Fun Fun and More Fun!

We spent the weekend in La Crosse visiting our favorite nephew/cousin, Candon! We did so many fun things, it is hard to believe that we fit it all in a weekend! We didn't get down there until 10:15 on Friday night, we had to drop a vehicle off in Winonia for the dealership, so we made a quick stop and then headed the rest of the 30 miles to La Crosse, the boys did WONDERFUL in the car, thank goodness for the DVD player! Porter crashed at about 6:45pm and Braylon was out at about 7:45. Bray had zero accidents in the car! He did a wonderful job telling us when he had to go, 15 miles out of Waseca he told me he had to poop, try telling a 2 year old to hold it... So I had to keep talking to him, telling him to hold it just a little bit longer, until we arrived at the gas station, Ben rushed him in, he did his business and then on the road we went. We had a wonderful time seeing the Briggs and we can't wait to make it an often event :) Pictures are coming, have to convert them to JPEG's...

Great Subject!

Playing around with the camera some more, it is amazing how different this is. I haven't ever worried about ISO, so with a big purchase like this and the endless amount of possibilities I have decided that I should learn full Manual control of my camera, worrying about ISO really does change the way your pictures turn out, it is not all just about Aperture & Shutter Speed. So I was playing with it last night and got some good pics of Bray!

My colors are a little dull, but that is why I like to shoot my pictures in RAW format, I have the freedom to change it.
He is so intently trying to get those stacked on top of one another! (Excuse his rash on his cheek, that is from Daddy giving him whisker rubs)

Priceless! Amazing! Love!

Face is a little dirty from who knows what... That is Bray!

At first I wasn't so keen on this picture, but the more I looked at it and analyzed it, the more I love it, did you notice Reese is laying in the background chewing on a toy! There is just a calmness to it...
Again Bray looks a little washed out, but that can be fixed...

Playing Around Early in the AM

Braylon has figured out how to open his bedroom door, and every other door that we have in our house, so we frequently get a late night/early morning visitor in our bed! This morning Bray came in about 6:00 and said he wanted to watch Cars, I was just getting ready to get in the shower, so I put it on for him. Got in the shower and when I got out he was playing on the Kitchen floor with Doc Hudson (Judge, Doctor & Racing expert from the Movie Cars) so I grabbed my new camera and stood far enough back (thanks to my 70-300mm lens, I could have been nearly standing in the neighbors living room and still gotten the pictures) that he didn't realize I was taking his picture (he is in a mood lately, where he doesn't want his picture taken!). I love candid pictures, especially on such an adorable subject!

Bray...

Lounging on the floor

The moment he realized I was taking his picture!

Now I need to get Adobe Lightroom so that I can do some good editing! These were great first pictures though!

So Excited I could Pee!

I got it!!!! I am finally the proud owner of the Nikon D7000! It was one of the most exciting purchases I have ever made! Ben is having a little trouble seeing the value in it, but he soon will I am sure of that! He told me that if I keep it for 7 years and use it as often as I say I am going to, then it will have been worth it... There is so much to learn with this camera, I can't wait to start. Last night I had to let the battery charge over night, so I didn't get to do anything except smile at it :) But I got up early this morning so that I could play around with it a little bit! I am so excited to learn everything about this camera, it has so much to offer and I can't wait to know it all! I contemplated taking the day off so that I could just sit and play with it! Again Ben doesn't understand my excitement over a camera, to him it is just something that takes a picture, exciting, yippee, but to me it captures priceless memories and are things that we can forever look back on and enjoy!

I purchased a package deal from Best Buy, that included the Nikon D7000 along with an 18-105mm VR lens and a 70-300mm VR lens, and a camera bag. It looks like a piece of heaven to me :)

Great Company!

Porter accompanied me over to Mankato last night so that I could pick up my new camera! Porter has been in a phase where he does NOT like to be in places that he doesn't have the freedom to roam and be down to run and play with whatever he can get a hold of! So I was a little nervous bringing him to Best Buy where there are a lot of breakable things that he could get his little hands on. He did fantastic, he allowed me to talk to the sales women and get what I needed and get out the door. He started to have a little bit of a melt down while we were standing in line waiting to checkout, but that was easily fixed with me holding him. He was so good that he was rewarded with a new Mickey DVD, Mickey's Numbers Roundup, it came with a Mickey remote, he thought it was pretty awesome to have his very own remote, especially since it is in the shape of Mickey's head! We swang through Wendy's on the way home, and grabbed him some Chicken Nuggets, since it was already 6 and I knew he wouldn't wait for me to get home and make something, so while I drove he scraffed down 8 chicken nuggets, a handful of french fries and a bottle of water!

Eating Nuggets and watching Mickers!

I am hoping that this is a good sign that he will tolerate the 3.5 hour drive to La Crosse tomorrow! Thank goodness Ben is going with :)

Creative Play Lab

On Saturday the boys and I went to the Creative Play Lab in Mankato and Candon, Coley, Kevin and Grams came too! It is such a cool place, the boys had so much fun! Well worth the $3 per person!

Candon and Bray playing with the Barn.

Bray and Candon playing in the tape play place. Very cool! Porter had a ton of fun playing in it too, but I was to busy chasing that I didn't get pictures of him in it!

Climbing on the foam building blocks!

More Barn action...

Porter carrying around the silo of the barn!

