Sunday, October 31, 2010

Fun New Friends

Braden has found a fun new friend! Her name is Ainsley. She is in our ward, just a few months older than Braden and I watch her occasionally, which Braden loves!
It is so fun to see him play with other little kids and start to get into that more social stage where he really gets excited to play with other kids.
Ainsley is particularly a great playmate because she is not too intense - she's pretty relaxed and happy. :) Braden likes to play, but he likes to have his space too, and it usually takes him a while to warm up. He can be pretty shy. But he and Ainsley are great little buds and just entertain each other and laugh so hard together it is hilarious! I love it. I get so much done when she's here too, because Braden has someone else to play with and keep his attention! It's a win-win situation all the way around and I really love that he has a sweet little best friend!
Just so cute!
And you can see from the picture above that Ainsley lacks no fear in trying anything Braden does. :) He started climbing up the TV and she was barely a step behind him. He seemed to think it was great that he had a little friend around to be a monkey with him!

Big Boy Bed!!!

Braden has been sleeping on a mattress on the floor since we moved to this house because we thought he was old enough to not be in a crib - but not old enough to be up very high yet - plus we didn't really have a bed for him yet. Then, we found the jackpot! Sometimes when people move around here they leave any stuff they don't want to take with them on the curb. The city comes and picks up whatever other people haven't already taken by then sometime the next week. It is basically a free-for-all. :) And we love anything that is free! So we found a really nice set of bunk beds, a great office chair, a banana chair and a few other random things. It was awesome!
So were a little forced to put Braden's bed together because of some unsavory bugs around the house (one found running across his bed!!! i was thoroughly disgusted and grossed out!). I wasn't sure of what he would think of it, but he LOVES it!!!!! He bounces on it all the time and thinks his big bed is awesome!
Preparing for a big jump!
And the jump was a little too big! His pants came right down! It was hilarious!

I love these shelves for decorating his room! Though I'm still working on finding good, cheap ideas for what to put up there...any ideas are welcome! :)

At the Zoo

We took a little family break a couple of weeks ago and went to the zoo together. It was so much fun to just go and be together, spending time as a little family. :) Plus Braden loves animals so he was pretty excited about the whole thing!

Justin and I thought it was so funny that this elephant was just standing there with his back legs crossed!
Petting and feeding the goats was Brado's favorite part of the zoo by far!

Loving Fall

We are all thoroughly enjoying the fall season here, but no one more so than Braden! I remember enjoying playing in the fallen leaves as a child, but I don't remember loving nearly as much as Braden does. The joy he finds in it is just contagious and I really find myself feeling like a little kid again playing with him and seeing the joy he has in everything! It seems like I am enjoying childhood 10 times more just living it through him. I just love his energy and excitement for life!

I was so bummed that this picture didn't turn out better - but you can still see the pure joy in his face even though it is dark :)