Gramy and Dave's Visit!

We were so blessed to have Grammy and Dave come and visit for four days and celebrate Thanksgiving with us! Brayden was spoiled with a TON of attention and playing and loved every second of it! Here are a few pictures from the visit!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I've been talking a lot about food lately. A lot! I am so excited about our Thanksgiving menu and even more excited to be having some of our family over to our house this year for the first time. But God put my heart in perspective this past weekend with a message from our Pastor at church about Being Full OF Thanksgiving! Sure we'll be full ON Thanksgiving but long after the food is gone, and even the leftovers too, our hearts need to be so thankful for all the blessings in our life.

This week, cleaning has consumed my life, and there were times that I was exhausted and didn't want to do another thing, but it's in those moments, God really spoke to me. How blessed am I to have walls to wash, a mirror to look in, dishes to clean (and a dishwasher!), bedding to sleep in, an abundance of clothes for me and my boys, pets to love, toys for Brayden, a couch to sit on, a kitchen to cook in, etc. It made cleaning so much more fun to look at the things in this way because it really made me want to clean, want to show God with my actions that I am thankful for the things that He has blessed me with. It's been a week full of reminders of how GREAT our God is and how much I truely have to be thankful for, my family, my friends, my home, etc. And my Husband, who loves me unconditionally, and works SO hard to provide for us, and my son who reminds that cuddling and playtime really are the most important parts of the day. Thanks for listening to my Thanksgiving Ramblings, and I will leave you with this Psalm that we studied on Sunday in church. If you read through it quickly, it might not seem like much, but when you meditate on it, it's a beautiful Thanksgiving reminder! We will be reading it at dinner tonight!

1 Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!

2 Worship the Lord with gladness.

Come before him, singing with joy.

3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God!

He made us, and we are his.

We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving;

go into his courts with praise.

Give thanks to him and praise his name.

5 For the Lord is good.

His unfailing love continues forever,

and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

Linus

My newest nickname for Brayden is Linus. He has fallen in love with this Blue Pooh Bear Blankey and takes it everywhere with him. I have to say, its a MOST endearing thing for him to have such a fond attachment to something and I just think it's precious! For those of you who knew me as a child, my attachment was to a stuffed animal Bernard. And for those of you who knew Mike, his was to his Glow-Worm and his Bingo Bear (I think I have that right). Brayden sleeps with his blankey and grabs it when its time to get up and out of his crib and brings it downstairs with him. Memories we will cherish long after his love for his blankey is over!

Operation Christmas Child

Here's a picture of our Operation Christmas Child box before we shipped it off! Can't wait to hear in the next few weeks what country it goes too :) Hope the little girl loves it! In the place where we are right now, a bit tighter financially this year as Mike finishes his Academy and I stay home with Brayden, it was a good reminder of just HOW MUCH we are blessed with and feels SO GOOD to bless someone else, even if we can't give much!

Thanksgiving Meal!

Since I have been baking this morning and have all the yummy food we are going to partake of tomorrow on my brain, I figured I would go ahead and post what our Thanksgiving Feast will consist of and who will be making what! We are so blessed to have so many mouths to feed and hands to cook!

Turkey -Mike
Mashed Potatoes - Mike
Stuffing - Matt and Jen
Meat and Cheese Snack Plate - Matt and Jen
Veggie and Dip Platter - Laura
Butternut Squash Soup (it's FAB-ulous) - Debbie
Green Bean Casserole - Cheryl
Rolls - not sure yet ;)
Pumpkin Pie - Laura
Chocolate Pie - Laura
Apple Pie - Laura
Pecan Pie - Debbie
Fudge - Debbie
Cookies - Cheryl
Deviled Eggs - Laura (and probably Mike too)
Gravy -Debbie
Cranberry - (from the can)
and maybe yams (yuck!)

Are you not drooling just reading all this yumminess? Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm!

Mike....

ROCKS!!

