Bracky's Shoe Fetish

Bracken has a thing for shoes.  The bigger the better. Some of his favorites are Nathan's shoes (any pair will do as long as they belong to Nathan) and Mom's heels.  Sometimes Bracken will disapear for a few minutes and I find him in my closet pulling my shoes out to find the pair he is looking for.  When he is fussy and bored I just grab a pair of shoes and he is happy once again.  These days it is rare to find him without a random pair of shoes on.  He even takes off with my piano student's shoes when they leave them unattended.

 Nathan's blue velcro shoes.  Bracky likes these ones because they stay on good.

 Nathan's camo slides, one of his favorites because they are easy to put on.

 Camo slides again, but on the wrong feet.

 One camo slide and one of Nathan's Sunday shoes.

And last but not least, Nathan's favorite pair of shoes his "super cool because they make me run fast" lace up shoes.  Since they are Nathan's favorite pair they are also Bracken's favorite pair which has led to a few squabbles.

January in Arizona

We have had some amazing weather these last few weeks.  Not warm enough to break out the shorts quite yet, even though Curtis did wear shorts this weekend doing some yardwork. But nice enough that our local park was beckoning to us to come and play.  Oh how we have missed you Park!

 

Happy to be outside soaking up some Vitamin D!

Getting both boys to look at the camera at the same time is pretty much impossible.

 

We have also put our new Christmas toys to good use lately as well.

 

Cruisin' down Siesta Lane.

A Hat Like Tio Kendal

Nathan adores his Tio Kendal.  Last January Tio Kendal let Nathan wear his furry hat (I'm not sure what the official name for it is) while sledding in Malad, Idaho.

 

So when he saw this hat at the store it was love at first sight.

It was $3 dollars on clearance so I gave in to his pleadings and he is now the proud owner of his own furry hat.  What a happy boy!

Sticker Head

 Bracken has 1 more month before he goes into Nursery which means Curtis and I have to get creative about ways to distract him from his misery while being confined in church.  This last Sunday Curtis had Bracken during Sunday School and when he brought him to me in Primary Bracken had this sticker on his forehead.  We have a pack of stickers in the church bag, and they have proved handy a time or two.  Amiazingly Bracken left the sticker on his head for the rest of church, and for several hours after.  He wanted it there and I was not going to mess with a good thing.

Sleep Tight

I just tucked my little boys into bed.

I gave them their kisses, hugs, special blankets and foam swords.

Soon they will be dreaming away lovingly clutching their favorite swords.

Ahh, life with boys.

Our Very Own Rayito Del Sol

This year Nathan turns 4;
in fact his birthday is only 4 weeks away!

That means no more Nursery for this kid.

He is a  Sunbeam now!

I am the Primary Pianist so I kept on eye on him during his first Sunday as a brand new Sunbeam, and he did really good!  All the new little Sunbeams did great, they had wonderful Nursery Leaders who taught them well.  I even snapped a few pictures of him.  He was paying such close attention to the sharing time lesson I couldn't get him to look at the camera.

 

Nathan has been really into Ninja stuff lately and some Ninja moves did make an appearance, but at least he remained seated.  Nathan was super excited that he was finally big enough to go in the "Big Boy Primary"!  He loved singing time and they even sang some songs that he already knew.  During sharing time he tried to answer most of the questions, though he didn't get the answer right very often.  He was very willing to participate and even though he was never picked to help out he handled it well.  And his teacher didn't have any complaints after church when I picked him up.  All in all I'd say it was a successful first Sunday as a Sunbeam.

Funny story: The following Monday afternoon, Nathan was running around the house.  After doing a coupld of laps, he stopped and asked "Mom, am I running super fast because I'm a Sunbeam now?"  And I said "Yes, you sure are!"

More Snow Fun

One evening while I made dinner, Curtis and the boys bundled up and headed to the back yard to further enjoy our snow.

 A Curtis sized snow angel.

 Lovin' life.

 Nathan really wanted to make a snowman, but the snow was too dry to stick together the first few days.  But the sun came out just enough to melt the snow a little and make it stick together.  So here is his snowman.

 

 I love the picture of Curtis with the snowman, Nathan took the picture all by himself.