Bryson turns 3!

Bryson's birthday fell on a Monday this year so he got to do his birthday circle at preschool on his actual birthday! I love the way they do birthday celebrations at his school. Here's Bryson putting the wooden "sun" in the center of the birthday mat at circle.
Then he placed wooden signs of each of the season's on the globes depicted on the mat (near the globes was a drawing representing each season). One of his classmates helped Bryson place the signs.

Then Bryson chose the sandpaper globe to walk around the circle with while everyone says, "The earth goes around the sun and then Bryson turned 1" I brought in a collage of pictures demonstrating each of Bryson's 3 years and I showed the pictures of his 1st year. Then he walked around the circle 2 more times until the earth had traveled around the sun 3 times for each of Bryson's 3 years.
Then Bryson cleaned up the birthday circle mat.
He passed around napkins to all of his classmates and his friend passed around the cookies we brought and everyone sang Happy Birthday to him:)

Bryson 3 years old in the same chair we took all of his monthly pictures in.
3 going on 10!
He wanted to go to Luna Park Cafe for his birthday dinner, he loves the batman ride!


After dinner Jaden gave Bryson the present he picked out for him, a batman helicopter!
Happy 3rd birthday baby boy!

Pumpkin Patch

We headed out to Remlinger Farms Pumpkin Patch on Saturday, October 10th. The sky was overcast but the temperature was perfect for an autumn morning picking pumpkins. Jeromy and Bert joined us this year with Jeromy acting as our personal photographer, thanks Jeromy! We also met up with the Boyer bunch;)
My favorite shot of the day, a family picture (I just need to photoshop the person in red out of it:)

We started off the morning with a ride on the tractor. Each year the patch is different, most years that we've gone you need to ride the tractor to get to the pumpkin patch. This year the pumpkin patch was very close to the entrance so the tractor just took us for a ride around the patch.

Such a handsome boy my Jaden is:)
Love this picture of everyone besides me! I don't know why it is but I take so many pictures with my eyes half closed in them!
A view from the tractor ride.
The boys in front of the tractor wheel, a tradition that we do each year.
After the tractor hay-ride, we all looked around for the perfect pumpkins.


Bert and Jaden
Bryson matched the colors perfectly!
Mighty B is so strong!
Next we decided to check out the corn maze. Remlinger ridiculously wants to charge extra to be able to go in the maze but they aren't smart enough to post that right at the maze or have someone standing guard;) So the kids made a mad dash towards the corn maze and as responsible parents we had to follow;) We were the only ones in the maze and everyone had so much fun running through and trying to figure out how to get to the other side.
Todd, Jaden, Bryson and Jackson/Brody (cannot tell from the back)
Amy, Bryson and Brody
I love this picture of Todd and Bryson.
Brody and Bryson
Jeromy

Trying to find our way through the maze we cheated a few times by going through the corn rows. Jeromy captured some great pictures of this.

Jaden
Bryson
Todd and Bert (this one cracks me up!)
Me
Amy

Bert was too funny using the hairy stuff from corn to make facial hair, ha!
I think this is a good look for him;)
Jaden and Todd found their way to the outside of the maze finally!
After the maze we went back to choose our pumpkins, Todd purchased the pumpkins and then took them back to the car with Bert and Jeromy. While I took the boys on another tractor ride with the Boyer's.
J and B right before leaving the patch.
As is our tradition we stopped in Issaquah for some lunch. Jaden has learned his awesome chopstick skills from me!

Bryson grubbed down!
I captured this picture of all of us in the "conversation mirror" of my car on our ride back home (you can barely see Jaden as he is riding 3rd row right behind Jeromy).

Bye bye binky, Hello big boy bed!

