brian & kristin: March 2016

Everett's First Time Skiing

{February 28th}

We went up to Echo Mountain for Braxton's 3rd and last ski lesson this season and decided to put Everett on skis just to see what he thought.

He refused to wear a hat or helmet but didn't seem to mind the boots or skis at all.

At first, Brian took him up and just held his coat and ran down the hill with him.

It was a little steep and Everett kind of whined and freaked out a little, but I think thats mostly because he didn't know what was going on.

We found a less steep part of the hill and Brian just let him go down by himself, just running next to him, and Everett loved it!
He would giggle each time he would go down and as soon as Brian stopped him at the bottom he would start yelling "again! again!"
When Brian got the top and set him up, Everett would yell at Brian to "let go!"
Once he got it a few times, he was hooked. I think he will definitely be our little daredevil!
We got some really fun video of him going down several times and one we even got him saying "I ski, I ski" while he was going down.

One of the instructors thought he still might be too young for lessons next season but recommended we just get a harness to take him down and control his speed.
We can't wait to get this little dude back up next year.

Braxton also did so great for his 3rd lesson!
I think things finally clicked and he figured out how to stop with a pizza and even learned how to turn. His right turn is stronger and he is more comfortable that direction but he is picking it up fast.
Brian plans on taking him up again soon to a lift/bunny hill so he can go down a green and really start practicing the turns and stopping.
So proud of our new little skier!

4 1/2 Years

{February 28th}

Braxton still love love LOVES dogs!

He loves every dog we meet.

We watched Homeward Bound for movie night a few weeks ago and he was so into it.

When Shadow (the older dog) falls in the mine at the end he just lost it and started sobbing.

Such a sensitive little buddy!

He's getting much better at being patient with Everett.

He still loses it and they fight over toys or whatever every once in awhile, but he's been really good about just letting Everett have his way.

He is really into practicing his letters and spelling out words.

He asks us how to spell a word or phrase and then writes out each letter.

He doesn't necessarily write them in order or a straight line, but he can draw each one on his own.

He is still super into Star Wars.

Obsessed!

He knows the plot and characters of all 7 movies and loves to reenact specific battles.

He's also become super into little legos.

He keeps asking to earn money so he can buy more Star Wars lego sets.

He is still so great at playing on his own.
He is so quick to just go in the play room and play with whatever... Star Wars guys, little people, cars, tools, etc. He is so creative!

He is so dang smart and remembers things really well.
He is always reciting back fun facts or things he's learned at school.
He is learning about dinosaurs right now and loves it so much!
We just took him to the Museum of Nature and Science and he ate up every bit of it!

He got a razor scooter for Christmas and can't wait until its warm out and he can practice riding it as good as Caden and Caleb.
We keep trying to get him to practice riding his bike better too but he still doesn't seem to have much interest in it.

If he takes a nap during the day, he is such a pain to get to sleep at night.

We will put him in bed by 8:30 and sometimes he'll stay up 'reading books' or playing in bed until 10.

Even if he is tired, he's really restless when he gets in bed and it still usually takes him a little while to fall asleep.

He's really excited for Everett to move down into his room.

He's been scared of the dark more lately and always wants us to lay with him until he falls asleep.

I think it will really help just having Everett in there with him.

He is everything cute and fun about being 4 and we are loving this age!
When he's good, he's SO good and easy and fun to be around.
But when he has an attitude, it wears our patience down so fast.
Lately he's been into bugging Everett and purposely getting him fired up/mad.
It also drives us crazy when he blatantly ignores us and doesn't listen.

2 Years

{February 19th}

The last 2 years have seriously gone by so fast!

I can remember exactly when he was just a little newborn and I don't know how we already have a 2 year old.

He is the perfect little boy for our family and just recently has started to act "TWO"... in every sense of the word!

He has gotten really independent lately!

Wants to do everything himself and anything big brother is doing.

I know from our experience with Braxton that this phase is going to get worse and we've just seen the beginning but it can still be a pain.

He wants to drink out of cups without a lid, holding it by himself.

He wants to buckle his own carseat buckles and try to climb in the car himself too.

We've heard "no, I do it" a lot lately, followed up by the cutest and most proud "I did it!!"
He also loves being a helper with anything that we do.

