Nana

Finally. . . .Nana has arrived in Pittsburg to meet Mason in person and smother he and Braden with kisses and call Braden her angel! Blake has flown off to Pittsburgh, PA, so Nana came to our rescue to help take care of us and we may not let her go home! She has taken Braden to the movie, given Mason and Braden their baths, read stories, changed a ton of diapers, fed a ton of bottles, and done a lot of rocking and knee bouncing. Rigth this second she is at Wal-Mart with her Angel, a.k.a. Braden!

At Mason's 2 month check up today, he got his shots, poor guy, 3 total, and weighed in at 14.5 lbs and 25.5 inches. The doctor said he's truly off the charts!

The Naturals

Braden and Blake joined Pop and Uncle Ty for a Naturals game in Springdale on Saturday, July 26. Since Braden has had the pleasure of several Cardinal games in his 4 short years, he has come to expect fireworks to accompany home runs. Obviously this doesn't happen at every baseball game, so he informed me that they "The Naturals" ran out of money so they didn't get to see the fireworks. He forgets nothing.

Banana Split Play date

We have the most amazing friends here in Pittsburg, and just to make a dent in the amount of "play time" we are indebted to them, we invited their kids over for a few hours on Saturday evening, to make banana splits and play in the back yard! All of our friends have been extremely generous in their offers to let Braden come over to play and even Braden and Mason, and once just Mason so we could take Braden out to dinner by himself!

Back to our roots

Clint helping Braden walk up the waterfall.

Hannah 3 (Sarah's oldest) Chloe 4 (Chelsea's oldest) Braden 4 &
Brooke 2 1/2 (Chelseas's middle)

Braden and Chloe

Mason smiling in his sleep as I was talking to Amiee (Chelsea's youngest) trying to get her to smile for me! Braden 6 weeks and Amiee 10 weeks

We drove to Rogers on Sunday to catch up with Clint, who happened to be in town from Chicago. My sisters and nieces all joined us at Lake Atalanta park, and the kids had a GREAT time playing in the creek that leads into the lake. We decided it was time for Braden to get in touch with his Arkansas roots and spend time in something other than a "cement pond."

It was the first time they got to meet Mason and we got to meet our newest niece, Amiee, born May 9, 2008. She's almost a month older than Mason, but he's definitely bigger!

We got a smile!

Mason really enjoyed hanging out while Braden took his bath on Friday night! Of course Braden always enjoys bath time! Dean & Carli sent him this green onsie, and it couldn't be more true "Man in the Making" fits perfectly!

Busy week

Braden got a new hair cut yesterday. . . a faux hawk. . .he loves to have his hair crazy and now thinks he looks like Uncle Tyler AND a stegasaurus! Mason is growing by the minute!

Cardinal Fan

One more quick shot of Mason on the changing table. . . .dressed like a true Cardinal fan, thanks to Tish!

Chillin' on the Changing Table

Believe it or not, the changing table is one of Mason's favorite places to "hang out"

Need some help here. . . .

Gave Mason a quick bath yesterday and in the "moment" of getting a great picture, Braden was busy cheesing it up while poor Mason was left to fend for himself. I'm certain he'll hold this against Braden some day!

Mason is now weighing in at 12.8 lbs and 23.5 inches

Happy Birthday to Daddy

We celebrated Daddy's birthday by having chocolate cake and taking him out to dinner. Thank you to Mason for sleeping through it!!!! As you can see a sense of humor runs deep in this family!

Braden's Photography

Nan and Pop bought Braden his very own Spiderman Digital camera. Here are some samples of his outstanding photography.

4th of July

Here are some pictures from our 4th of July. We went to a neighborhood parade of the kiddo's riding their bikes, wagons, tricycles etc. in the morning. This lady has been coordinating it for 29 years. She serves lemonade and cookies in her backyard, afterwards, and we sing Happy Birthday to America and recite the Pledge of Allegience. Very Norman Rockwell. Then a pool party, then fireworks at some friends! Amazingly, Mason slept through the entire round of fireworks.

Big Fish

Mason (2 weeks old) and I joined Braden and Blake on 0ne of their favorites. . . .fishing! Braden loves to reel the fish in and of course play with the worms!

Welcome Family & Friends

Hello to all! We are going to attempt to provide you with an endless source of pictures, video and stories to ooh and aaah at until your heart is content. As Braden reminds Blake every morning as he leaves for work "don't be boring" we will try not to be boring! We thought life was interesting with Braden, now that we've added Mason to the mix we've learned new levels of parenthood! Mason is an extremely good baby, and learns everyday how to enjoy Daddy, more and more. I know I'm the current favorite because I'm also the buffet! Big Brother has adapted amazingly to the crying, and loves to laugh at all the "tooting" and is an expert at wiping up drool and plugging in the binky!