Gone but not for long...

Last month Bryson's best friend and partner in crime moved. His name is Maxwell and he was the first boy Bryson became friends with when we moved here. Maxwell's father left last month to fight for our freedom so please keep him and his family in your thoughts. Maxwell's father Jessie will be gone for 6 months so his family thought it would be best for them to move back to Texas during the deployment. They are scheduled to move back here in July, Bryson is just very excited they are coming back and he will see his friend again. Here are a few photos of me trying to get the boys to stand still and smile.

Starring:
Maxwell Age 5
Bryson Age 5




Supporting Actors:
Blake Age 3
Carter Age 2

Funny and not so fun....

Bryson and I had a very funny conversation last night. I spent a little bit of extra time with him because he was so patient with Carter earlier in the evening. Leave it to Carter to get sick while Joe is gone. Carter doesn't throw up very often so when he does I know he is really sick. After I got him all cleaned up he laid down on the couch and fell asleep, this was before 6pm. He is feeling much better today thank goodness.

Now onto my conversation with Bryson...

Mom: Alright Bryson it's time to go to bed.
Bryson: (he hops into bed) Mom will you come talk with me? Lets talk.
Mom: What do you want to talk about?
Bryosn: Well I want to go to Disney World again for Christmas and I like P.E and Music but not Art.
Mom: You like P.E. and Music?
Bryson: Yeah in P.E. I am learning how to jump rope and what's this called? (he then sits up and starts moving his hips in a circle)
Mom: Hula Hoop?
Bryson: Yeah that, and I like to sing and play instruments in music.
Mom: Why don't you like Art?
When he answered I just couldn't stop laughing, it was really funny the way he said it.
Bryson: Because we have to cut and make puppets(he said it more like cuuuuuut and make puuuppets)
He made it sound like it was more torture than fun.

I don't like that!

Back in November Carter had his first dentist appointment. The appointment went well considering Carter doesn't sit still for anything. He sat in the big chair for oh about 30 seconds and then I held him in my lap with his head on the doctors lap. He was whimpering by the end of the appointment. I felt really bad for him and am happy that his next appointment wasn't for 6 months, though technically now it just around the corner in May. Wish us luck then.

Here is Carter hanging out in the cabinets before the doc came in. Every doctors worse nightmare patient.

Carter not doing so well. He wasn't crying but he had tears coming from his eyes.


All done.

I know you want an update but...

I can't do it this week maybe next week. Joe has been TDY since the 20th. It just means he is in Florida on vacation. Alright not really he is down there going to conferences for his job. Anyway I am not sure if you realize how long it takes to write an update but it takes awhile, and with Joe not around I really don't have the time to upload pictures and type out all that I want to say. I put a lot of time in the updates to make them perfect and try to recall all that we did. In the mean time I will fill you in on events that I haven't posted on yet and there are a few.

Did you watch this?

Did you all step outside and watch the Lunar Eclipse? I did! I tried to take some good photos but I don't have a high tech camera so this is all I got.




Here is a professional photo of the eclipse I found on Google. I hope you enjoy because the next one isn't until December 20, 2010.

Nemo can fly.....

I forgot to mention that when Bryson and I got back from the skate park we went to the park to fly Nemo. We have a really awesome 3-D Nemo kite. Here are a few pictures.

President's Day.....

Well, I did something that is unheard of. I forgot my camera!!! I took Bryson and my friend Terra's son Brett to a skate park. I was looking for a place Bryson could practice and came across this skate park. It's in a huge warehouse type building. It has railings and huge ramps, perfect for a beginner huh? We walk in and Bryson looks a little nervous, so I think why not start him big. Now that I look back probably not the best idea I have ever had. I guess I was just more of a dare devil at that age.

We walked over to a ramp and I put his skateboard at the top. I position it so that it will go straight down the middle, all he has to do is stay on. Let’s just say it didn't go as planned. He fell and didn't want to skate anymore. We had just paid 10 dollars so I wasn't going anywhere. Plus we had Brett with us and he had paid also, so I told Bryson lets go sit down and have a snack. He ate a snack and then I went on reading my book and let him just watch everyone skate. After about 10 minutes he decided to head back out there and I let him do his thing. At the end of the three hours Bryson was doing the ramp on his own. He still couldn't go down and stay on the board but he was getting back up after falling down and enjoying himself.

While I was at the park with Bryson, Carter was off with Joe eating at Cinnabon and loving it. I will try and remember my camera next time.

Our Christmas Journey Day 6 Part 2

December 26th Day 6 Part 2

Are you all wondering what child we lost? It all started at the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids movie set. There is only one entrance and exit to the playground so we felt a little comfortable letting the boys run around. They found a huge ant, that they just had to ride

They also found a spiderweb to crawl through
We followed them around taking lots of pictures when Bryson decides to go off on his own. We stayed behind with Carter while he was going down a slide made of Kodak film.

About 5 minutes goes by when all the sudden we hear on the intercom "Will Dawn or Joseph come to the entrance. Bryson is looking for you." Joe and I giggled and off he went to collect Bryson. This is the picture I snapped as they were walking back

I asked him if he got lost and he said "Yeah". I then told him "That’s why mommy and daddy always tell you to stay by us at all times so we can see you and you us." After that incident we left the movie set. Bryson was a little down on himself for the next few minutes but you can't stay sad at Disney World for too long.
It was around noon by now and time to eat some lunch. We stopped at the Backlot Express Restaurant to re-charge

We then watched the Beauty and the Beast show.









Joe has never seen the movie Beauty and the Beast and he said afterwards he would never need to again. Not that the show was bad it was really good, so good it was just like the movie therefore never needing to see it again.