Bryson's been a binky boy from day 1 (1 week old).Jaden never cared anything about binky's so this was relatively new for me. I was always pretty strict that after 3 months (when the sucking reflex isn't quite as strong) that binky's were for nap/bedtime only. However, I did relax the binky rule once in awhile, but honestly I don't have a lot of pictures with Bryson and his binky especially his 1st year. Here he is on the boat with his binky, which was probably given to him because we wanted to try to get him to take a nap (10 months).
Bryson in Cannon Beach, this was also during his bedtime. We had a campfire on the beach and I gave him his binky so he wouldn't get fussy (10 months).
Binky fell out of his mouth but is right by his arm in this picture. Yes, he loved to sleep on his tummy and I let him;) He is 9 months old in this picture though.
Binky in the car occasionally too (12 months).
Binky on Easter morning (17 months)
I never thought I would let my child have a binky past the age of 2, but I did! Christmas-time last year on the way to our neighbors for dinner (2 years, 2 months)
He got to be a little more sneaky at age 2 and would go upstairs and get his binky out of his crib himself. Here he is on the couch (27 months).
Binky time right before playing in the snow (27 months)
This is a favorite picture of mine, showing Bryson with all of his lovies: binky, cozy-his all-time favorite blanket, and puppy (27 months).
Here's Bryson on his last day of using his crib (10/4)!
A few shots of his nursery before we changed it into his big boy room (these were all taken in October of 2006 right before Bryson was born although his nursery hadn't changed much since then).



Now some pictures of Bryson's big boy room and new boat bed (which is hard to see in these pictures but it does have a bow that opens and a trundle bed below it). I bought the boat bed, dresser and matching side table in like-new condition for a great deal on craigslist.
I got most of his bedding and flags at Land of Nod. The rest of the nautical decorations were either in his room already or I had them around my house.

His toy area.
Bryson's first night in his new bed, we told him now that he was a big boy with a big boy bed that he didn't need his binky anymore. He was great the first night!
Such a happy boy:)
He did cry for his binky a couple times after the first night and I have to admit that I gave in and gave it back to him a couple naps so that he would sleep. I finally stopped and there were about 3 days that he didn't nap (I was scared!) but he got used to sleeping without his binky and he doesn't even ask for it anymore. My baby's growing up. . .

fall soccer

The beginning of autumn signals many things, school starting, cooler days, increasingly shorter days, leaves changing colors, making many loaves of pumpkin/harvest bread, warm apple cider and also the start of fall soccer! I think this will be something to look forward to each fall having two rambunctious boys for many years to come. I have really grown to love this sport, watching Jaden play for the last couple years and also going to many Sounder's games in their inaugural seasonthis year! I am proud and delighted to be a soccer mom:)

This is Jaden's 1st year on the West Seattle Soccer League (he played for the YMCA for the past 2 years), and his team consisted of many of his great buddies. His coach this year is his buddy Kellen's dad Larry and his team is the Blue Rockets!
Here's Jaden (#8), Graison (#7) and Jake (#4 one of his school-mates)

Kailee and Kellen
Their first game, go Blue Rocket's!

Bryson also started playing with a 3 yr. old Y team (even though he wasn't quite 3 yet;) Here he is on his first practice.
Bryson's number was 12.
Go Mighty B!
Bryson's got some pretty great ball skills, for not even being 3. The hard part for him at first was remembering not to pick up the ball!

Water break!

1st day of school 2009

Bryson was so excited to start Montessori school just like his big brother! He loved his new backpack and he knew he was in the Blue Room with teacher's Kristina and Kim. He will go to preschool 3 mornings a week this year.

Such a big boy!
Jaden, on the other hand, was very emotional his 1st year of kindergarten. Even though he has the same teacher from the last 2 years (Mrs. Clark). He was worried that since his school moved to a new location it wouldn't be the same. He also worried that the preschool and elementary playground are now right next to each other. Poor guy was crying before I took these.

He started to cheer up a little. . .
It was my first day going back to teaching as well. I am working 2 mornings a week and 1 afternoon teaching 4th and 5th graders.
Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Bryson with his new teacher as I had to head to class myself. But I did capture a picture of Jaden and Mrs. Clark after school:)
We met Todd for dinner in the junction and then took the boys to Husky's for an 1st day of school ice cream treat!

Back to school last year.

