Turkey Trot

This year we spent our first Thanksgiving in Texas...we've always gone to either Oregon or Ohio and had it with our families ever since we've been married. But this year it didn't work out so we decided that we needed to do something festive since it was just going to be the 4 us. So we signed up for the turkey trot in Dallas. Originally we had planned on running the 8 mile course but after getting there and seeing how crowded it was we stuck with the 5k. We didn't realize that Dallas was the biggest turkey trot in the country with over 37,000 people running it. Ya, it was crazy!!! But it was really really fun and a great way to start out the holiday!!!
Here's Tyler all bundled up in the stroller! It was a nice sunny morning with not a cloud in the sky but at 9 am it was kinda chilly(for us Texans)!!! Ty ended up sleeping for most of the run which was awesome! This was Brayden's view from the stroller before the race started!! It was pretty funny! People could bring their dogs so there were seriously dogs everywhere!!!

Here is the starting line for the race. We had to line up in the back since we were pushing a stroller so we were stuck forever in the chaos of strollers and leashes!!! Since there were so many people we pretty much just ended up walking the 5K but it was still fun and Brayden was absolutely loving it. He told us on the drive down there that he had been waiting for this day all year!

Guy, BB, and Ty
We went by thanksgiving tower which was fitting for the day! There was also live music all along the way which was fun!!

Brayden was such a fast runner!

Almost to the finish line

We did it!!!! When Brayden saw the finish line he got so excited and ran as fast as he could to it. He has been telling everyone that he won the whole race! :)

After the race, we went home and stuffed our faces all day!! We managed to make a turkey all by ourselves for the first time and it was actually really good! Even though the whole turkey cleaning process pretty much scarred me for life! SO Gross!! I was glad Guy was here to take care of that! Hope that everyone else had a great Thanksgiving!!!

How we met Elfie

There was a knock at our door last Saturday night
And Brayden answered it and he found a present sitting there
He was super excited so he brought it inside
"Brayden, this is all the way from the North Pole!!!"
From Santa!!!
Brayden opened up a letter from Santa
and Mommy read it to him

And then it was time to see what was inside

Tyler got excited about the wrapping paper but Brayden did most of the work

It was a little elf that Santa sent us

We had to think of a name for him and Brayden chose Elfie

Then we read the book that came with him that told us all about this special elf

The elf spends all his days with us watching to see what we are doing and then every night he uses his magic and goes back to the North Pole to report back to Santa if we've been naughty or nice. Then in the morning we wake up and have to search for the elf because he will be in a new spot for the next day.

We've been doing this for a few days now and it has been SO fun. The first thing Brayden does in the morning is search for Elfie and see where he is hiding this time. And Guy and I are having fun "helping" Elfie find new places to hide and leaving little notes and things with him for the kids.

Plus, its been a geat bargaining tool...all I have to say is "Brayden, Elfie is watching and he's gonna tell Santa about that" and it works every time. In fact, yesterday I overheard Brayden telling Tyler that he better stop messing up his toys because Elfie could see him and would tell Santa and Santa wouldn't be very happy. So funny!!

Anyways, its cute and its a fun new tradition to do every Christmas so I just thought I would share!!

See Santa...check

Well, we weren't planning on seeing Santa on Saturday but it just kind of happened and it was nice to not have to wait in huge long lines like we've done in years past. We were out doing some christmas shopping and stopped at bass pro shops outdoor world cause we had never been inside and just wanted to check it out. We were glad we did because Santa was there and you could get a free picture with him! I was glad too cause both the boys were in their buckeye jerseys from the Ohio State-Michigan game earlier so I thought that would be cute! Anyways, we had to kill some time before we saw Santa but luckily there was lots to do in the store and Brayden was pretty much in heaven. They had a reindeer carousel set up to ride for free and christmas crafts you could do. Plus with all the boats that he "drove," the millions of tents he played in, and all the dead stuffed animals, he basically had a blast! We had our camera with us so we took lots of pictures in the store which is kinda corny but it was fun so who cares :) Santas reindeer The boy still loves the trains!This is as close as Brayden would get to this shark. We told him to put his head inside but he wouldn't even take a step closer then this!
So I came and stood by him

Driving one of the many boats they had on display
Riding the reindeer carousel with mommy...he kept turning around and asking me if I was having fun yet! haha, yes the carousel was a thrilling ride!
Brayden climbed on this and told us maybe he could get it for Christmas! haha, in your dreams bud!
Standing by a big stuffed bear

And this bear was seriously HUGE!

