Displaying His Italian Roots

Braden is a very happy boy who loves to do lots of activities....eating is definitely not one of them though. We have tried lots of creative methods of enticing him to eat, however, most of our efforts fail. Since he dislikes his booster seat, we let him eat in a stool at the counter since he thinks he is such a "big boy." I decided to let Braden spoon his lunch into his favorite bowl in hopes that he would be interested in at least trying what he served up for himself.....

Braden looks a bit hesitant, but still happy.

If this isn't eager, I don't know what is!
With so much enthusiasm, you'd think he was enjoying a fine lobster dinner prepared by Martha Stewart! I can make some mean plain whole wheat pasta obviously! Even licked his fingers......
Displaying his skills with eating off a fork....hmmm, looks like he may be a leftie like his Daddy!
Delicious right down to the last morsel.....we'll see how dinner goes!

So He Thinks He Can Dance.....

With no stage nearby, the table worked out great for Braden to display his "moves." He loves to show off all kinds of different styles of dance, including break dancing, which is hilarious to watch. We have no idea where he picked up on such a talent! Anytime he hears a beat, he stops everything to start moving to the rhythm. At his age, it is very entertaining to witness. However, someone may need to tell him he probably doesn't have a dancing gene in his body. It may not be quite as cute 10 years from now! We will love every minute of it now though!

What Happened to "Mommy" & "Daddy"??

We always thought we would enjoy being called Mommy and Daddy for years to come by our sweet, little boy. However, over the last month or so, Braden has been calling me Mom. We have thought it was kind of funny, but now he is saying Dad too. How does a 21-month-old decide that he doesn't want to use the traditional Mommy and Daddy names anymore? Actually, he does still throw those names out, along with Mama and Dada sometimes. I think it is only when he really wants something that he says Mommy and Daddy so that we will give in......manipulative already?!! Good thing we think he is so darling!

Braden was trying to help his Dad get some yardwork done over the weekend, but it is sure easy to get distracted when there's a ball to throw around !

Doesn't he just look like a natural?! Even with the sprinklers on, he couldn't be stopped!

3am Wake Up Call

"Mom, Mom, MOM!!" This is what we heard coming from Braden's room at 3:00am this morning. This has never happened before, so I had the brilliant idea that bringing him into our bed for a couple minutes while I got him a cup of water would be a good idea. I returned to our room to discover Braden body slamming Matt. Maybe it was just payback for all the rough play in the pool yesterday?

The Second Cutest Baby in the World

Braden has been anxiously awaiting the birth of his cousin, so finally we are excited to announce the arrival of Charley James Nelson. John-Paul and Kristen are going to be amazing parents! The attempts at getting Braden to say "Charley" were unsuccessful so far. He said "Chee Chee," so I think we will just stick to calling his new cousin "Baby" for now. There are already a few similarities between the boys.....they were both born on Sunday nights more than a week after their due dates. Kristen and I were both induced early in the morning, but ended up with c-sections. Braden and Charley were born at 9:30pm. Each weighed just under 9lbs and were 21 inches long. We each delivered 8 days before our wedding anniversaries. Both boys are extremely sweet and adorable. They will probably be best buds! Braden will be thrilled to show Charley the ropes on a few things.....

John-Paul was known as the Brown Bomber as a baby & it looks like that title may be passed down to Mini JP.

John-Paul got a little practice holding a newborn about a year and a half ago with Braden.

Beatin' the Heat

Matt took a break from yardwork to rough it up a bit with Braden in the pool. Braden didn't seem to mind being thrown, dunked, and splashed by Daddy!

Just for the record, those aren't speedos Braden is wearing. With all the rough housing, his board shorts fell off.

Fun in the Sun

Braden's Uncle Christian, and cousins, Sydney and Kendall, visited us in Temecula to beat the heat at home in Nevada.....at least they had fun in the 100 degree weather here in the pool! Papa and Gramma joined in for some summer fun in the sun too.

