The Virus of 2010

My poor little guy is finally over the nastiest virus I have ever seen! It's exactly like strep throat, except there's no antibiotic to take...so you basically just watch your child suffer through a high fever, no appetite and screaming every time they take a drink. These pictures pretty much sum up the mood he was in for about 4 days straight. Thankfully he's back to his usual happy self and life is good again! :)

Fingerpainting with Grandpa Mac

For Christmas, my dad got the boys some fun fingerpaints and special fingerpaiting paper. He also made them their own frames to display their artwork in :) They both had a great time creating their own artwork...and I think my dad realized why I don't do messy art projects with them very often! Special thank you to Crayola for making their paints truly washable...comes off of carpet and everything :)

Scrambled Eggs Anyone??

Here's what happens when my 1-year-old gets in the refrigerator...I had literally taken my eyes off of him for 2 seconds!

Child proofed doesn't equal Caleb proofed

If you're wondering why I haven't done much blogging lately...and maybe even secretly thinking I'm a slacker... take a look at this video:

The sweet voice you hear in the background? My other child...hiding in the refrigerator.

Enough said.

Pray for Kate

This precious little girl is in need of our prayers! At the young age of 5, Kate Mcrae is battling brain cancer. You can read about her story here:

http://www.prayforkate.com/

Please take a few minutes to read about how you can help this amazing family as they are in the midst of the most challenging time of their lives....and give your children an extra hug and kiss, for we never know what the future holds.

The One-Animal Zoo Trip

We have a membership to the Phoenix Zoo, which is nice because I don't feel like I have to get my money's worth all in one trip! This trip, the main event was the new Komodo Dragon exhibit. Ok, so it was the ONLY event really. We waited in a fairly long line with all the other zoo members to get a sneak peek of the huge lizards. The rest of the day was spent playing in the play areas and walking for at least a half-mile back to our car. But did I mention we saw really big "dragons"?? Brayden has been waiting months for this exhibit to open!

Waiting in line to see the dragons!

So handsome

They are so big..and so cool!

Seeing ONE animal at the zoo today really wore me out...

Ssss...Aaaa...Dddd = SAD!

Brayden is a sponge these days. He soaks up anything he sees, reads, hears...both good and bad! He can tell you the difference between a carnivore, herbivore and omnivore (if you don't know, just ask him next time you see him!) He knows so many different types of dinosaurs, even ones I didn't know exsisted, such as a "Giganotosaurus." He can recognize every letter of the alphabet and tell you the sound it makes. He is beginning to write letters as well, and even wrote his name in sidewalk chalk:

He tells amazing stories and loves to sing and make up songs:

He loves to play pretend and is a different animal pretty much everyday. If you call him "Brayden" instead of his chosen animal, he will quickly correct you (even when he's in trouble, which drives me crazy!) Our favorite is when he is a T-Rex. He walks around stomping, with his arms drawn into his sides (cause a T-Rex has short arms of course) and 2 fingers out for his "claws." One day recently, he decided to be a mole. I don't really understand the costume, but I just went with it:

Our amazing Brayden does come with his fair share of challenges. He tests us daily...ok, hourly really. He can be so loving, and yet so crazy sometimes.

However...

last night while reading books before bed, that same 3 1/2 year old completely blew me away. He pointed to a word and slowly said "Ssssss....Aaaaaa.....Ddddd... SAD!" Yes that's right, he read his first word.

Wow.

The first grade teacher in me just saw visions of chapter books....

the Mommy in me is just so proud