1st Day of 6th and 9th Grade

First off,  WHEN DID THEY FINISH KINDERGARDEN???

Today was Hailey's first day at her new school -middle school -6th grade and Matthew's first day as a high school -9th grader.  They both were eagerly anxious to get back in the groove of school.  I was the one pacing back n forth and hesitated many times to take their annual first day of school picture.  I thought to myself... Nah! Don't need... then YAH! I need one!!!  I walked over to the two of them sitting together and asked them to take a picture.  To my surprise... NO sighing or complaining! Just these smiles for mommy to capture in time!

I Love Nerds

My baby's bringing it back to the ole' skool!!!

First Salon Hair Cut

Since the boys both were in need of haircuts,

I finally caved in and agreed to let someone other than myself cut Braiden's hair.  Although I have to admit this will be the last time in a long while that it will happen again... it was a good experience for Matthew and Braiden to share together! 

Braiden sat on a rocket ship!

He was such a good boy!

That's Matthew over there!

I get a hair cut and a balloon!!!

How do we look?!?!

Braiden was excited to wear his new hat :)

"Cool Dude"!!!

Summer puzzles

Disney themed puzzles provided 

hours of happy entertainment this summer.

-The first puzzle was an actual map of Disneyland park which was 1000 TEENIE tiny pieces.  At the end of completing the puzzle, we were missing just ONE piece which I luckily found in tracing the trails of Matthew's feet which it was stuck too. 

PHEW!!! upset diverted!!!

-The second puzzle was a collage of Mickey through the years.

No pictures of us in action of putting these together because I was also engulfed in the task of having the satisfaction of completing these monstrosities!!!

BIG Boy Furniture

Ta Dahhh!!!

My BIG boy room is finally furnished!!!

and...

painted with my favorite color GREEN!!!

Laying out all my favorites!!! 

Still have to shop around for my bedding!?!?

Having his First of MANY sweet dreams to come!!!

Braiden's First time at the Circus

- Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus -

It's the Greatest Show on Earth!

It's been quite a few years since we've all been to the circus and what great timing for the Ringling Brothers to be in town!

Preshow festivities included:

 meeting the circus cast

getting tattoos

and meeting Asia the Elephant

who was demonstrating her painting skills!

The opening act!

It's a 3 Ring Circus!

The group seated in the rows before us

left early so Mr. B took full advantage of the seating!!!

Tigers! RawRRR!!!

Braiden did rather well for sitting still in a confined spot for almost 2 hours.  Just a little shuffling around between all of us and he had the best views!

Comfy no matter where

Picture Taken ~ July 23

-hanging tough off the side of his crib

and notice how he managed to keep himself

 covered with his blankie

Since we decided to prep Braiden for his very own BIG BOY bed, we have discovered that it doesn't matter where he is sleeping, he always seems to find a comfortable postition and spot!

Picture Taken ~ August 4

-snuggled by the entrance of his room along side his stuffy friends

Shaving

A few nights ago as I was getting Braiden dressed after his bath, he was telling me what he was doing in the shower.  He was saying that he was shaving.  I said, "Braiden was shaving?"  and he replied, "Yeah" -thanks to daddy, his Yes is sometimes answered with Yeah -head shakes.
So I had to see it for myself.  It's so funny how he LOVES to be pampered.  He knows how to maneuver his face to shave all the areas correctly!

*** Safety cover is on the razor ***

Playing Catch

Braiden's coordination skills have improved so much...
he has gone from playing catch by sitting down and rolling the ball to now standing and catching the ball.  He enjoys both ends of this game - catching and throwing.

Take 1

 

Take 2

*LOVE how he narrates:
"Oh! Close"
&
"Yah!"

He's Counting!

So proud of Braiden as he is starting to count on his own.  He doesn't recognize the written numbers yet but he can resite up to 12.  Needing a little help here and there but he's doing pretty well for a little feller!  He has also been grouping things together (ex: same shapes, sizes, colors, etc.).

*This video is out of focus because I -of course grabbed the camera in a hurry after a few minutes into this and wanted to record it before Braiden lost focus.

