Quite the Racer

This past weekend, Brayden got to race in a derby car race at our church.  

Jonathan races in the leader race every year for our children's ministry, so 

Brayden helped him out as he raced it.  He came away with 2nd place for speed

and 3rd place for design (the car has a Second Students logo on it).  Great job boys!

Easter 2012

We had a great Easter remembering the death and resurrection of Jesus.  It was an amazing weekend at church and so great to see so many people worshipping the Lord.

At preschool, Brayden had an Easter egg hunt

with his class.  They each got to find 6 eggs.

At the Easter party at preschool with my boy

Brayden and one of his preschool buddies

Our neighborhood also had an Easter egg hunt.  

There were 3,000 eggs scattered around.  Not much of

a "hunt," but he stuffed as many as he could in his basket.

Here he is trying to decide which ones to drop back on the 

ground so he could put more "cool eggs" in his basket.  Ha!

(After the hunt, every kid had a basket full, and there were still

probably a couple hundred eggs on the ground!)

Lead Retreat 2012

A few weeks ago, we had a leadership retreat with our students in our Student Ministry. We got to go away for the weekend to a great retreat center a couple hours away. We had a great time with our students, but it was especially fun, because all the youth pastors from every campus also brought their families up for the weekend.  We don't get a lot of chances to all hang out, so it was a great time together.  

Here's a pic of all of the kids together crammed on the couch.

Brayden is the 2nd from the left on the couch.

He was NOT in the mood for a picture, but he hung in there

and happily sunk into the comfy couch behind everyone for the picture.

Feeding Giraffes

The Houston Zoo has a relatively new exhibit that they've built for the giraffes.  One of the cool features is a feeding platform, and twice a day, you can come and feed the giraffes.  I think I was just about as excited as Brayden was for it all!

Heading up to the feeding platform...

...well, hello!

They gave us 3 big pieces of lettuce to give the giraffes.

Their tongues are SO long that they snatch it out 

of your hand from pretty far away!

He was SO excited and amazed at it all!

 Finger lickin' good!

Afterward, they had a giraffe pelt that the kids could feel.

It was such a fun experience!

Good Ole Family Time

This morning, we woke up and headed to Cracker Barrel for breakfast together as a family. It was such a nice and relaxing time together.  Afterwards, Brayden had begged us to play Checkers, so the boys stopped outside for a quick game.  It was so cute seeing Jonathan teach him how to play.

After breakfast, Jonathan headed out to play golf with some friends on his day off. Brayden and I went and had a Mommy-Son date at an early movie - The Lorax in 3-D.  It was a cute movie...we pretty much had the theater to ourselves.  During the songs, he'd try to sing along with them...it was cracking me up!  We had quite a good time.

20 Questions to Ask Your Kids Each Year

I saw this great idea of asking your kids the same 20 questions each year to keep track of some of their favorite things as well as seeing how their answers change over the year. Brayden's birthday isn't for awhile, but I wanted to get his answers as a 3-year-old.  I love that I have these memories of him recorded now.  These were his exact responses...

1. What is your favorite color? Red
2.  What is your favorite toy? Cars and Music Stuff...Jingle Bells
3. What is your favorite fruit? Banana
4. What is your favorite TV show? Dinosaur Train
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Peanut Butter & Jelly or Honey
6. What is your favorite outfit? My Spiderman Outfit
7. What is your favorite game? Sports
8. What is your favorite snack? Caramel Rice Cakes...Under the chips in the pantry
9. What is your favorite animal? Hippopotamus
10. What is your favorite song? “Trust and Obey” & “Holy” (“Holy, Holy, Holy”)
11. What is your favorite book? Toy Story book w/ character mat & characters...from Lowe’s
12. Who is your best friend? Christopher (at Preschool)
13. What is your favorite sport? With Daddy...football
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Playing with the Spiderman web & water thing
15. What is your favorite drink? Milk, Apple Juice, Orange Juice, & Capri Sun
16. What is your favorite holiday? Trick-or-Treat
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Ruffy & Woody (Dog & Toy Story Woody)
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Candy & Cracklin Oat Bran (haha!)
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Cupcakes
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A Stegosaurus Conductor from Dinosaur Train

Ice Skating

Awhile ago, we went ice skating down at Discovery Green in downtown Houston. Originally, it was going to be a date, but then I decided Brayden might really enjoy it too. He did...for about 2 laps.  I know now to wait 'til he's a little older to try out skates again.

