Brayden's First Day of Pre-K

We cannot believe that our little man started preschool on August 21st. Brayden is going 3 half days a week, and so far, he loves it! On that day Brayden said he wants to be an astronaut (like Buzz Light Year) when he grows up!

[caption id="attachment_2006" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Excited for his first day of Pre-K at San Pasqual Union Preschool[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2005" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Love my big boy![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2012" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Welcome to Mrs. Lisa's classroom[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2007" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Meeting his teacher for the first time with hugs![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2010" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Working to "fill his bucket" this year by being a good helper to his teachers and his friends.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2009" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Picked out his cubby[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2011" align="aligncenter" width="225"] He was very excited to cooperate with what the aids wanted him to do once we got there and was thrilled to see a buddy from soccer is in his class. He was like, "See ya, mom" running out the door to play before I made him stop to hug me goodbye.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2008" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Praying for a wonderful year with Mrs. Lisa[/caption]

Brayden's 4th Birthday

I cannot believe that our boy turned FOUR on July 16th!  We are so blessed to watch our little man grow into a funny, loving, extremely loyal friend and son.  He starts asking about his next birthday by about November every year so once July comes around I am READY to tell him that his birthday is finally here this month. Brayden lives for his birthday party and although I may go a bit over the top making each detail, he literally notices and cherishes every little thing I make and do, remembering it forever.  Brayden loves his friends more than anything in the world and is so lucky to be surrounded by so many great kids to grow up and share life with.  Brayden was all about having an Iron Man birthday party this year!  Enjoy the pics (a bit overload so that the grandparents can see everything)!

[caption id="attachment_1955" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Our little Iron Man, so excited for his special birthday party![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1954" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Popcorn buckets and a super hero city scape.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1993" align="aligncenter" width="300"] City Scape[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1994" align="aligncenter" width="300"] KAPOW!!![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1967" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Food table (missing the watermelon and hotdogs)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1956" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Repulsor BLAST![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1957" align="aligncenter" width="300"] POW![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1963" align="aligncenter" width="225"] I sewed this table runner with all the fun superhero sayings...Brayden even helped![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1965" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Iron Man and Iron Man Patriot Cake[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1966" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Dessert Table[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1961" align="aligncenter" width="225"] So excited to welcome his friends![/caption]

We did a Superhero Training Course activity, and each of the kids got a card with five activities on it to complete in order to become an official member of the Avengers!  These were the activities:

• Mighty Muscles - Lift weight 5 times.


• Brick Smash – Smash through the bricks.


• Tunnel Crawl – Crawl through the tube.


• Sword Play – Hit your opponent’s sword 10 times.


• Lava Pit – Walk across the Lava Pit to rescue the baby and then walk back with the baby without falling.

[caption id="attachment_1972" align="aligncenter" width="300"] MIghty Muscles - I made this "heavy weight" out of PVC pipe, poster board, newspaper, etc.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1968" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Walking the plank over the lava pit to save the baby[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1971" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Blake enthusiastically saving the baby doll. :)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1969" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Avengers Unite![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1973" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Our boys' fabulous babysitters showed up in full force![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1974" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Best Buddies, Julian and Brayden[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1975" align="aligncenter" width="300"] So fun to celebrate with lots of friends[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1976" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Relaxing mamas[/caption]

I didn't get very many pictures of this but the kids had some fun dressing up and using props for the photo booth.

[caption id="attachment_1958" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Photo booth super hero props[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1977" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Photo booth fun![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1978" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Makenna, Naomi, and Cameron[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1979" align="aligncenter" width="300"] This kid lives for celebrations with his friends and was so blessed to be surrounded by all of them![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1980" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Julain and Brayden[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1959" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Iron Man face masks and arc reactor favors made with lots of love.  The Arc reactor centers were painted with glow in the dark paint for some extra fun![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1981" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Brayden and his favorite girls: Breanne, Maki, and Naomi[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1982" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Friends![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1983" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Noah, Blake, Benjamin, Brayden, Naomi, Maki, & Julian[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1984" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The prized gift...Iron Man Patriot! "Thanks Becca! It's just what I wanted!!!"[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1985" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Iron Man power bands[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1986" align="aligncenter" width="300"] People had a pretty easy time figuring out what to get this kid![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1988" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The beginning of the Iron Man shrine[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1989" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Family birthday morning! Repulsor Blast pretty much appears in every photo[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1990" align="aligncenter" width="225"] A real Iron Man mask![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1991" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Now his costume is complete[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1987" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Love my little Iron Man![/caption]

Christmas 2012

Once Thanksgiving hits, it always seems like life is a whirlwind until 2 weeks after New Years.  To begin the Christmas festivities, we headed up to Disneyland (thanks to grandparents' Christmas gifts) with the boys to experience the park all decked out for Christmas.  It was beautiful, and the boys loved their first trip there.

[caption id="attachment_1901" align="aligncenter" width="300"] First family trip to Disneyland[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1902" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The boys were thrilled to take a picture with Lightning McQueen[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1904" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Waiting excitedly for the holiday parade with glow sticks.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1905" align="aligncenter" width="300"] SO exciting to have Tigger come right up to us, just feet away...until he turned around and threw snow at us at which point Blake started screaming, purely terrified.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1906" align="aligncenter" width="225"] At the end of a long day, Small World was just the ticket for Blake.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1907" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Small World all lit up for Christmas[/caption]

We celebrated our personal family Christmas a couple of days before Christmas since we were headed to Northern CA to be with my family.  We had a relaxed and happy "Christmas morning" at home.

[caption id="attachment_1908" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Cutie patooties[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1909" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Mini train/lego table compliments of Woot[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1911" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Someone was thrilled with what he saw when he woke up...before big brother came down.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1912" align="aligncenter" width="199"] Brothers[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1913" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Brayden with his new Alphabet book I made him of pictures of his favorite things and corresponding letter[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1915" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Nerf guns for daddy and Brayden[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1917" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Getting the hang of this opening presents business.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1918" align="aligncenter" width="199"] An annual tradition...the boys get their own ornament to put on the tree and one day when they leave home they will have their own special box to take with them...sigh.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1919" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Daddy finally found this boy a left hander's glove. Someone can already catch![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1920" align="aligncenter" width="300"] And now he can finally swing a racquet just his size instead of going for mommy and daddy's[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1921" align="aligncenter" width="300"] In our Christmas best for church[/caption]

Christmas at Noni & Bapi's was a lot of fun with a lot of craziness.  My sister, brother-in-law, and their almost 3 year old daughter, Tyler, and 15 month old son, Stetson, were all there for the festivities so it was a loud and crazy week.

[caption id="attachment_1923" align="aligncenter" width="199"] Real Christmas morning at Noni & Bapi's[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1924" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Do I really get to open this?[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1925" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Just what I wanted from Noni & Bapi...a karaoke machine with a microphone that works![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1927" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Mack truck from Noni and Bapi...happy boy.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1930" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Check out all the cool cars in the Mack truck![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1931" align="aligncenter" width="300"] And this is how he spent the rest of the day![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1932" align="aligncenter" width="199"] Just give this happy boy some hairbrushes and he is set[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1933" align="aligncenter" width="199"] Love this boy![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1910" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Christmas fun with Noni[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1935" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Love my family...Merry Christmas![/caption]