Happy Birthday, Uncle Justin!

We want to wish Uncle Justin a very Happy Birthday today! Mrs. Teri had a wonderful party for him over the weekend that we attended. It was a good crowd...Justin and Teri, Heather and Dirk, Ken and Melissa, Sam and Steve, Joe Guy and us! Their house was so lovely and the food was out of this world. I think Mrs. Teri cooked all day long! We had so much fun and are glad that we could be a part of Justin's birthday dinner! The kiddos enjoyed it, too...well, Hudson did until he passed out early. Poor thing had a diaper rash from hell, I can't believe he was as well behaved as he was. Here are a few pictures from the night. Brayden took some towards the end of the night, so those are posted, too! I'm sure you'll be able to figure out which ones are from him. He's been in picture taking mode lately.

Have a wonderful day today, Justin! Happy Birthday!

Brayden's 4 year check-up!

We had a wonderful weekend! Friday, Russell took off and went with us to Brayden's 4 year check-up. Bray did SO good! He had to get a finger prick (iron was excellent), a tuberculosis test, which is where they put a needle right under the skin for a few seconds (that was normal), and then a booster shot. He did okay with all of them. Cried a little before and after the shot, but all in all, I can't complain. It was definitely nice having Russell there since it was a long appt. Brayden took the hearing test and the eye test and passed all with flying colors! His doctor is by far an expert in the field. It's just one of those where it's written all over his face! We only see him once a year for check-ups since Brayden hardly gets sick, but each year, I feel like a million bucks walking outta there. It's in Alpharetta, so it's a hike for us, but it's well worth the drive once or twice a year.

Brayden is 32 lbs (10-25%) and 39 inches (25%), so he's a little under average right now. We didn't ask anything about it because that is how Russell was when he was little. He hit his growth spurt at 15 years old and was still growing after he graduated! It's like the doctor was reading our mind...the first thing he said was, looks like he is going to be like daddy. He said the son usually follows the father, but a lot of times the growth spurt is late. Plus, my whole family is short, so he might be following in Grandpa Stan's footsteps. We'll see!

We opted out of the swine flu shot and the doctor once again made me feel like I was making the right decision. Either way, my decision has been made for a few months now, but he made a good point and said that unless your child is sickly or has a chronic illness (i.e. cancers, heart problems, etc) then he doesn't see a need for the child to have the shot.

Friday night, we had a family night...well, sort of. I guess you can say we had a mommy daddy night. After Hudson went down, we put the 'Up' movie on for Brayden, and Russell and I had a nice filet mignon dinner by ourselves. We've been doing this every few weeks. It's easy because we don't have to get a sitter and plan anything. Luckily, Brayden is one of those kids that will stay and watch a movie in the other room if it gets his attention, so it's almost like he's not there. The filets were out of this world and it was nice to conversate with the hubby without the kiddos chiming in. Gotta do it every now and then!

Happy Birthday, Brayden Nash!

Yesterday, my first born turned 4! We've enjoyed the past 4 years and are so thankful for this exciting, genuine, happy, sincere, caring, funny, creative and likable little boy! He's everything I ever wanted in a child and God put him in our lives for a reason! He makes everyone's world a better place, and I'm sure several people would vouch for that! I don't want to come off bragging, but Brayden has such a tender heart and wide open soul...he hardly ever has a bad day. I hear other mom's saying, "Oh, we're just having a bad day.", and I think to myself, I'm so lucky to hardly ever have to say that! Throughout the years, I've had other moms say, "Well, wait till he's two.", or "It's really the terribly three's.", but so far, we haven't had one of those years!

Russell took the day off and we all spent his birthday together. It happened to be Brayden's Thanksgiving program the same day as his birthday, so we all went to see his first performance. Russell, me, Hudson, Meemee, Pop and Bobbie. It was the cutest performance. Brayden did so good. He was right in the center of the pack. He was the loudest, too! Imagine that! They sang 3 cute songs. We got some on video, but the video messed up on the first 2 songs, so we are getting a copy from a classmate.

After the performance, we all went down to the church hall and had a Thanksgiving feast complete with turkey, stuffing, the whole works! The school really outdid themselves. Our feast last year at the other school was in the classroom and consisted of cheese and crackers, so this was a surprise from what we are used to. They even had the table set so cute with place settings for guests.

We wrapped up the evening with a birthday dinner at Shogun. Brayden wanted Hibachi for his birthday dinner, so that's what he got! Mommy was glad...that's her favorite! The Ellis' joined us and we had a really great meal. They sang Happy Birthday to Brayden at the end in Japanese and he got to wear the hat he had talked about all day.

All in all, I'd say he had a pretty good 4th birthday! Here's to another fantastic year for Bray Bray!

Superhero Mania!

