The letter of the day is W ...

So each Friday at preschool they learn about a new letter. The letter of the day tomorrow is W. Braxton and I started discussing this today in the car. We talked about all the different words that start with W and woman came to mind. He started asking me if I was a woman and then wanted to know if Carly was a woman. I told him Carly would be a woman when she was older. Somehow this turned into a discussion about getting married when he is older. I told him when he was older he'd get married to a woman and go and live with her and have children. He wasn't so into this idea. He made it very clear that he didn't want to get married and live with anyone else but me. He told me I was being a silly mommy and was trying to trick him. I love conversations with an (almost) 5 year old :)

Today we lost a friend. Baxter was our 1st child. When we were originally planning on getting a dog we thought that Boxer's were very protective and didn't bark a lot ... well, we got one out of the two! Many visitors were quite scared of him, but if they would have tried to pet and love on him he probably would have just peed on their shoe out of excitement. He was a wild and crazy dog. We used to have quite a bit of land at our old house and he'd run laps in the back yard so fast he'd throw up dirt. We could tell he had gotten tired the last few years. Everything happened quickly with his passing and we hope and pray he wasn't in pain. We appreciate his unconditional love and protection he's shown our family over the past 8+ years.

Time flies by :(

My sweet & funny little boy is almost 5 and I can't believe how much things have changed since he joined our family. Looking at old pictures usually makes me tear up so I thought I'd share some of my favorites. He is such an awesome kid and we're blessed to have him in our lives.

Valentine's Day festivities ...

So at the beginning of each preschool year you must sign up for to help with a party. This is always a stressful event for me because I'm not a teacher or very creative! Thankfully there are 14 kids in his class which means there were multiple Moms helping at each party which kinda lightens the load. I signed up for Valentine's. I got lucky and didn't have to figure out a craft which is a HUGE relief! The kids and us Moms seemed to have fun. This is such a great preschool year for Braxton. He has grown leaps and bounds when it comes to participating ... which is something we struggled with last year! He gets along wonderfully with his teachers who are absolutely awesome!

Zak and I went out a night early for Valentine's which meant we'd be at home on actual Valentine's Day. I decided this would be the perfect year to start teaching Braxton how you celebrate Valentine's Day. I cooked my normal dinner but decided to "set the mood" with the help of my 2 sweet blessings :) We lit candles, turned on music, and turned off the lights. Braxton was so excited to show Zak how we "decorated" for our evening of fun! Daddy even brought home roses and chocolates for me! We all exchanged cards/gifts and I think he realized that this is a special occasion and hopefully we can continue this tradition until he has his own special someone to share Valentine's with!

Hope you had a special Valentine's too!

Togetherness ...

I am so thankful that my kids enjoy each other. Don't get me wrong, they
definitely have their moments where enough is enough, but overall they truly enjoy each other.










Where ever Braxton is, Carly is right behind ... and thankfully Braxton doesn't seem to mind too much. Braxton often gets too rough with Carly but she smiles the whole time. I'm sure in another year or so she's gonna let him hold it. She's definitely not a push over!

Learning to skate!

We decided to see if Braxton would like to play Hockey and the 1st step in this process is teaching him to skate ... so we signed him up for lessons! "Mice on Ice" to be exact! We were both a little hesitant because he does have a history of not wanting to participate but he did GREAT! Still very much a beginner but I'm sure he'll get there!

Time to get a bowl I guess ... but I'm pretty sure the cheerios wouldn't stay in the bowl either :)