 Brayden sported 'double blade' ice skates, which is supposed 

to help with little kids' balance.  Um, didn't quite work as I had hoped.
Ice is quite slippery...go figure!

The best way we made it work for Brayden was to stick him 

in between our skates and just pull along the side.

Sandwiched between Dad's skates

 It's been awhile since I've been ice skating.  It was fun!

 With my little man...

We ended up taking turns skating on our own (romantic, I know!), 

while the other skated with Brayden.  I was proud 

of his effort and trying so hard to make it work.  

He was quite a cutie slipping and sliding around on the ice!

Scootin' Along

The weather has been super nice lately, so we've taken advantage of it by being outside a lot.  I picked up this scooter at a consignment sale for a whopping $3!  It has been quite a hit.  Every time we go into the garage, Brayden asks to ride his scooter.  It's hard explaining to an eager 3-year-old that Sunday morning before church or minutes before being late to preschool is not the ideal time to take a ride down the street.  He loves it though, and we get out most afternoons to take a ride.

I Love You...THIS MUCH!

I made this Valentines card for Brayden to send to his grandparents who live far away. We always say, "I love you...THIS much" and stretch our arms out super wide.  When I saw this idea, it was perfect!  

First, I just traced his hands onto colored cardstock.

Then, I traced it with a Sharpie...

made it easy to cut out and defined it a bit more.

Then, I cut strips and folded them like an accordion. (One per card)

Glue the accordion (folded up) inside the hands.

So when you send the card...

...it lets them know just how much you love them!

Happy Valentines Day!

The Best of My Days...January 2012

So far this year, I've tried to make a point to write down the "best of my day" each day.  I put together this notepad at Craft Day (from Under the Sycamore) to write down the best of each day.  I've tried my best to remember to write something down at the end of the day.  I think it's important to remember not just the big things, but the good conversations I have, the funny things my little one says, the things that point me to Jesus, and the precious moments of each day.  I'm hoping this helps me capture each of those things.

Each day, there is a super small space to write stuff down, so I tried my best to capture the "best" of each day in January.

1 - Being with our family & relaxing together today.
2 - Brayden said, "Thanks for making dinner!"  Then told Jonathan to tell me the same thing.
3 - (forgot to write something down!)
4 - BSF & Chick-Fil-A with a good friend, Alison, and her kiddos.  Good conversations!
5 - Seeing one of our high school girls talk to her mom about Jesus.
6 - Date Night w/ my hubby...dinner & a movie
7 - Cheering...all 3 of us...on the couch as the Bronchos won the football game.
8 - RAIN...all day!
9 - Brayden said, "I'm handsome like Dad, and Mommy, you're beautiful!"
10 - (forgot again!  oops!)
11 - Brayden singing (shouting, really) "How Great is Our God" in the car tonight
12 - God answered prayer - good experience and NO pain with my root canal!
13 - Ice skating with Jonathan and Brayden

14 - Learning/being reminded to "obey God in EVERY area" (thanks, EmCam!)

15 & 16 - JUMP Retreat with our family and "Nature Trekking" with Brayden for rocks all through the campground.
17 - "Color Outside the Lines" Women's event at church...great time with friends
18 - Brayden laughing hysterically, then saying, "Oh...I love you so much, Mommy!"
19 - Working out today - feels good to take care of myself through working out!
20 - Civil Wars concert - Date Night w/ Jonathan and good catching up with friends

21 - Playing at the park & also kickball in our yard with Brayden
22 - 200+ parents at the Second Students parents' meeting
23 - Time to talk and be encouraged by my mentor, Julie
24 - Getting to "Be the church" - taking care of a friend's kid during a hard time
25 - COLLIDE - counseling a high school girl in her new faith
26 - Brayden dressed up as a firefighter for Preschool

27 - Zoo trip with Brayden and Jonathan
28 - Swim Districts for a local high school - proud of our high school kids
29 - Seeing students bring LOTS of friends to Double Day - 683 students/leaders there for high school Bible study
30 - Brayden on his knees praying for forgiveness after a rough day of tantrums

31 - I asked Brayden his favorite game, and he said "Sports."  I asked him his favorite sport, and he said, "With Daddy...football."


I love these memories, and I'm so that that I took the time each day to write them down.  I will cherish them for many years to come!