I have spent a Sunday at home together...  We started the day with church, then lunch at mom and dad's so we could see Greg one more time before he left for Biola and then went to work on our yard!

Brett and Brandy

Below is a picture of Bray in his "pack and play".  He has so much fun with watching everything going on outside!

Working on our pots and keeping an eye on the little one...  =)

How can you not take a break for some snuggling!

I love our dog Brandy, but really?!  Why is she attracted to lay right in the dirtiest patch of the yard...  Believe me, she smelled like dirt after that too!!!  

One of our best friends, Jen, stopped by to keep me company while I was weeding!  It was so fun to chat with her!  Brandy thought that Jen came to see her, so we let her think that...

Ending the afternoon with nap time...

Not quite crawling, we'll call it scooting!

Yesterday morning as we were getting ready, Brayden woke up.  We did our normal routine, change the diaper, feed him and then we put him back in his crib with "baby TV" so we could finish getting ready.  Well normally we can just set "baby TV" in one corner and Bray in the other, but I don't think we will be doing that anymore!  We came back in and he was on the other side of his crib turning his toy it off and on!  We put him back at one side and put his toy on the other side and off he went!  Scooting!

Smart Daddy!

I feel so lucky to have such a handy hubby!  This weekend the project is a sprinkler system.  With just a weekend and a trip to home depot Brett has a sprinkler system in place!  He is so smart when it comes to these types of things.  No experience, just a little online research and off he goes!

This means we are one notch closer to being done with all of our house projects.  Most of you know, we remodeled a house for two years, sold it, built another house and were planning on taking a break from being busy house remodeler/builders.  Unexpectedly, last June we had to move and have been in our house since last October.  The inside is completely remodeled and we have just a few things to do outside and then we can relax and enjoy the summer!!!  Our goal is to have everything done by summer so we can start just living in our house and enjoy the warmer weather together with our family of three!  =)

Below is Brett explaining to Bray what each piece does...

In this picture Brett is telling Bray that the piece can't go in his mouth.  As most of you know, in a 5 month old's world, everything goes in the mouth!

Brayden's New Chair!

While we were down in California and out to breakfast with Greg the waitress came up and asked, "Would you like a highchair for him?"  My first reaction was, "Oh no, he is too little...", but we decided to give it a try!  He did just fine!  

So yesterday I set up his new highchair!  I have just had it in the kitchen and he loves being a part of everything that is going on in the kitchen while playing with his toys.  He is soo wiggly now that I am really hesitant with using the bumbo seat anywhere but on the floor.

As you can see playing in the new chair is soo exciting that it can wear you out...  =)

Brayden's 1st Trip to California!

We had such a fun time traveling to Palm Springs, California!  It was literally Brayden and over a dozen girls!  We went down for Julie's bachelorette party.  Kristina, Jen, Mom, Brayden and I stayed in a hotel while the rest of the girls crashed at our grandparents house.

Here are some pictures of Bray on the plane!  He is such a good little traveler...  So entertained lately by his toes as you can see it the picture below...

Auntie Kik and Auntie Chloe were right behind us!

We all had our magazines and he had his book!

The weather was just amazing there!  It was in the 80's the whole time and hardly a cloud in the sky.  Bray had some good pool time and a mini photo shoot with Auntie Kik and her amazing camera!

Here are some good morning pictures!  Kristina and Jen got to know what it is like to share a room with a baby!  He woke up earlier than normal at 8am!  You would think that would be sleeping in, but he was the first one up and would "talk" to his sheets until we all woke up.  =) 

Here is a group picture with all the girls, minus Grammy...  He had so much fun with all these girls!

There she is!  While we had a personal shower and a night out on the town Grammy hung out with Brayden.  She was so much help on this trip!

Bray is loving all this attention!

Enjoying the beautiful sunshine!

Another sweet picture of our happy boy!

One of the highlights of the trip was driving to La Mirada to see Greg at Biola University!  Brayden LOVES his Uncle Greggy!  Greg has really big features so Brayden has always gotten such a kick out of watching him make faces.  Greg was so excited to see him that we had hardly gotten out of the car before they were reunited!

We went out to breakfast and Brayden sat in a high chair for the first time!