Happy Independence Day!!

On Independence Day there was no debating on which pair of pajamas Brenden was wearing to bed. These are his "Mr. Independent" PJ's and they are the cutest pajamas I have ever seen. They also show off that Brenden does not have the Poulton sticks for legs. Sorry grandma, this one didn't get the long legs, maybe next time.

Visiting with Old Friends

Our friends Russ and Rebecca from West Virginia (now in Georgia) came to visit his family here in MO and we decided to meet up for lunch in Kansas City. Unfortunately it was during the week so Matt was at work and Russ had been recruited to help his father so it was the girls and the kids. After lunch at a French bistro, we went to the botanical gardens in Kansas City where we took our photos.
Brenden loves to give little babies kisses so we took several until we got it just right.
Rebecca had to take care of "baby ana" (brenden's pronunciation, it is really Ariana) so we went to look at the flowers and fountains. We were playing in the water until we found a dead bird at the other end of the fountain, that was a real buzz killer. It was really nice to see Rebecca and meet baby Ariana. Whenever I ask Brenden about Ariana or show him pictures he says "Baby Ana loud" which is funny because she slept all through lunch and then when we got to the gardens she started wimpering because she was hungry, she wasn't loud at all. I guess he doesn't like it when a baby cries. Hopefully he'll be more understanding when he gets a sibling.

Brenden and his fruit snacks

So here are a couple of funny photos of Brenden and his fruit snacks. More often than not his fruit snacks are not fruit snacks, they are toys. It takes him a really long time to eat a pack because he plays with them like they are the characters in his movies. And there are times when he just takes out the ones he wants and leaves an open bag on the couch for Cricket to eat (unintentionally). And then I found him one night with them stuck to his face, I could not stop laughing when I discovered him.

In this photo he asked me to take, he is showing you Spiderman and The Sandman which he played with the whole boat ride. And he did not want the rest of the pack. They didn't get eaten either, I eventually was handed a very sticky Spiderman and Sandman to throw away.

VA trip

Okay, okay, so it has been a couple of months since my last posting and I have had a couple more adventures that I need to post. First we went to Virginia for a week to babysit for my brother Eric and his 5 kids + a dog! Crazy, I know! They did let us bring along Cricket so the photos will show Cricket and her mommy Honey. I forgot the fact that I brought my camera so I only have pictures from one day while we were there. It was when our friends Miya and Hunter came to visit us at the crazy house, Jacob was taking a nap like a good little boy while Brenden and Hunter decided that it was more important to hang out with each other than it was to sleep. It was one day, who cares about nap time for one day.
It was a fun trip/experience, I don't think I am going to have that many kids of my own, especially with Matt never home, I barely made it the one week on my own. It wasn't the older girls, they were pretty much able to take care of themselves and were actually really helpful, it was the fact that I had an almost three-year-old, and a two-year-old and the only time to escape them was during sleeping times. If one wasn't asking for something the other one was and vice-a-versa. There were plenty of times where they were both asking for something different or complaining that the other one had their toy. Bed time was also a headache because neither one ever want to go to sleep. Brenden is pretty good about staying in his room even if he is crying but Jacob gets out of his bed and crawls into Olivia's bed who then starts complaining that he is in her bed. And if he isn't in her bed then he is leaving the room and trying to sneak off to another room.
My last night there I found him in the twins room with a bottle of nail polish on the top bunk telling me that his tongue was burning because he had tasted the polish. I didn't really want to go to the ER or call Poison Control so I just called Matt and asked him what to do. His counsil didn't make me happy which was to keep him up for an hour and pump him full of liquids. I was really looking forward to some quiet time but didn't get any. Everything turned out okay, Jacob eventually went to sleep and I got to watch whatever movie it was that I wanted to watch.
Next time I am asked to babysit for anyone with three or more kids for longer than a day, I will seriously have to think about it.

Brenden and I did take a day off and went to visit his Great Grandpa and Grandma Clater. It is always nice to see them and visit with them. It took Brenden a few minutes to decide whether or not he was going into their house and then if he was going to be nice to them. That was the first time I have seen him be shy towards anyone. Now it happens quite frequently.

