My Pumpkin is 2

My baby is two! Can you believe it? Time has just flown by and he has quickly turned into a little boy. Where did my baby go is all I keep asking myself. He has truly filled up my heart so completely in these last two years.  He is pretty much the sweetest little guy and here's what I love most about him right now-

-He loves to cuddle. He'll grab his bottle, a blanket, and snuggle right next to you.
-Speaking of bottle, it goes everywhere with him. We got him off formula by just putting water in it so that's all it is, but I'm sure it's going to be a battle when we go down the road of taking it away completely. Baby steps for now!
-When it's time to say prayers, he folds his arms and gets really quiet all by himself. And he'll say his own prayers too...in his little baby language. Or he'll repeat what we tell him to say.
-He can work an iPhone or iPad better then me
-He LOVES balls. That is all he needs to be happy and he can kick or throw a ball around by himself forever and be completely content
-He loves reading books and if you say "book" he will run away and bring back a stack of them for you to read to him
-He can also go get the diapers on his own and bring them to me which is always a happy day when they figure that out :)
-He LOVES his older brothers. He is their shadow and tries to do everything they do. The good and the bad.
-He always says thank you and you're welcome for everything. He is probably the most polite person in our house right now
-He sits perfectly still when I cut his nails and toenails...first child of mine to do that at the age of 2
-He is full of energy, rarely sits still. He's always busy doing something
-He fights the most with Ty.
-If you laugh at something he does he will do it over and over again to keep getting that response.
-He loves riding on Ty's scooter
-This is his first year of loving the snow. Last year he wouldn't touch it. This year we can't get him to come inside
-My favorite thing to do is tell him a bunch of compliments on something he has done and watch his reaction on his face. He makes this face where his eyes light up and you can tell he wants to smile, but he's trying so hard to hold it back and not let is show because he gets shy. Oh my gosh, it's adorable.
-He loves brushing his teeth and taking baths
-He loves anything outdoors. He could spend all day out there if I let him.
-He loves animals so much. Sometimes I will type 'baby animals' into the google search and we will just sit and look at all the pictures.  Ryan will get so excited and say, "Babies!!!" and "Awwwww" at each one. So funny
-When he wakes up from a nap, he has to get out every single thing that was in his crib while he was sleeping and take it with him. So bottle, blankets, books, stuffed animals...whatever is in there he has to make sure it all comes out with him!
-He LOVES my parents dog Eddie. We talk about him often.
-He will come up to me a million times a day and say, "I hungee mom." The boy loves food
-If I'm ever picking up he will always come help me. For example, if I'm doing laundry he will stand there with his arms out until I hand him some wet clothes he can put in the dryer for me.
-He is stubborn and has perfected an ear piercing scream when things don't go his way. It's painful.
-I think he looks so much like Guy. And he has a special bond with him. He loves his daddy so much and whenever he hears the front door, he runs as fast as he can to see if it's him.
-He loves to color and fills his page with tiny circles. That's his favorite thing to draw, besides on my couch which I would say is his 2nd favorite.
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Ryan's Birthday

 Opening presents with some help from his brothers

Getting ready to blow out the candles. Ryan was so cute and excited. He didn't quite understand the blowing them out part at first, but he loved the Happy Birthday song. He sang along with us with a big smile on his face the whole time. Love that kiddo!

Happy Birthday sweet Ryan. You make us so happy!!!

Ryan's Birthday Cake

I made Ryan an animal cake for his birthday. I had a little too much fun making it and it turned out really cute. 

 Ryan loved it! He sat next to it on the counter for a long time just staring at it... and trying to sneak licks of the frosting.  I laughed when I uploaded the pictures I took because in each one he was making a different face. Such a character! So I thought I'd post a few of them....

Sure love this buddy!

Growth Chart

 Ever since Brayden was little I always wanted a growth chart for him. I remember when I was younger seeing the wall at my Aunt's house, where they marked every year how tall they all were. I loved the idea!  Since that is definitely not an option for us since who knows when we'll settle down, I wanted one we could just take with us. And it was my plan all along to just make one, because really it wouldn't be too hard, but I just never got around to it. So when I saw one a few months ago that was on sale and wasn't all cutesy, I decided to break down and just buy it.  And I'm so glad I did!

 I have all my kids heights from their doctor checkups each year so we marked those on there and then they both got measured on their birthdays to see how tall they are this year.  It was fun to watch how excited they were to see how much they had grown. I can totally remember that as a kid.  You felt so cool when someone said you looked bigger! Brayden is funny because he thought you automatically just grew on your birthday so he was a little disappointed when he turned 5 and he wasn't any taller then the day before. I also remember thinking that! Anyways, I am excited we can add this to our birthday traditions now. I love starting new ones and how excited the kids get remembering them every year....it's definitely the fun part of being a mom! :)

Brayden's 5th Birthday!

