beefy Britton

One thing about Britton that we discovered very soon after he was born is that he loves, and I mean LOVES to eat! Food is most definitely the key to his happiness and make sure you offer him plenty at each meal! You can tell when he starts to get full because he turns into Mr. Personality at the table. Britton easily eats more than Blaine and can almost eat as much as Brandon some nights. It is crazy! He crawls a lot during the day to keep on Blaine's heels who is all over the place so he needs his energy!

messy chili face!

as I came to clean him up he had found a teddy graham to eat as dessert.

happy boy!! look at that belly!
you can tell he doesn't miss any meals!!

the imitator...

Blaine LOVES the Wiggles, really loves them. It was the theme of his 2nd birthday party, we have a few Wiggles toys, we watch them daily and Blaine knows all the songs and will sing and dance along. It is very entertaining to watch him get so excited and dance and be so animated. There is a song that involves a violin and Blaine so badly wanted to imitate that. So I helped him come up with a makeshift violin and he takes it very serious!

All you need is a guitar and a golf club!

At night when Ryan sits in the recliner he will put a pillow behind his head. Apparently Blaine has been paying attention because I walked into the living room this evening and found this....

I need to find a smaller pillow for my little imitator!

snaggle...

That is Brandon's new nickname as of Monday when he came home from school. He lost his fifth tooth and, yes before I move on, he did in fact get one dollar in coins this time not a bill. He was ecstatic!! He told me about the loose tooth Friday before school and expressed his worry that when he lost it he wouldn't be able to whistle. Monday he came home from school proudly announcing that not only had his pulled his tooth but he could still whistle! I asked him if he did this all in class instead of paying attention and he said "no mom, we were just supposed to be doing bell work." Bell work is work first thing in the morning as class is starting so it is work that he should have been doing instead of playing dentist. I had no doubt that once he extracted it he tested just to make sure he could whistle. When I asked him if he did so he confirmed and told me "mom I had to make sure I could still whistle a tune." oh boy, I was relieved that a) he could in fact still whistle and b) he didn't get a behavior card changed for disrupting class. So now with one top front tooth missing, he is officially a snaggletooth! He giggles about his new name and enjoys poking his tongue through the empty space.

In other news, tomorrow is the second snow day in a row for Brandon and unlike most children he is not thrilled. He loves school! He was a bit excited about not having school Tuesday but he was ready to go back Wednesday. I sure hope he keeps that enthusiasm for many years to come.

Kelley boys' "busy"ness!

Just thought I would post some updates on the Kelley boys…

Brandon lost another tooth, on the bottom to the right of the front two. This makes the fourth tooth for him to lose. The tooth fairy brought him a crisp $1 bill in exchange for the tiny piece of enamel and I guess she needs to get change before the next tooth comes out. Brandon informed us that he never gets coins, only dollars so I guess he likes to jingle. (Actually I think he thinks it will seem like more that way but that is fine!) We have been busy gathering info on the great white shark for Brandon's first term paper, as a First grader. He really had a great time preparing the paper. I hope he keeps that enthusiasm in years to come as he has to do more!

Blaine is getting more into books!! As a huge reader myself that really excites me! From the time Brandon was born we would sit and read together and now he is a little bookworm like his mom. Blaine, on the other hand, hasn’t quite found the joy of books YET! But over the last couple of weeks he will bring me books and we will sit and read them! He won't sit for long and that is okay but considering he would never do that before I am happy with those small little steps. The boys all got Barnes and Noble gift cards for Christmas so we went and got new books this weekend and this book quickly became of favorite of Blaine’s!
little monkey, how fitting!

puppy!

lion!

