Pictures By Hannah Byrd

Sweet Hannah Byrd, who just welcomed a second precious little girl into her family, took some wonderful pictures of our family (while 9mo pregnant...God bless her!)  We are so grateful for her talent and willingness to take pictures of our crazy little family.  Braden had a 104 degree temp during these pictures (I know, worse mother of the year award to me.  But I knew our chance with Hannah was running short since her little girl was on the way, the holidays were a week away, and we couldn't, and still can't, keep Braden healthy to save our lives!)  Hannah did a wonderful job.  Here are some of the pictures she took mid December...yes, it has taken way too long for me to post, but like I said, it has not been for lack of effort!

Our precious little man.  Smiling, despite the fact that he was sick.  He is certainly our little charmer.  When we are out, people ALWAYS ask me, "Does he always smile this much?"  My answer is always a resounding, "YES!"  

Sweet Adelyn :)

This is where Steven & I got engaged 6 years ago on Jan 26th.  It was sweet to get some pictures there with the two of us. And then some with our whole family!

And in case you were wondering, the only reason that we got any smiles from our children in these pictures, is b/c of my dear mother.  She has a way of getting these kids to smile, even in the depths of sickness.  She is wonderful, and dearly loved by my children.  (and I think she may have gotten one of the best pictures in the whole series!)

Hope you enjoyed them!!!

technical difficulties

Sorry for the lack of posts.  It is not for lack of effort.  Blogger is making it impossible for me to upload pictures, so I am trying to figure it all out.  I promise that there are some great pictures to come, and I have not forgotten about the blog!

Oh, Braden :)

Braden loves to dance, smile, snap (at least a attempt to snap) and has been waving and saying "bye-bye."  And Adelyn likes to tell him what to do, of course.)  Fortunately, Ashley caught it on video while I was working.  So cute!

We've Been Busy

Sorry I have been so bad about updating the blog, but we've been busy.  We have about 10 house projects going on right now, on top of it being the holidays, Braden having a head to toe rash, and our already busy schedule...So, blogging has not been my top priority.  Here's a glimpse at what we have been doing.

Steven has been patching the holes that have been in our ceiling for about 6 months from our plumbing being replaced...next will be painting the kitchen cabinets...thank goodness Ashley has a few weeks off from school!

Replacing the faucet in the sink, with Adelyn's help (?), of course

Playgroup, playdates, trips to the Richmond discovery museum, and preschool coop are all keeping this girl busy! 

Adelyn loves her friends, Kinley and Lilly Kate 

I imagine we will be seeing that face a lot from Adelyn in the future...she's either mad that I'm taking her picture or that her little brother is trying to play with her friends...who knows!

Braden has been eating a whole lot, only, it's not always stuff he should be eating.  Either that nuts or mac and cheese he's found on the floor, the napkins in the cabinet, or something he actually should be eating is causing a head to toe rash.  We have cut out all solids except sweet potatoes and avocado (and are being more careful about sweeping and vacuuming.)  We have also washed all of his clothes b/c it might be the detergent I have been using...who knows.  Sweet boy looks miserable, though.  We took him to the doctor today and they definitely think it is related to a food or environmental sensitivity. 

My pile of baby boys clothes I am washing...no fun.

And my little project for our mantle.  Still in progress, but OK for now.  

Brad Arms (1984-2004) We miss you!