The end of summer

The summer went too fast once again! I wanted to share some pictures of some other things we did in August and early September before school began.
My dad and I took the boys to the zoo so that he could see the new penguin exhibit.

There was this funny goose in the flamingo exhibit who apparently thought he was a flamingo!
He even stood on one leg;)

The boys and I had so much fun looking around the zoo with Grandpa. It is so nice now that he is retired and can join us on some fun outings in the middle of the week!

Bryson and Jaden love this part! The money funnel!

My little monkeys.

An update of how my garden looks.
Lots of tomatoes and zuchinni and lettuce!
After we arrived back from Cannon Beach, we met up with Chandra and Graison (and baby Ava) at a Sounder's practice game that the boys were invited to because of going to a Sounder's camp this summer. It was a HOT day but so fun that the boys received autographed cards from many of the players.
Grandpa Albert got to join us too!

The week before school started the boys got their haircut from Aunt Rachelle. Sadly, this may be the last haircut for awhile from their auntie as she moved to San Diego.
The boys thought this motorcycle out front was pretty cool!

After the haircuts we met up with Katie, Kellen and Griffin to go see the salmon run in the locks. Katie showed us a new spot to park that we crossed this bridge which had train tracks below. On our way to the locks we didn't see a train cross.
The boys watching the salmon jump!
Jaden and Kellen
Bryson and Griffin


On our way back to the car we stayed on the bridge a few minutes until we spotted a train!
Bryson was so happy:)
Back to the zoo, this time with daddy. We decided to skip going to the lake this year for Labor Day weekend as we had traveled so much over the summer. So one of the days we headed to the zoo.
Both boys love having their own map of the zoo, so they can figure out where they want to go.

Bryson trying to spot some penguins.
Always a favorite part and something we only do when Todd joins us for some reason is to go feed the birds.


On Labor Day we joined Katie, Larry and their boys to see the circus! Here are the boys in front of one of the circus performers.
Todd and the boys and "muscle man".
Kellen and Jaden
Todd and Bryson.
The boys LOVED watching the circus!

The Lake, Kite Festival and Cannon Beach

WARNING: Long post with too many pictures, but it is my blog and I will post lots of pic's if I want to;) We had been looking forward to our long August vacation this year. This summer we tried to take longer trips since it felt like all we did last summer was pack and unpack! Our longest trip of the summer started with heading to the lake on Thursday, August 13. I guess I should back up with the day before we left, Bryson was wheezing so in to see Dr. A and a nebulizer lent to us. So glad we caught that before we headed out of town!

We spent 4 days relaxing at the lake house, riding bikes, playing and enjoying family time. Jaden loved riding his new bike. We rode around the lake and he did great:) J checking out the train tracks Todd took the boys out to the dock to do some fishing. Campfires are a must at the lake! Yummy smores! On Saturday we tried to go to a salmon festival at the local casino but it was lame! So we drove to Olympia to visit the capital. I had never been before, Todd had but it had been years. Here's B by a fountain that he was intrigued with. Todd took this picture from across the road trying to get the capitol and us. (If you click on the picture you can see the boys and I) J trying to reach both pillars. We went inside and toured the capitol. Then while walking to our car Todd and the boys enjoyed a game of tag in one of the gardens. Sunday was beautiful and the boys enjoyed bike riding and playing in the water. Grandpa Wayne, Grandma Jane and Grandma Annette also joined us this day. We were all sitting around the camp fire talking about the people who have sat on the hill beside the lake and fallen in. We mentioned that no one had done that in a while, then Jaden volunteered! This is actually the 2nd time he did it, as he took so long the 1st time that I turned off the camera. Silly boy!