Well, we survived the big superhero birthday party for Brayden this past weekend! He'll be four tomorrow and I cannot believe it! We had all of his buddies over on Saturday for a superhero party. We gave him a choice of a music, sports, or superhero theme and once he heard superhero, he was all in!

I planned a few games for the kiddos and a very simple menu this year! It all seemed to turn out awesome! We had 'super' dogs, thanks to my parents hot dog machine. Sounds corny, but the dogs are really good steamed. We also had 'hero' subs; I made my pesto sub sandwich and then some chips, popcorn, etc. We tuned it down this year; believe it or not, 15 kids was tuned down from years past. We usually invite all of our friends and family under the sun, but Brayden is getting older now and I suppose all he really wants to be with are his buddies; especially for a superhero theme. We did have a handful of good friends and family, but otherwise, it was his main buddies. My dad and Franklin came up Friday afternoon and spent the whole weekend with us! That was such a treat. Brayden was thrilled to see his Uncle Franklin. I think that was the best gift of all; besides the Nintendo DS and all the games that Uncle Franklin brought along with him for Brayden. We had a nice, low key dinner on Friday night with them and then got up Saturday morning and set up for the party.

Hudson was at the party, of couse, as The Hulk. Russell made the outfit and we were going to paint his face, but he slept into the beginning of the party so that didn't happen. Needless to say, everyone definitely knew which superhero he was supposed to be! We tried getting a pic with the Hulk hands on him, but they are way too big!

The weather could not have been nicer. The years past, it's been pretty chilly so we have a few games in the garage, but this year, we could venture out into the backyard and that is where everyone pretty much remained for the party. The kids did a superhero obstacle course...run around cones, through tunnels and then punch out the Batman blow up bag at the end, all while wearing big Hulk hands. After each child finished the obstacle course, they were "official" superheros...they got their certificates in their goodie bags!

The next game we played was the chopping block. I got styrofoam trays from the grocery store and each child got to chop the 'wood', a.k.a. styrofoam tray. They got a kick out of this game. Some of the younger ones couldn't believe that they chopped it all by themselves (wink, wink).

The coolest game of all, I thought, was the Mr. Freeze bubble game. Russell made a solution up of soap, water and glycerin in a baby pool. We put a stool in the middle of the pool and a hula hoop in the water around the stool. The child stood on the stool and Russell brought the hula hoop up around the child. It made a bubble up and around each child and for some of the kids the bubble went all the way over their heads! I think they got a kick out of being in a bubble! It was pretty cool!

The cake was phenomenal! I had a new cake lady do the cake this year thanks to a reference from my neighbor and she couldn't have done a better job. She put superheros crawling around around the cake. Brayden absolutely LOVED it!

The kids hit a spiderman pinata for the last game and then played outside with their glow sticks since it had gotten dark. I think it was a pretty cool party and I believe the adults had just as much fun as the kids. Thanks to the Dunn's for letting us borrow corn hole. That kept the 'older' kids busy!

This mommy was exhausted and in bed by 9:30! Well, maybe she had a bit too much wine, but she deserved it for all the hard work, right?! The goodie bags that we put together thanked everyone for helping Brayden save the day equipped with glow sticks, stickers, superhero band-aids, fruit snacks, pencils and their own personalized handmade superhero capes! Even some of the adults...i.e. Teri and Justin wore capes!

I hope everyone enjoyed the party as much as our family did! It was too much fun! Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate with us!

15 months!

Hudson turned 15 months on N0v. 6th! He went for his well check-up today and all is good!

23 lbs, 8 oz. (25-50% for weight so hold off on the chucky comments people)

32 3/4 inches (90-95% for height-looks like he's taking after daddy-o)

48 cm for head circumference (75%-taking after daddy again...hee hee)

He got 3 shots and also the flu shot. No swine flu shot for us! No way!

Dr said he seems to be on track with everything. Learning to use utensils, crayons, imitates, knows several body parts, plays well with others, etc...

His new thing is when we go out to eat, we let him dip his chicken in honey mustard. He absolutely LOVES it! It's too cute seeing him do it, too!

Rollin' in the Hay!

We had a really great time with the Taylor's this weekend. They strolled up on Saturday afternoon, Alicia and I snuck out to the mall (alone, which is rare) while the daddies kept the kiddos entertained. It was such a nice afternoon that Canyon and Brayden entertained themselves outside while the little ones played inside and the daddies watched football. Why does it always seem easier when the daddies have the kids? It never seems to be that easy going when the mommies have them! Anyhow, Alicia and I knocked out a few shops at the mall and then we headed back to the house for dinner. We ate some homemade lasagna and then decided to hit the local corn maze right around the corner. We usually make it an annual thing with the Taylor's to go up to North Georgia and do the whole pumpkin patch event, but this year time has just gotten away from us. I have passed this Buford Corn Maze a few times and it looked neat, so we gave it a try since it was such an awesome night.