image credit
Brad Arms passed away 7 years ago today, and oh, how we miss him.  He was a smiley, fun, passionate, and kind kid.  Steven and I had the privilege of going to school and church with Brad growing up.  Brad was an incredibly hard worker, a great athlete, and a kind friend.  He was always thinking about other people and was willing to put himself below others in order to care for them.  Brad went to Georgia for College (where we heard he was quite the ladies man...but look at that picture and I am sure you can see why) and he also served in the US Marines.  He was strong, both in mind and body.  He was passionate, and that passion is what led him to sacrifice his life in order to save the life of a fellow marine while serving in Iraq.  We are so proud of him, and we miss him.  When Brad died, Steven and I were not dating.  But in going to Brad's funeral, and spending time with each other and other high school friends after his death, we were reminded of how much we cared about each other.  Shortly after his death, we started dating again and we definitely attribute so much of our getting back together to Brad.  We are so grateful for him.  And our gratefulness is what led us to name our son, Braden after Brad.  He was named for Brad.  While it is not his exact name, his name is intended to be in memory of him, because we love him, are proud of him, and hope that our son (and family) can learn from him and can one day grow into the passionate, loving, and Godly man that Brad was.  (update: How we chose Braden: The etymology of -en is that it is a "Suffix meaning 'pertaining to', 'having the qualities of', 'like'" (site).  We hope that Braden can grow up to have the qualities of Brad, hence, Brad-en)  .Thank you, Brad, for blessing us with your life and death.  Thank you, Bob and Betty Arms for sharing your sweet boy with us.  We miss you, love you, and are so incredible grateful for you, Brad Arms.

Bob and Betty Arms came to meet Braden a few days after he was born. 

Braden is already starting to resemble his name sake.  He is smiley, ambitious, and strong.  We look forward to telling Braden more and more about Brad as he gets older. 

Date with Daddy; Braden is 7months!

So this post is a bit late, but as always, things are a bit busy around here.  Since Braden was born, Steven has been taking Adelyn on outings every couple of weeks so that they can have some special daddy/daughter time.  They usually get Christian's pizza and ice cream and talk about their day or whatever comes out of her little 2 year old mouth.  This past week, he took her out and I painted her nails for the first time so that she could look especially pretty on their date :)  She loved it! 
Last week, we also had the privilege of having a sleep over with Henry Kelly, who is precious and sweet, and we all love!
And last but not least, Braden is 7months old.  He is smiley, energetic, and busy!  He continues to adore it sister, although they fight a bit more b/c he can crawl over and take Adelyn's toys.  She usually says to him, "No buddy, no buddy, that's not yours."  It can be really nice b/c she takes things from him that he shouldn't be playing with, or warns me if he's getting into things.  It is really fun to watch them interact and actually start to play together!   
  

Headed out for their date.

Showing me her painted nails

We brought the pack-n-play downstairs so that I can contain Braden if I need to do something and can't supervise him all the time, but Adelyn has decided it is going to be her play space.  If you notice the pink chair next to the crib, that is how she gets into it. 

Play time with HENRY! (And, yes, I dressed them all in overalls, but don't they look so cute!) 

7 months old!

attempted to get away from my photo shoot.  I had to drop the camera and grab him a couple times before he leaped off the bed. 

Playing Piano! His favorite new activity.  He loves to crawl over to it and bang on it.  My little piano man!

Halloween

So this post is super late, but I didn't have the halloween pictures, my mom did, so I finally got my act together and am posting from her computer.  Anyway, we had lots of fun on Halloween, continuing our tradition of going to the lawn.  We didn't do any trick-or-treating in our neighborhood b/c the houses all sit on 2 acres, and we would have gotten half way to one house and then Adelyn would have given up, so instead we enjoyed the kind students who were handing out candy on the lawn only 10 steps away from each other.  My parents came to the lawn to see the kids and got to take Adelyn around, which was wonderful because then I could talk to friends and didn't have to fight the crowds, and they got to be with her and Kate.  All of Adelyn's friends dressed as monkeys (by chance, not on purpose) and were super cute.  We decided last minute to do some VERY homemade costumes, so Adelyn went as Princess Leia and Braden was an Ewok.  By the time the pictures were taken, Adelyn's hair had come down for the most part, but I thought they looked pretty cute/silly :)

At one point Steven asked Adelyn if he could have a piece of her candy, and she looked at him and said, "No Daddy" and pointing to one of the lawn rooms, "They are just giving it away over there."  IE  why would you take my candy when they are just handing it out over there?