Ahh...the weekend.

I'm not even going to TRY to make this weekend into a coherent story. (Yes, I realize that most of my weekend stories don't "flow". hehe) So here's the rundown:

- Went on a date night. Had some fabulous bread pudding. Wow...we were stuffed. Thanks to Mike and Connie for watching Brenden! And for giving us the gift card that made the date night possible! :)

- Moved furniture. Our air conditioner started leaking into our power strip...the power strip that we had ALL of our expensive electronics plugged into. (ex: the TV, the DVR, the Wii, the computer, the DVD player) Thankfully it only shorted out one of the plugs and all the electronics are fine. WHEW! I think the new set up will work well. We just have to figure out how to keep Brenden from standing so close to the TV.

- I got my camera back!!!! And it works perfectly!!! YAY!!!!! :) :) :)

- Had a great time at Tim's company picnic. The park is only a few miles from our house (not that Tulsa is big but this is close) and has one of those cool water features that Brenden can run through. We had all the normal cookout food and some snow cones and watched Brenden run from one person to the next, including the most adorable little girl I've ever seen.

He just wanted to step on them...which was hilarious!

He's a natural! Or he plays to much Wii. Either way... :)

- Went out on "Brenden's Boat" to celebrate Ginny's (Gi-Gi) birthday. We stopped and had cheese, crackers and wine and made it to the restaurant on time. Of course, they had our reservation wrong so we had to wait and when we finally sat down we did not get very good service. Everyone was happy and we eventually made it home by 10:30 pm. Brenden was up late, plus he had a very small nap, so I thought he might sleep in a bit. WRONG! He was up at 6:45 am.

Happy Birthday, Ginny! (She's in the pink)

- We're going to our friend Brandi's stepmom's funeral today. She had been sick for a very long time but was getting better so it came as a surprise. We are all thinking of Brandi and her family. We love you!

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Update: We never made it to Brandi's mom's funeral. :( Our first problem was that Tim couldn't remember exactly where the church was. He thought it was at 79th and Yale. Eventually he remembered the name and we found it using our GPS on our phone. (THANK GOODNESS! I love our Navigation!) It was at 99th and Yale and we made it with 3 minutes to spare. Of course, when we walked in and saw everyone in their Sunday finest we realized something was up. The funeral was the day before, on Saturday. Tim was devastated and I was upset. We ended up talking to Brandi, who was about to board a plane back to New Orleans, and she understood. She actually thought it was funny! Anything to make her laugh. I thought for sure Tim had read it wrong but when we got home we checked his phone and it said Sunday at 11 am at 79th and Yale. Darn...now I can't make fun of him. I guess I still have the blunder in Stillwater I can bug him about. :)

Wordless Wednesday

Wow! A post WITHOUT pictures of Brenden! :) (beware...there are still a TON of pictures)

Our Beautiful Backyard

Flowers

Wildlife

Trees

The tree outside our backdoor...in winter.

The same tree...in summer.

Happy 3rd Birthday Jackson and Dillon!

This past weekend I smushed myself into the back of my parents Tahoe and hugged my grandma's walker for 2 hours to head to Oklahoma City for the twin's birthday party. Brenden and grandma Halter watched Cars and I tried to keep them both happy with crackers and juice while my mom drove. Everything went pretty well until about 20 minutes before we got to the house, which is when Brenden started freaking out and grabbing at the buckle for his carseat. He was DONE! (I didn't blame him!) Thankfully a few rounds of "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider" distracted him.

The entire weekend Brenden followed the twins like a little puppy. He wanted to do what they were doing, play with what they were playing with, eat and drink what they had. I don't think they were too keen on this, but they tolerated him to an extent. They all loved the bubble blowers my dad bought them, even though only one of the three worked, and they spent Saturday evening scrambling all over the backyard to pop them.

Sunday morning, after helping my uncle put together a huge, dome climbing thing and getting Brenden to take a nap, we headed to the PlayZone where the party was being held. It's a really cool place with inflatable jumping toys and slides. The twins go there every once in awhile so they were pros and thankfully Brenden had jumped around in one at Tim's Reunion so he knew what to do.

Jackson showing us how it's done!

He LOVED it! :)

WHEE!

Eventually, after crawling in, out, around and down everything a million times we headed into the side room to have cake and ice cream and watch the boys open their presents. Brenden thought everyone was singing to him so he really enjoyed the cake part and he kept himself entertained for about 2 seconds with the content of his gift bag. My mom did end up taking him outside to jump around so he didn't scream to open the presents himself.

Adorable cake!

Somehow we got the room cleaned up and all the presents packed in the car and headed back to the house. Rick had set up the boys' pool before we left so that the water could warm up and Delayna brought over a few of the news toys. The bubble blower the boys got is soooo cool. It makes huge bubbles with little bubbles inside them, which I was totally jealous of. :) Brenden and the twins had a great time chasing bubbles and splashing in the pool. Brenden even showed his grandma how he learned to blow bubbles in the water!

Can you see the bubbles in the bubble? Cool, huh!? :)

SPLASH!!!

I'm not sure how we got any of them to bed that night with all the sugar in their systems and the bubbles in the backyard, but we did! You would think that Brenden would be exhausted and sleep like a champ...yeah right! He was up at 6:30 am, just like any other day. I'm not sure who reset his internal alarm over the last month but I need to take him back for an adjustment!

