My basket runneth over...

Sometimes I need to remind myself that those little things that tend to get on my nerves right now will be the little things that I will really miss later.

Take this basket, for instance. This is my basket of all things Braden. He has a little desk here in my office (which he refers to as HIS office) where he makes me approximately 542 things every day! So I made this as a place to put it all. In this basket, you will find every sort of "gift" you could think of.....Many envelopes with little notes, stickers, homemade puppets, workbook pages. He's really starting to get the hang of sounding out words and he writes a LOT nowdays. My favorites are the little pieces of paper with "MOM" and hearts to decorate as his little token of love. Sometimes I just look at this overflowing basket underneath my desk and sigh in frustration as it can get completely out of control, pieces falling here and there. And I think to myself "I really need to clean this out!" But then I just can't bring myself to do it. Besides the fact that he checks it periodically to see if it's all still there, it's a nice little reminder for me. One of these days, my little boy will be too busy for such things.

So I took this picture to help me remember this sweet gesture. But right now, all I have to do is look at this huge stack of notes to be reminded of how much one little boy loves me!

-M

First one, then two!

...Teeth, that is! Missing ones! Braden finally lost his first tooth on Monday afternoon. And after much crying and freaking out (over the blood and there was barely ANY), he was excited about the Tooth Fairy coming.

After that, the one next to it started getting so loose that it was hanging sideways. Well, I knew it wouldn't be long until it came out too, but he was too nervous to pull at it. So as I was picking him up from school on thursday, it literally fell out of his mouth and into his hand! So now he's double toothless and he talks so stinkin' cute with that little slur. I make him say "S" words just to hear him do it!

-M

Three boys, two generations, one theme...

Spongebob!

I thought it was too cool when I found Thomas and Braden matching pajama pants a while back. But there was only one thing missing....Bryson didn't have any! I couldn't have him left out, now could I? So I searched high and low for baby Spongebob PJ pants with none to be found. Luckily, I have a talented mother who can sew just about anything, so she was nice enough to whip up a pair for the little guy.

Are they not the cutest bunch?? Seriously, I am one lucky girl!

The Tooth

I was surprised to learn a couple of nights ago that Braden has a loose tooth! As a matter of fact, BOTH the bottom ones are wiggly. This called for something special! My good friend Nichole had her oldest lose his first one just last week and when we were talking about it, I commented that we'd probably have that happen in a few months! Little did I know how quickly it would happen. So I was inspired by her project to make a little something of my own! Only a few more days until toothless pictures! I can't wait!

Look at these cuties!

Here is the boys' Christmas photo. Braden had school pictures and they said Bryson could be in them too! Turned out pretty good I thought. (sigh) I used to have time to do the portraits myself, and had been struggling to make time for a while so I finally gave up and let someone else do them.

So much going on lately. Mostly been trying to take care of 2 sick boys for the past 3 weeks. It's been rough. From croup and a double ear infection to viruses, dehydration and a flu -like thing! I am SICK of this already (no pun intended!)

Gearing up for Christmas. I'll tell you what....I think it means your old when neither you or your spouse can even figure out what you want for Christmas. I used to think my parents were CRAZY when they wouldn't exchange gifts or just do something really small. They always say "Oh, the funnest part is watching you kids get stuff" and I was like "What the...?????? You have GOT to be kidding!" You know what? They were right. I can't wait to see my boys' faces in just 13 days!

-M

Who couldn't love this face??

'Nuff said!

-M

Woo hoo! I made somethin'!!

Lookie lookie! I made something cute for Halloween! I'd tell you more about it, but my baby is crying.....AGAIN! Oh, happy day! < insert insane laughter here >

A fun little project...

Just got a couple of minutes this morning to do a simple little project. Got this idea from Stacey Julian's Big Picture website. Braden was in need of a container to put his computer games in. A long lost friend of mine sent him a ton of them that her boys had outgrown (Thanks Nicole!) and this mini crate worked perfectly! I even let him pick the paper (notice the frogs!). Fun.....Easy....I love those kinds of projects!

-M

A week of firsts...

Well, this was an exciting week for us! Braden started going to preschool 2 days a week. He was so cute in his spiderman backpack, and so excited too. I think he really likes it. He was too busy to even tell me bye the two days I dropped him off this week! I'm glad he's like that, though. Better than having to leave a screaming, clingy kid. I'm already dreading next year. How can I be without my boy all day 5 days a week?!? That will definitely take some getting used to. I used to be worried about him not being able to start this year because of his birthday falling late, but now I'm just glad I get to keep him for an extra year. I'm really going to try to enjoy it while it lasts.

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Second, Braden started karate classes! This is something he's talked about since he was probably 2 years old. I'd been promising him that after I had the baby and things settled down a bit, we would sign him up. I just LOVE him in his little uniform! And watching that class of kids is quite entertaining! As you see, he takes it pretty seriously!














































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Third, my baby boy Bryson rolled over for the first time! I know I've done this stuff once already, but it really is exciting the second time around too. I think that you just find yourself equally proud of each child for their accomplishments.

....Even if they are completely different!













Oh, these boys.....They always make me smile!

-M

Fun stuff!

Love, love LOVE this website I just found!

www.paper-source.com
Awesome papercrafting stuff.
I think there is something there for just about anyone!
Have plans on ordering a few things there myself.

In other news, I've been trying my papercrafting hands
at something new...Canning!
Here are the pickled squash I did last week!













Tried some apple preserves too, but we won't talk about that right now! Let's just say my Mom had to rescue those! I was following the recipe...Honestly, I was!

Well, back to work!

-M