If you haven't gone, we highly recommend going! It is so much fun and it will be something that we will do regularly on Saturdays!

Downstairs!

The second that we get home for the day, Porter immediately says "downstairs"... So we have to get all of our winter gear off and then the boys head down stairs while I hang up coats, put mittens and hats away and switch laundry... Then I head down stairs with them and wait for Ben to come home so that one of us can cook supper while the other entertains the monsters :)

Going down the Kiddie Roller coaster without the car, (I had to take it away from the boys, because they were fighting over it, we have 537 toys in our basement and they have to fight over the same one!)

Just being adorable :)

Fun new way to go down! Braylon you should really try this!

Braylon was busy cooking in his kitchen and jumping in the trampoline last night! Every time I tried to get a picture of him, he turned his head and said "no pictures please"! So P was the star last night :)

The way every week should start!

Ben and I had the Oakhills Bowling Fundraiser yesterday! It is always a good time and we are so glad to be part of such a wonderful cause! I am sure that I will end up there some day, so it is great to support and give back to the Community! I bowled to the best of my ability, 1st game: 93, 2nd game 85, and 3rd game 104. Good thing we were just playing for fun :)

Uh Oh Mommy, Porter is...

So Sunday morning we made Waffles for breakfast, well after breakfast, I went to switch the laundry and Ben was outside checking out the amount of snow that we had already accumulated! When I heard Braylon say "Uh-oh Mommy, Porter is..." then I didn't hear anything, so I walked into the living room and asked Bray what was wrong, he said "Porter is eating the syrup", as I walked into the Kitchen I see my youngest son standing on the bench at the table DOWNING a bottle of maple syrup! Literally has the bottle tipped back and he is drinking it like water! Only he would do something so silly! Apparently the 2 mega waffles that he had were not filling enough and didn't contain enough syrup on them!

Nuggle Me Daddy!

Braylon has figured out how to open his bedroom door, not so good on nights that he decides that he doesn't want to sleep in his room and would much rather sleep on the couch! Or the last 3 nights he has come sneaking into our room at 2 or 3 in the morning... Well the other night he wanted to "Nuggle" with Daddy & Reese on the couch... So of course we gave in and let him!

Ben, Bray and Reese snuggling! Lazy Bums!

Bray outlasted Ben... Not surprising :)

ANOTHER Snowstorm...

The boys were fasinated with the amount of snow that we got! They had lots of fun sitting in the window watching Daddy snowblow!

Braylon hanging out in the window watching the snow fall!

Cousin Candon!!!!!

Cousin Candon, Auntie Coley, & Uncle Kevin came to visit this weekend. We had so much fun spending most of the day with them, we went to Mankato to the play lab (pictures of that to come later, they are on my home computer), then they came over to eat supper and play with all of our toys! We had so much fun and the best part is that on Friday we get to go to La Crosse to play with all of Candon's toys! Mommy & Auntie Coley kept talking about all of the fun things we are going to do and how we are going to be busy bee's! We heard something about Chucky Cheese, Children's Science Museum, and Toys R Us... Sounds like a great weekend to us!

Braylon getting a ride from Candon, it was a long walk around the basement!

Bray helping get Candon unstuck from the wall!

The boys trying to figure out how to fix the trailer on the tractor!

Porter was there too, he just rode the Kiddie Rollercoaster most of the time!

It was great fun! Thanks everyone for coming and playing! Can't wait to see you next weekend :)

Lounging with Mickey!

Porter has really gotten into Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! He loves to watch and dance to the hot dog song! Whenever it comes on he has to lay down and kick his feet up and "lounge"... Until of course the hot dog song comes on then he has to get up and show us his moves :)

Mickers how you make my mornings bright!

This is literally what he does, he sticks his feet up on whatever he can! Such a goof ball!

Suprise Playdate!

Friday I got a call from a great friend saying that her family was coming to New Ulm to eat at Happy Joe's and wanted to know if we wanted to join? We jumped at the invitation and met Sam, Maggie and Benjamin at Happy Joe's at about 6 pm. Well Porter is in the stage that we can't take him out in public unless it is some place he can get down and run around and be free to roam, so dinner was less then fun, so we ate quickly and all went to our house so that the boys could play and run around together! It is always wonderful to see them and have playdates! Thank you Schroeder's for the suprise playdate :)

Benjamin and Braylon doing some cooking together! Enjoying a hamburger...

 

 

Bray enjoying bread!

Benjamin and Porter taking turns riding the Lightning Big Wheel!

 

 

Benjamin testing out the Kiddie Rollercoaster, he gave his approval :)

Porter and Benjamin were so funny to watch, the would crawl towards the middle and then they would start laughing hysterically and both back out of the tunnel!

Thank you again Schroeder's! We can't wait until that baby girl ;0 (I don't know what they are having, just my guess) is born and Porter can spend his time whoo'ing her :)

Excuse Me!

Last night Braylon decided that he really didn't want to share with Porter, so he grabbed the toy that he was playing with and put it up in the chair and then climbed up and stood behind it, playing with it. Well Porter thought it was now at the perfect height for him to push buttons, make baskets and get a good look at it. Braylon was so adorable, he just kept saying Excuse me Porter... Porter excuse me... Porter stop, you no play! Porter would just laugh and then it turned into a hysterical moment for them both, laughter filled the air!

At this point Braylon was actually tipping it back further so that Porter couldn't reach it!