We squeezed back into the car to head home relatively early in the day. During the ride home Brenden somehow ended up eating crackers, french fries, a piece of hamburger, animal crackers and his favorite, donut holes. When he passed out (only 15 minutes from home...Joy!) he was covered in sugar and I thought for sure I was in for a nasty afternoon. SOMEHOW he stayed asleep from the car to his bed and took a decent nap, waking up 2 hours later, still sticky, but very happy.

I'm so glad we got to go celebrate and have fun with the twins. I hope they had a great time as well!

Brenden, totally jealous of their vSmile. :) But he did OK watching!

Happy Birthday Jackson and Dillon!

For more pictures, click HERE!

Congrats to Justin and Meredith!

Last night my brother did what he had been planning on doing for a long time...he proposed!!! The poor guy has been holding onto the ring for a few months now, waiting for the right moment.

I don't know all the details or if it went as planned but I know they were going to take a horse drawn carriage ride and he wanted to do it under the St. Louis Arch. When I see pictures and actually talk to him for more than 3 seconds I guess I'll find out. :)

BIG CONGRATULATIONS!!!! And welcome to the family, Meredith!

The happy couple!

He's a Fish!!!!

Today was Brenden's first swimming lesson. Tim and I both thought that he would like it. I mean, he begs to go in the bathtub all day long and had a blast running in front of a fire hose. How could he not like it? Thankfully, we were right.

I showed up a little too early and Brenden had a minor meltdown because I didn't immediately let him run out into the water. Not going to make that mistake again! Tim decided to take a few hours off from work to come to the first lesson since he wouldn't be able to come to any of the other ones. Both Brenden and I are so glad that he could make it!

Tim grabbed Brenden's hand and walked him into the water down one of their the gently sloping ramps. (A genius way to get kids used to the water slowly....I so should have expected that. Duh!) Immediately Brenden wanted to walk on his own and actually made it halfway down before the water was a bit too deep. They were the first to meet up with the instructor, who's name I cannot remember, and she handed them a watering can to get wet with. Amazingly, Brenden was not having that. He screeched and wailed and did NOT want his dad pouring water on him. Um...weird! We do that every time he takes a bath!

Eventually the other 3 little kids made it out to the pool with their moms. Each Diaper Dolphin class only has 4 kids so it's not overwhelming at all. They blew bubbles in the water, which Brenden eventually did once, splashed around after floating toys, learned how to crawl out of the pool (Brenden was the first one out...shocking), and jumped off the side. They sang songs and floated around and all of the kids really seemed to enjoy it. By the end, every time Tim put Brenden on his belly he would flail his arms around or kick his feet. I have a feeling he'll be doggy paddling before we know it.

The entire time they were in there I watched from an observation room. I took a few blurry pictures with Tim's phone and waved every 2 seconds when Brenden would yell at me. Tim said he talked to me the entire time. I am still amazed that I FORGOT MY CAMERA! Maybe subconsciously I was worried about getting a camera too close to the water, because we all know, cameras do not like water! :) However, I have heard from a very reliable source (Mike!) that my camera has dried out and possibly even works! Hallelujah! I'm ready to check it out!

I thought for sure Brenden would be impossible to get out of the pool and even worse to get out of the building. He ended up doing just fine - maybe he was tired - and we headed to Jason's Deli. We don't eat out very often so Fridays are a big day for Tim. He even has his own little song, which I cannot get out of my head, that he sings on Thursday nights. :) Brenden ate more than I've seen him eat in months. He very happily chomped on grilled cheese, chunks of cantaloupe, pineapple, strawberries, tomatoes, crackers...you name it from the salad bar. I thought I was the only kid that ever loved cantaloupe. I guess I passed that on!

By the time we got back to the house Brenden seemed to be exhausted. He was sitting in his carseat, staring out the window, and singing "Mi mi mi mi, mo mo mo mo" over and over again very quietly. (I have a feeling it was about Mickey Mouse.) As soon as I pulled him out of the car he had his head on my shoulder and by the time I got to his bed I think he was half asleep. I took him roughly 5 seconds to close his eyes and by the time I got everything from the car into the house he was snoring. :)

Fridays are looking like awesome days!

Here are the pictures I took. I told you, they're blurry! (click to enlarge)

Trying to get him to let dad pour water on him. He was not impressed!

I think they were swinging them around in the water.

Splish, splash! "Swimming" towards the edge.

How To Put On Shorts, Step by Step

Step One - Have your mom put one foot in. That way you know which side is the front.

Step Two - Stick the other foot in. Don't worry if you lose sight of both of your feet for a little while. They are still there. Just keep kicking and eventually they will show back up.

Step Three - Grab the front of your shorts and yank...and keep yanking...and keep yanking. You may need to grunt, stick your tongue out, and possibily ask for help before getting back to yanking.

Step Four - Stand up and, much like step three, keep on yanking. Your diaper may get in the way but eventually it will relent and you'll make it up and over.

Step Five - Make sure to turn around and look extremely proud. You've worked hard! Now you deserve some ice cream!

Wordless Wednesday

I'm totally stealing this idea from Bear and Bug's Mommy. :) (Thanks, Heather!)

So...who does Brenden look more like? In the delivery room we all thought he was his daddy's twin.

Meeting Brenden...Sept. 16th, 2007.

Our Baby Pictures:

Tim - 2 days old

Brenden - 1 week old

Amanda - 2 days old

Now?

Tim and Brenden (17 months old)

Amanda and Brenden (18 months old)