Blakey turns 1

Our sweet brown eyed boy turned 1.


Blake had his 1st birthday on May 4, 2009. Matt went out of town for a meeting so the festivities were split up. We had the traditional cinnamon roll breakfast on Sunday before Blake's birthday and then a birthday dinner at Red Robin on Tuesday the day after when Matt got home. Blake has a special bond with the blue doggy he sleeps with, so Matt thought it would be appropriate to make a blue doggy cake. Blake loves to suck on his doggy's ears, so we gave him a slice of the ear. He loved the breakfast cinnamon roll, but he was less excited about the chocolate cake.

Blake has started standing up on his own for a few seconds at a time. He loves to see everyone get excited when he performs this new trick. He watches to see our reactions. We clap to encourage him, so he thinks that he needs to clap when he stands. Blake has also started to wave. He is exploring more and starting to climb things. He likes to push the stools and little red chairs around the kitchen to practice walking.

Blake is still not sleeping through the night despite having a doggy and fuzzy doggy blanket to snuggle. He is also a picky eater, and doesn't like to try new things. If he doesn't recognize a food item by sight he will close his mouth and turn his head (though he doesn't seem to have any concerns about putting unrecognized nonfood items in his mouth). Blake is also starting to express his opinion when things don't go his way, and will give a cry of protest if anything is taken from him.

Everyone loves to spend time with Blake. Julia always asks to have Blake come play with her in the bedroom. Brayden shares a room with Blake and is a great help with keeping him happy when he wakes up in the morning. From his crib, Blake will call to wake up Brayden and happily talks until someone comes to get him. Brayden is very heavy sleeper, so this sometimes takes a lot of effort on Blakes part. Kylee (95% of the time) responds very positively to requests to watch Blake. She enjoys talking to him and making him laugh. We are all very happy to have Blake be a part of our family.

A Weekend in Washington D.C.

Our time in North Carolina is rapidly coming to an end, so we are trying to get in some sight seeing before we leave. We finally made the weekend trip up to Washington D.C. we have been talking about since we got here two years ago. Riding the metro was an amusement park ride in and of itself.



We spent a morning at the Museum of Natural History.


We made the trek all the way down to the Lincoln Memorial with stops at the Washington Monument, World War II Memorial, and Vietnam Wall. It was a long hike and Julia and Blake fell asleep, but there wasn't anyone to carry Brayden.




We had to bribe them with ice cream to make the trek back.


We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Air and Space Museum. There were too many great things to see and do.

The next day we went to the Zoo. The adventure was the process of getting there. Our ill planned attempt to park in downtown Washington D.C. resulted in a great deal of unanticipated sight seeing in some of the less typical tourist locations. Several hours after our planned arrival time we finally showed up at the zoo. Saturday is probably not the best day to go to a free zoo. The best shot we got of the pandas was on this sign. We only had a little bit of time and we probably spent half of it waiting in line to use the bathrooms. I think we still managed to have fun though.

The high point of the entire weekend for Brayden was on the sidewalk in front of the Museum of Natural History. It was a combination of two of his favorite things; money and picking stuff up of the ground. The ten dollar bill was burning a hole in his pocket all day long until he was able to unload it at the gift shop of the Air and Space Museum later that afternoon.

If you have read the blog entries over the past several months you might have picked up on Brayden's money fixation. Since he figured out you can use it to buy stuff he has been preoccupied with getting it. He had planned on building a robot that could make money, then he started just making it himself with a green crayon and lined paper. He has been reading and writing incessantly to earn money, first for the Wii, and more recently for Legos and other future acquisitions. My friend Philip was staying with us the week before our trip to DC. Brayden was telling him that we were going to Washington DC and invited him to go with us. Philip explained that he had already been to Washington DC. Brayden was pretty excited to hear that and asked, "Is there a lot of money there? Did you see it? Do they have a bank?" Turns out there is a lot of money in Washington DC.

Easter

Easter Sunday pictures. After several tries, this was the best picture we could get.


Our kids were able to be a part of 3 different Easter egg hunts. Of course that meant way more candy than we needed in our home. We only got pictures of the one put on by their older cousins.

The Easter season would not be complete with out last minute Easter Egg coloring. 

Cry Wolf

I just have to start out saying that Brayden is a teaser. He loves to tease his siblings. Julia being right below him seems to take on most of the teasing that Brayden likes to dish out. Julia has decided to cry wolf lately. If he is near her she starts calling "Mooommm, Brayden bothering me." Well today before school the kids were hanging out getting ready to go to school. Brayden was waiting on the stairs talking to Julia. Julia came over to me and in her tattle telling voice said, "Mooommmm, Brayden is talking to me." I guess her tolerance for Brayden is really low.

Wii

We have been trying to teach our children the value of money. Kylee and Brayden get a monthly allowance of their age in dollars. We are also trying to teach the concept of interest, so each month they get one extra dollar for each ten dollars they have saved. They usually like to go and spend their money on dollar stuff (junk) at Target or candy. Matt wanted to help motivate them to save with a goal in mind. He offered to help them save for a Wii. If they could save half the money, we would pay the other half. They have been very excited and stayed focused, encouraging each other to not waste money on little things. After 3 months of hard work and doing extra jobs, Kylee and Brayden paid $55 each and Julia paid $15. The three of them went to Sam's Club with Matt and each handed their wad of cash over to the cashier. They are pretty proud of their purchase and hopefully will take some ownership of it.

Dragon

Kylee's Dragon

Uncle Ryan's visit

The kids were so excited to have Uncle Ryan come and visit. 

They got to show him and his friend Josh how to use the trampoline. 



We all went out to one of their favorite places to eat, Red Robin.

They love getting chocolate milk with their food and a balloon to take home.  We love the unlimited pasta refills for the hole that is in Brayden's stomach and the loud atmosphere to drown out the children.

Ryan handled being Brayden's human jungle gym pretty well.

Julia enjoyed introducing kitty to Uncle Ryan.  Kitty did a lot of licking.

We were all sad to say goodbye to Ryan.  Kylee shows her love with presents, and sent Ryan off with a shell, a marble, and a note.