** I wrote this a couple of weeks ago and never realized that it didnt post! So here is my belated post that is as true as ever, and I know I could add quite a few more paragraphs to it if I had the time right now :)! I LOVE MY MAN :)!**

I am sure you all already knew that, and he rocks for so many reasons, but right now I am going to talk about why he rocks academically. Mike would be the first person to say he isn't "book smart". In fact, a couple of years ago at Christmas time, when we had to prop up our tree stand to make it level with a few of my books, Mike made a comment that it's a good thing he married me, because otherwise, there would be no books in the house. This being said, the thought of reading, studying, and testing had Mike concerned about the Academy. Mike has studied harder than I ever did when I was in college, stayed late to study with friends or in a study group, has returned home after his 15 hour day (including travel) only to study for 3 more hours at home with me or do homework and much more. He goes through every day at the Academy with aroudn 6 hours of sleep, and goes through the weeks of the Academy with often only a one day weekend.
This week, Mike finished up his written/computer test section of the Academy. At the beginning of the Academy, the recruits were told they could fail only so many tests (I forget the number, I think it was 2 or 4) and had to pass the re-test or they were out of the Academy. Mike did not have to re-test for a computer/written test ONCE. He just took his last test this morning, his Final, which ranked him 9th place in the Academy for testing. His goal has always been top ten, and I am SO incredibly unspeakably proud of him.
Also today, Mike was pulled up to the front of the class with 7 other recruits by a very high ranking Police Officer, who helped teach the Report Writing part of the Academy, and told, that based on the Reports they had turned in, the Officer wanted to be placed on each of their Resumes when they applied to Law Enforcement Agencies, because their Report Writing skills were so good :)! WOW! Mike was really excited about that and knows it will add a lot to his Resume!
Mike is my definition of integrity, hard work, humility, and determination and I couldn't be more proud, or in love with him!
He's still got 1 month left, some stressful physical and scenario tests this weekend, as well as tests in shooting and driving in the coming month. Please continue to keep him in your prayers!!!

**And because this was 2 weeks ago, Mike has now finished his Driving Training, and is now working on the shooting phase. There is only 19 days to go until Graduation and we got a few informal invites the other day for it :)!**

Back Pain

For the last couple of days I've been experiencing really bad back pain right below my ribs on both sides. It seemed to get better during the day but worse at night. Tonight, while sitting on the couch watching TV, it started getting a lot worse and was causing me to double over in pain. Then when I tried to get up to go to bed, I ended up vomiting. I tried to lay down for a little bit but it kept getting worse so I decided to go to the hospital. Mike stayed home so we wouldn't have to get Brayden up, and I felt well enough to drive. Long story short, I have severe infections in both my kidneys. I was kind of surprised because I never felt any symptoms of a Urinary Tract Infection, but not surprised, because the back pain really made sense with the diagnosis. The doctor thinks the infection could have passed my bladder all together, who knows. Because of the vomiting, and other symptoms I had that I didnt even know, like fatigue, loss of appetite, and the pain, the doctor asked me to do as much "modified" bedrest as possible for the next few days, till the meds really start to kick in, and I'll continue the medication for 10 days and then have a follow up appointment. I figured I would type this all up right now while I am still waiting for the pain medication to kick in so I can hopefully get some sleep! I would appreciate any prayers you all can lift up on our behalf :)! Love to all!

Thanksgiving...

is in 8 days and we are SO excited to be hosting it in our home this year! We are going to have 11 people all together: Debbie, Danny, Katie, Matt, Jenn, Elijah, My Mom, Dave, and Mike, Brayden and I too :)! Debbie is going to be helping doing a lot of the cooking, or rather, I should say I will be the one helping, because she's the master and I will be assisting and doing what I can, and everyone else will be chipping in as well! We've started decorating for Christmas too so it will be a Christmas themed Thanksgiving dinner :)! I am just so excited thinking about the great time we will all have, the great food we will eat, and oh yeah, football too :)! What are all your guys' plans for Thanksgiving?

Words

Brayden's vocabulary is expanding daily! He tries really hard to copy a lot of the sounds and words that we say and usually within a few tries has mastered it!

Here's another list of some of his words:

More (signs and says)
Drink (signs and says)
Cracker (just says)
Candy (just signs)
Bye-Bye (signs and says)
Hello (signs and some of the time says)
Banana (working on saying and tries to signs - still an "in progress" word)
Tickle (just signs)
Kiss (just does it)
Hug (just does it)
Help (another "in progress" one, working on signing it and saying it with him)
I Love You (Soooo adorable when he tries this one, he says it all high pitched and goes "I Luh" or sometimes "I Luh Ooo" - still very much an in progress one!)

** I forgot a couple, new ones keep coming to mind!**

Uh-Oh (says only, soo freaking cute)
Juice (comes out "doos" says only)

All the sounds that have "r" in them, Brayden just pretty much skips the "r" part

And animal sounds that he says:

Moo
Quack
Neigh (but actually sounds quite like a horse)
Woof Woof
Roar (it's really cute when he does this one, because he opens his mouth up wide and whispers "roaaa")
Ooo-Ooo Ahh-Ahh (for a Monkey, he also beats his chest for this one)
Mee-yow

That's all I can think of right now, but its amazing how fast he's catching on to all this and so much FUN!

