Christmas 2009

Christmas this year was again a little crazy. You would think I would be used to the excitement by now but it still catches me off guard every year. I think especially this year with a new little baby added to the mix. We spent Christmas eve at a friends house for a little party. Santa showed up and gave each boy a toy from his sack which both boys thought was really neat. We came home and starting preparing for Santa to come again. Christmas morning was super fun, I have never seen so many toys, Santa out did himself this year. We packed everyone up after opening presents and headed to my moms house, where we were met with 5 other children and their parents. What a great time having all the kids together. The next day we left for Angleton bright and early and spent the day with Debbie, Joe, Josh, Kristy and Zoey.

And the following day it was off to JoLynn and Johnny's house

and then to my grandmother's

before a long trip home. The car ride home was a disaster, I am not sure it could have been much worse with all the bathroom stops and spills and crying and yelling. It was the longest 4 hours Bill and I have ever spent in the car and we vowed to never do that again...until next year. Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without all the crazy travel schedules and famliy events, I know if we didn't do it all Bill would have to listen to me complain about how bored I am :)

Our New Addition...

So this is the first time I've ever contributed to the blog, or actually submitted a blog period, but I guess this moment was just to much not to share with everyone. Friday, November 20th, at 3:47 pm, April and I welcomed Addison Ann McDaniel to our family. She was 8 lbs 8 oz and 21" long. Everything went very well and April was awesome as usual. It actually went well enough that the hospital let us come home on Saturday evening, barely 24 hours after Addy was born. She is absolutely beautiful. It's hard to describe, but it was different a feeling for me when she was born. Not that the boys were anything less, but I guess I just had the "Daddy's little girl" feeling as I couldn't help but feel she was the most special thing God had ever created. A few other dads I've talked to can relate. They also told me to call them when she turns 15...

I hope this finds you well and that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Halloween 2009

The boys made good use of their costumes this year, wearing them many, many times before actually trick or treating. We even went to a haunted house - which by the way is NOT a good idea for a 4 year old and two year old. We had to run through the place holding the kids and closing their eyes while they screamed. I of course was REALLY pregnant and had a balloon tied to my diaper bag and I am holding Cody. My balloon got caught on a spider web right next to the guy cutting off his hand with a loud chainsaw. It took me a couple of minutes to get it untied and I thought I might have to take Cody to therapy after the whole event. Once we finally got out we laughed and laughed and laughed. We will do it again - when they are in high school.

We had a blast in our new neighborhood this year, I bet there were 150-200 kids. I went through 6 bags of candy! We took the boys just around the loop in our street and their bags were so full and heavy when they got back. They will be eating candy for a whole year I am sure.

Halloween crafts

A little pj craft day at our house and look what we made!

Poison control

We had our first phone call to poison control tonight. I can't believe we made it 4 and a half years without having to call. Cody found the Listerine that Brayden uses in the bathroom tonight and proceeded to drink a whole bunch of it. And why not? it says it tastes like bubble gum. So when he walked around the corner with a very blue mouth and I found the very blue liquid all over the floor I knew something was wrong. Rest assured if your kids ever drink listerine they will be fine, if it has flouride you need to worry otherwise no big deal. Cody loved getting to drink it and I think he would attempt it again if given the chance.

Cody's 2nd birthday

We had Cody's 2nd birthday party at My Gym, one of his favorite places to play. The kids all had a blast playing on the equipment and running around wild. Cody enjoyed the whole experience, except getting his picture made with his friends, oh well there's always next year. I also learned something new about Cody...he is scared of fire. We lit his bday candles and he tried to run from the cake because he was scared of the fire. Big brother Brayden helped him out and blew out the candles. What a great day!!

Puppy dog cake

We have had a lot going on this month including Cody turning 2! He is such a sweet little boy and so fun to be around. He is in love with puppy dogs so of course I had to make a big puppy dog cake for the occasion. It took a little while longer than I thought it would but it turned out so cute it was worth it.

