Beauty and the Beast...
Fun day at the park yesterday...fun to have daddy home after 9 long days without him!
Brady's first day sportin his first pair of 'real shoes'.
Our first pumpkin carving party and Brady loved feeling the gooey inside of the pumpkin.

Brady and Syd
Nathaniel showed up for dinner wearing the same outfit as Brady.
Too cute!!

Today Brady made me laugh out loud so many times today. Good thing...as it's me and him for a while longer. Eric has been gone since Monday and who knows when he's returning from the smoke of San Diego.

Brady saw this humongous blow-up motorcycle and merry go round Halloween decor with huge oversized snowmen/witches/people on them at OSH and I thought he was going to explode. He tensed up his entire body and was practically shaking of excitement. He was pointing and saying...'torning'...whatever that means. I couldn't contain myself and was laughing at him...people walked by and looked at us like we were crazy...I swear, people take life too seriously, me included. (sorry for the horrible run on sentence!)

We got to go away for a night thanks to great people who watched Brady...and escape to la la land...a place where no one is getting food on my clothes or grunting at me for attention. ) Eric and I went to SLO then to Fess Parker's Winery for a firefighter's bbq...so sad no one showed up because they were all fighting fires! More wine for us! :)


We came home to one sleepy kid...he slept in til 8:30 today. WOO HOO for me! Then took 2 two hour naps. Good Times!!!
Flashback from when Brady and I took daddy to the pumpkin patch. Brady LOVES that place!

Brayden helped me garden tonight...reading the directions on the back of the cilantro packet was really helpful to me...then, I turn away for no more than 20 seconds and I find him IN the flower pot!

What a punkin! :) Brady absolutely adored the pumpkin patch. He could walk from one pumpkin to another without falling and they were just the perfect size.

We'll have to go back with Brady in his Lion costume to get some more pics.

One thing is missing from these pictures....my brother. A whole year without him. We spent the weekend in Big Bear with Steph and Syd. It was a nice trip away, but missed Matt a lot, kept thinking "he should be here with us".

Matt would love watching these two kids grow up. Brady learned to color this weekend, ie not put the crayon in his mouth and is taking 5 or 6 steps at a time. He plays games with us, finds humor in things on his own and is actually responding to some of our instructions at times! He is no longer a baby, he is a little person that is learning right and wrong. Sydney is learning how to fish and absolutely loves to hike. She did a 3 mile round trip hike without complaining.

Personally, I don't believe Matt is looking down on us, watching these sweet kids from heaven...but we on the other hand are just waiting for the day that we can join him in a better place. No more pain, no more crying. Can't wait for that day.

My hot husband holding my adorable nephew...
Could he be any cuter or smaller?
I want you!!! This is Brady's new thing...

Could our new nephew be any cuter??? We just got back from a 10 day trip to Oregon and Seattle! It was such a good time with friends and family.

Brady was pretty mellow about his cake...we had to put a lick in his mouth before he even ate any. Good times!

Our little nut nut is ONE...already wanting to do the dishes...good sign!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRAYDEN!

We've had some fun family outings lately...

A walk out on the pier one day after Brady boycotted his afternoon nap...
Eric and Brady watching the leimers at the zoo. His favorite animal was the flamingo though.
I left him for 2 minutes and came back to this mess! He appeared very proud of himself...silly nut!

So we took some shots of our soon to be ONE YEAR old (this coming Saturday)! Can't believe he's getting so big. He is saying so many words, like 'dog', 'ball', 'papa'...it's so fun to watch him learn and take in the world around him.

I'm never feeding this kid raviolis from a can again...this is disgusting and what makes it orange anyway!! We'll stick to homemade tortellini and fresh tomatoes!
This is a hilarious pictures because just before this he was reaching into the air trying to grab dust particles in the sunlight. Pretty fun watching him discover his world around him.

We are officially zoo members! Brayden loves the zoo...it is such a beautiful place to go walk around and take a lunch. Yeah for zoos and funny looking animals.

Good Sunrises thanks to the Zaca Fire...Good Food ...thanks to Steph!
Good smiles thanks to Hannah and Zach...
Good Family...
Good Friends!
...alll makes for good times while camping. Brayden was amazing and slept from sunset to sunrise and loved the great outdoors.

We are off to El Cap for a few days to go camping. Here is Brady trying on his camping jacket!