Brayden with the picture he colored there that he wanted to give Santa

Brayden loved Santa and of course Tyler cried. He took one look at Santa and that was it! He must get that from me because I was always scared of sitting on Santas lap

Brayden and Santa without his crying brother!!

He was such a cute Santa and I'm glad we got to see him. I am getting SO excited for Christmas already!

December is always the best month!!! :)

funny boy

I had to laugh when I walked out of my room and saw Brayden kneeling really still like this. I knew he was either saying a really long prayer...

...or he was asleep!! :)

He seriously falls asleep in the most random ways!

It's so funny And here is another thing that he has been doing the past few weeks thats been making me laugh. He has figured out, on his own, how to switch the language on all of his movies. So lately I will walk in on him watching Cars or Bob the Builder in Spanish or French.

And the crazy part is he will literally sit through a whole movie not understanding a word of what they are saying. I ask him what they are saying and he tells me, "I can't tell you right now, I'm in the middle of learning it!"

The funny part is he probably will learn Spanish or French this way so I shouldn't laugh about it!

9 months old

I can't believe I just wrote that Tyler is 9 months old. Seriously? Can he be growing any faster?! Now I pretty much say that every baby stage is my favorite when my kid hits that stage but really 9 months is just fun. Tyler's little personality is so funny and its so cute to watch him be so curious about everything and to do things for the first time! Here's a few things about him these days...

~5 teeth now. 2 on top and 3 on the bottom (with another one on its way in)

~Loves to eat but prefers finger foods now instead of all the mashed up baby food. He still loves rice cereal and oatmeal though

~Favorite toy-I'd have to say whatever Brayden is playing with. Ty always wants to be part of the action

~Weighs around 21 pounds (I think) and is in 12-18 month clothes

~He is a maniac crawler and is pretty speedy! BB and I call him our puppy cause he will just follow us around at our feet from room to room

~One of his favorite places to hang out is under our kitchen table cause he can always find crumbs under there! lol...yep just like a puppy

~He has started dancing to music by flapping his little arms up and down over and over. adorable.

~When daddy gets home and he hears his voice he gets SO excited and crawls to his feet to be picked up. Both the boys know when dad is home its time to play!~

~He is my cuddly baby and loves to be held and snuggled...I never ever want him to grow out of this one!!

~He is pulling himself up everywhere now although he hasn't realized he can move his feet yet
~He has officially graduated from his infant carrier (because he weighs too much) to a big boy car seat! He LOVES it. He can see everything now and since he still has to face backwards and Brayden is facing forwards, he just watches BB and that keeps him pretty happy.

~he can say "mama" and "dada" and "boo" for peek-a-boo

~He has started making this face all the time! He's breathing really hard out of his nose when he does this and it scrunches his face up like this. I don't know why he does this, but it's hilarious

And here both the boys are making that face. If Ty hears anyone else breathing really hard through their noses like that then he will do it too...he's a little copycat now and trys to mimic everything.

~BB is still his best pal and his favorite. As soon as they wake up in the morning or from naps they look for eachother and they both get so excited when they are reunited. And no one can make Ty laugh as hard as Brayden can!

This was a cute day...BB was watching mickey on the computer and I set Ty up there with him and they watched the whole episode and snuggled! I even caught Brayden rubbing Ty's head...so cute!

Here's a few videos from last night. Ty has just started doing that screechy laugh for some reason!! :) And just ignore my loud voice and focus on him! lol

Peek-a-boo with Brayden

And here's one from today...this laundry basket kept them entertained forever! Why do I buy my kids toys again??

Ty Attack

This is Tyler's favorite new game...attack Brayden! It's pretty funny to watch and for some reason Brayden loves it too. He just lays there and lets Ty maul him and they both just laugh and laugh. I'm sure one of these days Brayden will fight back and someone will get hurt and the laughing will turn into crying but for now its still all fun and games!

Gotta love boys