How Braeden gets around

Braeden isn't crawling yet (at 10 1/2 months), but we are not worried. He can get around no problem. Just watch this video and see how he does it!

Look at what Braeden can do!

Braeden is getting so big! He loves to stand up around the furniture and is getting pretty good at taking some steps while holding our fingers. We have to put him up next to furniture to do this, but he can pull himself up if he can reach the top.

He has also given up the baby food, although mom still sneaks some fruits and veggies in when she can. He wants to eat whatever we are eating, and he does a pretty good job of eating everything you give him.

Check out Hardt's ride!

We went to Hardt's second birthday party, and he got a Harley Davidson bike to ride like his Daddy's...well a little smaller, and not as loud. It is so cool! Here is Mommy hugging the birthday boy!

Easter 2008

Easter weekend is always a fun filled family time around our house. The Saturday before Easter is always spent going to Louisiana to Mommy's great-grandmother's house for the Guthrey family reunion/crawfish boil. I am a natural cajun (even though I live in Texas and was born in NYC, Mommy's cajun blood got in me). Here I am showing off how well I can hold a live crawfish....with no fear whatsoever!

I got so good at holding those crawfish, I wasn't worried about reaching in the bucket to pick up more. After many warnings from Daddy, one of the biggest crawdaddys in the bucket pinched my finger and would not let go! That mean ole crawfish....I got my sweet revenge by eating him!

Sunday morning we woke up and got to enjoy our Easter basket goodies before heading off to church.
Marshmallow chicks for breakfast should be an everyday thing in my opinion.
The Easter bunny even brought Braeden some goodies in his basket.
After church we went to lunch with Grandma and Grandpa to eat Mexican food, and you would not believe it!!! The Easter bunny showed up wearing a pancho and a sombrero. The restaurant took great pictures of both of us with the Easter bunny, it was so much fun. After our naps, we headed over to Mimi and Pops' house for an egg hunt and time with our cousins Hope and Hardt. Here is Braeden with Aunt Tina and Uncle Chris.

Uncle Chris brought these really fun confetti filled eggs and Hope, Hardt, and I got confettied in the back yard.

After confetti eggs we used the Easter bunny bags we made with Mimi to hunt for even more Easter eggs. I have a stash of about 30 Easter eggs, and Mommy keeps finding them all over the house. Somehow an onion from Mimi's kitchen ended up in Austin's Easter bag, hmmm? Kinda strange how that got in there, Austin must have thought it was the mother of all Easter eggs.

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

Howdy Partners, it's me ... the Lone Braeden. My cowpoke brother and I got to visit the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo this weekend, and let me tell ya, it was a blast. Especially since we had been cooped up in the house for a week with a stomach bug, it made it really nice to get out for a few hours and do something special. Here are the highlights of our roundup.

Austin made friends with a cute baby bison. He followed Austin around and got rid of any other animals that tried to eat from his hand by head butting them away.

The baby zebras could nip your fingers while they ate, so we couldn't go in and feed them, but it was really neat to see them close up.

Here is the bison again, but notice we did feed a goat and sheep who are near by.

Daddy kept calling this a jackass, but I thought it was a donkey. Hee haw, hee haw!

Here is Braeden checking out the chicks (the chickens in the coop).

It is a cute bunny rabbit, but it isn't the Easter bunny. I am so excited about the Easter bunny coming to see me!

Ok, mom had to get a picture of this so that people would believe her. This is an event called Mutton Bustin' and it was so exciting. See these little girls and boys (anyone who is between 4 and 6 years old and less than 40 pounds could go) got to strap on helmets and protective vests and ride the sheep out of the chutes like a bull! Can you see the kid's leg on top of the sheep? He was falling off the other side. Capturing a picture with the kids actually not falling off the sides was next to impossible. The sheep were going so fast! Austin kept saying that he wanted to do it! Daddy said in a couple of years he could go....Mom's going to have to think about that one!

Pony rides! Getty up little horsey! Yee haw!



Oh yeah, I look good driving this tractor!

Dum Ditty Dum Ditty Dum Dum Dum

Austin loves to make music, and here he is playing with Uncle Ben's cool drum toy. One of his favorite books is about some monkeys who play drums. Dum ditty dum ditty dum dum dum.