Apartment Living

Our apartment days are about to end and I am counting down the days. I can't believe we will have been here for 6 long months. It has been a big change for all of us - Bill had to go to the office, rather than work from home, the cat and the dog are confined to the apt. all day and all night, I have had to find different things for the kids to do to keep entertained and the boys have had most of their toys in storage. We managed to survive the process so far, but I can't say its been a ton of fun. Here are the 5 best things and 5 worst things about living here.

5 Best things

1. THE POOL - I have no idea what we would have done without the pool, it has been a lifesaver. The kids have LOVED having it right across the street.
2. Lower rent = more spending money
3. Vacations - I think we took 5 major vacations this summer to get away and all of them turned out to be great times with family and friends.
4. Maintenance men - I call and they come fix anything.
5. No visitors means no cleaning. I think I can honestly say I have really enjoyed not picking up so much, it helps that there is no place to put it once it gets picked up.

5 Worst things

1. No dog door - walking the dog 4 or more times a day and picking up her poop has been crappy.
2. Kitty litter - not only do we have a kitty litter inside now (thanks to the no dog door), but its in the laundry closet which is in the kitchen. I can honestly say that I never want to have this problem again. Oh and the cat's food is in the boys bathroom on the counter - eewww, gross.
3. "Where's my _______?" And the answer to this question is always - "In storage, in the back where you can't get to it."
4. Lack of space - I was able to get the biggest apt. I could find and thank goodness for that because everyday it feels like it shrinks a little.
5. Noise, cars and privacy - car headlights peering in your window at 2am, noisy dogs barking at all times. Not having a garage has been a major adjustment getting the kids in and out of the parking lot safely.

Here is the scorpion that I almost touched one day while reaching for the remote control. Shortly after killing this one, I found another alive one on the way to Cody's room.

The boys helping me sand the new baby's furniture on our patio.

Brayden's 1/2 birthday

Brayden turned 4 and a half today! We celebrated by going to the Icecream festival, which was WAY too hot, even with icecream. Then we had hotdogs and cupcakes by the pool.

Idaho - BBR

Bill and I had never been to Idaho but that all changed last week. Some friends and I planned a trip for our husbands to see some bands play that they love. This is the 5th year for the Braun Brother's reunion and they finally got go. We flew into Boise and stayed the night there before driving 4 hours into the mountains. Idaho is very pretty but there are not a lot of people there. Once we got into the mountains it was pretty rustic, there was no cell phone coverage, no hotels and no restaurants (or at least none I want to try again). It was A LOT quietier than my house at home but we managed to make a little noise while we were there - or at least our car did :) We hit a rock while driving home one night from the concert - it had hailed on us that day and the storm knocked a bunch of rocks off the mountains into the road, one of them was larger than we thought and long story short, our car suffered. The weather was a little nicer than what we have here, it rained everyday and if you didn't like it hot no problem it got cold in a couple of minutes and if you didn't like it cold, no problem it will be hot in just a minute, or raining or hailing. I think we got a little of everything.

I missed not being with the kids, leaving them was really hard this time but they had a great time with our parents and I am not sure but it seems like they didn't miss us at all. a little stop on our way up the mountain
when you walked out the door of our "5-star" cabin this is the view.

The river was COLD!

We learned how to fly fish one day - I caught a cut-throat trout and Bill caught a white fish.

The group in all the fly-fishing gear outside our cabin

Bill fly-fishing

Checking out the damage to our minivan

One of the many "lovely" places we ate. At this one Parker ordered "finger steaks", when they came out they could have been steak fingers, or egg rolls or fried shrimp by the way they looked. I didn't dare taste them but I heard they smelled yummy!

Brothers

Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero!

Potty time!

Who knew Cody was interested in sitting on the potty all day. I think he just likes that he gets to be naked but whatever the reason I am happy that he likes it. On the first day we bought the potty he was able to go 3 times. Such an over-achiever!