Loving new toys

Braden's 8th birthday!

It is so hard to believe that my baby is 8 years old!!!  I mean really how did this happen?  And of course he looks 12!  Braden had a great birthday on Sunday.  He had his favorite cinnamon rolls with a candle before church and then the family came over for a taco bar lunch (his request) after church.  He made out like a bandit coming right off Christmas I tell ya....this kid got all of his favorites!

He kept asking for this big dog at Walgreens!  Chris and I were sort of teasing him saying, "you want fluffy stuffy?!" and he was adamant that yes he did.  We sent Gma Cindy the message and she was on it!  He had to have "Rascal" as he named it in each picture. :)  Love that my big boy looks at least 10 but is still a little boy at heart!

I am so proud of you Braden!  You are growing up to be a smart and kind little boy.  You know what you like and when you get into an interest, you are ALL in!  Right now it's basketball and you are obsessed with all things NBA, specifically the players and their statistics.  You made graphs and charts this summer and went on to make excel spreadsheets on the computer with all of your player statistics.  You tore up your UofL program from a recent basketball game to put it back in order in the order you wanted....whether you want things alphabetically or just in order based on skills you are one organized boy with your stats!  You are so smart and clever in the most interesting ways.  You invented a game where we can hand you any state on your wooden USA puzzle and with your eyes closed you can feel the corners and the edges and name the states!!! Most adults can't do that!  And you created this game in one of your many timeouts in your room for being mean to your brother. ha!!

 

You are emotional and sensitive at times over little things but are starting to really grow up and can be reasoned with. At other times, your sweet heart just melts me.   You work hard to make good choices at school and are trying your best at home.  We love you to pieces and I know God gave us the most perfect children with you and Ethan.  I can't wait to see what you grow up to be....just don't grow up too quickly!!

Happy birthday big boy!!! We love you bunches!!

Braden's bday with his buddies

We like to celebrate birthdays for a week around here so we started off the bday celebrations with Braden's favorite place to eat...Tomo.

Then Friday we had his friend's party. He picked lazer blaze (same as last year) and we picked up 4 of his friends and headed over for some fun!

Back at the house we had pizza, cupcakes and playtime. I feel like it won't be long till I'm looking at this table and see a bunch of hungry teenagers!!!!

New Year's Eve

We were pretty low key this year. We met the Vaughn's for dinner and then went back to their house to watch the ball drop...us old folk barely made it until midnight! Ha!!