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!

Last t-ball game

We had our last T-ball game of the season tonight. Brayden LOVED every minute of t-ball. Which is kind-of surprising since he did not like soccer at all. The kids all got medals and brownies and juice to celebrate. We will definitely play again soon.

Cody wanted to be out there with big brother!

The bulls after their last game.

Concan 2009

We took the annual trip to Concan this year and I must say this one was lots and lots of fun. The boys did so great and had a blast swimming in the river - we were so lucky to have water in our part of the river, lots of places on the Frio are dry. The boys loved playing with all their friends and it was so nice to be out of the apartment. We had tons of people come this year - 14 adults and 14 kids! mmm, this smore looks good!yep, it's good I think I got a little on me, my eyes are kind-of sticky.

at the river

friends

Cody's favorite toy

Great Wolf Lodge

Is there anything better than the Great Wolf Lodge if you are a kid? I haven't found anything yet. We spent 4 long days and 3 long nights there, we were supposed to stay another night and day but mom and dad had had enough. If you haven't been there is it like a child's vegas - you name it, they have it. What made the trip even better was getting to spend it with my family. My brother and sister-in-law with their 3 kids were there and my sister with her two boys came too. The kids had such a blast, Brayden told us he wanted to live at the Great Wolf Lodge when we were leaving. While I am not ready to live there by any means we may have to go back next year, after we have recovered of course.

Pizza night - we sat on Eagle's Landing and the kids played cars, practiced Karate on each other and ran wild.Miss pretty Peyton

Junior Magi Brayden unlocking the treasure chest on the MagiQuest

Ta-da!

Cody at the outdoor pool - the statue behind him howls every 5 minutes and then a ton of water sprays down over the pool

Cody and dad

coming down one of the many, many slides

Brayden getting serious about the jetski

splash

on the lazy river - which was NOT lazy - it should have been called "the dodge water squirting in your face every second river".

in the wave pool

"cheese"

ready, set, go...