Britton is getting closer to walking! He will stand up in the middle of the floor now and occasionally take a few steps but then sit down. Silly boy! He turns 14 months on the 27th. He has definitely learned how to hold his own with his brothers. He knows just what buttons to push to aggravate the usually mild mannered Blaine. I now have a new job at home as a referee.

standing!!

silly boy!

new beginning

With the New Year comes a HUGE change for our family, especially Ryan. He has been with Sportchassis since he was in high school. He started out part time doing computer repair and over the last 10 years has worked his way up to the IT manager there. He really has loved his job there and they have been great to him.
Ryan got a call about a month ago from his old computer teacher from high school who's over IT at SWOSU who got a call from a guy looking for help. Ryan met with the guy not knowing what to expect and got a job offer doing IT! The company is CoachesAid and Ryan will be an integral part in their business as they spread across the nation. We have prayed and prayed and really feel that this is where God wants him to be.
Ryan is happy but a bit nervous since this is really his only second job. I am excited but can’t help but still be worried and scared too.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,and do not lean on your own understanding.In all your ways acknowledge him,and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

New Year camping!

There is no better way for us to ring in the New Year then by camping! We absolutely love the outdoors. We traveled the nearly 6 hour drive to Beavers Bend and camped the first weekend of 2009! It was such a blast! Saturday was absolutely gorgeous but Sunday's chillier weather forced us to stay 'round the campfire and we also ventured up the nature center to see the local animals. Brandon thought the nature center was a hit because it had his most favorite snake of all, the black rat snake. Blaine looked at the the wall of caged snakes from a distance and Britton and I stayed far away from them. Outside they had a couple of hawks, a raptor and an owl. It was neat to see those animals up close. Brandon fished Saturday and caught his biggest fish yet, close to a 16 inch trout! He was so excited. Ryan did a little fly fishing Saturday and Sunday but unfortunately didn't get a so much as a nibble. Brandon rode his bike while we were at camp. Blaine did some exploring and Britton just wanted to get down but since he still isn't walking and it was a bit muddy I limited that to a spread out tarp. He was transitioned between the stroller, the tarp and being held or playing in the tent. We ate very good as usual! Our good friends the Nesbitts joined us. They rented a cabin and we ate supper together. Ribs and potatoes, smores, stew and cornbread, peach cobbler, cinnamon rolls, deep dish pizza was just some of the good chow we had!

Good friends, good food, very good times!

I wish everyone a great 2009!!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I am sorry for my tardiness in posting Christmas pictures. I am sooooooo behind. I'm going to post each boy's pics in a separate post to try to keep it simple...

Brandon's Christmas!

Christmas for Brandon is much more than it is for the younger boys because he knows the true meaning of Christmas. He believes in Santa so we made and decorated cookies and sprinkled reindeer food but we more importantly we baked Jesus a birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday to Him and he read the story of the birth of Jesus on Christmas Eve. Blaine and Britton are 2 and 1 respectively so they obviously don't understand yet but with such a great big brother like Brandon I have no doubt that he will help them.

Brandon received some pretty awesome presents and he had a great time! Ryan's cousin has a son a couple of years older than Brandon. They live in Missouri but came for the holiday and stayed for 2 weeks so Brandon and Jack hung out a lot and even rang in the New Year together. It was Brandon's first friend sleepover and he was ecstatic about it! The boys stayed up til 2 playing Rock Band and games on the Wii...needless to say they slept til noon! They have plans to meet up this summer when we go camping in Missouri since Jack lives only about an hour from the campground.

Brandon pointing out something to his buddy Jack

food for the reindeer

Brandon's new iPod

a book light for the bookworm!

a magician's set...his face says it all!

a magic show already!

binoculars

just what he needed, a slime gun!

Blaine's 3rd Christmas!

sprinkling food for Santa's reindeer

Elmo loves Blaine and Blaine LOVES Elmo!

Did I mention that Blaine loves Elmo?
Blaine modeling his new Elmo slippers!


our little model!

a light-up Mickey shirt!
Mickey Mouse is his second favorite!

a Handy Manny tool set!

a new car!

Mickey Mouse's Clubhouse set!


Blaine had a blast this Christmas!! He got so many toys and loved all of them!

He really got into opening the presents and had a great time!

Britton's 2nd Christmas

knock knock

absolutely no interest in the gift opening going on around him

"who is that man in the mirror?"

new phone

something caught his attention!

Britton had a great second Christmas! I won't say that he enjoyed opening presents...he enjoyed them once they were open! I would do the unwrapping and then if it made enough noise to get his attention then he would crawl on over! His favorite toy would have to be his Fisher Price Learning Home. He loves to knock on the front door (just as he is doing in the first picture!)