Monday, June 23, 2014

Fifth Anniversary, Swimming, and Reunion...Oh My!

We have had lots of summer fun recently.

Little man is just so happy so much of the time.  I'm loving watching him discover new things.  One of his favorite past times is chewing on his puzzles. :)  He's also a pretty good shopper.  Of course, things would go much quicker if he wasn't so personable.  I have people stop me all the time to talk to him.  It's an ordeal just to run into the store for some milk.  Not really complaining though.  I love our little man and his vibrant personality.


I took these one day over at the Maybens.  Keyton loves Bray Bray!


Bray had a sinus infection but continued to smile through it all.  Those darn allergies need to leave him alone!  He has to take Zyrtec every night or things go downhill quickly.

This is still one of my favorite parts of the day.
And this is a pretty precious sight too.
Brayden received this award from Kids Crossing at the end of year program.  Must be the hats. :)

Friday, June 6th, was mine and Nick's fifth anniversary.  It's crazy how fast time has flown!  I have loved being with my man for the past five years (plus four dating).  I'm so excited I get to grow old with my love.  We went and had dinner at Double C Steakhouse in Winnsboro.  We're old because we had great babysitters (Oma & Joepa) and could go do whatever we wanted, but we were home by 8:00pm.  Oh well, I still love Nick to pieces. :)

We were actually supposed to leave for our vacation on our anniversary, but due to a job that Nick is doing, we were unable to go. :( We had planned this vacation thinking we would already be done with that job, but, due to circumstances beyond anyone's control, it happened to fall during that week.  I was sad that we weren't able to go with the Mayben family to Gulf Shores, but I know that we did the grown up thing and didn't go.  It's not always fun being the adult and making hard decisions.  So, we've decided that, for at least the next five-ten years, we'll need to have fall/winter vacations as opposed to summer ones.  Maybe a ski trip is in order later this year. :)

Since we weren't able to go to the beach, we at least decided to have a fun day of swimming and playing in the sand at Bibi and Harpo's house.  Sassy is awesome and made a little sandbox for the baby to play in.  He had an absolute blast his first time swimming.  He is definitely a little water baby.  We've swam (or at least played in his kiddie pool) a lot already this summer.  He's going to be a fish for sure.
 
 









Bibi and Sassy gave Brayden a Mohawk after his bath that evening.
Swimming, and time with family, wears a baby out.
 
 He is pulling up on everything!  Brayden won't crawl, and I don't know what to do to make him.  I'll set him on his tummy, and he'll immediately roll to his back.  I can place a toy just out of his reach thinking this may entice him to crawl towards it.  Nope, he just lines himself up and rolls towards it.  I'm afraid he'll be one that will walk before he can crawl.

I had a friend do a Jamberry party.  I've got one live until tomorrow if anyone wants to purchase some.  They're awesome stickers (for lack of a better term) for your nails.  I can wear them up to 12 days without any problems.  This is the link if you'd like to get some.  And they're having a sale...buy three get one free!

So, I bought these precious little Adirondack chairs a couple of weeks ago.  I got one for Brayden, one for Collin, and one for Payton.  Collin and Payton are some of Brayden's friends that just had their first birthdays.  My Sister put their names on them.  I absolutely love the way these turned out, and all of the kiddos love them too.

Napping hard!



Friday, June 13th, my great mother-in-love, Melanie, went to Longview with the little one and I.  I had to get something for the business, but we also got some shopping in as well.  Brayden is eight months old and is wearing 18 month clothes!  I'm hoping that once he becomes mobile, he'll stay in a size longer than two months. :)  We also met up with my SIL and nephew for lunch at Panda.  Owen has been taking swim lessons.  Tovah asked him, "What do you do if someone is drowning?  You lay down and what?"  His response was, "You lay down and take a nap."  Got a chuckle from all of us.  Let's hope he doesn't really do that if someone is drowning. :)



That evening, Nick, Brayden, and I joined Joe, Melanie, Aunt Patsy, and Uncle Bobby for a East Texas Pump Jacks Baseball game in Kilgore.  It was a lot of fun but super hot.  Bray ended up in only his shorts.  We had to leave before the end of the game because of how late it was getting, but we had a blast.  We hope to do it again soon.





We weren't even out of Kilgore before he was asleep.
 Saturday, June 14th was Collin's birthday.  The boys had fun splashing in the little pool/splash pad.



That evening, we celebrated Father's Day with the Robertson clan.  I didn't get any pictures though. :(  We got Joe a luggage tag for his upcoming vacation, and a note pad with family pictures for his office.  I think he really enjoyed both.

Sunday was Father's Day.  My parents and Sister came up to celebrate.  We all went together and got Dad a Dremel he has been wanting.  Brayden got Nick three books: a photo book of pictures of just the two of them, Jase Robertson's book, Good Call: Reflections on Faith, Family, and Fowl, and a book for Nick to read to Bray, When a Dad Says "I Love You".  Nick & Bray also played in Bray's new kiddie pool after nap time.



Our regular funny face picture.  We're imitating Brayden's surprised face.










Brayden is loving my collection of Full House.  We watch it almost every day.
 This past weekend was the ninth annual Nicholson Family Reunion at Camp Shiloh on Lake Bob Sandlin.  This was our first year to camp at the reunion.  We had an absolute blast.  Brayden met a lot of family he hadn't yet.  This was our third camping excursion since Bray was born, and I believe our best yet.  We had a shrimp boil Friday night, pot luck meal for lunch on Saturday with all the family, fish fry Saturday night with who was still there, and then we left Sunday after church.  Brayden got to swim in the lake for the very first time.  He thought Momma and Daddy jumping off the pier and going down the slide were funny.  Brayden also had his very first shower.  We decided that would be easiest after the lake swim.  I can't wait to do it again next year.  We're already planning a camping trip soon.  That's the way our family likes to have fun. :)

LOOK WHO HAS TWO TEETH!!  He had been napping horribly all week leading up to the reunion.  Once that tooth broke through, though, he's been sleeping like a champ again.





 
The whole crew that was there.

The great grand kids of C.L. and Zula Nicholson.

The great, great grand kids of C.L. and Zula Nicholson.

The grand kids of C.L. and Zula Nicholson.  I have no clue why it is turned sideways, and I can't fix it.  Sorry.
 


We started him out in this little get up.  It was the first time to try it.  It was like holding a giant marshmallow.



We quickly changed to Lightening McQueen.  He enjoyed it much more.










Brayden loves his great uncle Bobby.  He makes him laugh.
 I had nursery duty at church on Sunday.  I snapped a picture of Payton to send to her mommy.


This is the inside of our camper.  We bought it used last year.  We are about to start revamping the inside (new curtains, valances, seat cushions, etc.) and make it our's.  We want to make it fun.  However, for some reason, Nick nixed the idea of the bottom picture of fabric for our curtains.  I cannot understand why. :)