Fire Station Party

Dawson's friend, Tanner, celebrated his 5th birthday at a fire station in town. It was a great birthday party and the kids loved seeing the firetrucks, learning about fire safety from the firemen, climbing inside a firetruck, and even holding the big fire hose while it sprayed water all over the parking lot.

Dawson wearing his fireman hat.

A quick picture of Brady with the hat on before he tossed it off.

Dawson in front of one of the firetrucks.

Brady in front of the firetruck (again, a quick picture before he ran off).

Brady smiling and laughing and enjoying the simple pleasure of running around in the parking lot.

Listening to the firemen.

Dawson and Seth and their sweet smiles.

Inside a firetruck.

All the kids holding onto the hose.

Demonstrating how strong they are.

Dawson's turn at the front of the hose.

Dawson laughing after getting completely soaked by the hose. He walking in front of it at the exact moment a friend turned it on.

Thanksgiving Tree

We made a Thanksgiving tree this year. We mailed leaves to all of our family members asking them to write what they were thankful for this year and then mail them back to us. Dawson looked forward to getting the leaves and reading what everyone was thankful for. Hopefully the Thanksgiving tree will become a yearly tradition.

I don't know if others would want to have their lists posted on our blog, but I will state what we were thankful for:

• Randy - faith, family, my sons Dawson and Brady, my wife Emily, and electricity and air conditioning.
• Emily - my family, good friends, running, fall weather, the trees.
• Dawson - my family, my friends, my Brady, my toys.
• Brady - mom, dad, Dawson, the park, and music.

Thanksgiving Crafts

We did some fun Thanksgiving crafts with our friends: a painting craft and an edible craft. So cute!

Dawson's completed hand print turkey.

Hannah's beautiful turkey.

A picture of Dawson with his turkey cupcake before he gobbled it up.

Hannah in awe of her turkey cupcake.

More turkey cupcakes we made at home.

Good Friends

Dawson and Hannah playing Zingo.

Brady and Wesley enjoying each others company.

A big smile from Brady.

A big smile from Wesley.

Brady

I haven't posted anything about Brady and all that he's been doing in a while, so here are a few Brady highlights:

• He has 16 teeth!!!!! He's only lacking his back 4 molars.
• He babbles a lot, but isn't say much that we understand. He does say "dada" and "daddy," "mom" and "mama," and his most common word isn't much of a word at all - it's "uh-oh." He can't say Dawson yet, but he does have a special sound for Dawson, like "daw-daw." Whenever Brady says it Dawson beams and says, "He said my nickname, Daw-daw!"
• He's practically running now he goes so fast. And he loves to scream and run after us or have us run after him - a slow version of chase.
• He also loves to spin around and get dizzy. It's so cute!
• He can now crawl up onto the couch unassisted, which is a dangerous thing.
• He loves playing on beds. He tries to jump, which thoroughly amuses him. And he likes for us to roll him around and tickle him on the bed.
• He is fascinated with music. He'll stop in his tracks and dance whenever he hears it. And whenever he sees anything with Little Einsteins or Handy Manny he will start dancing - even though there is no music, he associated them with music and will dance to the tune in his head.

Brady is such a fun baby! He is so happy, easygoing, easily amused, and he brings us all such joy.

Pumpkin Turkeys

One of our Thanksgiving crafts was turning our pumpkins into turkeys.

Riding the Pony

Brady loves riding his rocking horse. Sometimes he rocks wildly on it; other times he sits on it and dances.

Funny Dance

A video of Brady doing his funny dance.

Park Play Day

Brady crawling through a very blue tunnel.

Brady and Wesley in the tunnel together.

Little boys with little sticks.

Dawson the the "diving board tree."

Brady loved the bouncy bridge.

Dawson climbing on the dinosaur.

Babysitting Adam

We had the privilege of babysitting Adam the other day while his parents moved into their new house. He is a very sweet and happy baby and both Dawson and Brady really enjoyed having him over. Dawson was especially excited and eager to help "babysit." He followed Adam around everyone, brought him toys, and played silly games with him to make him laugh. He was so sad when Adam left that he actually cried. Oh, and he told me that now when he grows up he wants to be a fix-it guy like Dad AND a babysitter. :-)

Brady and Adam checking out the cars in the train table.

Looking at the button books.

Play-Doh and babies could be a dangerous combination but they did well - enjoyed squishing it but not eating it.

Spending a little time outside.

Words from Dawson

• When eating pumpkin spice cake the other night, Dawson turns to Randy and says, "Daddy, do you know how to eat cake with a fork? I can give you instructions. Okay, Dad, here are the instructions." And he then gave him specific step-by-step instructions.
• The other day I told Dawson of some great plan I had for us to do that day and he turned to me and said very emphatically, "Mom, you're a genius!"
• I can't remember what we were talking about, but Dawson was really trying to prove his point so he told me, "The fact of the matter is . . . . " I couldn't believe my 4 year old was talking to me like such an adult. Really, who says "the fact of the matter is"?
• Whenever something scares him, he'll say "that startled me" or "that frightened me."
• When it was raining the day of the university's fall festival Dawson said, "Apparently the fall festival will be cancelled."
• He crashed when riding his bike the other day and explained to me, "I tried to turn, but then suddenly I crashed."
• When jumping in an inflatable bouncer at one of our fall festivals, he popped his head out to ask me to hold his Batman mask because it hurt when he bumped into the cylinders (the 4 corners of the bouncer were shaped liked cylinders). We just thought it was funny he used the term cylinders.

Halloween

Brady and Dawson in costume and ready for trick-or-treating.

A very strong Batman.

Okay, so it's really not a costume, but he is only 1. And he looks so cute in his Cowboys jersey.

Brady carrying his Elmo basket around the mall.

Dawson posing by an inflatable pumpkin.