Kindermusik Class

I LOVE my Kindermusik class. I have four real buddies in there. Two twins Jenna and Brody are just a couple of weeks younger than me, Celia is a couple of months older, and Finnley is a month older than me. We have so much fun together! Ms. Sandy is the best teacher ever!

Ok, so the bags had instruments in them, but our moms thought they looked great on our heads. To be honest, we kind of enjoyed seeing ourselves this way in the mirror too.

Here I am going on a hayride (figuratively). It was pretty fun to be dragged around the room on this towel.

Drums are my favorite! I am pretty good at banging to the beat. Of course music tastes as good as it sounds too!

From left to right...Jenna, Brody, Celia, Me, and Finnley. Aren't we a bunch of cuties??
And here we are with our mommies.
Finnley and I like to play instruments together.

Mimi's birthday

The party began at my cousin's house. I love playing with Hope and Hardt. They are my most favorite cousins (ok, they are my only cousins).

Hardt did the sit n spin so well, he spun himself right off!
Again, good luck trying to get all us kids in a picture where everyone is happy and looking at the camera. Anyway, we love our Mimi, that is all that matters.
Going out to eat is so much fun when you can sit in a booth all together.
Eskimo kisses with extra silliness for Aunt Tina! Boy do I love her!!

The rodeo is in town

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is back in town. We haven't gone yet, but they had a rodeo at my mother's day out school.

Yeeeeeeee Haaawwwwww! Giddy Up Horsey!

Friday night

Most Friday nights we can count on Daddy to make it home for dinner. Here we are all waiting...so excited...because he'll be home any minute now!!

Aggies Reunite!

Mommy's BFFs and college roomates came over to visit with their kids. We had so much fun, but it was totally different than our visits before kids. Melanie drove in from Dallas, and Lisa lives 20 minutes away. We had a great time, but both the kids and the mommies were worn out!

Getting all of us in a picture, and all the kids looking at the camera is just impossible!
Baby Boy Beachum! What a cutie!
This shot gives you a feel of what it was like with all those kiddos. I don't know how day care providers, mothers day out teachers, and other caregivers of kids this young handle all the babies at once. We were exhausted!
You talkin' to me??? Mariana is the sweetest little girl you have ever met!

Braeden and Uncle Ben

Braeden loves Uncle Ben, and they will play lots of soccer together whenever Braeden starts to walk.

Inside play

When it is raining outside, or just too cold, we find lots to do inside.

Reading is a favorite of both Austin and Braeden. Austin is at a stage where he likes to sit up in the chair and you have to sit on the floor while he reads a book to you. They always begin with "Once upon a time" and in the middle he kind of names what he sees in the book, then on the closing of the book he gives us a big "The END!"

Can you find the real Mr. Potatoe Head in this picture?

Building forts from blankets and sheets used to be one of Mommy's favorite things to do when she was little, and the boys really like to get under them too!

Riding Lightning McQueen around the house while chasing the dogs is a past time that all boys should have.

While Braeden isn't crawling officially, he gets anywhere he wants to go by scooting or rolling. He is getting good at pulling up to things as well. Here he is opening the drawers on the nightstand. Crawling is right around the corner. He pushes up on his arms, and his bottom gets in the air, but just not both of these things at the same time.

Playing outside at our house

The wonderful weather gives us lots of opportunities to get outside and play at home. Here are just of few of the activities that keep us busy.

The daily wagon ride down to the end of the street to get the mail can be fun, but Austin didn't care for waiting to have his picture taken, he was ready to roll!

Driving the police car is loads of fun, but so is getting out and pushing it up and down the driveway. It even has a siren sound and a walkie talkie. I love my "peese" car.

I have the helmet, I have the tricycle. Now I just need to learn to pedal. I would rather have mom or dad push me around on it, but soon enough, I'll be riding.

Coloring on the ground is so much fun. I am an expert at drawing snakes. I love to draw lines over everything mom draws. Mainly I love to tell mom what to draw. Braeden loves to eat the colors...yuck!

Austin is playing with the sand box behind Braeden. Braeden is loving the swing, and Maggie and Jack are having a blast chasing the ball mommy is throwing. If only mommy could sit down and have a margarita, that would be awesome!

Look at me!! Look at me!! (These are words we hear often out of Austin's mouth) I am flying like an airplane!