Wow, never thought a corn maze could be so much fun! It was our first time and I thought it was going to be an in and out, five minute deal. Nope, I imagine we were in the maze for at least 30 minutes if not longer. We opted out of using the map for the first 15 minutes...really, just didn't think it was going to be that difficult. We definitely under estimated the maze! Luckily, we had brilliant Jeremy Taylor to navigate us out with the help of muah herself (ha ha). The boys had a good time with it and the parents did, too; despite the 'corn monster' Russell decided to make up out of the blue! :)

We also did a hayride. We got lucky and drove in right before about a group of 30 showed up, so we got the hayride all to ourselves. All the kids had a blast...especially Hudson rolling around in the hay like he was an animal of some sort. Either way, he had fun so...what the 'hay'! Yep, had to throw that in there!

After the maze and hayride, we headed to the little campfire and sat around it. Brayden entertained the crowd with some campfire songs. It got a little out of hand...one lady called her daughter on the phone and made Brayden sing two songs so she could hear. I didn't mind, but have to say it was a tad bit odd. The girls really got a kick out of him singing and his buddy Canyon was sitting right by him rootin' him on. Thanks to us, I think Canyon's new favorite song is Big Green Tractor...he kept wanting Brayden to sing it again and again. I know Jeremy is happy about that one. LOL! Hudson was dancing right along to big bro bro singing, so everyone was well entertained. We will surely do it again next year!

Thanks to the Taylor's for coming up. They won't be able to come to Brayden's party next weekend since they are having Thanksgiving early, so we will miss them and are so grateful that we all got to spend some time together during this busy season.

Howlin' Halloween

Well, I tried to get a Halloween post in before this weekend, but it just didn't happen. Here goes!

Halloween was FANTASTIC! It's always a big day for us every year because it marks the anniversary of when Russell proposed to me. Those who don't know the story, just ask. Russell and I were so excited this year, because this was really the first year that Brayden really understood the whole concept. We've always dressed up in the past years and taken him trick-or-treating, even when he was just one, but I don't think he fully got the whole deal until this year. Brayden wanted to be Buzz Lightyear, so of course, Hudson was Woody. It worked out nicely since Brayden was a cowboy his first year, we still had the costume. I put a yellow shirt with it and wahlah, it's Woody. I'm sure to most people he just looked like a regular ole cowboy, but when standing beside big bro bro Buzz, people definitely knew the 2 were a duo.

We had our neighbors, Katie, Rob and Jackson and then Susie, Jon, Henry and Miles come over for appetizers and drinks before trick-or-treat time. My mom and Bob and Russell's mom, Cindy, also joined us, so we had a packed house. It was so much fun! We had a caravan of wagons trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. One pulling the babies and 2 pulling coolers. Our neighborhood really goes out on Halloween. Several homes had immaculate decorations...some that even Brayden wouldn't go up to. We all trick-or-treated, making it through almost the whole neighborhood. My mom and Bob came and got Hudson about 3/4 of the way through since it was getting chilly. Thanks to the parents for staying home and handing out candy!

After we got home and got the boys to bed, Russell and I went up to our neighbor, Pat's, house for a Halloween party. It was nice to get to know a new group of our neighbors. A little crazy, but who isn't these days! It is definitely a FUN group! We toasted to Russell's birthday and had a great ending to an awesome night!

Sunday was Russell's 32nd birthday. We laid low...resting from the night before. We did make it to church...even got to the early service. I was proud! LOL! Mom cooked Russell his favorite meal, bacon cheeseburgers and brats and I made him a chocolate on chocolate cake. We watched some football and had a relaxing evening. Happy Birthday daddy-o!

This week has been pretty great, too. I was relieved to see that my calendar wasn't so filled up. Last week, with all of the parties, festivals, etc, it was nice to have a little break. I had a great brunch this week with Taylor...Elizabeth had some last minute car trouble, but we went to her rescue. I know she is glad to have that behind her! My cousin and I had a wonderful playdate on Friday with the boys. It is so fun to see them growing up together right before our eyes. Friday night, I had a blast with Alisha for a girl's night out! We went to 37 Main, the rock cafe. It was actually 'the place to be' in Buford. We had some great food, some drinkage and just chatted it up. My neighbors and good friends, Katie and Rob, were celebrating their 10 year anniversary and had gone to dinner at Aqua Terra. They stopped in at 37 Main afterwards and stayed for a couple hours so we all reminisced about engagements and talked about all of that fun stuff. Happy 10 years to them! What a big deal! It was also nice to see my friend Kris, who came by 37 Main. We will definitely go back...the 80's rock music was right up my alley!

This afternoon the Taylor's are coming up to hang out. They won't be able to make it to Brayden's big party next weekend, so we are going to catch up with them tonight! Looking forward to it!