Resourceful boys

My boys are true prodigies of their daddy.

Story #1 : 

Last week Saturday,  Michael was showing our property to potential tenants.  Prior to these clients arriving,  Matthew told Michael that he needed to use the bathroom -keep in mind that there are NO utilities hooked up as the house is vacant.  Michael asked him to wait a bit and they would go to Starbucks down the street as soon as his morning appointment were over.  Well... as Michael approached the upstairs bathroom WITH the clients, out comes Matthew from the bathroom with a plastic bag in hand.  Need I say more?!?!  Let's just say that Matthew put a yellow plastic lollicup bag and kleenex that he found in the car to good use.  Michael has deemed Matthew as the reining "Thumper Dumper"!!!

Story #2 :

Last night when Hailey was trying to get Braiden out of the tub, he decided to squat and bare down with all his might.  He immediately layed out a log in the bathtub as I was desperately trying to get him on the toilet.  This is the first time that this has ever happened!  After he was done he said, "all pau" then he asked to see IT.  He then said, "ewww gross"! 

Go figure... This just goes to show that when my boys have to go, they have to GO!  AND they are VERY resourceful in all that they do!

*SORRY no pictures BUT i'm sure everyone has a good mental picture painted in their minds =)

Humming Small World

He can carry a tune!!!

Listen to Braiden humming ~Small World!!!

He was in between humming the song and saying,
"Ride it, on boat"!!!

Braiden's First Time Visiting The L.A. Zoo

It's very rare that Mommy gets a day off but when she does... it means having some mommy 'n me time!  A perfect cool, beautiful summer day to spend at the L.A. Zoo. 
We've been studying the alphabet with Braiden and have been incorporating animals into it.  It serves as good preparation to coming to the zoo.

A Meerkat on the look out!

New to the zoo... Black Swans

I think these are the same Flamingos that I saw when I was small!

Gorillas eating some fruit tree leaves

A funny story...

For some reason when most of the animals were eating their meals, their backs were turned to us.  I was eagarly waiting for some sort of reaction from Braiden about these unreal huge animals that he only sees in books.  As we were watching these Gorillas eating there was one other little girl there with her mommy and grandma.  Out of the blue, breaking the silence was Mr.B saying in a LOUD voice, "Eww, Monkey butt, stinky"!  I couldn't help but laugh and the other mommy and grandma said, "Yes! You're right!"  Just shows how observant Braiden is!

Braiden got up close and personal with this one Gorilla.

They were using sign language to communicate with eachother.

Z is for Zebra

The Lions were sleeping

Braiden's nap schedule is in sink with these Lions.

Right about now is his morning nap time too!

That's what keeps them -BRAVE & FEARLESS-

Giraffes

I'm as tall as this giraffe!

The whole family

Chimpanzees of Mahale Mountains

Looking for Elephants

Shucks -I caught the end of our conversation as we were walking hand in hand... but Braiden was saying, "Elephants, where are you?" I tried to get him to repeat it but he got distracted by Hailey :/

This Elephant had an ouchie on the side of it's eye.

Orangutans and Red Apes

Just hanging around

This Orangutan was showing us his dance moves by spinning around in a circle and then laying down like this and looking at us!

The Tigers were also sleeping

A Hippopotamus!

Braiden says the Hippo was taking a bath cause it was dirty.

American Black Bear eating some fish

This was a rare species exhibit. 

The zoo had him on display just for today!

~ Braiden Makoa ~

Watching the World of Birds Show

Finally something that resembles Braiden's all time favorite -turtles...

Madagascar Tortoises

Trying to get a picture of Hailey and Braiden but he couldn't keep his eyes off of the "turtles"!

My silly guy <3

I found a tortoise!

Kangaroos

"Shhh, Koala Bear sleeping", Braiden says

It woke up to scratch an itch it had!

After a few hours at the zoo, Braiden was pooped out.  He had a good five minute power nap then up and running!  He couldn't wait to tell everyone that he saw lots of animals at the zoo today!