Enjoying Snow and lights

Today proved to be quite a festive day. Our community brought in snow for the kids to play in. I was excited to see how Brayden would react. They had an area for the younger kids to play in which was nice. Brayden enjoyed the snow. I had to laugh when one mother expressed my sentiments when she said that she had to show her child how to play in it. We then decided to wait in line to go down the hill on a sled. Ironic that I never thought I would need a sled in Arizona and thought to leave ours with the grandparents when we moved so the grandkids could use them. Thankfully the HOA provided some for us. Brayden enjoyed going down the hill even after we crashed the first time. We ended up going down two more times and each time Brayden wanted more. However we could tell that he was getting tired. We came home and took a nap. Our evening plans changed from a party to going to Glendale Glitters. We felt we had to get out of the house and enjoy the holiday season. It was pretty packed. The lights were great. The crowds weren't my favorite. We took a hayride to see a live nativity. Brayden was enthused with the tractor that pulled us along. We walked into a few shops before heading back to see the lights. We took a break on our way out to the car to sit on a bench. Me, being the photo nazi that I am, wanted a few pictures with the lights in the background. We really didn't get pictures of the evening, but we ended up getting some funny footage of Brayden roaring like a dinosaur. We then saw some dancers take the stage from below as we were walking to the car. I liked the vantage point of being able to look down on them and watch their foot placement. I think Brayden enjoyed them two as we watched three dances before coming home.

More pages from the ABC book

Here are some more pages I put together using other people's backgrounds and elements that they created (all free). I have put more time into this book than I had expected. I will say that if you are patient long enough, you can find what you are looking for verses paying for it.

Hank, the chicken

I know that I have been lax in writing... I blame it on the fact that I am creating alot of Christmas gifts online. Particularly Brayden's ABC book. I am almost done though which is good. Here is a preview of some of the pages that I have created using digital scrapbooking freebies.
Anyways, I digress. There have been alot of funny moments that I wish that I would have recorded but I am going to try to do a better job.
So here is the story of Hank the chicken. We went to Chicago on Thanksgiving and flew back on Saturday. Quick trip. David's aunt and uncle have this rubber chicken, they named Hank, that they normally jokingly hang by a string from the chandelier. Well this year, it was hanging on the door leading to the basement. Because the cousins were going to be staying downstairs, Brayden was very interested in this door. I had to laugh when I saw him constantly turning his head to look at this chicken. I think he may have wanted to rescue the chicken from the string. He ended up being given the chicken. He has slept with the chicken. He even woke up and screamed out for the chicken one night. Hank even went to Shedd's aquarium with us. I guess that Hank was tired of the cold:) Hank is still a focus in Brayden's world and when we couldn't find it on the way to church, a little recorder in the back kept asking where chicken was, even though the answer was the same. He didn't forget once we came home either. Brayden had fallen asleep but without chicken, he woke up and wanted to know where he was. It would be hours later when Brayden would finally go to sleep with chicken in hand...I think we are going to have to send a replacement rubber chicken to Aunt Joan and Uncle Dave.

Fun Night

So tonight was our church's volunteer appreciation. Can I just say that I have never seen so many church volunteers in my life. There had to have been at least 2500 people, no joke. We had dinner on the lawn before heading into the auditorium for a comedian show. The meal was chick-fil-a and was tasty. David and I were able to get good seat. Before the event started, a group began the wave which traveled through the auditorium a couple of times which was hilarious. David and I enjoyed the stand up comedian, Tim Hawkins. It felt good to keep my face in a smiling position most of the night. Ahh, to date nights. David and I decided we should have more of them.

This weekend

Boy was it a busy one. It all started on Friday after I got off work. David shared with me that Brayden's preschool was having a fall festival. We quickly grabbed a bite to eat, saved cleaning up for later and headed to the school. Brayden wasn't too sure being at the school for the second time in a row in one day. The school did a nice job putting on the event and it gave me the oppportunity to talk to Brayden's teachers which was nice. I asked what sort of issues they were having with Brayden. I was suprised when they told me that they are trying to get him to consistently use eating utensils. I was pleased to hear this was the worse thing you could say about my son.

Saturday morning we woke up early to walk in the JDRF walk in Tempe with our neighbors and friends, the Rose's. David and I got a little lost which meant we were later then normal which meant I wasn't the happiest camper. We eventually got where we needed to go and had a great morning. After the walk, I realized that I still didn't have a costume for Brayden. A couple of calls later, we borrowed one from my sister-in-law which we picked up on the way home as well as groceries for the neighborhood cookout. I prepped for the neighborhood cookout and got it all set up. We invited neighbors to come over and share dinner. As it began to get darker, I changed Brayden into his fireman costume. Honestly it couldn't have been a better costume. Brayden loves firetrucks. I was not quite yet ready to go when some a group of neighbors descended on the driveway. Included in this group, was the neighbor and her daughter who have been watching Brayden during small group. Well Brayden decided that he was going to take off and go with the group. So off he went. I was appreciative of Virg taking Brayden trick or treating till I could catch up. I had to laugh as Brayden would pull Virg around to the next house. Brayden's bucket was half full, which was heavy for the little guy, when he decided that he was done. We came home and he wanted to go in from all the stimulation. Although the night seemed later, he was in bed pretty early.
Sunday we went to the early service. It was a good topic on the subject of worry. I needed it as I was busy trying to get things together for my sharing of Christmas ideas party. I was busy cleaning the house and prepping it for having my guest speaker over who shared a bit on keeping Christ in Christmas. It was a great afternoon. I knew though that I would be going back to work on Monday to relax.

Flashback Friday

Okay, so it has been a long time since I had a post. I have been busy... I thought I would do a flashback Friday... A ballet recital and dress up, it could almost be Halloween :)

Our little entertainer

It has been a battle with technology all week. I can't seem to get videos to transfer or work as I want or photo books to look as I want. Anyways, there is no video to go along with this story although I really wanted to share it with you. Words won't be able to do it justice. As some of you know, we host our Neighborhood Group on Wednesday nights and finding someone to watch Brayden for an hour outside of our home has been a bit of a struggle. After David's parents come back to Arizona after Thanksgiving it won't be a problem. After putting out the call, one of our neighbors agreed to watch him and give her daughter the experience of babysitting. I loved that this neighbor offered and accepted. We dropped him off and had our group. Being as this was someplace new, I was a bit nervous about Brayden's behavior, would he act out or cry the whole time? After group, I hurriedly walked to their house to find Brayden having a GREAT time. We had brought a few toys along but it hadn't compared to the karaoke machine. Brayden was in heaven having a microphone up to his mouth or should I say, in his mouth. Virg was able to capture Brayden chattering away in the microphone and dancing up a storm. IT was too precious and made me laugh. He really is an entertainer.