Sorry to cut this segment short. On the next part there is something exciting going to happen. We run into a Dream Team member, remember we are visiting Disney during their Year of a Million Dreams. If you are not familiar with THE YEAR OF A MILLION DREAMS here is a brief glance.

[The "Year of a Million Dreams" is Disney's latest promotion. The year long celebration began on October 1, 2006 at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and the Disneyland Resort in California.
Disney Cast Members will be awarding a million dreams to randomly chosen guests as part of this new "Disney Dreams Giveaway" promotion. Many of these dreams are priceless experiences.]

Stay tuned!!!

Happy Valentine's Day! Video at the bottom.

We had a very fun and busy day today, but to prepare for the day I need to rewind and tell you about yesterday. Bryson had to write out all his valentines for his class. His class was only having this one party for the whole year so it had to be a good one. After he finished all the valentine's for the kids I told him he needed to pick one out for his teachers. He picked out a big nice transformer for his main teacher Ms. Anderson and then for Mrs. Tuttle the assistant he picked a very small, tiny helicopter transformer. When he picked it out he said "I picked this little one out for Mrs. Tuttle because she moves my bird a lot." If you remember from me explaining his bird here, its to chart his behavior throughout the day. I thought it was pretty funny. I made brownies and brownie/cookie bars for the party today. I then prepared all Carters invitations.

Today I woke up early jumped in the shower then I made a hash brown casserole for Joe's valentine party he had at his office today. Bryson was off to school by 8 and then Carter and I had a coffee/playdate that we have every Thursday. He passed out some of his valentines and then at 11 we came home ate lunch and laid Carter down for his nap. When he got up we collected all Bryson's valentine's and headed to his school for his party.

His teachers had a couple activities for the class to do. They made a monkeyand played bingo.I love when the are sweet to each other.

While the class was doing this, Carter kept himself entertained with blocks. The blocks and Carter match. After their activities the kids snacked on all their goodies.
Bryson with his table
and Carter with the sibling table.
Bryson then passed out all his valentines. I didn't get a picture of him doing this because I was helping him distribute his valentines, but I had bought little boxes and we filled them up with candy and toys. Though I didn't get a picture of him with the little boxes I got a picture of Carter passing out his boxes. They were the same so I ended up making 30 of these valentine boxes.

Some of you have been wondering just how big Carter has gotten. I thought I would show you some pictures of him and his friends to show you the height difference.
This is Abigail and Carter they both turn 3 in May. Lincoln and Carter: Lincoln is 3 months olderCarter and Kaila, she is a month older than Carter. Doesn't she have the most beautiful eyes?

I had given Carter his valentine gift to him a bit earlier in the day and forgot to take a picture but he got a big fire truck from the movie "Cars". Go figure huh? After passing out all Carters valentines we came home and Bryson got his gift. It was a skateboard. He was so excited.

A video for you: Carter then does what Carter does best and steals Bryson's skateboard. Press Play ;)

Our Christmas Journey Day 6 Part 1

December 26th Day 6 Part 1

Today is the day that Carter has been waiting his whole life for. We were going to see Lightning McQueen. Carter was so excited so he wore his Lightning McQueen shirt and Bryson wore his Transformers shirt. They were two very happy boys this morning.
I thought I would explain what Carter is holding here in the picture. Yes it is a Mickey Mouse but it's a special Mickey Mouse, a talking Mickey Mouse. I did a lot of research before our trip, so much I think I was on Disney over load, but I say planning is half the fun. Planning where to make our dinner reservations, what parks to do, where to go, then I came across this Mickey. It's called My Pal Mickey. I just had to have it, but I needed to make sure that we would really use it for the price. It’s a little pricey for a doll, but it's not just a doll I thought. He talks, that's right he talks and can tell you what park we are in and what the wait times are for rides. He will also tell you that the parade is getting ready to start or to go meet the characters for autographs and where they are. Pal Mickey tells jokes and plays games he has over 700 pre-recorded phrases he also vibrates to let you know he is getting ready to talk. Carter is a big Mickey Mouse fan probably because I made him watch countless hours of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse to get him ready for Disney World. I just knew he would love it. I bought one on Ebay, wrapped it and Carter opened it up when Christmas came early at our house.

After entering the park we headed over to see Playhouse Disney. Bryson watched this in Disneyland and I thought Carter would love it also. They need to update the show. It was the same show we watched four years ago.
Afterwards we thought we would walk over and see Lightning McQueen. They were going to be out at 10am and I just knew there would be a huge line. On the way we saw that the Star Wars ride had a very short wait so we slipped on Carter's super shoes and off we went.After the ride Bryson asked Carter if he liked that ride and Carter said no. I took a picture of this tender moment. Moment over lets go find another big ride!!

To brighten Carter's sprit we walked towards Lightning McQueen’s area again. When all the sudden we spot the Power Rangers.
Their autograph time was actually over and they were headed back to where ever Power Rangers go. No loss on my part and the kids didn't mind so much either. They were too excited about Lightning McQueen. Then all the sudden we round the corner and who do we see?

Carter was in love, he just couldn't get enough of them. Thank goodness it was still early in the morning and the crowds were still low, because you don't really get much time with the cars. You are suppose to walk up to them get your picture taken and then out you go. The first time we went through I took pictures of Bryson
then Carter came through and I got a few pictures of him.

I then took a few pictures with both the boys.
After that the CM's(cast members) escorted us out. The boys ran around to get in line again so they could actually visit with the cars. Carter just couldn't keep his eyes of Lightning McQueen.


They continued to do this for about 10-15 minutes until Tow-Mater and Lightning McQueen had to go get gas. Carter was sad but we told him we would visit again another time.

Coming up: The kids shrink, and who do we almost lose?