Brayden had a great 5th Birthday! It was on a Friday so Guy was able to take a half day off so we could play all afternoon. Brayden was so excited to finally be 5 and we were excited to party all weekend.  We actually did cake and presents the night before on Thursday night so we could head to Disney on his actual birthday. Brayden could not wait to open his presents, which we actually had been saving in the closet since black friday of last year when we went crazy with all the sales :) It was nice to have everything already and just wrap it up, especially since toys are not on sale in May! This is also Christmas cars wrapping paper we bought after Christmas...again, the kids could care less that it says "Happy Holidays on it." They just liked that it was cars!

 Opening presents with the help of Tyler

 Brayden wanted a castle cake so we came up with this idea. It looks harder then it was to make.  We just decorated it with lots of candy and ice cream cones.  Brayden and I had a lot of fun making it together and it was all worth it for how excited the boys were about it!

 Tyler would just sit and stare at it! He loved it!

Brayden was a pro at blowing out 5 candles this year! 

On Friday we headed down to Disney for some birthday fun. Tyler fell asleep on the way to Orlando like this and I thought it was cute. That boy and his blanket!

 For my birthday, my parents gave me a character dinner at Disney and I saved it to use on Brayden's birthday. We were really excited about it. The place we chose to eat was in Epcot called the Garden Grille. It was a rotating restaurant so the views were always changing and for half of it we got to watch part of a ride, which was fun.

 Brayden was so excited about it and all the characters made such a big deal about his birthday.  It was pretty cute.  Our dinner had Mickey, Pluto, and Chip and Dale.

 We were most excited to see Farmer Mickey :)

 Except Tyler was kind of freaked out. Mickey did get him to give him a high 5 and a quick little smile, after sitting at our table and playing games with him for awhile. But Tyler mostly wanted to be as far away from the characters as possible. He likes them from a distance!

 All our yummy food!

 Pluto was so funny and spent a lot of time hanging out with Brayden.

 Mickey brought Brayden a little birthday cake to blow out and we all sang him "Happy Birthday." He LOVED it!

Thanks mom and dad for such a fun present. Brayden keeps telling us that this was the best part of his birthday :)

How did this happen???

Truly I have no idea how my little baby Brayden turned 5 years old! It is a mystery to both Guy and I.  He is getting big way too fast. In fact, just a few weeks ago we took him into to the elementary school a few blocks away and registered him for Kindergarten. Kindergarten!!! He is SO ready, but I'm not sure I am quite ready yet. I know that's how all mom's feel about their kids, but it really is true. He's going to grow up whether I like it or not so I'm just trying to enjoy the ride and cherish all the little moments.

 Some pictures of when he was a little guy....

There are sooo many things we love about Brayden. He makes our home a happier place and I am grateful every day to be his mommy!  These are a few things about Brayden right now at the big kid age of 5:

-He's such a good big brother to Tyler. Yes, they have their moments, but he really looks out for him like a brother should and Tyler adores him for that.

-He's at that age where he loves to help. Yard work is fun, cleaning the cars is fun, vacuuming is fun...he just wants to be included and doing whatever mom and dad are doing.  Hope that one sticks around!

-He is obsessed with apps on the ipad. Definitely addicted to angry birds!

-He will always try every kind of food at least once. And he'll always claim he likes it even if he doesn't. But we know if he really does or not by telling him to eat another bite.  He'll never come out and say he doesn't like something but he'll just claim his tummy is full or he'll try more later. It's pretty funny. A good quality to have for a foreign mission someday maybe?? :)

-He is very determined and takes things very seriously, like his 1 mile race he ran recently. He refused to walk!

-He brings so much love into our home.  He tells all of us he loves us constantly throughout the day.  I'll be working in kitchen and I'll randomly hear him yelling "I love you Mom" from his playroom. And it's contagious because Tyler will hear him do it and then he'll do it too. It makes us happy!

-He loves to talk on the phone with grandparents and family and when he does he paces around the room in circles while he's talking. Guy and I just sit there and laugh.....and get dizzy watching him!

-He loves to color and do art projects. When we took the tour of his school he got so excited and jumped up and down when he saw the art room.  He will love it!

-We love watching all of his shows, magic tricks, and creations he comes up with. He's got a great imagination

Such a big 5 year old now!

I could go on forever, but we are so lucky to have you in our family Brayden. Thanks for being such a great kiddo and for making life so fun. WE LOVE YOU!