Braden is 4

Braden celebrated his 4th birthday this month and had a lot of fun at all of his celebrations. He got to go to the Children's Museum with Grandma, Papa, Aunt Tina, Uncle Lance, Toby, Zach, Sammie, Conner and mom and dad. It was a great time as always at the museum! Then we celebrated with the Thomas family the next day and Braden had the honor of sharing his birthday with Tasha, Steve, Shannon and Cody. It was quite a party! Then he got to have his big boy party at Chuck E. Cheese with all of his buddies. He had a great time and everyone was exhausted at the end. We are now done with birthdays for a while here in the Thomas house (much to Braden and Conner's dismay). The constant parade of toys the last 3 months for them has been exciting. Here are a few pictures from all of the festivities.

Brotherly Love

Braden and Conner have reached a milestone recently that makes me a very happy mommy (most of the time anyway). They will now go and play together pretty regularly. Now you may be asking yourself "Didn't they play together before now?" and yes the answer would be certainly. However, they will now play together without my participation. Braden actually enjoys being the big brother and taking Conner into his room to play tools, out on the deck to push cars or downstairs to play basketball or jump in the bouncy house. I have actually been told on a few occasions recently that they would like me to leave so they can play by themselves. This leaves me torn. One the one hand I am so happy to see this independence with them, I love that they enjoy each other's company so much and I love to have a few minutes to clean, cook or just sit on occasion. However, a part of me is sad that my babies are growing up so fast. Braden is such a big boy now and Conner is following close behind and always loves to imitate his big brother. But for now I will enjoy this new development and figure out a way to deal with the increased competition that has arrived with both of them for everything.

Going pro...

Braden had his first day of peewee basketball on Saturday. He loved it! They practiced shooting, dribbling and rebounding. He was really into it and listened so well. We were so proud of him. We are expecting him to go pro anyday now....

Oh, he almost made it....

It's going in this time...

I got it!

Preschool Christmas Program (rescheduled)

We had sooooo much snow over the holidays that Braden's Christmas program from preschool had to be rescheduled for January. He was an angel (which his teacher pointed out for the boys that angels were warriors).

As you can see our little angel can groove.....

And he has the rhythm......

But he never forgets his loyal fans in the audience (mom, dad, Conner, and grandparents) with a big wave when he finally sees us out there.

Look Who's Two!

Conner turned 2 on January 3 (yes, mom's a bit of a slacker with the posts).

You can see he had a great time! He had two parties with the two families and got lots of presents. He likes to open the first present and then play with that toy. The other presents would then become forgotten as he played with the toy lucky enough to be opened first.

Cars were very popular!


As you can see it is very tiring opening present after present.....
Oh, wait that's right I have more presents to open! Awesome.....

Then it was time for cake. Homemade (boxed) cake with cars on the top. I'm pretty sure my cake put all Laura's delicious homemade blog foods to shame. Ok, well, maybe not but the cars were sure cute and did I mention they were surrounded by M&M's? Those were tasty as well.....

Happy Birthday Conner!

Decorating fun

The boys really enjoyed decorating the tree and preparing for Christmas this year. They really loved picking out the Christmas tree at the tree farm.

The tree farm we went to had "reindeer" and hot apple cider and a sleigh for fabulous picture opportunities

When the tree finally got home the boys were very serious about decorating, especially Conner......

They have both enjoyed opening their advent calendars from Grandma and Papa ( I mean who wouldn't enjoy chocolate every day!) and decorating gingerbread houses and of course decorating cookies!

Now just a few more days until Christmas!

Snow!!!!

We cannot believe all this snow we have been having! Braden loves it!

He especially loves riding the quad around in the snow. (yes, he has a grownup with him except when posing for awesome pictures)

Conner is interested and tolerated a few sled rides with mom but mostly wanted to be held.

We have had some fun days away from school!