Cuter?

Could our son be any cuter? Sorry. That's a bit arrogant to say, but he is just SO DARN ADORABLE!

That's it. I figure his cuteness deserves a post all its own from time to time :)

Halloween Fun

I am only posting this picture because a few of you asked for it. Here is Mommy, the Cat :).

They had live animals at our churches Harvest Festival! They were awesome :)

Brayden's big Treat on Halloween!

YUMMY!

There was a photo booth set up at our church as well and I will try to scan the adorable family picture they caught of us! I love it!

Mike...

ROCKS!!

** I wrote this a couple of weeks ago and never realized that it didnt post! So here is my belated post that is as true as ever, and I know I could add quite a few more paragraphs to it if I had the time right now :)! I LOVE MY MAN :)!*

I am sure you all already knew that, and he rocks for so many reasons, but right now I am going to talk about why he rocks academically. Mike would be the first person to say he isn't "book smart". In fact, a couple of years ago at Christmas time, when we had to prop up our tree stand to make it level with a few of my books, Mike made a comment that it's a good thing he married me, because otherwise, there would be no books in the house. This being said, the thought of reading, studying, and testing had Mike concerned about the Academy. Mike has studied harder than I ever did when I was in college, stayed late to study with friends or in a study group, has returned home after his 15 hour day (including travel) only to study for 3 more hours at home with me or do homework and much more. He goes through every day at the Academy with aroudn 6 hours of sleep, and goes through the weeks of the Academy with often only a one day weekend.

This week, Mike finished up his written/computer test section of the Academy. At the beginning of the Academy, the recruits were told they could fail only so many tests (I forget the number, I think it was 2 or 4) and had to pass the re-test or they were out of the Academy. Mike did not have to re-test for a computer/written test ONCE. He just took his last test this morning, his Final, which ranked him 9th place in the Academy for testing. His goal has always been top ten, and I am SO incredibly, unspeakably proud of him.

Also today, Mike was pulled up to the front of the class with 7 other recruits by a very high ranking Police Officer, who helped teach the Report Writing part of the Academy, and told, that based on the Reports they had turned in, the Officer wanted to be placed on each of their Resumes when they applied to Law Enforcement Agencies, because their Report Writing skills were so good :)! WOW! Mike was really excited about that and knows it will add a lot to his Resume!

Mike is my definition of integrity, hard work, humility, and determination and I couldn't be more proud, or in love with him!

He's still got 1 month left, some stressful physical and scenario tests this weekend, as well as tests in shooting and driving in the coming month. Please continue to keep him in your prayers!!!

**And because this was 2 weeks ago, Mike has now finished his Driving Training, and is now working on the shooting phase. There is only 19 days to go until Graduation and we got a few informal invites the other day for it :)!**

STEPS!

We have walking progress :)!!! Can I just shout "YAHOOOOOOOOOO" over and over?! Brayden took his very first step on his own last night :)! Mike and I were sitting on the couch talking while Brayden was just cruising the couch, he turned around and took a step without holding onto anything, and then just plopped onto the ground. Mike and I both looked at each other and said "Did you see that?!" I couldn't believe it! We were both SO thankful that we were both home to witness that together! This morning, Brayden continued on his journey and practiced with his back against the couch, coming to me as I held my hands out to him! It started with one or two steps and within just a few minutes, he was taking 4 and 5 steps to me! It was AMAZing! I'm making sure to not "push" him and just let him do it when he wants too, but he loves the praise and how excited we get when he does it, so I think it will just be a matter of time before he's taking off. Right now, along with balance, his biggest obstacle is wanting to go TOO FAST. I can hear my Mom's words in the background "Slow Down Laura" when I was a kid, coming back to haunt me now! Soon enough it will be "Slow Down Brayden"! God is so good and has been so faithful teaching me patience to adapt to Brayden's tmieline of accomplishing things :)! I will try to get a video up soon!

Kisses!

Brayden just learned how to blow kisses and give kisses within the last few days :). It is one of the sweetest and most precious things I have experienced. Everyday Brayden is learning new things, and I, as a mommy, am learning equally as much. One thing Brayden is teaching me, is that I am not in control. (God teaches me that a lot too). I have been working on "kisses" with Brayden for awhile and he just didnt get it, so I left it alone, and then just the other day, I blew him a kiss and he copied me. Just shows time and time again how kids do things on THEIR time :)! He started out by making fishy lips, and now totally gets the concept. I will try to get pics or a video of it up soon, just thought I would share :)!