Here is a video of the kids playing bubbles.

Look Who's Two!!!

Brenden had a great birthday! He spent the day with Grandma Jones in the pool and then, once mommy and daddy finally decided to take a break from scuba diving, they came home and threw him a very eclectic birthday party! We had Grandma and Grandpa Jones, Aunt Whitney, Uncle Bob, cousin Moragan, and the neighbors Holly and Dennis over for our party. Brenden had been telling us for weeks that he needed a cake, balloons, hats, and candles for his birthday party. We are not quite sure where he figured out what he needed but he was certain of what was required for a succesfull party. The order was placed and he loved his party. He was upset that the spiderman candle was not a toy and played with it before and after blowing it out. He was excited and embarrased once the singing began but had a great time. Holidays are becoming more fun now that he is talking and grasping the concept of presents and parties. We all had a blast! Enjoy the photo show! (to listen to the silly music just click on the icon in the bottom left corner)

Florida Slide Show

Florida vacation

We just got back from a two week (one week for Matt and Cricket) vacation to Matt's parent's home in Florida, and we had a blast!! Brenden and I spent the first week relaxing at the house and getting used to the pool. We also had Matt's sister Stephanie and her two boys there with us for the first couple of days and that made our time there that much more fun. Brenden loved getting to know his cousins, Christian and Dawson. They all love Spiderman and all had spiderman jammies, they even had the same swimsuit (thank goodness for Walmart!) :)

After they left we went with Grandma to a crocodile zoo (I can't remember the name) outside of Naples, and saw all sorts of creatures, we even got to pet a baby croc. Grandma talked with the turkey and taught Brenden how to "goble goble goble" to which the turkey responded "goble goble goble". They fed the deer and the hogs, what a great day!! The next day we tried the park on the beach, we had more fun at the park than at the beach because Brenden doesn't like to have his hands dirty and was afraid to stand in the water. Once I got him to stand he wasn't so afraid of the water but he didn't want to stay any longer. We were at a beach on the river without any waves but he was still afraid of the water. After that we didn't have any more adventures for that week.

Matt and Cricket arrived a week after we did and boy was Brenden excited to see his daddy. They pretty much spent their time together in the pool. Monday and Tuesday mornings Matt and I did our open water scuba certification and finally became scuba certified. I can't say it was a cake walk becuase I did have a random panic attack on our first major descent, apparently we were at the bottom I was just a couple of inches away while Matt and the instructor were standing already (the vis was about 3 feet) and I just lost it and can't really explain why. But I passed anyways and the next day Matt and I drove to Fort Lauderdale and chartered a boat at Pompano beach. What an amazing experience!! We first went to a wreck and swam with two giant sting rays who probably had a wing span bigger than my own, the second was a drift dive at a reef! I can't explain how cool it was but if you're certified than you know what I am talking about, AWESOME!! Sorry no pictures of us in our gear, maybe one day. We did manage to sneak a shell from the reef, nothing great just a memory shell.

Thursday was a chill day and we managed a trip to the beach where Matt took his mom out on a beach dive and they did buddy breathing since she hasn't been certified yet. While they were out Brenden and I built a sandcastle and dropped shells and sand into a bucket of water! Matt and Grandma came back with a little starfish for him to see and once he got it he said "Patrick" (for those of you who don't watch Sponge Bob Square Pants, Patrick is his best friend who happens to be a starfish). I then found a square shell that was pourus and told him it was Sponge Bob and he had a great time dropping them into the bucket. Grandma was digging around in the water and she found a conk shell that was about 6 inches long and 6 inches in diameter and he called it "Gary" which is Sponge Bob's pet snail. What a funny day that was. Brenden tossed the conk shell into the ocean before I got the camera out.

Friday we took the boat out and Matt and I went diving again while grandpa, grandma, and Brenden took a little snooze and waited till we were done. The current was a little stronger than we were anticipating and we kept drifting over the reef before we made it down but we did see the edge of it and saw some really cool snails and fish. All in all it was a great trip!!

We are totally hooked on scuba diving so let us know when you plan any great trips and we might be able to go along.