I am Thankful For...

Family, family, family and lots of food and fun! Wow what a whirl wind few weeks we have had here with the Bray family- we are finally home to update and relax for a little while! Over the Thanksgiving holiday we all jetted off to Montgomery to spend time with THE BRAY'S, all the Bray's and what a blast it was...the only complaint I had was the flight there which was um interesting (trying to use appropriate blog wording,) lets just stay I set off for Houston ALONE with a CRAZY 14 month old, a Malarian stroller which EVERYONE liked to point out is recalled (YES I am aware of the recall however I do not collapse my stroller with B's fingers in the hinges, come on people your a PARENT for a reason!) Anyway that's just a side note, Z was already in Houston or actually a stone's throw away from Mexico on a hunting extravaganza so we were on our own for travel lets just sum it up in a few short words...BB at some point was referenced to Emily Rose or whatever that little girls names is that spits green stuff out and her head spins off in the exorcists, that must have been after he head butted everything on the plan including my head , nose and lip causing a bloody nose and lip lacerations no I'm not exaggeration it was that bad! BUT...once we finally landed in Houston and handed B off to a very excited Nana & Big Daddy the fun, food & festivities really did start. B really came out of his shell and held his own with his cousion and really enjoyed the freedom of being able to walk, and try to run with all the kiddos, he wants to be sooo big and even tried out the kids bikes and scooters...maybe next year. It was a wonderful weekend and despite an initial thought that Zach was going to have to go get his truck and drive us back to PA, BB and I boarded the flight again and all the "triple prayers" must have worked because he slept the whole way...

Oh and as you can see from a few of these pictures we found Zach's old cowboy hat and I'm already grooming a Garth Brooks look a like...maybe he will even wear the whole Garth outfit for his 3rd grade school photos...wait or is that only something his mommy does!

WE have LIFT OFF...B is walking OH NO!!!

SO I am terrified and very excited to even write this post...it started last week with 8-9 steps (until this point we had only really gone about 2-3) then it progressed to 12-13 and NOW he can walk all over the place and I am just awaiting the next few days when he learns to RUN!!!! I wanted him to walk so people would quit asking me "why can't that 2 year old walk?" "Well lady hes not 2 and he is just lazy so there...(ok maybe not the best comeback but I am still new to this whole parenting my kid is better than your kid thing!) So I had to make this little video and share, yes its sideways no I don't know how to turn it even though I am sure it can be done, but no time to fool with it I have a WALKER oh and a door opener! YAY

Spooky, Scary, Spider...not even close

Spooky scary Halloween with friends and sweet baby Claire! Although it was a little cold outside we got the babies out for their very first real "trick or treat" night! All the neighborhood kids were out and Barrett was way more interested in looking at the other little monsters than getting candy...well at least until he figured out what was under that shinny wrapper...CANDY! I made the mistake of giving him a little taste while walking home and he went nuts he had a death grip on his Reese's candy and devoured the whole thing in a few quick bites...YUM! After the candy was gone he went straight for the cauldron of candy and became very angry when not able to open the wrappers. B's night ended abruptly when we had the last few kids at the door looking for treats while I was handing them out (while holding Barrett) he became an attack spider and lurched for the candy...IT WAS HIS CANDY...sooooo after one more bite of candy he was sent to bed to have chocolate dreams.

As you can see from the pictures we had our friends Christine, Judd, and baby Claire over to celebrate with us...As I have always known girls outfits are soooo much better Claire was dressed in a pumpkin outfit complete with a tutu and hat, B likes her so much and cannot wait for her to get just a little bigger so he can actually play with her! Although Claire may always have the better duds Christine pointed out that from the moment I found out I was having a boy I instantly save $1,000's of $$$$$...so that's a great thing for Zach, he likes to hold on to his funds a little more than I do...

FROGS, PETTING ZOO, PUMPKINS & STANLEY

OK I have way to many pictures to even put on here...BUT we have had a busy few days. First TCU FROGS WHAT?? I am anxiously awaiting the BSC polls tomorrow I cannot believe we were #8 what will we be Monday...BUT really who cares about all that when I have the future first round draft pick in my living room, he was very excited for the game (well mostly just the baked beans we cooked for football food!!)

Today we woke up to a surprising beautiful day here in PA, we made the split decision to head out to the local petting zoo/wild life park. Side note, although I think its very neat to see black bears, tigers, and pot belly pigs all in the same area it was kinda sad. Anyway, B was terrified of just about every animal and I ended up feeding the animals by myself which is kinda gross but the food did resemble Kashi Go Lean (the kind my sweet friend Jilly eats!) We had the oppertunity to bring along our deer friend visiting from TX...Flat Stanley, for a split second I  forgot he was made of paper and we had a rather close encounter with a camel but don't worry Madi Stanley is just fine!!!

The end of our FULL day was followed by pumpkin carving and it was a blast, we of course continued to celebrate with making a TCU Pumpkin. BB was a little wary at first but then as I started to "cut out" the letters we knew his place he wanted the "TCU" letters back in the pumpkin so as I took things out he put it back, what a great little helper! He did put several seeds in his mouth and then would hand them to me...I must add a small side note with no pictures thankfully, POOP, POOP, and more POOP! BB awoke from his nap freaking out and found he had been attacked by the poop monster; he tried desperately to defeat this monster the only way he knew how, with his teeth. He soon discovered this monster has another defense mechanism, well it was poop after all and tasted pretty bad at that point he did what babies do best SCREAMED & SCREAMED until I came to the rescue but sadly I was a little late the bed, the crib, the floor and a small smear on the wall had all been taken down by the poop monster...Clean up was not fun, but as you can see from my post we did not let it ruin our day! Ok off to watch Dexter...MOMMY by day obsessive Dexter stalker by night.

Pumpkin Patching it...

Considering the fact that I have given up on my Mac Blogging I have decided to join the blogging train and steal an idea from my friend EM and hope that my blogging will be something BB can read someday. SOOO here we go...A few weeks ago we headed out to a pumpkin patch near our house, and Barrett had a blast especially actually ON the pumpkins. We picked out pumpkins, road a hayride and played in the hay...well B played in the hay and I took pictures and yelled at other kids as they tried to JUMP OVER his head(I felt like such a MOM)...humm! Our trip further confirmed to us that B is a typical boy in every way, he loves dirt, digging and even bugs. At the patch he picked the dirtiest pumpkin, sat smack down in a mud puddle, and attempted to dig a hole in the hay and on the way home he attempted to eat his snacks with bugs on his hands, yum...100% boy! 

I just had to add these two pictures they are my new favorite!!! Thanks GG & Aunt Hannah for B's new blue outfit! I need to get him a pair of shades of his own, he looks pretty darn cute!