Thanksgiving in Phoenix

We made the trip down to Phoenix again this Thanksgiving to spend with my sister and her family and my dad. I love that the weather is good that the kids can play outside everyday and have time to get to know their cousins. The last time we were there in July, Briana and her cousin Morgan, who is only 4 months younger, fought like cats and dogs. This trip around though they were glued at the hip the whole time and never had a disagreement. We stayed at my dad's house but headed to my sister's house every morning to spend our days there. As soon as we walked in the door, Briana had to put on her Sleeping Beauty dress and Morgan had a Cinderella dress that they wore for the rest of the day. They were so cute together!! Brandon loved that his cousin Tanner had 4 lightsabers so that kept him busy most of the day too. It was so nice to just sit in the kithen with my sister baking and eating all day while the kids were off playing on their own. We had a great Thanksgiving and ate way too much food but it was nice to spend the holiday with family.

What was I thinking?

The kids haven't had professional pictures taken since they were 8 and 9 months old. It has been somthing I've been wanting to do for awhile but never got around to. Last week while at Walmart, I walked by the Portrait Studio and then and there decided to make an appointment for the kids. I made the appointment for this morning to get it done before we left town for Thanksgiving. Why didn't I question my thinking of doing this alone without help? Have I forgotten what Brandon is like, how busy he is, how quickly he has a fit over everything?? Why didn't I make the appointment late in the afternoon so Craig could be with me for support??? Unfortunately all these thoughts escaped me until I was there going through the nightmare. The first couple rounds Brandon did really well but then it all went downhill. He refused to sit still and didn't want anything to do with more picture taking. We decided to get Briana up there with him hoping that would calm him down, but it was worse with them both yelling at each other, "don't touch me", "get away from me", "stop that", and so on. We did some pictures of just Briana and she did great. We then tried to get Brandon up there again with Briana to try and get at least one picture of them together - it never happened. When I finally just gave up on that hope, Brandon's face was all flushed with his forehead broken out in red spots from crying and screaming. We headed over to the computer to check out what pictures she did get and thinking that things couldn't get worse, it did. They ran around the studio, opened all the drawers and closets pulling out all the props and screaming at each other. I couldn't concentrate at all what the girl was offering me for the pictures so I hurried and ordered some so I could get out of this nightmare. While paying for whatever it was I ordered, Briana started yelling at me for a doughnut, something I promised the kids we could get in the bakery if there were good. I grabbed my receipt, grabbed Brandon's arm, and headed out of Walmart while Briana was behind me still screaming for a doughnut. I had a whole grocery list with me thinking that after pictures, I could do some shopping. I was too upset to even consider staying to get that done. Once we were in the car, I completely went off on the kids and they both started to cry. Then I started to cry. So here we are in the Walmart parking lot, 2 kids and an adult crying in the car and I turn around to see this man sitting in his car right across from us watching this whole scene like a movie. On the way home, I stopped at 7-11 for a much needed Big Gulp and ended up with a bag of Cheetos and a HUGE sugar cookie as well. Sad how sweets can cheer up our foul mood but it worked for me. I finally looked at my receipt and had ordered 6 5x7 photos of each kid - 12 5x7's total. Nothing else.

So to all Brandon and Briana's grandparents, you'll be getting a 5x7 of each grandchild in the next month just in time for Christmas!!

Briana's sense of smell is in serious question

Last night Craig took Briana to the potty and she happened to pass gas. Thankfully the kids have learned to say "excuse me" when they do this. Craig then told Briana that she stinks but she corrected him and said, "no daddy, I smell like oranges". Craig then asked what he smelled like and she said "apples". He then asked what mommy smells like and her answer was "carrots" and Brandon smells like "pears". The imagination these kids have at this age is hilarious!!

Cinderella and Prince Charming

I was so excited this year to have my kids dress up as Cinderella and Prince Charming. I already had the Cinderella dress given to me by a friend and that was all Briana talked about for the last two weeks. But as of about a month ago, I didn't know what I was going to do for Brandon and actually it was Craig that came up with Prince Charming. What an easy costume since he had the clothes already for it. He wore a white dress shirt, khaki pants, and I made him a royal blue cloak with gold trim and for his crown I hit my local Burger King. I added in gold trim the letters PC on the back of his cloak and on his crown I covered up the Burger King logo with a white sticker I colored blue and in yellow wrote PC just in case people couldn't figure out who he was. I was hoping that with him standing next to Briana all evening that it would be pretty easy. Well, once he took off the crown, everyone thought he was Dracula...whatever!! Our first outing was to our church's Trunk-or-Treat activity that was held on an empty cul-de-sac. Craig took the kids from car to car while I handed out candy in the back of the Jeep. Once back at home, Craig took the kids up and down our street for more trick-or-treating. Brandon eventually got bored and started messing with the neighbor's decorations so he brought him home and took Briana out for more. Craig said she did really good saying "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" and she even carried on with salutations to a neighbor saying "see ya", "happy halloween", bye-bye", "see you tomorrow". I guess the neighbor just started to laugh after this continued for awhile but kept it up to please her. Overall, the kids had a great time and loved getting all the candy. I'm not sure if I'll be able to decide for them what they'll be next Halloween but if Star Wars continues to be popular at our house then I'm thinking Darth Vader and Princess Leia!!

Halloween Day

The day of Halloween I got the kids dressed in these cute T-shirts my friend Nicole bought them when we came to visit her in CA in early October. They love wearing the shirts and going into the bathroom, close the door with no light on, and watch the red light move around on their tummies. They are getting so much better too about taking pictures so I got a couple cute ones of them together.

Briana and her aprons

Briana loves her play kitchen that we got her for her birthday and whenever she decides to bake something which usually is cookies, she has to put on her apron before she can do any baking. I find it funny that she does this because I never wear an apron myself so I'm not sure where she learned that from. My mom had made her two aprons to go along with the kitchen so she'll come up to me and ask for help in tying one of them around her waist. She then goes off to her play kitchen and later brought me a plate of cookies looking like this. She is too funny!! In addition to the apron, she also has on a princess skirt too. Pretty much everday at some point, she'll ask if she can get her curtains (meaning play clothes) out. Each day she comes downstairs in something different. She definitely is a girly-girl!!

Brandon's Tummy Toss

Brandon loves to get tossed into the air and no one does it better than Craig. He has tried several different ways in tossing Brandon around and has decided on the best technique in doing it.

Step 1: Brandon lays on his tummy between Craig's legs on the floor
Step 2: Craig bends down and grabs Brandon's ankles
Step 3: The countdown 3-2-1
Step 4: Brandon is lifted up into the air feet first
Step 5: Brandon then does this spin in the air
Step 6: Craig catches Brandon upright around the waist

Brandon gets so excited a keeps asking for more until Craig's arms and back start to ache or I can't take watching it anymore - it does freak me out a little bit. I had to try and get a couple pictures though because the excitement in Brandon's face while airborne is priceless.