Thankful for Cousins

Brayden and Layna got to share Thanksgiving with two of their cousins this year! The Weitz family drove up from Florida to spend the holiday with us -- and we had an excellent time. Nicole's older sister, Jen, brought Ethan and Jillian, each about 9-months younger than our kids, respectively. Translation: lots of kiddies all over the house! Each pair of cousins has been anxiously anticipating the others, so when they arrives it was like a bomb of excitement went off. I'll have plenty of pictures of the holiday coming later, but let's begin with pre-Thanksgiving fun (we celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday, so Thursday was just for fun)!

The trampoline was a BIG hit!

Getting some love from Aunt Jen

Silly faces with Mommy

Jillian played games with Brayden

...and the cars came out!

Ethan loves anything with an engine

After the new Muppets movie Thursday night

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We've had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and hope you have, too. I will get busy posting as soon as I can find a bit of time to sift through all the great pictures, but until then, I wanted to leave you with a little Thanksgiving joy...

From our family, to yours!

A Leaf Pile

Name one thing a kid doesn't get to do if he grows up in Florida... play in a pile of fall leaves!! This afternoon, I decided it was high time to clear our yard of the leaves that have fallen in the past few weeks. As I worked on blowing the leaves to the side of the house, Brayden and Layna were busy playing with some of their friends from the circle (Carter, Jacob, Caleb, and Jaylin).

About half-way through my project, Brayden came up to me and asked, "Dad, can we play in the big pile of leaves? Please, oh please, oh please??" I saw a couple of the other guys watching him from behind a tree and when I said Yes, Brayden yelled, "He said yes!" and they all came running. They had a blast jumping in and out of the pile. Here are some pictures and a video at the end. Gotta love some autumn fun!

Lovin' in the leaves

Smiles with Jaylin

She loved those leaves!

The Fire Station

You may remember that Brayden was the top Kindergarten reader in his school -- well not only was he rewarded with the ability to record More Bears (click here for that story), but he was also rewarded with a very special trip to the Trussville Fire Station! The top readers from all the grades were picked up at school in fire trucks and taken to the station to have breakfast with the firemen! I can't think of a better reward for a little boy. He was absolutely thrilled! He said they served pancakes, sausage, bacon, and biscuits and he "ate everything!" He especially loved riding in the truck! And as if that wasn't enough, Layna got to see him off and she was very inspired. She said, "I want to be the top reader so I can go to the fire station when I'm in Kindergarten, too!" Here's to hoping!

Here are some pictures of the day -- what a treat!

Waiting for the fire trucks with a few of the other boys

Goofing around with the firemen

Getting a quick tour of the truck

Seeing all the gear and tools

Loading up

He looks bigger than I think he should...

Buckled up and ready to go!

On their way (see Layna on the left?)

Riding through Trussville to the fire station

Eating a BIG fireman breakfast

Getting a tour of the station

Chillin' in a real fireman's recliner

Group shot with the firemen!

Some Fun

We haven't been doing anything terribly exciting in the last week -- but I can share a few things. Layna and I went to Brayden's school to have lunch with him again, and this time, both kids bought lunch in the cafeteria (cheese pizza!). Layna was sooo excited to eat like the big kids, and Brayden was very sweet to host her. He walked her through the cafeteria and helped her pick out a tray, food, utensils, and a drink (and a straw!). They were super cute. He even helped her wait in line to put everything away. I think lunch on Mondays may happen pretty often!

Sharing a slice together

Cleaning up - like the big kids!

And the other day, Brayden and Layna were texting funny pictures back and forth with their cousins, Ethan and Jillian -- too funny. Gotta love funny faces between cousins. Here are two of the shots they sent back and forth!

More Bears!

Brayden has been having a great year at school! Although he loves quite a lot about school (PE is his favorite!), one of the things he likes to do the most is read. So it's no surprise that during September, Paine Primary's official reading month and the month when all students track their daily reading, Brayden was the TOP Kindergarten reader in the school! (...and there are more than 250 Kindergarteners!)

He's had quite a few special rewards for being the top reader, but today, I want to share one of the best -- he was able to record a digital book to be shown to the whole school! He was invited to pick a book on the website A Story Before Bed and he decided to read a hilarious tale called More Bears. He spent last Wednesday morning with Mrs. Brockman, the librarian, recording the book in her office and now it's available online for Paine students AND YOU to see at home! Here are some pictures of his fun morning, with a link to the book at the end. (Layna and I joined him for the recording session. She has thoroughly enjoyed watching Brayden receive so much praise for reading and her reading has been improving, too! ...I'll post about that soon.)

Mrs. Brockman sets up the recording

Beginning the practice reading

Layna loved it!

Mrs. Brockman laughed whenever he read, "More bears!"

We waited outside the office for the formal recording

Once Brayden recorded the book, Mrs. Brockman showed us how she would show the other Kindergarten classes -- on the big screen in the library! He was so excited!

Brayden's getting it started

Watching his reading performance

We had such fun, and Brayden was so proud. Now you can watch it, too! Just click here to be taken to the website (it will take a minute to load), then click on the book to play it. Enjoy!

Disney On Ice

On Wednesday night, we surprised the kids with tickets to Disney On Ice's opening night here in Birmingham. They were excited, but I don't think they could even imagine how much fun it would be. Once we were standing in line with a bunch of crazies who dressed their kids up in Disney costumes (no offense to those of you who dressed up your kids in costumes when you went to see DOI -- we probably would have had we planned the night with them in advance), they began to understand the magnitude of fantastic they were about to experience!

Waiting to get into the arena

Layna's snow cone treat

Brayden found some Dippin Dots

Walking to our seats

Waiting for the show

We're ready!!

It was finally time for the show to start -- and I can't tell you how excited they were! They were both (literally) on the edge of their seats watching all the action, Layna would actually squeal whenever something fun happened on the ice, and they were thrilled to hear so many familiar songs. The main story lines included the classic characters - Mickey and friends - as well as the Lion King, Little Mermaid, Lilo and Stitch (didn't know that one), and Peter Pan. Here are some shots from the show.

Mickey and friends

The Little Mermaid

Peter Pan

Flying to Neverland

Captain Hook and the buccaneers

Flying in

The end of the show

It was a magical night (of course!) and I'm sure the kids will want to go again next year!