What better way to dry off after splashing around in the pool than to skip around the yard, carrying a sword of course.

Braden led his older cousins around the yard. Do the expressions on the girls' faces display how scalding hot the cement was?!

Braden loves his Uncle CJ! He was bummed Aunt Sandy couldn't join us too.

Looks like Braden is sharing a joke with Papa on the side. 5-year-old cousin Sydney showed off her splashing skills, while.......
3-year-old Kendall let Papa throw her into the deep end countless times!
Who knew a day relaxing by the pool could be so exhausting?!

Grand Ol' Time with Grandparents

Braden is blessed with wonderful grandparents that he loves to spend time with. In honor of Father's Day, the grandpas are pictured at the top. Braden has tons of fun with his Papa and Granddad. His grandmothers bring out his silly side apparently.

Papa got splashed a lot, but he sure didn't seem to mind!

Braden loves rolling his cars everywhere while enthusiastically yelling "car!" Even Granddad let this behavior slide while dining at this restaurant. We thought it was cute and assumed everyone around us thought so too. Obviously Braden is not happy when he is confined. He actually seems to be wondering, "Is this really my family?" Nana is Braden's great-grandma and she is 96-years-old. She lets him run the show when he comes to visit and simply adores him.
Braden was instructed to smile, so he stuck out his tongue here with Grandma.....and threw the ball here with Gramma. He may be heading to obedience school with our dog, Pepper.

Playtime at the Park

Jett and Braden talked us into taking them to the park for some serious play time. It was quite a workout chasing them around and it didn't help that it was 100 degrees. The heat obviously didn't bother the boys a bit! Erin's brother, Josh, was kind enough (and brave enough) to come along to take pictures. Below are just a few that he snapped capturing the fun Braden and Jett had together.

We didn't think it could be done, but somehow we got the boys to sit still for 2 seconds to get a photo.

Can't wait to get Braden on a real horse after seeing have so much fun on a blue plastic one.Hoping these "moves" are the first signs of Braden's athleticism....not that an athletic scholarship crosses our minds at all.
Already showing a competitive side, the boys see who can scale the rock first. Meanwhile, we were just anticipating one of them jumping in to take a swim with the ducks.
We haven't really gotten into the whole "green" movement, but apparently our little tree hugger has?

He's all boy.....

There are lots of family members and friends who haven't seen Braden for a while, so these first few posts will contain some recent photos to display Braden's personality and antics. He is 20 months old now, but loves to shout "two" when asked how old he will be on his birthday. Braden is full of energy and tons of fun!

When told to put his toys in the basket, Braden climbed inside instead.

Maybe Grandma was talking too much? Braden put a few stickers over her mouth.
Braden found these teeth in Daddy's drawer.....wonder where he gets his sense of humor from?!
Occasionally, Braden takes a break from being silly so he can show off how cute he is.

Braden thought it was fun to hang out in this tree, but we thought it was a great photo opp.
Braden's favorite word lately is "play." He says it repeatedly while at the park. He is a bit worn out from all his playing.

Braden finally has a blog.....

Braden was getting quite a bit of face time on Jett's blog, so we figured he didn't really need a blog of his own. Jett's mom, Erin, was kind enough to come over to teach me Blog 101 so that we could showcase Braden in his very own blog. This was a good excuse for the boys to get together for some play time. Braden spends a lot of time playing (and probably destroying) Jett's toys, so he wanted to show off all his stuff to Jett. The boys are so cute when they play together, and even when they throw each other down for a little wrestling match. Who knew the testosterone kicked in at such a young age?! We never seem to capture those funny events on film, so these photos were the best we could do that day.

With the exception of the toy lawnmower disagreement, the boys played contently all afternoon. They are thrilled to be playing with toy cars here.

Braden hams it up any opportunity he gets. He actually paused from playing when he saw the camera. Not sure if this is a good thing.
Jett is a bit upset because he always gives Braden good snacks at his house, but all Braden offered Jett was a banana and some Kashi whole wheat crackers. A bit too organic....