He has also been much more opinionated and demanding lately.

Lots of MINE! or NO!

And lots of whining if he wants something, followed up by some fun little tantrums if we take something away or he doesn't get his way.

He is so mischievous and loves to test.

Some recent examples have been blowing bubbles in his milk, throwing food at dinner, and hitting.

He is also quick to test his brothers patience by promptly knocking over or stepping on anything he has just built with Legos or Magnatiles.

He got the Magnatiles for his birthday and they have been such a great toy!

He plays with Legos a little but has figured out the Magnatiles quickly and both boys have played with them every day since we got them.

Other favorite toys include cars and tools.

He loves to color/draw and is pretty dang good at it.

He holds pens/markers correctly with is finger and thumb and concentrates so hard when he's drawing or coloring.

He doesn't scribble all over the paper, but instead colors really small, deliberate areas and likes to stay in the lines.

He knows what time out is and doesn't like it.

But he's really quick to say SORRY and give hugs and kisses when he does get in trouble.

He is talking so much and loves to sing songs.

He repeats anything we say and puts 2 or 3 words together to say mini sentences now.

He sings "The Wheel's on the Bus" so good and knows all the motions.

He also loves to sing "EIEIO", can sing parts of his "ABC's" and can hum all of the Star Wars music.

We had a little breakfast pajama party for his birthday with our close friends and all of their kids and he loved it.

When we sang Happy Birthday, he got so shy and embarrassed but perked up again when we clapped and yelled YAH after he blew out his candles.

He can be so sweet and loves to cuddle!

He's always happy in the morning but has to have time just snuggling on the couch watching a show and drinking his milk.

If he is rushed and doesn't get to just cuddle for a bit, he gets really cranky.

He also isn't much of a breakfast eater first thing.

He will pick at a few bites but eats much better if its later in the morning.

His favorite shows are Paw Patrol, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Sheriff Callie.

He knows the names of all of the puppies and Mickey characters.

His favorite movie is Cars and he loves anything Lightning McQueen too.

He also loves reading books and will make you read the same one over and over and over again.
Some favorites right now are the "How do Dinosaur's..." series, "Little Mouse, Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear", "Very Hungry Caterpillar", and "Hello Ninja"
We've read them so much that he has several of the pages memorized.

He can point out any animal and knows the sounds they make.

He knows all his body parts.

And he's gotten most of his colors down pretty well.

He has picked up on how to play Hide and Seek and loves to play with Braxton.

He covers his eyes and counts "1, 2, 1, 2..." and then says "Here I come!"

He also likes to hide but usually comes running out and giggling if you even get close to finding him.

He is everything sweet and fun about being 2 and we still love this stage so much!

(even in the crazy, demanding times)

Can't believe time has gone by so fast, but we sure love you little boy!!

Happiest Birthday to you!

Braxton's 2nd Ski Lesson

{January 30th}

February Updates

Braxton and I flew to OK for a quick weekend for Cathey's baby shower.

On our way there, the pilots offered to let Braxton come sit in the cockpit and even gave him their hat to wear... he was in heaven!

Then... on the way back home, Braxton just walked right in there and sat down like that was what you always do when getting on the plane, ha! Luckily we had gracious pilots again who were so sweet to him and let him sit there.

Everett stayed home with daddy for the weekend and loved every second of being an only child.

He loved playing computer games with all of daddy's friends

He was such a good boy while they ran errands and got a few things done around the house.

big helper helping daddy clean!

He went through this ENTIRE bottle of cleaner, cleaning everything in the house for hours.

brothers after bath time

Concentrating so hard :: such a little lounger

Mickey glasses

Brian and I had a fun weekend away in Steamboat with our friends the Konrads (with no kids!)

We had great weather and even say 3 moose right outside our condo in the parking lot... a mama and 2 babies.

It was the first time we've seen moose since we've moved to Colorado (10 years ago!)

These boys had the best weekend at home with Mimi and Papa.

They made cookies, rode bikes, and celebrated Everett's birthday a little early.

Sometimes its hard being 2 :: Little monkey has to touch everything in the public bathrooms (gross)

School pictures
We do not dress them like this... they dress them up at school for spring pics.
Even with the cheesy outfits, they sure are the cutest boys ever