On Monday, we all drove to Long Beach to visit the kite festival. My parent's joined us there as well. The boys loved these inflatable lady bugs, but the people who owned them kept giving us dirty looks like the boys were going to stomp on them;) Nothing worse than a grumpy kite flyer who puts colorful lady bugs all around and expects kids to stay away from them! We made it in time to see the people flying these kites in unison. Forgot what it's called but it is pretty cool to see! Huge octopus kites. It was a tad windy! Great for kites, but not for hair;) Nana wanted to take the boys on some rides so we walked to town so that they could try out the bumper cars. This shot is blurry but I love the expression on both my mom and Jaden's faces, pure joy! Nana, Grandpa Albert and their grandsons. We went to dinner and afterwards we took the boys back to the beach so that they could fly their kite. The boys by some whale bones. Running on the boardwalk. On Tuesday morning we headed down to Cannon Beach to stay for a week. We spent most of the day relaxing at the campground at our cabin, watching the kids riding bikes and then going out to dinner. We visited the beach a little before we were able to check into our cabin but didn't set up on the beach until Wednesday. Bryson loved swinging in the hammock that Todd set up. Nana and J in our cabin Eating dinner The campground is fantastic, they have a bunch of bunnies running around (not as many as last year though) and they also have horses. The kids love feeding the horses in the evenings when they are in the pasture. J in his top bunk the first night! Our first full day on the beach the weather was temperate but it remained quite foggy for most of the day. The kids didn't care as they were too busy building sand castles, flying kites and playing in the sand. Bryson and I took a walk over to the candy shop. That afternoon the Boyer's came. The boys in front of our favorite Cannon Beach restaurant Lumberyard's. Riding to the beach on Thursday morning. The boys enjoyed the new stomp rocket that we got them. Perfect day to fly daddy's stunt kite! Love this picture of my dad and Bryson flying a kite. We also visited the local park so that the boys could play on the playground. The boys had so much fun playing in J's bunk;) Thought this was funny, J fell asleep in the hammock! Todd had been pushing him and left to do something. I noticed a few minutes later how quiet it was (not always a good sign if you're a mom) I looked down from our cabin porch and J was sleeping in the hammock! Campfire at night: J, Nana and I playing cards and Bryson listening and playing with Grandpa Albert's ipod. On Friday morning, Todd,the boys and I rode our bikes to go visit Haystack rock and look at the tide pools. I love all my boys in their matching Volcom hats! Playing chase with daddy. Looking at sea creatures with mommy. Since the day was cloudy and cool we decided to all head down to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. The boys were really fascinated with watching the cheese go through the assembly line. We ate lunch at the factory and after the tour got delicious Tillamook ice cream. By the time we arrived back in Cannon Beach it turned out to be a beautiful day, so we quickly headed back to the beach. Todd, Tom, Brody, Jackson and Bryson in the water. That evening we went to eat at Mo's (another family tradition). Here's Grandpa Wayne and Grandma Jane before dinner. Great-grandparent's and their Great-grandchildren. Family pic. Grandma Jane and my dad. Todd, Jaden and Tom Amy and I Saturday was gorgeous, we had so much fun hanging out on the beach this day with the beautiful weather. Todd skim-boarding and the boys running in the water. Nana and Jaden and Bryson with Haystack rock in the distance. The boys and I. Bryson especially had a blast running through and laying down in the tide water that was surpisingly fairly warm. J practicing skim boarding. LOVE this shot of B! My lil surfer boy:) A short video of Jaden skim boarding.

Bryson and Jaden almost being swept away by the rush of the incoming tide!

Jaden took these pictures of Todd and I. Stripey boy in his shirt and J's shorts. This is the last night that my parent's stayed as they headed home on Sunday. Here they are with the boys in front of their cabin. On the walk to dinner at Lumberyard's again! After dinner Todd and I took the boys to visit the horses and then rode our bikes over to look at the sunset at the beach. On Sunday, our last full day in Cannon Beach, we played at the park and relaxed most of the day. We headed back to the beach for a bbq dinner and campfire to watch the sunset.

Todd and the boys playing bocce at the park. Jaden loved this little puppy near the shops as we were waiting for our pizza. J in front of our cabin.

The gorgeous sunset on our last night. The next morning we woke up and packed and then had to go to the local park one last time before our long drive home.

Jaden mastering these funky monkey bars!